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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: Does Anyone Hate Going Back Home? |
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| I'm With You wrote: |
I'm hoping this will be my last trip. I do not like it at all - the TV, the Walmart culture, the obesity, twenty-dumbthings with their tattoos, the MMA culture, the news, the attitudes of people, the guns, the car culture, giant pick up trucks, etc., etc.
I just despise everything about it. |
In other words you visited a crappy part of the States. Got it. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| I dislike going back to America, it's a hedonistic wonderland. Even rural Korea is a bit too much for me, I sometimes fantasize about going somewhere more austere. Rural Korea seems like a good compromise between austerity and livability for my family though, so for the time being we're staying put. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:08 pm Post subject: Re: Does Anyone Hate Going Back Home? |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| I'm With You wrote: |
I'm hoping this will be my last trip. I do not like it at all - the TV, the Walmart culture, the obesity, twenty-dumbthings with their tattoos, the MMA culture, the news, the attitudes of people, the guns, the car culture, giant pick up trucks, etc., etc.
I just despise everything about it. |
In other words you visited a crappy part of the States. Got it. |
In his defense, many of the things he mentioned apply to huge swaths of the USA. No reason to be reflexively defensive; there are good parts of the USA, but if those parts are either not the one you incidentally hail from or the ones you incidentally found work in, raw statistical trends imply you're likely going to end up in one of the "bad" parts. Sarah Palin's "Real America," you might say. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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Meh..
I always enjoy going back home. Not really feeling the vibe of the OP. |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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What I don't miss about back home are people like this:
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| Vincent and Heidi Giesegh say their neighbors are threatening legal action if they don't remove the [disability] ramp. They say the next door couple is worried that the ramp will hurt the value of their home. The Giesegh's say they need it for their 16 year old daughter Kirsten who has Cerebral Palsy. |
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bmaw01
Joined: 13 May 2013
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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I liver near the New Jersey shore. I've been in Korea for 2 years now, and I am leaving mid-October. I am not looking forward to going home. The only reason I am going home is to see family. I plan to stay home until early January, and I will be flying out to Thailand to teach, and to live with my girlfriend. I would like to purchase a condo near Bangkok.
I actually feel sorry for the people who live in my city. Most have never traveled out of the country, and when they do travel they usually go to Florida. Big whoops! They've never experienced another culture before. I've grown so much over the last 2 years, and this was because I got out of America. |
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WadRUG'naDoo
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't like going back home. The flight is long and expensive. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 3:46 am Post subject: |
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When we lived in Korea, we looked forward to visiting Canada. Sure there was always some reverse culture shock of sorts for me, it certainly struck me how slow paced Canada was compared to Korea, how many more overweight people there were, how few people there were, even in larger cities as opposed to often over crowded Korea.
I did not hate being in Canada however, it was always a fun visit and always left me a bit sad as I noticed the moments I had missed in family time and friends evolving.
Now the reverse has a happened for me and my wife. We live in Canada and always look forward to our visits to Korea...again some reverse culture shock occurs (for my wife!) and we notice things we did not while living in K-land. Then we notice how our nieces have grown up in leaps and bounds, how friends moved to different things and so on..
Basically we have the "two homes" syndrome where we miss Korea when not there and miss Canada when not there. My brother has echoed similar feelings about Canada-Japan as he has lived in Japan for longer than I was in Korea.
Living abroad does change your mindset in many ways. For people who make their homes abroad and make roots there this can lead to the two home syndrome. |
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Nolos
Joined: 23 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:51 am Post subject: Re: Does Anyone Hate Going Back Home? |
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| I'm With You wrote: |
I had to return tot he U.S. recently and, although it was only for a week, I just hated it. I think if I were to go back permanently, I'd need some sort of counselling or something to be re-socialized. I absolutely hate it.
I know of one Canadian friend and colleague who has mentioned having similar feelings when he has returned home for short periods - everyone walking around with Vancouver Canucks T-shirts on and holding Tim Horton's coffee cups and talking like Canadians do and the inane chit-chat at the check-out in the supermarkets, etc.
I'm just curious if others have the same feelings when they go back home. I'm hoping this will be my last trip. I do not like it at all - the TV, the Walmart culture, the obesity, twenty-dumbthings with their tattoos, the MMA culture, the news, the attitudes of people, the guns, the car culture, giant pick up trucks, etc., etc.
