Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Birmingham.couple]

How do I sort out satellite TV?

Will I get any English/American channels?

Will I be able to watch Manchester United matches/Match of the Day?

How will I sort a bank account?

Will I be living in a ghetto (Masan)?

Will I get to see all the latest cinema films in English?

Will I be able to get stuff I'm use to like sliced bread, chips and baked beans?

I'm freaking out.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

1. You don't, unless you *really* want something that isn't on cable. I mean really, how much MBC Game can a guy watch? You can get skylife, but I wouldn't. I had it for two years and rarely used it.

2. Yes, and some of the Asian channels have American / British television shows.

3. Possibly, at an English bar.

4. You go to KEB and open one.

5. That's up to you.

6. Yes, on the street. Find a good supplier and keep going back to him.

7. Generally not. Bread and chips (I assume you mean french fried potatoes) are readily available, baked beans are not. Sorry.

8. A little fear is a healthy thing. You're not the first person to do this and you won't be the last. This has all been done before.

[Otherside]

[the ireland]

I didn't read the reply above so I could be condradicting or confirming everything that was just said.

How do I sort out satellite TV?
get your school to do it if possible. it will save you a lot of trouble.

Will I get any English/American channels?

you will get quite a few English speaking channels. Depending on your cable package of course. I have star sports (english soccer on saturday and sunday) bbc world, bbc knowledge, discovery, history and quite a few others. costs about �6 a month

Will I be able to watch Manchester United matches/Match of the Day?

yes, every united game is shown on basic tv. It will be in korean though. ESPN have the rights so start sports don't show the united games in English. I watch soccer on start sports or on the internet cos I like watching it in English (watching ars - liv now).

As for match of the day, it will be on at about 6am our time in korea so just download the torrent on sunday morning and relax watching it.

How will I sort a bank account?

get your arc and bring it to the bank, easy to set up. you will get your card there and then, no waiting around for a week to get a card and another few days to get the pin in the post.

Will I be living in a ghetto (Masan)?

Masan is okay, not a whole pile to do in it, but there is a good foreginer community who go on trips quite often (due to the fact there isn't much to do in it) but you aren't far from changwon or busan.

Will I get to see all the latest cinema films in English?
not all will come to cinema but most of the top movies do and yes, they will be in English, they don't get dubbed, just subtitled. I go to the cinema quite often here.

Will I be able to get stuff I'm use to like sliced bread, chips and baked beans?

yes, not really and yes.

sliced bread is readily available, tastes different to back home but you'll get used to it. chips are quite expensive and ovens/deep fat friers are too so you will prob be going without homemade chips quite a lot.

homeplus (owned by tesco) is huge here so you wil be able to get baked beans easily. Heinze baked beans though will have to be bought in a foreigners' market (generally)

I eat tesco brand cornflakes for breakfast most mornings, they are the same orange box you get back home, just imported here.

Bring tea bags though as they are crazy expensive (about �4 for 40 here) also if you like brown sauce, take that too. I brought over some chef red sauce (tomato ketchup) as well as brown sauce. I knew red sauce was easily found and it very cheap but I like chef red sauce if I use it.

I'm freaking out.

don't worry. perhaps if you were coming 10 years ago things would have been quite different but you can get most things here that you can back home, plus the internet has made life very easy

[matthews_world]

1., 2., & 3. There's a cable box where when you can hook up to your home TV and they give you the software to watch on a computer. Forget the name of it.

There's also internet TV such as TVU and TVAnts, live onlinesports broadcast sites: myp2p.eu, and footy torrent sites: fbtz.com. Justin.tv is mostly sports based and allows viewing of events through internet TV broadcast.

[Birmingham.couple]

Thanks for all the help people. Much appreciated.

I hope Masan will be ok, I'm happy if it's quiet to be honest. I just hope I have a balcony/garden area where I can have a beer at night.

On the food thing I guess I fancy the odd fry up on the weekend, just to make me feel at home.

I hear a lot of things about Koreans not sleeping on duvets but on quilts, but I suppose that isn't anything major.

The one thing I am told is that Yangsan has a ski-resort close by, is this true?

...oh before I forget, are the apartments in Masan generally tower blocks?
and also are they generally furnished and safe?

[matthews_world]

Let's just say Masan has its charms being a coastal city. But if you're not in Seoul or Kyonggi-do surrounding Seoul, or the other larger cities, then there's the countryside element to deal with - accents, stares, lack of frequent public transportation, boredom, etc. Busan is easily accessible from Masan by express bus or train, about 1 hour depending on your location.

I'm actually starting a Yangsan public school job next month and I'll scout out the territory for you.

Just do some Googling, read some blogs, search old Dave's posts etc. to get a sense of what's to come.

[youtuber]

It's called "living in a foreign country" and you should expect that you won't have many of your comforts of home.

If it freaks you out, Korea is not for you. You will just be angry and frustrated every day.

[the ireland]

[carleverson]

[Ruthdes]

[Birmingham.couple]

[reveuse261]

i'm confused by the thread - are you going to yangsan or masan? or are you talking about an area in masan called yangsan? i'm currently teaching in yangsan-si, let me know if you have any questions. . .

[Birmingham.couple]

[David Gerrington]