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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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 Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 5:02 am Post subject: |
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To experience Korea you need to learn hanguel, and get out of Seoul. If you have a car or motorbike, that makes it much easier. Then Korea becomes a more interesting place. I hope people aren't just doing a contract in Seoul (or Busan say), and not exploring.
It's like those people that say "I toured Canada" when they only went to Vancouver. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 5:35 am Post subject: |
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Could not agree more!
Get out there and all of a sudden, Korea takes on a whole new dimension. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
To experience Korea you need to learn hanguel, and get out of Seoul. If you have a car or motorbike, that makes it much easier. Then Korea becomes a more interesting place. I hope people aren't just doing a contract in Seoul (or Busan say), and not exploring.
It's like those people that say "I toured Canada" when they only went to Vancouver. |
Visiting small town Korea is one thing. Actually living there is another. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
To experience Korea you need to learn hanguel, and get out of Seoul. If you have a car or motorbike, that makes it much easier. Then Korea becomes a more interesting place. I hope people aren't just doing a contract in Seoul (or Busan say), and not exploring.
It's like those people that say "I toured Canada" when they only went to Vancouver. |
Yeah, don't you love how the Koreans always mention Vancouver when you say you're from Canada. When, you tell them where you're from, they ask if it's near Vancouver. |
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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| dairyairy wrote: |
| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
To experience Korea you need to learn hanguel, and get out of Seoul. If you have a car or motorbike, that makes it much easier. Then Korea becomes a more interesting place. I hope people aren't just doing a contract in Seoul (or Busan say), and not exploring.
It's like those people that say "I toured Canada" when they only went to Vancouver. |
Visiting small town Korea is one thing. Actually living there is another. |
Obviously Canada is much geographically larger and diverse than Korea, but Vancouver is certainly the hub of British Columbia, or Calgary the hub of Alberta, Winnipeg the hub of Manitoba, and so on..You could argue Hamilton has all the amenities that Toronto has, is closer to some of Ontario's major attractions (Niagara Falls for instance), and you wouldn't be wrong. But for the vast majority of people, Toronto is going to be the more interesting of the two places to live in and visit.
Suggesting people should live outside Seoul to experience the "real Korea" is like suggesting people should live in some nondescript commuter city, tourist town, or backwater mining town to experience the "real Canada". |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| diver wrote: |
| FDNY wrote: |
| Cohiba was a God King. |
Cohiba was an idiot (at least his rule was idiotic).
A real man (or woman) can have fun anywhere. If you have to go somewhere where the fun is provided, it's YOU that's boring. |
^^+20 points to Gryffndor. |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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| FDNY wrote: |
Cohiba was a God King. A poet warrior who has trod these lands since 1996. When you speak of his rule you should do so with reverence and respect. Back in those days of lore, the rule was much more relevant than now. However, some things are still true. The number and variety of clubs and societies are still second to none in Seoul. As are embassy organizations and social gatherings. Hobby shops have pretty well disappeared in smaller towns. To replace them there are some pretty decent, big hobby shops in Yongsan and Shindorim. On the much hallowed beer scene, there are now pretty decent bars and brews in other parts of the ROK.
You should also remember this rule was written to help newbs from going insane in small, weird and perverse little places populated by suspicious, xenophobic freaks. Cohiba used to meet lots of them coming to Seoul on pilgrimages to re-solidify their sanity |
-20 points to Slytherin.
What I've found is that there are some people who live in Seoul, only considered Seoul and rarely if ever travel outside (usually Americans but exist in the other 7 countries) who were so scared about making the leap to Korea they clung to living in Seoul as fingers on a ledge because they were so fearful of a life too dissimilar from home.
Many of these folks come from smaller cities, suburbs and such and Seoul offered their chance to say they are a 'city kid'. The same person is too scared to live in NY or Chicago but can say they lived in a similar city of size now.
They look down on those who live in other cities in the same way New Yorkers looked down on people from New Jersey.
These folks ate McDonalds and other U.S. fast food places their first year of their contract. They couldn't tell you what Seoul looked like outside their neighborhood, Itaewon and Hongdae.
They finally felt like a Chicagoan or New Yorker because they were riding a subway to and fro. They felt sophisticated. Oh, they'll tell you sell you on Seoul's museums and cultural places but have never been there and couldn't find it if they had to. Same with some New Yorkers back in the states where the only time they have ever been to the UN buildng or the Statue of Liberty was on their 4th grade bus trip.
I'm saying this as a 'REAL' city kid who grew up in such a city but I'm not arrogant about it. '
Not knocking Seoul. Its a great city. I visit it often (as I do other Korean cities where I have friends ---thank you fantastic KTX intercity and bus system). And its not meant to be a knock on everyone that lives in Seoul either. Its the FDNYs and the Cohibists, who have promulgated this stuff on here and convinced some folks who are simply looking for information about their options about living in korea reduced to one option and helped denied them a more meaningful experience. I was lucky. I had such a friend who told me about the various areas and such. I probably would have chosen Seoul out of the propaganda about other places. I ended up in a city that was medium sized by Korean standards and i had an absolute ball. The great thing about such cities is that the foreign community are more like family and they look out for each other and its big enough for western amenities. There were enough foreigners that the locals didn't think you were too strange. Such places weeded out the bad apples as well. When the foreign community is fairly close, the jerks get shunned. Not by design it just happens. No one wants to hang with you, you're ostracized to some extent. So, you end up with cool peoples for the most part. Differences are accepted as long as you're a cool person.
