Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itaewonguy]

So you packed your bags and headed to the orient for something very unique. you ended up in korea teaching English but still you are over here in Asia doing something and living somewhere really bizaar and different.
well in theory anyway.. so what is the true korean experience?
Come here climb mount sorak, eat Kimchi, shagg a korean, drink Soju, eat dog, check out a few temples blar blar???

So guys what is the true korean experience for you..

For me.. It was, WOW, ASIA!!
come over, check out the big neon lights like you see in the movies.. eat the local food, in small dodgy street , Pojungmachas ..
shagg some of the local girls.. drink the poison and be korean for a time.
have I lived it? have I experienced the korean experience?
I think in the beginning I was doing it.. but then work kinda took over. and I got to used to it... maybe its time to hit a new country..

so people.. what is the experience for you?


P.S. korea can be the asian experience too.. of course vietnam, cambodia, thailand, seems the more asian experience..

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

Much like you said dude.

For me the initial weirness was the language and just the look of the all the street signs, it's such a concrete reminder you are somewhere totally different. Then you actually here them speak it, and you are even more certain you ain't in Kansas anymore. At first everything is difficult, ordering food, getting a taxi, buying stuff, getting your pc fixed, having cable installed. Without a Korean friend all the basic activities of living become a challenge because of the language. I also think Hagwon teaching hits you pretty hard even if you are a teacher back home. The thirty hours in the classroom can be a bit draining at first, but you quickly get used to that. Then there's the food, so different and bizzare, but if you like it it's a great adventure, even if you do crave western every now and then. Then there's the night culture, the drinking dating thing. It's all different, and you've got to learn the ropes. Then there's the other teachers, some just hang out only with other teachers, some 'go native' and won't speak to other whities. Then there's the girls, so different, hard to crack that game for a while, then you learn the ropes and realise they are not quite as pure and chaste as they want you to think, it's just a totally different process to get in their pants, but it can be done. Then you hang out with them some more and either really get hooked on the k girl style or it starts to totally annoy you. Then there's the proximity to Thailand and the disposable income that allows you to get around a bit and do some cool travelling. Then there's learning the language if you decide to go that way. Then there's the whole 'privates' experience if you want to take that on. Then there's racism and rudeness and possibly being ripped off by your boss.

On the whole I think you have to work to stay socially connected, as Korea can isolate foriegners into their little ruts if you don't watch out. I've been through stages for several months of just coming home after work and not wanting to face the world of people, so I just dive into a DVD and an ordered in pizza or spend hours making funked up grooves on my synth. I'm back out in the world again now, but it can get pretty lonely if you let it happen.

[ThreeDogNight]

You'll find out in my next post why I came to Korea. But I'll tell you this:

The image I had of Korea before I came here was one of neon lights, glamor and glitz, and pretty girls. I didn't foresee the shabbiness and hollow feeling I get here in the rather stark and dank city streets.

To me the gist of it all is just being in a foreign land, plain and simple, and that in "a land so far away from your own." It always allured me. Living abroad is what excites me, somewhat like Hemingway or some kind of explorer. It's more challenging and exciting living in a country other than your own.

In another sense, the "real" Korean experience, I would gather, would be learning how to combine the experience here with something greater, something more permanent. It would be to become Asian, which I cannot do.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

In a smaller city, walking through the open air food markets on a weekend can really give you a dose of "Korean flavour" that is very vivid.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

You're dead!

[TheUrbanMyth]

[rapier]

Itaewonguy: my idea of the korean experience is much the same as yours I guess, but I'm lucky to have a good hobby (birdwatching) which takes me periodically to the four corners of the country, out of the way rural places, islands, and the few remaining little-known areas of natural beauty in Korea. And its a hobby I never tire of- so whichever country I find myself in, its an ongoing interest...
On the rest of korea's attractions, I guess i feel a bit like you- a bit jaded and bored, and a realisation of certain things missing in the culture and life here...probably time to head to another country as well- but I'm not sure wether to keep Korea as my convenient money-making bas while I travel the world in my breaks, or wether to adopt a whole new country as my semi-permanent base, such as Japan.
A move to a new Country would be stimulating I know, but would also be costly, and involve starting from square one all over again....HMmmm

[OiGirl]

Sit/sleep on the floor, eat kimchee and rice with chopsticks, spend a few hours in the PC Bang everyday, hold hands with my girlfriends in public, go to the bathhouse, eat ddok, have coffee or green tea after every meal.

I love it, I do!

[osangrl]

actually ur suppose to eat rice with a spoon.

[OiGirl]

[Corporal]

Marrying a Korean is the true Korean experience.

[osangrl]

[Corporal]

[anae]