Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

It occured to me twice... and nearly a third time. Can be hard to break patterns of behaviour when you're 23- eg squandering money, quitting jobs easily and not planning ahead.

Have to say those times I probably felt more alive than others. Survival instinct kicks in. Sure i robbed, even from people I knew: I took other peoples stuff and sold it: I borrowed cash and never returned it: I stole food out of peoples houses..I came close to mugging old ladies: slept under cardboard and newspaper, snuck into large buildings and slept there...and so on. Ultimately took any job I could find- washing dishes, waiting tables or cleaning.. ( just getting a shirt and finding a way to get it ironed for interviews was a mission)... then took what I needed out the til until I got financially even.

Fact i learned was...nobody wants anything to do with someone who has nothing. Nobody! To get out of that scenario you had to disguise the fact that you were desperate. The other fact in the west at least is that you're expected to be independent, and even family washes their hands of you if they see you've wasted what you had and have caused your own predicament. Scary times.

Which is why I often give cash to homeless people... because nobody whatsoever cares about them.

[ChopChaeJoe]

I was amongst the working homeless back in the 90's. Resisting the urge to drink was tough. I slept first at friends, then in a storage unit, then in libraries, the back yards of friends (you burn through friends pretty fast), parks, even once in a ditch. I was able to get most of my food from soup kitchens and churches. I went to a pizza buffet once and filled my bag with slices, left them in the fridge at work -- lasted a week. I showered and shaved daily at the public pool -- I had to keep a neat appearence to keep working. I got a free email account on yahoo, which i still use, to stay in touch with people.

Mostly, i just reminded myself that this too would pass. Amazing how quickly friends stopped helping....


I guess i could have moved back in with mom and dad. A few more weeks and I'm sure I would have.

[maddog]

[ChopChaeJoe]

I hate to go negative. But that's moronic. Freedom is more valuable than having to eat bad food and sleep rough. I'd go stark raving mad in jail. i can barely stand a four hour bus ride.

[Whirlwind]

I've survived being homeless several times. You name the situation and I've probably been in it. I've been working poor(low wage jobs), welfare, food stamps, living off food pantries, shoplifting, living in seedy cheap motels, living in my car and finally, living on the streets. As another poster stated and he's completely 100% right...noboby gives a *beep* about you and you feel it every single day. You also feel frustration and fucking desperation every single day. For me, the psychological aspect of being homeless was the worst part. Down and completely out. You learn to live on nothing. Even now, material items mean little to me. I could care less about having a big screen tv or expensive clothes. People also mentioned that it builds character and again, that is 100% on the mark. You can learn to adapt to any situation. I laugh at people who consider teaching in Korea as real work...this isn't real work. It is piss easy and we are overpaid for what we do. My beef is that I am simply tired of Korea. The work? Simple and easy, so much so that it is laughable.

For those that say that it can never happen to you...I've got news...it can. It can happen very easily and it can happen when you least expect it. And another tip: If you do get to be homeless in the future, make sure and pick a WARM place to do it. I lived out of my car in South Dakota for two months. In the winter. Let me tell you, a sleeping bag doesn't make much of a difference. That cold surrounds you and it sucks. It would have been a lot easier to have done it in a place like Florida or something.

Luckily, I've only been homeless for a few months at a time. I've never done the years that some people do. That is a tough life. Pray for those that are in that situation.

[Cheonmunka]

I was taken to another country by my parents on a working holiday staying in caravan parks, but they were splitting up so it was yucky. I worked at a supermarket then got just enough together for an airfare (cheapish back then) then split back to my own country. I was 15. From there, it was hard at times. Hard to get a decent wage, and hard to pay the rent. But, I lived absolutely frugally, through no other choice ...
It got really bad in the early nineties. I met a lot of strange people through the horrible jobs that I did. I think that is the hard part about poverty is that at times you cannot choose to be there or not, you have to work, even though it is terrible and some of the people borderline. Without job security one tens to camp out quite a bit going from place to place.
Finally I thought, 'Who are these young people like me driving around and enjoying life?" I heard from several people that you had to get a degree to get decent money. I enrolled in a foundation course at uni. What a difference. I bought some new clothes for the first time in years because student job search allowed a student to get quick money. I worked six nights a week in the restaurants. I was earning more as a student than as a regular fulltime worker. I got a higher rate of pay as a student than the award wages as a laborer ... I started studying Korean among other things and started meeting well-off people. One thing, there was a really wealthy and beautiful woman I vaguely knew. I told her I was s tudent now. She came up to me and gave me a great kiss! Wow, obviously I had done something right.
A few years later, I left my keys (and my wallet) locked in my downtown apartment. Management was out for the rest of the night. I went down to the wharves, and sat outside a cafe near the wharf. I met some homeless people sitting around - some young guys and gals. I showed them something I had done in my desperate times. I got some zigzag papers. I found all around us half-smoked ciggarettes. I taught the young fellas how to unravel and get the good tobacco and make yourself fresh smokes - for free basically. They were stoked, really happy. Free smokes! The taste is fine, and it's not as dirty as people may think.
Smoking is dirty in itself but.
I had a good night that night. Next morning got entry to my apartment and that was the last time, and hopefully was the last, I have needed to sleep out.

