Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Char777]

This place is one big nightmare. Firstly I was met at the hotel by 4 drunk education officers and one kept commenting about my age.
Then I was put in a isolated rural area. No one here speaks English and the only other foreigner is twenty minutes away on a bicycle.
My first weekend here I was dumped in an apartment alone with no means of communication, no radio, no TV, no working cell phone. I nearly went insane and by Monday, I was a basket case. I told my co-teacher I want to go home and she said they can put me in prison if I do not pay back the money I owe the education department.
I have been told how to eat my food, how much food to eat, which way to turn my tray (I am 49 years old). I have been ignored, not greeted, spoken about and laughed at in the cafeteria. My schedule gets changed but I am not told. I luckily find the new schedule lying somewhere on my table.
How would a Korean feel if they were sent to a strange country and culture and put in an isolated place with no other Korean to communicate with and then ignored and laughed at if they did not behave the way someone wanted them to behave.
No wonder people here do midnight flips. I TRULY DESPISE THIS PLACE. I just want to go home.

[E_athlete]

I've only been on this site for a week or 2 but this has to be my favorite post thus far.

Just calm down for a bit, everything will be okay. Please tell me more about yourself. Where you are from for starters and why you decided to teach in Korea.

[TheUrbanMyth]

If you want to go home why not go to the airport and buy a ticket on the weekend?

[afsjesse]

Step 1: BREATH

Step 2: Repeat as long as necessary....

Seriously i'm in the same scenario as you. People telling you how to eat is normal here, don't take offense to it. If you just arrived, give your school a couple weeks to get associated with you. They're probably just as confused on what to do as you are. Ask your co-teacher to get you cable and help you to get a cell phone.

Relax and welcome to Korea!!

[PatrickBateman]

make a thread about it.

[E_athlete]

how exactly do they tell you how to eat?

[climber159]

Wow, you've been here less than a week and you're ready to call it quits? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that your expectations were unrealistic. That said, you are dealing with the EXACT same problems that most other teachers here deal with (the last-minute schedule changing business really bothers me too). I suggest you head into the nearest big city next weekend and introduce yourself to some other foreigners at a bar or coffee shop. While you're at it, make sure you have something to occupy your free time (instrument, books, movies, video games, bicycle, etc.) as it sounds as though you're in the sticks.

[Surfer Rosa]

Okay, here's what you do.

Head into town and walk into the first place you see with two spinning barber poles. Give the adjumma or adjoshi 100,000 won for a special "masageee". Drink some soju outside of a Family Mart then go home and pass out. You'll feel better in the morning.

[Zulethe]

Hey mate. Didn't you get the memo? The ESL program you are in is just a front to a secret society that attracts foreign teachers here to isolate them and break them down. The thinking is that eventually you will be encultured into the only "true" way and you will eventually bring this new found truth back to your home and the truth will spread like wild fire.

Just don't fight it. It'll be much less painful

[yingwenlaoshi]

Post of the year!

[Goku]

I can tell you are having a hard time in Korea thus far. And I do have sympathy for this issue you have. It's not easy. especially your situation.

You have to adapt to the culture. You are 49 so there are no, ifs, ands, or butts.

Please sir, understand that if you're not with the group, you're out of the group.

It's just like highschool, if you want to get along with atheletes, you play a sport. If you want hang out with go-getters, you pick up a book.

Here in Korea, they want you to eat and drink a certain way, yes it's manners. It's THEIR manner system. Truly think of the reverse. Imagine a Korean going to your home country and spitting on the floors. That's gross and impolite right?

Well your eating etiquette here is just as reflective. You put your soup bowl on the right side and your rice on the left. If you were a jock in high school then you know to fit in you gotta wear the varsity jacket. Doesn't matter if it's 80 degrees fareinheit, you do it to fit in.

Look all your other stuff is fluff. TV and radio... those are luxuries not nessities. Your happiness is determined by how you get along with people. I can see that the other stuff is annoying and terrible. I wouldn't want to be in your position. You have the right to complain. Truly you do, but buddy turn that F***ing frown upside down.

You're probably dealing a lot with the lack of respect and not fitting in. It's tough I know. You're older so that doesn't help much. You just have to "try" to fit in.

Take interest in the language and cultural things. Everyone will love you for it.

Some of my co-workers BARELY speak English. They like to talk about food, and what the names are. Frankly, I could probably fall asleep at some of the stuff, but if you act interested in what they have to say, they'll like you. I'm like "WOW Denjan Chigae? Is that the same denjan I eat for samgyup sal? WOW I didnt know." -__-

It's social skills. Just listen to them, don't publicly complain ever and you'll be fine.

Seriously. the most productive thing you can do is to have everyone be on your side, don't be another "I go home and cry to mommy" types.

Man up. Get these people to like you. I'm sure you can do it. You need some tough love buddy.

[Adobe]

Relax...most of what you described is normal.
1) Schedule changes
2) Being treated like a lost child(even though you say you are 49)
3) Dumped alone for the weekend....

Find a hobby to keep yourself occupied during the week. Escape to a bigger city on the weekends. But really relax...it sounds like you are far too wound up over what are relatively little things. Take a deep breath

Life in the sticks ain't easy but it is what you make of it.
Adobe

[asams]

대한민국만세

that is all

[kasain]

You say you are in a small town. What town are you in? We may all get together and come have a party at your place.

P.S. Things do get better after 30 days and a 1st paycheck.

[Char777]

In response:
I don't need soju to pass out as I don't have textbooks or a syllabus so I spend 12 or 13 hours a day working my backside off, to make lessons. I pass out from being tired. (Plus my computer is so slow that I sometimes wait 10 minutes for a page to open).
I have been here 5 WEEKS and came with no expectations. I was in Thailand and Bali earlier in the year so I have had some experience.
I finally got the Internet and a TV set but TV's don't hug so good. Human contact with someone I can actually talk to, would be very nice. Perhaps the farming implements next door to my apartment would be more forthcoming.
I cannot ask my co-teacher anything cause SHE WON'T TALK TO ME.
They tell me not to cover my rice with other food, eat this, eat that, you eat too little. Turn your tray around. "IT'S NOT GOOD WAY..."
Did you not read the part where I said that if I had the money, I would go home. But I don't have the money right now. And with a threat of being put in jail, well...