Korean Job Discussion Forums

postfundie · Joined: 28 May 2004

get an old cardboard box and put it next to the laundry machine. put dirty socks in the box together. stop wondering why socks always get lost or one of them disappears. use the box and keep your socks together.

when studying for a finance test take more time to review practice questions.

travel zen · Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Location: Good old Toronto, Canada

merlot · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:28 pm Post subject:

Go ahead, as planned, and do Korea for a year. check

Go back and take a nice long vacation in the states and visit all your friends and fanily in Texas and Florida. check

Absolutely, take that dream job in real estate in Costa Rica. check

But for chirst's sake ,don't blow over $100k partying like a rock star in Central America in less than two years...moron. check

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

2003....I would have said...ahh...nevermind, I think I'm on a better path now.

merlot · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

Interesting to reflect on past decisions�like major ones--like dramatic international moves, and how things would be differently now, had even one of those decisions been sent to the Recycle Bin.

It�s an awful clich�, but we truly do need to be careful what we wish for�for we may very well find ourselves in that very place.

In the two years + since I moved from Korea to Central America, I have found myself in a twenty-first floor luxury apartment overlooking the Pacific Ocean as well as the unbelievable skyline of Panama City, with a great real estate job in the world�s second fastest growing economy (second only to China; source: United Nations� Economic Intelligence Unit).

But, it�s sort of a �plastic lifestyle.�

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgoGIv-SQNQ

So, I�ve been having radical thoughts about escaping the proverbial rat race and finding one of the indigenous tribes here in Panama and convincing them to let me live with them for a year, just as they do, and writing a book about the experience�no cameras, no cell phone, no computer�just pen and paper.

Following is an interesting read about the various native cultures here. I�m not so sure which tribe I would fit in with the best.

http://www.enjoypanama.com/culture.htm

The imagery produced by thought of pursuing this project, however, has sent my center into the mind�s den of spontaneous inspiration as a sort of internal defense mechanism correlating with the perception of my overall well-being.

China automatically appeared on the short list as a viable compromise (duly taking into consideration the "shock value" devaluation hatched from the contrast between subways and dug-out canoes) bringing me to fully disclose my fondness of running water.
.
But to backup three seconds and recapture the theme of the OP--"What advice would you give yourself five years ago?" I would have to say this is etched deeply in the non-regret category in my personal wanderings on this ball of mud that seems more and more quicksand-ish lately:

http://www.yobonanza.com/JaysKoreaStory.html

sojourner1 · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject:

If you already have bachelors, go to Korea. If not go to a cheap school for a bachelors in an easy major.

Don't take on too much debt; stay within your means even it means going to the cheapest university or Christian college if you don't have a college fund or parents helping you. A bachelors is just a bachelors today unless a high profile ivy league school. It wasn't worth it for me to spend $40,000 more on an expensive and very challenging competitive large state university program compared to a lower cost smaller school that pell grants and veteran benefits would had fully covered. That $40,000 student loan just didn't get me $40,000 more of a job than any other bachelors degree would had and now I'm saddled like a small jackass with a big 400 pound rider.

Just get a degree, regardless where, and get good grades. Heck small lower profile schools are probably easier on grading and level of academic challenge. I made all A's with a few A- in a small community college for my 2 year degree, but only a 2.7 at a large university as it was brutal academics and competitive selection for who gets the few good grades allowed.

Think small and within your means when starting out and going...

DoubleRS · Joined: 13 Oct 2008

In 2003 I had just graduated high school and was on my way to San Francisco for college. I would have told myself to get rid of the giant case of Tunnel Vision I had and to expand my horizons more quickly. I went from super-religious Orange County to ultra-liberal SF. Looking back I was happy I made that decision because I am such a better person for the changes I've gone through. But, I know I held on to such asinine beliefs for so long...