[nizpaz]

I used to walk past this old homeless lady in Spain. When I looked at her face she had real quality about her, an air of class. She always intrigued me. I'd see her sitting on the bench reading books she'd found, or a dirty newspaper.

It got me thinking about that invisible line. How life had been for her and how she'd ended up on the streets. What had made her cross it? How is she different from me? Could that ever be me?

I've always been quite hard about scally types living rough expecting the world to owe them a living. As many posters have said, in western societies there are many avenues of help. But this lady really got me thinking.

Our world is a tough world. I'm sure many of us have been in downward spins. Crossing that line is giving up on it. At what point in the spiral, is the point of no return?

[girlcabbie]

I lived out of my short bus/RV with my dog for 6 months on the street in Portland. I guess you could say I was halfway homeless. I had a comfortable bed, a table, and my vehicle blended in (it actually ran, was clean, etc.). With a dog I didn't have to worry about being robbed.

I just got sick of bad roommate after bad roommate, coming home and feeling unsafe, etc. I wasn't mentally ill, on drugs, an alcoholic, or lazy. I actually felt safer in that bus. I actually worked more days a week because I didn't have a tv or other distractions. It was actually a little spendy being homeless because you have to pay to use bathrooms, and I didn't have anywhere to store perishable food. I showered daily at my gym (got a lot more exercise than ever!), used cafes and coffee shops for bathrooms, ate all my meals at restaurants. On my nights off, I'd drive out to the Gorge and stay at campgrounds. Sometimes parked at rest areas on the truck side.

[D.D.]

sorry double post

[D.D.]

I was homeless in Aus. I arrived in Cairnes and my money did not arrive from a transfer from back home. I went to a backpackers and they gave me a room and some coupons to a bar that gave a free meal.

I found out later that my parents did not send any cash as they were sick of be bumming money and not settling down.

The next day I hitched a ride out to a place where there was avocado farms and was lucky to find work. Two week later I was offered a good job in Adelaide which is quite far away. I was just honest with them and they sent a relocation package.

Four months later I bought a business from a lady on a monthly no interest payment each month. I t was a ggod business and I was earning a big 6 figure salary.

So I went from homeless to 6 figures within 6 months. Three years later I sold that business and lived like a king in China for three years.

Now I am here in Korea and broke again. Life is an adventure for those that don't cling to the boulders in the river.

People say I was nuts to give up a great business but I would not trade my time in China for anything.

Life has always supported me and I think it supports almost anybody.

I learned when you are down you can't be too proud and need to accept help from people. In turn when you are up make sure that you pick up hitchers and offer people a hand.

[Tiger Beer]

I have certainly entertained the idea. If I were to be homeless, I would choose a good U.S. state like HAWAII or Southern California.

Seems easiest if you are able to shower by using the showers near public beaches. I'd hit up the Public Library and hangout there most of the day. I think the most difficult part is WHERE to sleep at night, but I think you would have a lot of time to stake it out to find a place you're okay with.

[jajdude]

Good stories. I like how they put things in perspective.

[Draz]

[beast]

I survived for a year in a bad country living without any money. Sleeping on the park bench and eating rotting fruit out of the garbage can. Not as a tree hugging backpacker, but as a guy who had not a dime to his name and no help from his family. It's not fun. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't look back upon the experience as being something cool. I look back and say, what an idiot I was.

[Whirlwind]

You hit the nail on the head, Tiger Beer. If I knew I was going to be homeless again, I would save what money I had and move to a nice warm(preferably tropical) place. For me, it would either be Hawaii or the US Virgin Islands.