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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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swashbuckler
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
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 Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Cave Dweller wrote: |
Some good points. However, I have had the opposite.
When I said I was planning to go back, some people looked incredulous. They expected that since I had been here so long, it was for life.
Another guy seemed surprised when I told him I was not a naturalized Korean citizen. |
Interesting. Were those Korean people you just met for the first time though or people who are already knew you? |
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emetib
Joined: 27 Dec 2009
Location: Somewhere between sanity and insanity.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:27 am Post subject: |
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I did not expect to be in Korea this long (almost 5 years). I was expecting to do the 1 year-run and to check out going back to my career (I didn't come over here as an English teacher). However, I realized that now I'm quite adapted to the crazy environment here. I love the country and the people (obnoxious quirks and all). Living here enables me to do what I've always wanted to do (without killing myself due to a 60+hr work schedule). For some people....we just really like it here (in spite of the shoving ajummas, spitting ajeosshis, lack of personal space, blatantly insane lack of logic...).
Yeah...I guess I'm insane, but I prefer it here at this moment in time and can easily see myself here long-term (married with kids and all). Korea is the one country that has "given me Hell." I suppose that also plays into my determination (?) to stay. I'm stubborn. "When a horse bucks you off, you get back on..." |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| ^^5 years isn't long. Your opinion could change. I think ten years before you could start being sure you can transition to being a lifer. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
| ^^5 years isn't long. Your opinion could change. I think ten years before you could start being sure you can transition to being a lifer. |
True & even then, who knows. I had myself pegged as a lifer through 15 years here. I really love Korea, its been good to me, but now my thinking has shifted & I'm up for somewhere new. |
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kimchipig
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 10:42 am Post subject: |
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I came very close to becoming a Korea lifer but once you hit the glass ceiling, there is nowhere to go and that ceiling isn't very high.
Canada is not a third world country. It is just most of the posters here are young and have not worked on their careers in Canada. It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat but try raising a family in Korea; you'll find it hideously expensive and hard to do on an ESL teacher's income.
I left Korea in 2004 and it wasn't until 2009 that my standard of living surpassed that of Korea. It was five years of grinding labour, with a divorce thrown in but there is nothing like a couple of kids to get your nose to the grindstone.
Another five years later, I am plugged into the Mainland Chinese immigration boom here in Vancouver, extremely wealthy people. With the tremendous assistance of a Chinese wife, my income is light-years beyond what I was making in Korea, and I get to do it in my home, with my friends and family. If I want to visit Asia, and we often do, it's not a problem to come up with the travel costs.
The key here is time and patience. When I got to Korea, I was in the "I will never go back to Canada" camp quite firmly, but as time elapsed, things changed. The real points here are:
-Unless you want to stay single all your life, and most of us don't, Korea is a deal end.
-If and when you go back to your home country, you are not going to be handed anything on a silver platter. You are going to have to WORK for it, long hours, lots of driving and plenty of door knocking.
I didn't want to end up along in a dorm room in Korea making what a bus driver makes, so I took the plunge and left. Now, as I am looking out the window of a nice residential street in the Westside of Vancouver, I see a nice luxury car parked outside (and it is mine) and the mountains in the distance. It took a lot of courage to return but my life is lot better than it was in Korea.
It's been a decade since I returned to Canada. I worked like a dog but now I can slow down. I doubt had I stayed in Korea would have attained anything near what I have here in Vancouver. |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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| kimchipig wrote: |
It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat...
It took a lot of courage to return but my life is lot better than it was in Korea. |
This I feel is a key point. Some see leaving Korea as weakness, that those leaving were too weak to stay. It takes guts to leave, especially if you have a family. Basically you know you'll suffer at least a short term drop in disposable income, and are taking a long term punt. |
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Cave Dweller
Joined: 17 Aug 2014
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Congrats. However, for every success story like yours, there are at least 10 stories of failure.
| kimchipig wrote: |
I came very close to becoming a Korea lifer but once you hit the glass ceiling, there is nowhere to go and that ceiling isn't very high.
Canada is not a third world country. It is just most of the posters here are young and have not worked on their careers in Canada. It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat but try raising a family in Korea; you'll find it hideously expensive and hard to do on an ESL teacher's income.
I left Korea in 2004 and it wasn't until 2009 that my standard of living surpassed that of Korea. It was five years of grinding labour, with a divorce thrown in but there is nothing like a couple of kids to get your nose to the grindstone.
Another five years later, I am plugged into the Mainland Chinese immigration boom here in Vancouver, extremely wealthy people. With the tremendous assistance of a Chinese wife, my income is light-years beyond what I was making in Korea, and I get to do it in my home, with my friends and family. If I want to visit Asia, and we often do, it's not a problem to come up with the travel costs.
The key here is time and patience. When I got to Korea, I was in the "I will never go back to Canada" camp quite firmly, but as time elapsed, things changed. The real points here are:
-Unless you want to stay single all your life, and most of us don't, Korea is a deal end.
