Korean Job Discussion Forums

[redaxe]

I grew up in a somewhat affluent suburb of Seattle and my high school was about 20-25% Asian-American. Within the Asians there was a pretty diverse mix of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Viet, Filipino, but all those ethnic groups had some people who were more "FOB" and some people who were more assimilated.

Obviously most of the more FOB ones had only Asian friends and got ignored by the white kids, while the more "whitewashed" Asian kids had more white friends. And I'd say out of those groups the Koreans tended to be the most "FOB" while the Japanese were the most assimilated, and the Chinese and others were somewhere in between. There are historical reasons for this; most of the Japanese immigrants came pre-WWII and they did not even really teach their children Japanese, they tried hard to assimilate. Whereas the Koreans are all much more recent immigrants.

Anyhow, basically the white people at my high school were never uncomfortable being around Asians, and there was very little tension or conflict. Sometimes we made fun of them for driving those tuned up "rice rocket" Hondas, but lots of us drove those things too. And there was a lot of interracial dating going on. Mostly white male/Asian female of course, but I also knew quite a few Asian guys with white girlfriends.

So in my experience, there was a lot of integrating and assimilating going on between white and Asian kids. And in my community there were also a lot of Asian-American politicians, and they got a big chunk of the white vote. I also don't think Asians face very much, if any, discrimination when applying for jobs. I don't know why Asians seem much more integrated in Seattle compared to some other places where they are more segregated; perhaps it's an economic thing? Seattle's a pretty young city that's mostly white collar, and the "working-class" population is pretty small.

[lichtarbeiter]

9 reasons why I left Korea:

1) Missed friends/family in Canada.

2) I don't want live a Korean lifestyle my entire life. I want to have a family with a normal 2-story house and nice backyard, not an apartment in a concrete block. I want to get off work at 5 and come home and have dinner, not work until 7 or 8 and then go pound soju with my co-workers.

3) Korea is too culturally homogenous. There seems to be a lack of selection of anything international here, whether it's food, alcohol, cars, you name it. If I'm craving Greek food, I don't want to take an hour bus ride into Seoul.

4) I find Korean cities to be ugly and lacking in architectural creativity. Maybe this is nitpicking, but your visual environment has a major effect on your mood.

5) While I never really had any particularly bad experiences with Korean people, I did find them, in general, to lack the openmindedness towards other cultures that you see in Canada and the US. Also, too many of them seem to have that "I don't want to learn English because I'm in Korea" attitude, whereas in other countries (especially in Europe) people understand the importance of being competent in the world language in this current age of globalization. It's not that I think people should learn my language so they can accomodate ME, it's just that I think everyone should be able to communicate in the world language - if that language was Korean, I would gladly bust my hump studying it. Also, Koreans are too socially conservative for my liking.

6) I cannot watch hockey or football in Korea because they don't broadcast the games there, and even if they did I couldn't watch them because I'm at work due to the time zone difference. Sometimes you can catch an American baseball game on the weekends, but I usually I like to come home after work, have a drink, and watch the Blue Jays.

7) I do NOT want to be an English teacher my entire life. And even if I got a different job, salaries tend to be higher in the west than in Korea.

LAUNDRY DRYERS! I know they're not environmentally friendly, but damn they make things so easy and your clothes feel so much better.

9) It rains too much in the summer!

[placeshifter]

[dosed_neurons]

they should make more options, like WASP stock investor or redneck oil failure....i'd vote a big NO to both...funny.

[Steelrails]

Oprah would appear to be in prime position....

[Cerberus]

[curiousaboutkorea]

[Cerberus]

[curiousaboutkorea]

[Cerberus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect

[Sector7G]

[curiousaboutkorea]

[Sadebugo1]

[Cerberus]

Six of 10 Koreans Unsatisfied With Life

Interesting considering Korea is much economically better off compared to the rest of its polled Asian neighbors.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/02/123_60007.html

[pkang0202]

Wow, I read page 1 of the thread, and just to the last page. Its like night and day.