Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mlh53059]

Just as a side note, I have been in South Korea for the past year and these are all things I found interesting about this place. I am going to leave it up to you to decide what is good, bad, and ugly about it

1. Sometimes you have to step over business men, dressed in full suits, who are passed out on the sidewalk haha. This is actually pretty hilarous when you see it for the first time, and hey who am I to judge?

2. Older women walk around with umbrellas when it's sunny and clear out! I couldn't figure out why for the longest time, but finally I heard that Koreans don't like to get suntanned, or burnt. It is actually a good idea, but looks sort of funny when you don't understand what the heck they are doing lol.

3. During the wintertime I would say close to half of the people that I see on a day to day basis walk around with hospital masks on outside, inside, in school, in their cars (by themselves), and I even see people wear them while they are working out! They got so popular that companies started making face masks with designs on them lol. My favorite one that I was was The Simpsons. Weird for me to see during my first Korean winter (I thought everyone had some kind of deadly airborne disease and they didn't want to get anyone else sick). Later I found out, they were the ones that didn't want to get sick and that Koreans are very health conscious. To stay on the health factor of Korea that brings me to my next statement...

4. Korea has mountains everywhere, it's beautiful really. So one day I decided to hike up one that was pretty much in my backyard. I was surprised to see REALLY old men and older ladies doing the same thing I just did when I got to the top. I was practically dying, and the older gentlemen that was behind me passed me half way up and went straight for the workout equipment that they put at the top of mountains here. Yes, I said it. They actually have benches so you can have a nice chest workout and plenty of push-up/pull-up bars to make sure your blood is pumping (like it isn't already after a 45 minute hike up a mountain). Talk about health conscious! Wow!

5. I was actually angry when this happened originally, but now I look back and laugh because it actually is hilarious. So this is what happened... I was in a local Lotte Mart (grocery store), and was kind of getting sick of all the Korean food I had been eating lately. Don't get me wrong, I love the food here but once in a while it is nice to have something similar from back home. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them. It was like the clouds of the heavens parted and the sun was shining down through a beam of light on a 30 pack of hot dogs. At the time, I had no idea you could get western food in Korea (but later found out in bigger cities there are all sorts of western restaurants). Anyway I was so excited to see hot dogs that I bought the package. I went home and immediately boiled the dogs, and was planning on broiling them after to get them nice and crispy... then remembered that I didn't have an oven.... Nevertheless I got some onions, shredded cheese, mustard, and ketchup which I added to the delicious hot dog that was placed ever so gently between the heated bun. I took a gigantic bite and got a mouth full of plastic. I had fallen for the oldest trick in the book... each freaking hot dog (in the pack of 30) was individually wrapped inside of a casing which encompassed all the dogs already! I guess I was so hungry that I didn't notice even after they had been boiled. This is funny because when I was in middle school my dad made me a sandwich with ham and cheese. Classic, but delicious. Anyway I bit into the sandwich and my dad had purposefully left the plastic of the cheese on the sandwich. How mean! Then at the bottom of my brown paper bag was a note which read, "ha ha!" So you can imagine my thoughts when I bit in that hot dog... Thinking "not againnnnnn" :[

6. Trashcans are almost obsolete in my town! I heard that there used to be trashcans everywhere here, which is what I am used to back in my country... but that they kept getting overflowed so the gov't took away the public dumpsters. Now everyone just throws their trash out on the street. lol if that is true about how there used to be public trashcans and now there aren't then what a backfire that program was. I think the thought was that people would just take their trash with them, but they don't lol.

7. Koreans dye their dogs hair different colors! Wild! :]

8. If you have blonde hair then everyone wants to know you! (I actually think it's just all foreigners, but anyway...) It's awesome. I feel like a celebrity. It's honestly old now how every single person says hi to you while you are walking down the street, I kind of understand how stars feel with people wanting to talk to them all the time. Sometimes I just want to be left alone! haha but the attention is still nice!

9. Spam actually comes in gift sets, and is expensive hahaha.

10. I can eat dinner for less than two dollars!

11. Couples wear the exact same clothing, right down to their underwear and is a phenomenon called "coupling." Cute lol.

12. The speed limit in Korea is not enforced, and the cops aren't anything like the cops back home. The police officers here are more like normal people working and they even try to help you even when you don't ask for it. They aren't on power trips like a majority of ones are back in the states.

13. Being drunk in public is acceptable behavior.

14. I once saw a sign on a bar window in Seoul that was supposed to say "Rum & Cokes" but instead it said "Rum and ...well add a 'c' before the 'k' and take out the 'e' in 'cokes'" hahahaha I love Konglish!

15. Lastly I saw a little kid that was wearing a shirt which was obviously supposed to read "batman," I mean it had the bat sign and everything, but instead it read "buttman" ahahaha I about died when I saw it and tried to take a picture but he ran away lol.

I love Korea! ^_^

[Janny]

Still chipper after one full year..? Good for you, OP. You're the kind of person Korea needs as an English teacher.

It did make me barf a little bit though, just sayin.

But seriously, if I had your positive attitude, I'd probably be much better off. I'd be able to milk Korea for 10 more years.

[Skipperoo]

Yep, nice to see some positivity around here

[Mariella713]

You seem like a really nice guy (you are a guy, yes?) mlh53059. I'm glad you're having a good time in Korea. I will say though, that I have never seen a dog here with dyed hair lmfao. I'll be on the lookout for those now...

[metalhead]

What dinner are you eating for less than two bucks? Has the dollar/won exchange rate gotten that bad? Food is expensive in Korea.

I used to like those 'less than two dollar' dinners in China from the Xinjiang street vendors, 10 spicy lamb kebabs, one of their round 'nang' breads and then wrap the lamb in the bread, a lambwich, if you will.

And yeah, I can't remember how many times those plastic-coated sausages fooled me - I grilled them once and still didn't notice the plastic until it was coated with sauce and I bit into one.

Don't small towns have spaghetti in the supermarkets at least, with the Korean bottles of spaghetti sauce? Just pick out the tomato skins and those sauces are bearable with the right spices and/or Tabasco sauce.

[jvalmer]

[Hyeon Een]

[jvalmer]

[Skipperoo]

[ThingsComeAround]

your post is cheery. Don't get confused about some of them:

#2: Korean women value pale skin. If you are ever near a Smoothie King, watch for Kim Yuna and her "Be White" poster

#6: They did away with trash cans because the government doesn't actually include trash pickup with taxes. They made a move to get people to use the white/green/orange trash bags but since they are so expensive, no one wanted to do it. Then the gov't made up a story about trash cans being linked to terrorism (not joking, but I don't have a link to prove it) and people had to make do w/o a bin on the corner.

#7: Yes. It annoys the hell out of me. The dog is already ugly.

#8: If you are black, everyone wants to know you too. They want to touch your skin to make sure it doesn't slide off. They might touch other parts too to verify the rumors

#12: Police here are the laziest, most ineffective SOBs in the nation.

#14 & 15: It's called Konglish

[Bloopity Bloop]

[creeper1]

OP! What a waste of half an hour or so that post must have been to type out. Sorry but you come across as someone with very,very limited intelligence. Just a statement of banal obvious and uninteresting points.

Take a look at number 2 in your list. Seriously man you couldn't work out what was going on? What a genius you are!

[Skipperoo]

[Louis VI]

(Why'd you choose that username creeper?)

The op has a good natured attitude toward it all. That's the way to do it!

[Bloopity Bloop]

Can't wait to see Zulethe or Mr. Black Cat see this.......