Korean Job Discussion Forums

[OnTheOtherSide]

Many of you have holier than thou attitudes towards all the newcomers here. Many of you think that nobody can be happy in Korea. You think that any happiness somebody finds here must be the effect of a "honeymoon phase" or that the person must be crazy to like it here.

You all suck. Some people can make a good life here in Korea. Personally, I am liking it here and it's not a honeymoon phase. I like it here because I happen to live in a great neighborhood. There are lots of fun things to do. There is beautiful nature a bike ride away. Every day golden opportunities are out there for the taking.

Go out there and find happiness. Korea is NOT so bad that it should make a person miserable, in spite of it's imperfections. If you can't find happiness in Korea, why are you staying for multiple contracts? Why didn't you leave when the first contract was up?

"A very wise and powerful man can find peace and enlightentment in days or hours. But a fool, he can be shown every secret and given all the help he needs, and he will remain a fool for his entire lifetime."

[yingwenlaoshi]

Enjoy your honeymoon.

[EzeWong]

I completely agree with you. Good and Bad is only in the eye of the beholder. Be happy with what you have... because it's the only thing you have (lol sounds like a zen proverb).

I'm with you Ontheotherside. I'm sick of the "veterans" complaining on here. I'm beginning to think its a conspiracy to protect their jobs in korea. pretending it sucks so bad so newbies won't come over. Why are they still here if it sucks so bad?

On another note for the "newbies". During EPIK orientation they warned us about dave's esl cafe and about all the negative posts. Take a lot of the negative stuff here with a grain of salt. You only get 1 year here, which is honestly is a very short time if you're having fun.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[OnTheOtherSide]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[OnTheOtherSide]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Starla]

I like this topic. I was given numerous warnings about Korea from people on here as well as in my own life. Kinda had me doubtful for a moment. I'm glad I visited the place before that to make my own judgments because otherwise, I would have listened to these people...most of whom I've never met and will probably never meet in my life.

I read the negative complaints every day and I can see some are symptomatic of culture shock or serious work-related issues but for the rest, I see the same negative things going on in the city I live in now. These I regard as urban issues...shoving, rudeness, garbage, noise, etc. which I'm already familiar with and accustomed to. But they make it sound like it's only in Korea. Please.

Either way, I'll be in Korea at the end of this month. I don't know if I'll love it or hate it or somewhere in between in the long run but I'll come there with an open mind and continue to make my judgments myself.

I have a friend who has been in Korea for months and she's loving it. She's a pleasant person to be around and has a good attitude. The rest I regard as toxic and depressed personalities and these people I avoid in my day to day life. They don't want others to be happier than they are so they try to spread their misery instead.

[wylies99]

OP, you're more lucky than good, at this point. Instead of being so arrogant you should count your lucky stars.

If your first job is good then that makes it much better. Many, if not most, teachers start with bad jobs that can create a nightmarish living situation.

[peppermint]

So, OP, I take it things have improved a lot in the last three weeks?

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=131963&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sorry if that came out snooty, but I thought you got a lot of encouragement to stay on that thread and now you're sneering at everyone who's been around a while and vents when they have a bad day (like you did on that thread) Korea in and of itself isn't good or evil, it's just another place on the globe.

[kingplaya4]

Making the assumption that you came to Korea around the time you registered, it just seems rediculous when newbies castigate the veterans for their complaints. I think someone should at least have completed one contract before they have any credibility.

Do you speak Korean? Ok, many of us veterans don't speak that well either. But how many Koreans have you interacted with beyond surface conversations in English?

Maybe you got lucky and were placed in a brilliant school, but it doesn't invalidate others experiences at their respective schools. If you went on vacation somewhere and had a wonderful time, could you try to lecture someone who had lived there ten years? Unless your school is really horrible, the first couple of months should be almost like a vacation with everything being new.

Another point is that not all veterans think the way you say they do. A minority post here, and of those some that may sound dissatisfied only post when they've had a problem come up. Not many people are interested in hearing, "Hey I had a great month this month, no problems here at all."

And just because we are criticizing Korea doesn't mean we think our home countries are free from problems. In my opinion, the whole "love it or leave it" has been a large factor in why the US has begun its slide down from being the place everyone wanted to go. I've made a couple of posts in Korean forums that were critical and I was surprised to get some pm's thanking me and agreeing with some of my points. Koreans read this forum and perhaps the criticisms could help things change.

[Golem]

My first job was awful. I got very ill andhad to go the hospital for surgery to remove my tonsils buy my Hagwon wouldnt let me, I quit and my Hagwon made a false complaint against me that led to me being blacklisted. Because I had the medical evidence the next Hagwon owner who wanted to hire me was able to get me un-blacklisted.
In the end I a glad I stuck it out. This country isn't perfect but I prefer living and working here to living in the US and Canada.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I think the OP is misinterpreting some of the remarks on the other thread. I also think some of the remarks could have been worded better.

I don't think there is anything wrong with mentioning the honeymoon phase because it is real and is almost always followed by a depression phase that breaks many people.

There are plenty of posters who revel in their negativity and it's been at a higher level on this board, in my opinion, than is usual for the last several months--and I've been criticized for saying so. Much of it comes from culture shock. When someone denies they have had it, I want to ask them, "So your crabbiness, irritability and verbal aggression are a natural part of your everyday personality for months on end? I hope that's pleasant for you." It's more likely they are perfectly OK people who haven't found a constructive coping mechanism that comes from the low level tension and stress that comes with living and working in a foreign country.

There are also some seriously dysfunctional people around. Just check the Freakiest Waygook thread for page after page of stories. Some of the people who post here are candidates for that thread.

I do agree with the OP that people should be careful how they respond to people in the honeymoon phase. Those first few months are a terrific experience and I know I'd love to have that euphoric feeling again. The good news is that once it is over, and the depression phase is over, a perfectly happy life can be found here with lots of terrific experiences and memories. But just like life anywhere, those experiences come with spurts of boring routine life and aggravating, upsetting times mixed in.