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bocphet
Joined: 28 Nov 2008
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 Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:47 am Post subject: Anyone else read Korea: How You Feel? |
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Has anyone else read this?
I just finished it, and it was pretty cynical and realistic about teaching in Korea just prior to the financial crisis in 1997-1998. It's definitely not for the faint-hearted - it's pretty gritty and visceral, but it does paint a realistic picture of Korea.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KWS0IX4/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_7ApMtb0X0EW7C |
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Hokie21
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:13 am Post subject: |
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| Just ordered it for my Kindle....I was barely a teenager before the financial crisis, but I'm interested in reading about what all you old timers did back in the day. |
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maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| I've seen a few of these books on amazon and such. To those who haven't lived/worked here, I can understand the appeal to reading such books, but to those that have, I can't help but feel that it's like a computer technician reading about the lives of other computer technicians. |
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optik404
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Those last two reviews are most definitely fake. Or his friends.
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| Korea: How You Feel is a tour de force of modern literature |
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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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I was here from 96-97 before the crisis hit, and then I visited during the crisis.
I grew up with Koreans and Japanese, so I was always cool. The avg salary was like 1200000 and the western chains were always 70% empty. Coffeeshops like now were almost non existent. I went to the Ehwa Starbucks when it opened and it was still mostly empty, always the same: girls and foreigners. Ha.
I did alot of extra work for my boss (hiring me out in the a.m.) and doubled my salary easily. Of course, there wasnt much i wanted to buy and the exchange rate wasnt great, but I lived like a king. I didnt party (still dont), so I cant comment on that, but I had a nice gf or two then. I did hear the g.i./hooker thing, but I had long hair at the time. The teachers I did run into were a bit more adventurous, with a few odd ones here, but it was like 95% economic refugees like now. Black market stores were more common, and I loved that. It was ok.I had fun. |
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Kepler
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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I read the book. Abstract:
The author arrives in Korea in 1997 to work at a hagwon owned by Mr. Lee, a former gangster. Mr. Lee thought that opening an English hagwon would be a good investment of the small fortune he had amassed during his life of crime. The author is paid 1.2 million won a month (about 1800 USD at that time). Cell phones are just starting to become popular in Korea. The author sees long lines of people waiting to use public phones. When the author is not teaching he spends much of his time getting drunk, getting laid, and getting high. He doesn't save much money. As a foreigner, he is considered to be an exotic novelty so sometimes it is incredibly easy to get lucky with the women. He leaves Korea about two months before his contract finishes because he finds out his grandfather is in a coma. His boss agrees to give him 10% of his severance. |
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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Kepler wrote: |
I read the book. Abstract:
The author arrives in Korea in 1997 to work at a hagwon owned by Mr. Lee, a former gangster. Mr. Lee thought that opening an English hagwon would be a good investment of the small fortune he had amassed during his life of crime. The author is paid 1.2 million won a month (about 1800 USD at that time). Cell phones are just starting to become popular in Korea. The author sees long lines of people waiting to use public phones. When the author is not teaching he spends much of his time getting drunk, getting laid, and getting high. He doesn't save much money. As a foreigner, he is considered to be an exotic novelty so sometimes it is incredibly easy to get lucky with the women. He leaves Korea about two months before his contract finishes because he finds out his grandfather is in a coma. His boss agrees to give him 10% of his severance. |
That could be true, except the cell phone part. Noone had them, they all had Beepers (called Bbi Bbi (clever name). High? I remember one net I met showed me she had a big pot plant growing in the space behind her house, outside. It was large too. I was shocked, so its plausible. Exotic novelty, maybe. Ive done it so long, I dont even pay attention anymore. |
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Chaparrastique
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:02 am Post subject: |
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| Kepler wrote: |
I read the book. Abstract:
The author arrives in Korea in 1997 to work at a hagwon owned by Mr. Lee, a former gangster. Mr. Lee thought that opening an English hagwon would be a good investment of the small fortune he had amassed during his life of crime. The author is paid 1.2 million won a month (about 1800 USD at that time). Cell phones are just starting to become popular in Korea. The author sees long lines of people waiting to use public phones. When the author is not teaching he spends much of his time getting drunk, getting laid, and getting high. He doesn't save much money. As a foreigner, he is considered to be an exotic novelty so sometimes it is incredibly easy to get lucky with the women. He leaves Korea about two months before his contract finishes because he finds out his grandfather is in a coma. His boss agrees to give him 10% of his severance. |
Same old same old
Is it self-published? |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| How long was he here? I've always been intrigued by what Korea was like for one of us in the 90s or early 00s, but what sort of expertise can I expect from someone who was only here one or two years? |
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T-J
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| happiness wrote: |
| Kepler wrote: |
I read the book. Abstract:
The author arrives in Korea in 1997 to work at a hagwon owned by Mr. Lee, a former gangster. Mr. Lee thought that opening an English hagwon would be a good investment of the small fortune he had amassed during his life of crime. The author is paid 1.2 million won a month (about 1800 USD at that time). Cell phones are just starting to become popular in Korea. The author sees long lines of people waiting to use public phones. When the author is not teaching he spends much of his time getting drunk, getting laid, and getting high. He doesn't save much money. As a foreigner, he is considered to be an exotic novelty so sometimes it is incredibly easy to get lucky with the women. He leaves Korea about two months before his contract finishes because he finds out his grandfather is in a coma. His boss agrees to give him 10% of his severance. |
That could be true, except the cell phone part. Noone had them, they all had Beepers (called Bbi Bbi (clever name). High? I remember one net I met showed me she had a big pot plant growing in the space behind her house, outside. It was large too. I was shocked, so its plausible. Exotic novelty, maybe. Ive done it so long, I dont even pay attention anymore.
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Got my first cell phone, Motorola StarTac, in 1996. They were rare but people were starting to buy them around that time. Still have that phone.
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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I brought my phone from home, so it wasnt a problem.
But I remember there were a lot of amphetamines back then, i dont remember pot being all that easy to get a hold of? I even remember a Korean bodybuilder begging me to get him some steroids everyday because he couldn't get any.
I also remember the food was shit. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
| How long was he here? I've always been intrigued by what Korea was like for one of us in the 90s or early 00s, but what sort of expertise can I expect from someone who was only here one or two years? |
early 00s? Eh, even by then Korea's internet service kicked ass and cellphones were a lot more ubiquitous than in the States at the time. I remember returning to the USA and thinking what a backwards country it was. Texting still hadn't become popular while everyone did it in the ROK.
Western restaurants, minus a couple chains like McDonald's, were pretty much just in Seoul and Busan. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Thinking of ordering some books from Amazon, is this book worth the read to add to the pile for an extra 10 bucks? |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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spilot101
Joined: 05 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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Lived here in 99 for a year, and now finishing up my year, again. 99 was cool, no doubt 
Bucheon, I remember thinking the same thing about the cellphones when I got back to the States. I recon even 5-6 years later the US still trailed Korea circa 99 in the said technology.... |
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