Korean Job Discussion Forums

[toby99]

[Yaya]

Seoul Pub was around and it was just as much a dive then as it is now. I believe Gunter still owned it back then (he's since retired to Pattaya, Thailand, now).

I'd say the quality of expats was really low back then. You had the real crazies who drank their lives away and were hung over daily or the ones who took an interest in Korea enough to live years here. I remember this one French woman with a Ph.D who had been in Korea since the early 1980s (and I wouldn't be surprised if she is still here).

The expat community was tighter than it is now but then again, that is what happens when a certain population rises as that of the expats has.

[T-J]

[madoka]

[T-J]

Yeah, that's it.

[madoka]

[toby99]

[skookum]

[skookum]

[Reggie]

[Garciua]

More stories! Pretty cool reading.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

[simpleminds]

Been here 12 years, Incheon from 2000-2007, and Pocheon since.

We were the only foriegners for miles. By 2002, there were a dozen hagwons around our hogwon.

Six-day working week. Not any more.

My friends complained about the dearth of coffee shops. It was an adventure to find one. Starsies came about 2002-2003. A relief for coffee lovers, since Koreans would make them sugery sweet. They're improving, apparently. I wouldn't know. I hate coffee, and it still smells bad.

A bakery consisted of sugar bread and red bean buns. Cheesecakes are so common now. You had a hard time finding herbs and spices, except in Carrefour.

Carrefour used to have a few decent foriegn items. By 2006, it was gone, and the variety of merchandise went with it. Homeplus sucks in comparison.

Farms were scattered amongst the buildings, by 2007, they were gone.

Metallic tops and dyed hair were in...I mean purple, pink and green bits in your hair. Dying your dog's ears and toes pink, orange and green was normal. Don't see too much of that now.

Shanty houses were the first things you saw upon driving from Gimpo; now it's the expressway from Incheon Airport.

Itaewon was a grundge pit full of boot legged items and junk. Finding foreign groceries was an adventure, and it was all American. Didn't make this Aussie bunny very happy; basically the only chocolate was Herseys, which is blah. Had to take a taxi, until Line 6 came along in 2002, I think.

The Korean garbage smell hadn't gone away, and the yellow dust is getting worse every year. Things are as drab as ever. I often wonder what on earth my architecture students spend four years learning.

If you worked at a haggie, you got two weeks holiday PLUS the national hols. Now, it's just the national hols.

Women wouldn't have been caught dead smoking in a public place, they had to do it in the john. Now, you can't smoke in the toilets.

[pegasus64128]

Interesting post. In particular this: "I don't remember the place being so drab. To me it was a very vibrant place full of energy and I never knew what to expect when I walked out the door. But going back I saw that it's about a tenth as interesting as I remembered. It's homogenous, and most people fit neatly into roles: student, businessman, fish seller, etc. "

Korea's drabness is the same as it ever was as it's run by the same Chaebols there ever was. I like Korea overall, but it is drab.

EDIT: Here's some wayback:

http://sweet-workroom.khan.kr/category

Do a CTRL+F and type 조병화 to find some real old pics. (scroll down)

& this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=3N8c1t1QTDI#!

[PatrickGHBusan]