Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

Loaning dough is always risky. It matters little that you see them daily. I've heard of too many bad stories to think otherwise.

[jamal0000]

Back in the states, got a job in the oil business pretty easily. Lots of domestic drilling going on from North Dakota to Oklahoma. Loved my time in Korea though.

[sirius black]

Get a plan. Work the plan. I have one and it doesn't involve teaching in Korea long term but for those that do want to do it, more power to them. I snicker at this ad hoc labeling someone a loser because they don't do what you want for them or what YOU thnk they should be doing with their lives. Some people back home are happy being a garbage man (pays darn good in some cities actually). So what? This 'loser' label people place on people who are doing whatever they want to do, not harming anyone else, is rediculous. If the person is happy, God bless 'em. If they have no plan, their business, not mine. I live my life and let people live theirs. If I don't think its the right thing the person should be doing, so what. Its their life. Maybe due to the competititive nature in the west and the d*ck swinging that goes on between males especially, many of us here have this I'm better than you because I'm going to do this or that mentality. Live your life and get your head out of your own rectums.

[edwardcatflap]

Some people just never grow out of that school yard one upmanship type mentality when you can only prove your own sense of worth by measuring your self against the performance of others. The problem is there'll always be someone doing 'better' than you so you'll never be satisfied. I remember that scene in Wall Street when Gordon Gecko is apoplectic at the thought of Terrence Stamp getting one over on him when he already has more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime.

[The Floating World]

Yeah there are plenty of long term expats in the esl industry that are doing well for themselves here and are far from losers.

I have one good friend who was a manager back home fora large company and had a nice apartment, a trans am, nice clothes etc but worked around 60hrs a week for it and never had any free time.

Contrast that with a guy I know married to a Korean lady and runs a hakwan in their apt and is making probably 5 - 6mil a month and works less than 8 hrs a day. You KNOW he is living a quality life on that kind of income with no kids.

I also have friends that do not drink or gamble or visit room salons or juicy bars and over the years have saved enviable sums on a regualr ps job salary plus privates / ot.

But yeah, you gotta have an exit plan imo.

For me this means saving enough to live on for a year back home without working to work on some personal projects and then probably get an MA and try to get a career in academia started after that should it not yield an income (which is an eventuality I am aware is very probable.) I thought of becoming a teacher back home as the pgce in the UK is very affordable but the workload of state school teachers there makes me balk.

Knowing that the industry here or in China will still mean I have a job should I need it means I'm comfy in the fact that I can come back for a year if I need to and save enough to get me on an MA back home (only 1 yr in UK) and then hopefuly get a job in a university there if I decide against a career development loan instead. I know academia is competative, but I'm pretty sure I have what it takes to have a decent shot at it. Nice to have it there as a future goal as there really are not any other jobs I feel drawn to.

I went back without much dough and with no plan once and it sucked. Hence I'm back.

[byrddogs]

Life after Korea for me was going back to the states after having been there for 5 years. It took me about 2 months to know that I didn't want to be there so much. I enjoyed spending time with my family, but I wanted to come back to Asia and have. I guess that I am a loser by definition of another poster's response on here. To each their own.

[edwardcatflap]

[The Floating World]

[sirius black]

A loser is who you are as a person and not what you do. Many rich people are losers. Some of us like to define people by their job instead of their character. Sad we define someone's worth by what they do for a living.