Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alpha-Epsilon]

Is the basic gist of this forum and working overseas. Regarding thinking, what are your thoughts telling you about comparing Korea to say, Taiwan or other Asian countries like Japan? Here are mine.

I've lived and worked in Korea. Now I'm in Taiwan. What's the difference, really? Because today I'd thought Hey, Korea's got the jobs. Lets check one out. But I faltered at the last minute.

Thinking of the lack of freedom, the freedom I now have, which is the space to rent my own house, to feel a sense of autonomy about things. It's the choice to live in a mature society rather than one that's immaturish. It's the freedom to be yourself without having to be a sort of product. And it's a life without all the strife and rudeness I'd experienced in Korea. In other words, too many bad memories and bs.

So I opt out, just thinking, critically speaking, which is what some here may claim is some sort of neologism that just doesn't have any logic, that I can live a better life on a personal level over here in Taiwan.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Why do so many expats who have lived in Korea come back here to bitch about how "good" their lives are now in other countries and how Korea did them so wrong?

Jesus, talk about inferiority complexes.

[sojourner1]

I can see that all Asian countries offer the challenges teachers commonly come up against just as anyone else doing business in Asia does so I can't agree or disagree that Taiwan is better than Korea. (I.e. communication errors, failed planning, last minute changes) Asia just alienates me all the way regardless of which country we're talking about. I feel it all depends on your individual situation rather than a country on judging how good of a situation you're in as any country can make your life unnecessarily rough or good, but it depends a lot of what you make of it and how you cope. They all are not home nor will you ever be a real member of any community unless it's an expat community in large centers like Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bangkok.

Maybe you like Taiwan better since you found a better situation or maybe because it's a warmer climate with a wider variety of pretty vegetation and fresh fruits to enjoy. I like these ideas about Taiwan, but not the lower pay and more responsibilities teaching for a number of private schools. Korea does offer up some good jobs that are probably the best in the teaching ESL in Asia scene, but the climate, culture, and food are substandard in my opinion which are some of the obvious sacrifices you make when coming to Korea while pay is the main sacrifice to go to other countries. You might go teach in Taiwan, but sacrifice the provided housing, flight, and some pay that Korea offers while enjoying more interesting food, people, and culture. Same for Thailand and most all other Asian countries. It's really just a matter of what you want. Warm weather most of the time with good food and low pay or cold weather most of the time with foul food and high pay. You decided and pick. I really can't judge which one is best as they all have good and bad points, but Korea offers a little more of what we broke indebted college grads need; money. To bad that money's not to be made at home as we're missing out on life by living and working alone in Asia. Too bad we can't just get these jobs at home and then travel abroad during our long vacations. I miss friends and relatives and many other things regardless of which country I'm in.

[Nowhere Man]

While I think there's definitely something to be said for not staying in one single country, I've known people who would say the opposite about Korea v. Taiwan and Korea v. China (although Japan expats don't seem to return/stay on in Korea).

But, it's really different strokes for different folks, and I think it hinges massively on how happy you are at the job you have as opposed to the country it's in.

I went through a period of house renting. Then, at the end of it when I changed countries yet again, I had so much crap that I bought to fill up the space and didn't come close to recouping the cash I'd blown on it.

Unless I'm going to hunker down for a long long time in one place, I won't be doing the house thing again anytime soon. And, it can be done in both Korea and Taiwan easily enough.

[Ya-ta Boy]