I just despise everything about it. |
"I'm With You" (the OP) must have absolutely ZERO friends and a social outcast if he "hates" going home for a week. Wow. I can't wait to go back and see my friends and have a good time with my family. Were you some kind of loser or pariah that only got self esteem once you moved to Korea where someone might look at you or call you handsome, even if they are lying to your face? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:21 am Post subject: Re: Does Anyone Hate Going Back Home? |
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| Fox wrote: |
| bucheon bum wrote: |
| I'm With You wrote: |
I'm hoping this will be my last trip. I do not like it at all - the TV, the Walmart culture, the obesity, twenty-dumbthings with their tattoos, the MMA culture, the news, the attitudes of people, the guns, the car culture, giant pick up trucks, etc., etc.
I just despise everything about it. |
In other words you visited a crappy part of the States. Got it. |
In his defense, many of the things he mentioned apply to huge swaths of the USA. No reason to be reflexively defensive; there are good parts of the USA, but if those parts are either not the one you incidentally hail from or the ones you incidentally found work in, raw statistical trends imply you're likely going to end up in one of the "bad" parts. Sarah Palin's "Real America," you might say. |
Not disputing that huge parts of the USA are as he described. I didn't say the crappy part of the country was a small area.  |
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misher
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Wait and see. I used to say the same thing. Over time, I've come to change opinion. I'm sick and tired of the noise and the smog. I also hate how a trip to the grocery store is more stressful than necessary: the sheer number of shoppers, the resulting noise, and the lack of variety (an aisle of ramen and another for dried fish...Need I say more?). I'm also tired of the glass ceiling at work, how experience and additional qualifications are only rewarded with a new title, but never with a considerable raise, other than our yearly 3%. |
Basically this.
To the OP: you should heed Ax's advice. And this is my opinion:
So you're not getting the special treatment (based on your skin color and nothing else) because back home you're a nobody.
Been there and yeah, going back home felt like crap.
However when you're 45 those "superstar" treatments fade and suddenly home is looking DAMN good. You'll see. |
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Seoulman69
Joined: 14 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Are you guys kidding me? I had a blast the last time I was in America (and I was there for a year). Things that ruled: seeing old friends (some of whom were hot babes) then hanging out and developing a deeper friendship daily over a j or three. Things that happened on a daily basis in the U.S. that never happen to me in Korea- socializing with the most beautiful, most glamorous women of the city. Going to afterparties with them then back to one of their apartments to burn green. Never once in Korea was I with a group of women and then one said hey let's all go to my house to drink more wine and smoke more weed. |
Wow! That sounds amazing. Many, many years ago I used to smoke but I'm a bit old for it now. Where i'm from people are more likely to be sitting in a skag flat with a bunch of skinny, toothless, junkies.
When I go back I sit in the Weatherspoons with wee Rab most days. The rest of the boys are working. Gordo's going for a promotion and Judge's working for a bank. I sometimes meet them up in the city but most of the time it's me in Weatherspoons with either Rab, my dad, or my gran. It's good enough for me though, so no complaints.
It would be pretty amazing to be in America with lots of good looking women taking drugs though. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| I look forward to all the positive things people mentioned about going back home (seeing friends, smoking, good food, after parties, and so on). But the OP still makes a good point. I'll be returning home for the first time this winter for two months, so I'll see how it feels then. But just like Korea, the U.S. has a lot of pluses and minuses. I'm sure it's great if you're just visiting, but I can't I can't imagine going back to some dumpy rental house scouring the internet for "real jobs" while working some shit part-time service job and/or underpaid internship in the meantime. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:21 am Post subject: |
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| I'm With You wrote: |
| I do not like it at all - the TV, the Walmart culture, the obesity, twenty-dumbthings with their tattoos, the MMA culture, the news, the attitudes of people, the guns, the car culture, giant pick up trucks, etc., etc. |
The TV always was crap. Remember "The Incredible Hulk", "Wonder Woman", you know it always was crap other than some of the nightly movies. In fact in some ways TV has improved, it's just more narcissistic, totally unabashed "Me, Myself, and I". The nice thing though is it's moving steadily into Britain.  As far as Walmart goes, what you see shopping at Walmart is there because Walmart is cheap and still puts out good stuff. If I can find it at Walmart, that's where I go. You do see a lot of clinically obese people, but lot's more that are not. I agree the twenty-dumbthing with tattoos is obnoxious, it's like if you don't have one you're an outcast.  But once again unless I'm incorrect it seems to spreading into Britain. The car culture is so obnoxious I'm not even going to discuss it, especially with global warming |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:38 am Post subject: |
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| I never really went back "home" home. We took a trip to Hawaii a few years ago, and it was tolerable, except for the fact that the drivers in Hawaii really DO have road rage, much worse than some of the things I've experienced here in Korea as a driver myself. Other than that, there wasn't too much I couldn't live with as part of being back in the States. However, it was Hawaii. |
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