Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Junior]

[Konglishman]

[djsmnc]

[orosee]

A couple weeks ago I was riding home in a nearly empty subway car, nobody sat down next to me, people rather moved next to a very sleepy looking young Korean guy. Well...

Then the guy dropped his phone on the floor, bent over and threw up. Lots.

That'll teach 'em!

Great reading! I first visited Seoul in 1997 and then about twice a year, so until 2008 it all developed like a stop-motion film.For whatever reason, things are actually getting better most of the time (like Cheonggyechoen (sp?) stream). Oh, and mini skirts/hot pants (used to mean "tough economy" but seems to have changed to mean "look at my legs, can't touch this!" now).

[atwood]

Lots more movie theatres and movie choices. Anyone remember when they used to just keep selling tickets and people would go in early and stand at the back waiting for an empty seat? Then they'd leave the movie early because they'd already seen the end. At a popular movie, say a James Bond film, it could be like a mosh pit trying to get a seat.

PDA was seriously frowned upon, now it's required. Men didn't wear shorts, etc.

Midnight drinking curfew. When they finally lifted it, thousands of Korean men didn't make it home for days.

Lots more puke on the streets and restrooms were almost always filthy.

Foreigner service--they either treated you like a king or queen or the devil.

The old train stations, gone thanks to the World Cup.

Used book stores that weren't a complete ripoff.

Lots more cars, especially foreign cars. Traffic cameras so now the highways aren't full of aspiring Nascar drivers, although most everyone behind the wheel of an expensive car still believes the rules don't apply to them.

Cooler foreigners. Also, more interesting wingnuts. But plenty of foreigners still use Korea as a place to act out.

Fewer Canadians.

New Core instead of HomePlus, etc. Grocery shopping has really improved. Broccoli and cauliflower, grapefuit and cherries, avocados and asparagus are all fairly new to Korea.

More and more expensive.

[daeguowl]

Risking your life to fly with Korean Air rather than enjoying the current nice service and the Bibimbab...

Flights to Europe taking forever thanks to a giant deotur over Alaska and Canada to avoid flying over Russia...

The traffic was a lot, lot worse...

Korean world cup qualifiers in Chamsil or Dongdaemun and K-League matches in Mokdong...

Tear gas over Yonsei University in the summer...

Tower Records in Shinchon...

[Yaya]

The movie choices still suck in Seoul and Korea.

[anjinsan]

Been here 10 years. Great thread. Here's my list:

--K. dudes work out and have discovered protein shakes over the past decade

--You could tell who the hookers were by the way they dressed. Ummm, now . . . ummm, they sort of blend in with the other scantily-clad young ladies.

--Hellava lot less shifty foreigners. Geez, have I met some absolutely insane people who have breezed in and out of this place.

--No Wendys!!!!! (I cried when the last one closed in Seoul)

--You can get a decent espresso-based beverage way easy. I recall taking the bus for 30 minutes to get a darn cappuccino.

--People not so shocked when you speak Korean these days

--Going out of Seoul meant traveling on windy mountain roads that
made you want to puke

--Far less hip-hop and dorky dance groups

--Itaewon was a total sleeze pool

--Very few E-marts way back when

--Far less obviously male-dominated and phallo-centric

[diver]

The B.P.s and long lines at public phones.

Public phones at the tables in coffee shops.

No subway to Itaewon. I think there were only 5 (maybe 6) lines when I got here in early '95.

Wendy's in Seoul.

No Wal-Mart, E-Mart or any other Mart really. Korex was the biggest supermarket at the time (in Kunsan).

Dial-up internet. I was thrilled to get a 9600 Baud modem! Bluelake might remember email addresses ending in [email protected] or [email protected]

I remember LESS traffic (at least outside of Seoul). The roads seem more congested now.

The original Stompers at the top of the Hill, the Heavy Metal Club, Just Blues in Itaewon.

The original ID card for foreigners wasn't an ID card. It was a little booklet about the height of a credit card and one and a half times the length of a credit card. It was too long to put in your wallet and a pain in the ass to keep in your pocket.

