Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dodge7]

I recently just got back to Korea a week ago from visitng home in America. What a difference these two countries are.

It all started on the bus ride to Incheon International airport. Just as we were going over the bridge, the song that goes, "I'm walking on Sunshine, whoaaa ohhh! and don't it feel GOOD!" was blarring on the radio. It was a direct expression of my soul leaping for joy that i was escaping this pit, if even for a week. A huge smile came across my face; I was leaving this depressed country and stepping into the sunshine.

I got home and it was magnificent. I got around with ease, understood what people around me were saying (and enjoyed listening in), saw familiar surroundings and ate at all of my favorite restaurants. I must have put on 2 kilos.

The more I was home, the more i realized how much better it is than Korea--not because it was "home," but because there were no stares, there was no passive aggression, there was a feeling of belonging that I never had in Korea.

Korea has a way of keeping you an outsider and making sure you stay there. In America (or probably your home country, too), there is a sense of unity--no matter your race color or creed. I walked around with my Korean wife and nobody batted an eye, nobody looked her up and down in disgust that she was with a "dirty foreigner," nobody swore at us in disgust because we were together or called her a "Korean *beep*" because she was with me--yes all of these things have happened to us here. it was heaven.

I didn't need a drink when I was home, I was 100% stress free. But in Korea I drink nearly every night from depression.

This isn't a call to everybody here to give me advice on how to live a more rewarding in this country. There's nothing even remotely possible that i can do to duplicate the feel good feelings I had--not that i was living in my home country again, but that I was just OUT of Korea.

This place just seems to suck every ounce of happiness out of me, and I must have said a dozens of times that i didn't want to come back here my last night home. I wanted to stay OUT of Korea. But I have financial obligations here.

People. Please. If you are reading this and you are on the fence about coming to Korea, or perhaps thinking of teaching English in another country--CHOOSE ANOTHER COUNTRY!!! I feel it is my duty to forewarn you about this hellhole. It will eat you alive. It didn't at first, and maybe it hasn't to you yet, but slowly over time, the aura of this place just begins to sour and grow more negative with each passing year.

I dont hate Korea, but man, I pray for a way out of this country and once I find it, I will never look this way again. I hate it here.

If you can get out, GO! Save yourself. Don't worry about me, I'll follow soon enough, but really, save yourself and never look back!

[T-J]

Haha. You've only been here two years? And have gotten married? You've barely gotten out of the honeymoon phase, in more ways than one. Hate to break it to you but you've another 8 to 13 years or so before you even start to figure out this country let alone understand whether it's right for you for the long haul. Long short you're green and not unique or amusing. Seen it countless times. I do hope your little rant helped you relieve some of your stress though. How would you ever have survived here two long years back in the day when there was no Internet to vent on?

[Dodge7]

[AlastairKirby]

Korea can't be all bad. It did give you a wife.

[bucheon bum]

[BananaBan]

i am preparing my documents for a job offer in Korea

this post has really scared me

do you think Dodge7's experience is of the majority, or just the minority?

whats the other side of the coin?

[AlastairKirby]

[crisdean]

[bekinseki]

Where do you live?

My experiences in Korea are the exact opposite. I've been embraced by the local culture, participating closely with the music scene, having ties with the arts scene, and being invited to participate in society by the government.

I rarely get singled out by Koreans or even stared at, yet back home it happens all the time. Someone's trying to pick a fight or they don't like what I stand for or who my friends are. I remember getting harassed just for playing soccer, or the way I dress, or even what part of town I'm in. Koreans are certainly more pacifist, at least towards me.

[pkang0202]

[erasmus]

Notice the OP's vitriolic response to criticism. This is not a person who is likely to respond well to the vagaries of life abroad. Take him home and set him up in his comfort zone and he's fine; remove him and place him in an environment to which he is unaccustomed and not in total sympathy with and he loses his grip. Some people are able to ride the rocky road of life abroad, others, not so much. There is truth here, though; if you feel the need to belong to a particular culture, this life is not for you; if you are bothered by being stared at or treated rudely (this is pretty rare in my experience) because of your outsider status, this life is not for you. There are slings and arrows to be suffered here, perhaps even more than in some other countries, but to end on a question: OP, have you ever lived in Vietnam, or Cambodia, or Indonesia, or India, or even China for that matter (for if so, your forum posts from that time would surely make for some thrilling reading)?

[Underwaterbob]

Seven years in Korea. Of the hundreds I've met, I've never met a non-Korean living here who had had/was having as bad an experience as I read about on a daily basis on Dave's.

[minos]

[bekinseki]

[soyoungmikey]

T.J. you do assume you are an authority. I've been here 4 years and have a great job, friends, wife etc. I know others who have been here 10 + years with family, children etc. and the OP is correct foreigners are always considered outisiders. In a country with a population which is the most homogenous in the world is still considered by many to be xenophobic. It's a place to stay a few years and then leave. Those who can't leave have no other option but to stay (i.e. losers) unless they are the ones who have staked their career in linguistics or EFL. Even then Korea is not the best place to be even if they are in a university (like myself). So the OP is correct, it is very exclusionary and you don't have to live here for 8 or more years to get the country. Seems like T.J. is trying to mark himself out like an insider and be a you know what to others. Just listen to Tompazz (sp?); he's has a sober take of the country.