New people are introduced, etc. If you accept Cohiba rule then you have to accept the rule that says those that the farther you live from Seoul the more open minded and settled you probably are. |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Every country has at least one city like Seoul. It's so we can find out who the pretentious d-bags are. |
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NYC_Gal 2.0
Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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I chose to live in Incheon, just like I chose to move to Brooklyn after spending a fortune on Manhattan rent. <<shrugs>> If I can get to a place in under an hour with public transport, it's close enough. Factor in the way cheaper rent and key money, and I'm a happy camper.
Seoul's cool, and has many things that I wish that Incheon had, but I'd rather not drop that kind of cash on an apartment. |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
| dairyairy wrote: |
| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
To experience Korea you need to learn hanguel, and get out of Seoul. If you have a car or motorbike, that makes it much easier. Then Korea becomes a more interesting place. I hope people aren't just doing a contract in Seoul (or Busan say), and not exploring.
It's like those people that say "I toured Canada" when they only went to Vancouver. |
Visiting small town Korea is one thing. Actually living there is another. |
Obviously Canada is much geographically larger and diverse than Korea, but Vancouver is certainly the hub of British Columbia, or Calgary the hub of Alberta, Winnipeg the hub of Manitoba, and so on..You could argue Hamilton has all the amenities that Toronto has, is closer to some of Ontario's major attractions (Niagara Falls for instance), and you wouldn't be wrong. But for the vast majority of people, Toronto is going to be the more interesting of the two places to live in and visit.
Suggesting people should live outside Seoul to experience the "real Korea" is like suggesting people should live in some nondescript commuter city, tourist town, or backwater mining town to experience the "real Canada". |
Ironically, those of you who claim that Seoul is somehow better infallibly point to the foreign ghetto that is Itaewon and its relative abundance of foreign restaurants in order to make the point. |
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Unposter
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| As an American from a small town who lives in Seoul and has traveled extensively in Korea, I found your remarks Sirius a tad bit laughable and overly stereotypical. You could not be more wrong. You can go back to discussing how you or your gtoup is better than another. It is a topic that never gets old. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| NYC_Gal 2.0 wrote: |
I chose to live in Incheon, just like I chose to move to Brooklyn after spending a fortune on Manhattan rent. <<shrugs>> If I can get to a place in under an hour with public transport, it's close enough. Factor in the way cheaper rent and key money, and I'm a happy camper.
Seoul's cool, and has many things that I wish that Incheon had, but I'd rather not drop that kind of cash on an apartment. |
Incheon is the "Seoul area" plus you have easy access to Seoul. |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
| As an American from a small town who lives in Seoul and has traveled extensively in Korea, I found your remarks Sirius a tad bit laughable and overly stereotypical. You could not be more wrong. You can go back to discussing how you or your gtoup is better than another. It is a topic that never gets old. |
hehe..a little too close to the mark eh?  Its true. If you've spent any time on this forum you'd know how many Seoulites knock anywhere in Korea that isnt. I am addressing those folks and you know its true. And my description is spot on accurate about some folks.
If you read this part of my post and you're not a 'Cohibist' then it didn't apply to you: And its not meant to be a knock on everyone that lives in Seoul either. Its the FDNYs and the Cohibists, who have promulgated this stuff on here and convinced some folks who are simply looking for information about their options about living in korea reduced to one option and helped denied them a more meaningful experience. I was lucky. I had such a friend who told me about the various areas and such. I probably would have chosen |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
| As an American from a small town who lives in Seoul and has traveled extensively in Korea, I found your remarks Sirius a tad bit laughable and overly stereotypical. You could not be more wrong. You can go back to discussing how you or your gtoup is better than another. It is a topic that never gets old. |
hehe..a little too close to the mark eh? Its true. If you've spent any time on this forum you'd know how many Seoulites knock anywhere in Korea that isnt. I am addressing those folks and you know its true. And my description is spot on accurate about some folks.
If you read this part of my post and you're not a 'Cohibist' then it didn't apply to you: And its not meant to be a knock on everyone that lives in Seoul either. Its the FDNYs and the Cohibists, who have promulgated this stuff on here and convinced some folks who are simply looking for information about their options about living in korea reduced to one option and helped denied them a more meaningful experience. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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As per Sirius Black, if someone is completely new to Korea and they're trying to make a choice about where to live the best advice is to live in or near Seoul. The Seoul area has the best dining options, the best shopping options, the best transportation options, the best social options, and the best employment options. Why not recommend the best?
Some of you keep acting like the only way you'll do, see, or eat anything Korean is to live in Tinytown, ROK, and that's not true. I've lived in or near Seoul for years and have never had a problem seeing, doing, or eating anything Korean. And check that dirty mind. You know what I mean.
Living in a small Korean town is one way to experience lonliness. It's why younger Koreans can't wait to leave and why1/4 of the men have to buy wives. Nobody except farmers and fishermen want to make the sacrifices that are involved in living in isolation. It's best for people with Korean spouses, experience in Korea, and Christians because of the help they will receive from their church. |
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