Iksan was still called Iri

Boryeong was still called Daecheon. There was no Mud Fest" the beach WAS famous for its mud, but you had to go there and make your own.

No bikinis

Kimpo Airport.

You had to go to Jell Deli in Itaewon to get cheese (and Canada Dry Ginger Ale). The internet cafe in the alley behind the Kyobo Building. the Kyobo Building was one of the few places to get English books.

You could "get away" with more as a foreigner because they hadn't caught on to our "wiley" ways. I walked into, was actually escorted in by security, the hockey rink in Jeonju for the world university games (1997) to see Canada play China in ice hockey. I had a Team Canada jersey on so they assumed I was a player. "You late! Come quickly!" - they took me right into the dressing room.

The old Dave's ESL Cafe. It was more difficult to navigate, but much more laid back than it is now. You could ask questions and stuff, too.

Alex Buffa.

Poorly edited movies. I saw two completely different cuts of "Heat". One in Seoul, one in Kunsan. They were cut so bad in places that the soundtrack actually "skipped". I think longer movies were cut to fit a two-hour time slot. The kunsan theater had the movie times PAINTED on the wall (11, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9). I guess it was easier to cut the film than to re-paint the schedule on the wall.

1,000 Won taxi rides.

800 Won cigarettes.

Taking the Dong-Il Ho train to Busan from Seoul overnight.

The department store collapse happened right after I got here.

Mike Oh and the Bok-Ji Recruiting "company".

School didn't really need recruiters...they would send someone to Insadong to "find a foreigner".

Meg Ryan posters EVERYWHERE.

Leonardo DiCaprio posters EVERYWHERE.

"Titanic Coffee Shop", "Titanic Noraebong", "Titanic This", "Titanic That"...

Vinyl mini-skirts and thigh high boots (Ahh...the summer of '96)

[daeguowl]

[diver]

[daeguowl]

[Unposter]

That's right - the Romanization of Korean was more "traditional." Busan was still Pusan and Daegu was Taegu. Galbi was Kalbi but for some reason kimchi remained kimchi. The new Romanization was very unpopular when it was first announced but people got used to it pretty quickly.

Wendy's - Check. They used to be all over Seoul. Then, they changed their name to Winners and finally they just left completely.

Do you remember all the weird named sets at Popeyes? I remember the combination I liked best was called the "Lady's set" and I (a man) always had to go up their and ask for the Lady's set.

Their was a Kenny Roger's and I think a Ponderosa here at one time as well.

And that's right, Western movies were cut to ribbons and they all had to meet certain time constraints.

There are definitely a lot more cars and a lot more foreign cars today. I am always amazed (and impressed) how many Lexus(es) you see in Seoul, it being a Japanese car and all.

When was it? Has it been 5 years now? When I first got here, all Japanese cultural products were banned. But, my students would tell me where you could buy contraband Japanese comic books. Today, you can see Japanese movies at the theater and on cable and of course comic books are readilly available.

One of the more interesting stories (for me) is that when the Asian Economic Crisis of '97 (which many Koreans call the IMF or the IMF period) hit, banks offered collection places where people could drop off their gold to help the Korean government pay off their debt to the IMF. The banks collected so much gold, they brought the international price of gold down, and the banks were given stern warning to stop. I had one student who said their parents gave thousands of dollars worth of gold to the banks and now she worried about her parents retirement. Can you imagine Americans donating money to pay off the government's debt?

When I first started teaching (at a university), I would regularly have students that would tell me I was the first American they had every seen (not on TV or movies). Today, of course, Koreans have Western teachers from elementary school. This alone is bringing immence change!

And, for the newbies, Armed Forces TV was available on regualr, broadcast TV. It would not have commercials but public service announcements pitched to young soldiers (who must have needed a lot of information). These public service announcements were cheap, cheesey and some were just weird. Anyway, they were always fodder of discussion on Dave's and people would even write into the newspapers discussing them.

[Junior]

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