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| Overall your experiences (people, food, tourism, job, living) have been.... |
| A Paradise on earth and I'm never going to leave |
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7% |
[ 3 ] |
| A- Awesome experience with little to no troubles |
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15% |
[ 6 ] |
| B+ Very good times to be had with some bumps |
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47% |
[ 19 ] |
| B/B- Good experience but questionable |
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20% |
[ 8 ] |
| C OK gig but wouldn't really recommend it to others |
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5% |
[ 2 ] |
| D Bad experience, don't like much about it |
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5% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 40 |
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afsjesse
Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town.
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 Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:45 pm Post subject: How many of you are middle-of-the-road teachers? |
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I'm nearing the end of my ESL stint and over the past two years have read so many stories about how much people love korea and hate it. There rarely seems to be any middle ground when it comes to this place.
Hardly have I read a post where someone says "my job isn't the best but I really enjoy the culture and the food and overall it's a pretty sweet place" or something to that effect. But many teachers I meet would fit that scenario.
So I'm just curious as to how all of you would rate your overall experience here in Dynamic and Sparkling Korea?
For me, i'm right in the middle. The jobs haven't been particularly great but the lifestyle and interaction with people, culture and food have been amazing. I'd give it a B+ overall. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| People who see only great things in Korea and people who see only bad things in Korea are usually they type best avoided. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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I've had generally a great time in Korea for the last 9 years.
The only bumps have been idiotic employers who don't know/don't care about education............and the continuing rip-off that is imported goods in Korea.
Apart from those and some other minor niggles.......I still like it here. |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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Everything is awesome and a blast....good job, excellent pay(far above the average), good hours, great location and I get into the best clubs for free every weekend...plenty of friends and crazy events/adventures every week.
Language is also fun to learn....what's not to love. |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Why do I have to have an opinion like this? Why do I have to live it, or hate it, or meh it? A job is a job and a site is a site. Working for a living sucks, but until you can stop, you have to go where the job is.
I just work here. There's no option in your poll for that. |
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afsjesse
Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
Why do I have to have an opinion like this? Why do I have to live it, or hate it, or meh it? A job is a job and a site is a site. Working for a living sucks, but until you can stop, you have to go where the job is.
I just work here. There's no option in your poll for that. |
Why do you have to have an opinion like this? Let's break this down. All living organisms are classified into familes, groups, species etc.... we are known as Homosapiens or Human Beings. Most people would agree that humans feel things. If I hit you, it hurts and makes you angry. A pretty girl smiles at you, you like it and it makes you happy. Etc...
Now, because we have feelings we inevitably have preferences, thoughts and opinions of things. For example, today is very hot and humid. I'm sweating my toosh off in school and am not liking it. So I don't like it that much.
Why do you have to have an opinion? Because unless you're Darth Vader and are 3/4 machine you must feel something about this place you've chosen to come to. |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| afsjesse wrote: |
| So you're a mindless drone with no thoughts for yourself about your current condition? Sorry, can't help you there as there's no option that would suit you as I am asking for a little critical thinking to be done. |
Critical thinking leads me to not have to quantify every aspect of my life. I don't require a higher purpose or meaning, and I don't need to judge or give a grade to everything I do. Does just not worrying about it make me mindless? I just don't think about it. This could be Rotterdam or anywhere.
Last edited by Straphanger on Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| afsjesse wrote: |
| Why do you have to have an opinion? Because unless you're Darth Vader and are 3/4 machine you must feel something about this place you've chosen to come to. |
Darth Vader had feelings . . . |
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afsjesse
Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| afsjesse wrote: |
| Why do you have to have an opinion? Because unless you're Darth Vader and are 3/4 machine you must feel something about this place you've chosen to come to. |
Darth Vader had feelings . . . |
indeed he did!  |
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harlowethrombey
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| afsjesse wrote: |
| Why do you have to have an opinion? Because unless you're Darth Vader and are 3/4 machine you must feel something about this place you've chosen to come to. |
Darth Vader had feelings . . . |
Yeah, it turns out he was more emo than his son.
C3PO and R2D2 had feelings, too.
Also, Crow and Tom Servo and the effiminate robot from that atrocious Will Smith movie. |
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afsjesse
Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
| afsjesse wrote: |
| So you're a mindless drone with no thoughts for yourself about your current condition? Sorry, can't help you there as there's no option that would suit you as I am asking for a little critical thinking to be done. |
Critical thinking leads me to not have to quantify every aspect of my life. I don't require a higher purpose or meaning, and I don't need to judge or give a grade to everything I do. Does just not worrying about it make me mindless? I just don't think about it. This could be Rotterdam or anywhere. |
And I'm not asking you to quantify everything that you do in your life. It's a simple question about what you think of Korea. I didn't know this was a hard SAT question... |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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| afsjesse wrote: |
| Straphanger wrote: |
| afsjesse wrote: |
| So you're a mindless drone with no thoughts for yourself about your current condition? Sorry, can't help you there as there's no option that would suit you as I am asking for a little critical thinking to be done. |
Critical thinking leads me to not have to quantify every aspect of my life. I don't require a higher purpose or meaning, and I don't need to judge or give a grade to everything I do. Does just not worrying about it make me mindless? I just don't think about it. This could be Rotterdam or anywhere. |
And I'm not asking you to quantify everything that you do in your life. It's a simple question about what you think of Korea. I didn't know this was a hard SAT question... |
I'm here on a job. I have no opinion of the site. |
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Daegu3523
Joined: 23 Oct 2008
Location: Daegu, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I voted B+. I'm in my last 2 months here and overall it has been a great experience. If I stayed for a 2nd year I think things would start to get to me though. |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| I am rapidly sliding down that scale. Accordingly, I'm leaving. |
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Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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Been up and down.
First 6 months was really tough, had a terrible hagwon gig, got out of it and was unemployed for 6 weeks while waiting for my PS job (PS's aren't hiring mid-January).
Next 6months was great, had a cool job, met a great girl and really explored Korea, easily the time of my life.
Next 6 months was Good, the novelty of Korea had worn off, and I kind of realised I was over teaching, but the school was good, I knew the ropes and I made the best of it. Things were going great with the GF.
Last 4 months... Have been pretty crap, when I decided to re-sign at my school, I was 50/50 on whether I wanted to stay or not, having the GF swung it in favour of staying. My co-teacher changed for the worse, and I'm pretty fed up with teaching. Additionally, I've been getting sick quite often, and I've reached the point where I'm sick of being an outsider (getting refused banking, cellphone etc services because "I'm a foreigner") and trying to get anything done is a hassle because of the language barrier (Why don't I learn Korean...well I tried - Poet13's post in another thread summed up my experiences). 8 months to go, and I'm hoping it picks up. If it wasn't for my GF, I would have handed in my notice already.
So what am I? For extended periods of time I've been a D, an A+ an A- and probably C-. |
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