Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Radius]

I think most people here are being a little too kind to the OP. Truth is, as i was walking with an X co-worker obese female along the road, almost every single kid we passed pointed and laughed. The girl asked me why she always got laughed at, and i just shrugged my shoulders.. It was embarrassing for her, and for me to be seen with her slightly(not too bad though.) Even the construction workers stopped what the were doing and gawked.

OP you will be humiliated, but that's just the way it is here. You better pack some extra thick skin if you plan on teaching in Korea.

[Kwangjuchicken]

who will be post number 444444?

[Kwangjuchicken]

[jzrossef]

So... what is the general expectaction in Korea? I know physical appearance is a bigger issue there, but average Koreans aren't exactly Hollywood material either, to put it bluntly. I never had weight pressure before here, saved for few fat jokes but they pointed out that I may look a little overweight due to the shortness of my height.

Just little curious... btw, I have Asian appearance... so little different expectation compared to some of you guys out there.

[nikki15]

Pretty much anyone with even a bit of a belly sticking out will get comments from the kids. I'm maybe 5-10pds overweight and I've never been called fat but a few of the kids have asked me if I'm pregnant. Honestly, I get more 'teacher pretty' and 'teacher beautiful' than 'teacher pregnant?'.

They take physical appearance serious here, Korean women are always pretty dressed up and they wear high heels even with more casual outfits. Some girls in one of my classes who are about 12 years old have little mirrors and are constantly looking at themselves or brushing their hair, calling themselves pretty.

If you do plan on coming bring A LOT of clothes and bring flattering ones that fit your body well. I think I get fewer comments because I pretty much know how to dress my body to hide my imperfections. And don�t show cleavage, you will basically never see a women show any cleavage or shoulder. They will wear mini skirts that just cover their bottoms, but never any cleavage or shoulder (I will never understand this). I�m a size eight and usually fit into the biggest or second biggest shoe size here, so if you are a size 9 or bigger, bring lots of shoes!

You have thick skin I think you will be fine. I think it helps to just be open about knowing you have some extra weight, don�t get offended if someone says something, people are extremely blunt here. If you do start losing weight here, you will get lots of positive comments because the kids and your co-workers (at least mine) notice if you change ANYTHING about your physical appearance.

[jzrossef]

Pretty much on the dot here. Another thing Korean girls/women do, something which I can understand but never get used to, is that they were clothes, hats and umbrella to keep their skin pale. Apparently, and don't quote me on this, is because the trend is that Koreans with more white-pale skin tend to live in wealthier lifestyle and live much of their lives indoors and hence, less exposure to sunlight whereas commoners tend to work outside the fields have have darker/tanned skin. Not really a current view per se, but understandable I guess.

My view on the lack of skin exposure, such as cleavage and shoulder... didn't know about shoulder but whatever... is that we have more conservative sense when it comes to fashion and sexuality, though it's changing in general lately. (I've been hearing many red-flag news about how Korea is now following a similar social trend like Bangkok and Japan where tolerance to pornography and related areas are becoming more open and tolerated in public) So maybe it's now the trend reserved for perhaps less crowded and more isolated cities/towns. Again, just throwing my 2cents on this one.

Besides the overweight issue, how are heights come into factor nowadays? I know Koreans prefer taller heights, as many other nations do... but is that as big deal as in overweight issue? (Most foreigners get away with this one as white Caucasians tend to be taller than Asian counterparts in average, but just curious here I guess)

[jamo]

I'm 5'8 and 130 and people constantly comment on my face, weight...etc. Korean of course...even my student said my face is getting fatter but I look good ???

Point is...korean are very vain about appearance, doesn't matter fat or skinny - they'll have something to say.

[burcas]

Op,

I taught in Korea about three years ago and plan on going back at the beginning of next year. All of these posts hold a lot of truth in them. When I first got to Korea, I looked like a college guy that liked to drink a lot (this was at a time when they would take anyone). I was called fat by all the students. One day (God help me, I hate that day) we had a Sports Day with the kids and their parents. We had to run around the field in a rely race (my competition were two waygooks that run for fun - I only run when being chased). As I was getting left in the dust, I noticed that a lot of the parents and some of the Korean teachers were laughing at me. After the race, I had one of the Korean teachers come up to me and say that I would be faster if I lost weight. She was not being mean spirited, she was sharing an observation. I immediately hit the gym.

In total, I lost 6 kgs, but I gained a crap load of muscle weight. This was a combination of walking EVERYWHERE, working out, and eating only Korean food. In six months, I was no longer fat teacher, I was strong teacher (the kids really like it, being a guy, when you can pick them up with no effort). I even learned some Korean and would pick up some good things the Korean teachers would say behind my back (I imagine it was the opposite when i first got there).

