Korean Job Discussion Forums

Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida · Joined: 27 Oct 2006 Location: Not Korea

Upper middle.

samcheokguy · Joined: 02 Nov 2008 Location: Samcheok G-do

I don't know but I did go to University in Delaware, but at the white people school.
(this is a delaware joke and not a racist slur)

skinhead · Joined: 11 Jun 2004

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Dunno...

Dad was a uni senior lecturer, before that he was the under manager for a coal mine.

Mum was a music teacher with a PGCE and speaks 4 different languages.

I went to a private, boarding school and did all the *upper* class stuff, but I don't consider myself that at all.

OnTheOtherSide · Joined: 29 Feb 2008

Funny, I wouldn't imagine so many people born into money would come to Korea. I always thought this was a gig for us working class people trying to come up on cash and free travel.

Most upper-middle and upper class people I know just travel on Daddy's dime without a care in the world. Working? Forget about it.

knee-highs · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Location: yes

Only the mule-class seems obsessed with where they stand in relation to others.

The real upper-crust don't bother to compare, and the poor are too busy collecting cardboard to think about it.

AgentM · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Location: British Columbia, Canada

earthbound14 · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Location: seoul

I'm from a family of farmers, teachers, doctors, scientists...what ever. Half of my family is highly educated and successful, the other half are farmers. The succesful side pulled themselves out of the poverty of the depression while the farming family took it in the rear as family farms have been bought out and turned into big factory farms.

Class is not a concrete thing. No matter how big your name, your family history or how closely you just might be related the Rockefellers, things sometimes have a way of changing.

What ever my class might be, it's always better than the class of someone who actually thinks it matters.

Princess Soraya · Joined: 30 Oct 2008

I'm a Queen and I have evidence!

Samurai Blur · Joined: 20 Aug 2009

While I'm only 23, much of my family is quite old, as my parents didn't have me until they were in their late 40s. My dad joined a cult of a church around the time he met my mother, which forced him to leave the military (with only five years to retirement) and took half his income from the construction jobs he drifted through most of my life. My mom never really worked so it was up to my dad to provide the bread. When my parents divorced, my dad and I lived in a variety of trailer parks and the like. My mother couldn't keep me because she was mentally unstable. My family on my mother's side are almost all crazy, as far as grand parents, aunts, and uncles go, but they are all unbelievably intelligent. My cousin and I carry half their genes, and we ended up being mentally stabilized by the other half while keeping a pretty good amount of intellect from the nutter side. He and I are the only people in our family to go to college, ever. His dad owned a shoe shop and a house, while mine owned nothing, and in the end this church/cult wrecked what little stability my family had (financially). So, I grew up on the bottom of the totem pole. I mean the 'worrying about having something to eat next month' bottom.
I think I'm doing alright for myself right now. I'm 23 and still have two years of college left because I've had to work my way through and pay for most of it on my own (the government hasn't been so quick to give me any help), but I'm happier than I have ever been, living in a trailer eating ramen and bologna sandwiches, because now I have the money (and some loans) to pay for the rest of my school. One day I can get out of here and not have to struggle anymore.

As far as how I was treated in Korea. I manage to conduct myself like I'm from a decent social class so no one in Korea ever questioned that, other than my girlfriend's family who was pretty impressed when I told them that I've been providing for myself since the age of 16, and am paying for my education out of pocket... my own pocket.
With the way I conduct myself in public and the way I dress you would probably think of me as upper middle class (with my neutral accent here in Texas and my clean hand me down clothes from close friends that grew up in the rich neighborhoods around here), but that my friends is only an illusion.

madoka · Joined: 27 Mar 2008

typo · Joined: 16 Jun 2009

UknowsI · Joined: 16 Apr 2009

Acting like an upper class person is very much a double edges sword. Lots of people will admire you for it and you will get plenty of upper class friends. But from what I can see it also make it much harder to make friends from different backgrounds. Most of the people I went to high school with still hang out with the same clique as back then, while people who didn't show as much "class" would in a much more frequently join new social circles and make a more diverse group of friends. I think I could talk about this for ages, but I will stop here.