On the flip side, my friend gained a lot of weight in Korea. He would only eat western food (sadly, that mainly leaves fast food or Outback). He did not like working out, and he would rather cab it whenever we went somewhere. The students gave him hell.

My advice, start losing weight now. Trust me, that first impression will stick with you for awhile. When you get there, keep losing weight (it will get easier in Korea). You will have remarks made, no matter what you do - be prepared. Finally, if you have a Sports Day, sprang your ankle the night before.

[lisk]

I am moving to Korea in Dec and am so worried about this weight thing too - I am so glad someone asked!

I am 5"6 and 148lbs, i've lost 28lbs in the last year on weight watchers but am really worried it will be hard to maintain in Korea, is it?

It doesn't help that my BF who I am travelling with is constantly being offered modeling work over there to supplement his teaching hours...

[Kaypea]

[earthquakez]

Look, OP you can't get too hung up on what Koreans think.

Just because you'll be living in Korea doesn't mean you worry about what people who lack the social skills to see that what you say to other Koreans you know (they wouldn't dream of being insolent to other Koreans they haven't been introduced to about weight) isn't said to foreigners just because they look different.

Yes many Koreans are smaller boned and smaller framed than western foreigners. Some are thin, but other smaller sized Koreans actually lack muscle tone and have stumpy legs and calves. Having a hipless body doesn't mean your thighs look great either as Koreans put on weight in different areas of their body than westerners.

Stumpiness and thick legs aren't exactly thin or attractive. Older men sometimes have pot bellies and so do older women.When you see Korean men's legs they sometimes lack muscle and look out of shape. I've noticed a lot of Korean girls and women have fatty calves which don't do much for them. Take a look around and you won't take their constant harping on about foreigner weight too seriously.

Make the effort to look as good as you can by all means and that includes eating healthily to keep the weight off. But something Koreans don't get is that their food isn't good for a substantial number of westerners. More women than men get affected by high sodium content in food and Korea's got a lot of food with too much sodium.

There's a focus on transfats in food but sodium in processed food is just as bad for putting and retaining fluid in your body. Cutting out processed food in Korea is hard because unless you cook for yourself and have the leisure time and live in the right location to be able to buy genuinely fresh food without the nasty preservatives, you're going to be eating unhealthy food in Korea.

Your school lunch if you work at a school will have lots of colouring which is unhealthy, too much sodium ditto, and the Koreans enjoy putting sugar in food which the rest of us prefer to have as little as possible, such as bread. Generally white rice of the kind eaten in Korea has about as much nutritional value as a pack of chewing gum and if you are diabetic or on the borderline of developing it, don't eat white rice.

You need to eat as much fresh food as you can. It's much harder outside Seoul but a great thing about Korea is that everywhere there are fruit vendors on the streets. Yes fruit is too expensive in Korea but it's worth spending your money on.

Bottom line is unless you're a slob making no effort to look presentable and living off garbage food, why worry too much if you can't lose weight or keep it off as much in Korea as you might elsewhere? A lot of self appointed 'experts' on weight in Korea and elsewhere also know nothing about how stress levels put weight on some people through the action of their bodies producing high levels of cortisol.

Living in Korea can be very stressful. Hearing your Korean neighbours rampage around in the early hours when you need at least a couple of hours sleep before you go off to work can raise your cortisol levels and leave them elevated. Some people just can't lose weight so easily even when they walk a lot and do other exercise.

I'm average, not fat, not thin. From my experience and those of my friends it's often Koreans who wouldn't win any prizes for good looks or social skills who feel the need to constantly tell foreigners to lose weight. They also tend to be people who would be offended if you turned around and told them that the black hair dye they put on looks unnaturally shiny, that their legs are too short, and that they need to stop wearing stripes and check together as well as cutting out cheap looking, loud ties.

Why let them influence your self esteem?

[earthquakez]

Edited

[lisk]

So what is it exactly that Korean women eat?

[Carla]

[zenbone]

so what if you just reply to the berating sarcastically or say something like Yes i am? i am fat and older... i lift a ton of weights and am active but i am fat. i have thick skin and don't really let much bother me. But i am not usually one to just shrug off a direct attack. Would it be out of line to reply "and you're to skinny" or in the case of the teacher saying the person would be faster if they lost weight i would be apt to reply "yeah and if i was taller i would be better at basketball". Would this get me pulled into an office and scolded?