-If and when you go back to your home country, you are not going to be handed anything on a silver platter. You are going to have to WORK for it, long hours, lots of driving and plenty of door knocking.
I didn't want to end up along in a dorm room in Korea making what a bus driver makes, so I took the plunge and left. Now, as I am looking out the window of a nice residential street in the Westside of Vancouver, I see a nice luxury car parked outside (and it is mine) and the mountains in the distance. It took a lot of courage to return but my life is lot better than it was in Korea.
It's been a decade since I returned to Canada. I worked like a dog but now I can slow down. I doubt had I stayed in Korea would have attained anything near what I have here in Vancouver. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:07 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| This I feel is a key point. Some see leaving Korea as weakness, that those leaving were too weak to stay. |
Maybe, but I think more people would look at it in the opposite way. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 4:20 am Post subject: |
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| Cave Dweller wrote: |
Congrats. However, for every success story like yours, there are at least 10 stories of failure.
| kimchipig wrote: |
I came very close to becoming a Korea lifer but once you hit the glass ceiling, there is nowhere to go and that ceiling isn't very high.
Canada is not a third world country. It is just most of the posters here are young and have not worked on their careers in Canada. It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat but try raising a family in Korea; you'll find it hideously expensive and hard to do on an ESL teacher's income.
I left Korea in 2004 and it wasn't until 2009 that my standard of living surpassed that of Korea. It was five years of grinding labour, with a divorce thrown in but there is nothing like a couple of kids to get your nose to the grindstone.
Another five years later, I am plugged into the Mainland Chinese immigration boom here in Vancouver, extremely wealthy people. With the tremendous assistance of a Chinese wife, my income is light-years beyond what I was making in Korea, and I get to do it in my home, with my friends and family. If I want to visit Asia, and we often do, it's not a problem to come up with the travel costs.
The key here is time and patience. When I got to Korea, I was in the "I will never go back to Canada" camp quite firmly, but as time elapsed, things changed. The real points here are:
-Unless you want to stay single all your life, and most of us don't, Korea is a deal end.
-If and when you go back to your home country, you are not going to be handed anything on a silver platter. You are going to have to WORK for it, long hours, lots of driving and plenty of door knocking.
I didn't want to end up along in a dorm room in Korea making what a bus driver makes, so I took the plunge and left. Now, as I am looking out the window of a nice residential street in the Westside of Vancouver, I see a nice luxury car parked outside (and it is mine) and the mountains in the distance. It took a lot of courage to return but my life is lot better than it was in Korea.
It's been a decade since I returned to Canada. I worked like a dog but now I can slow down. I doubt had I stayed in Korea would have attained anything near what I have here in Vancouver. |
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Maybe for those who spend 10 years. I have a lot of friends who went to Korea at 22 or 23 and returned home by the time they were 25 and have been quite successful since. It's possible to explain away a year or two on a resume. It's a lot harder when after ten years you want to go back and do something completely unrelated. |
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FriendlyDaegu
Joined: 26 Aug 2012
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| kimchipig wrote: |
I came very close to becoming a Korea lifer but once you hit the glass ceiling, there is nowhere to go and that ceiling isn't very high.
Canada is not a third world country. It is just most of the posters here are young and have not worked on their careers in Canada. It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat but try raising a family in Korea; you'll find it hideously expensive and hard to do on an ESL teacher's income.
I left Korea in 2004 and it wasn't until 2009 that my standard of living surpassed that of Korea. It was five years of grinding labour, with a divorce thrown in but there is nothing like a couple of kids to get your nose to the grindstone.
Another five years later, I am plugged into the Mainland Chinese immigration boom here in Vancouver, extremely wealthy people. With the tremendous assistance of a Chinese wife, my income is light-years beyond what I was making in Korea, and I get to do it in my home, with my friends and family. If I want to visit Asia, and we often do, it's not a problem to come up with the travel costs.
The key here is time and patience. When I got to Korea, I was in the "I will never go back to Canada" camp quite firmly, but as time elapsed, things changed. The real points here are:
-Unless you want to stay single all your life, and most of us don't, Korea is a deal end.
-If and when you go back to your home country, you are not going to be handed anything on a silver platter. You are going to have to WORK for it, long hours, lots of driving and plenty of door knocking. … |
If you're still teaching ESL, then it sounds like you took the right move and made out. If you're comparing teaching in Korea to more lucrative work back home, then yeah, of course, no comparison. I started off teaching, but followed my interests elsewhere, and now have these same things in Korea:
| Quote: |
| …a nice residential street …, a nice luxury car parked outside (and it is mine) and the mountains in the distance. |
Glass ceilings are more a matter of the profession you choose than where you choose to do it. |
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kimchipig
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| FriendlyDaegu wrote: |
| kimchipig wrote: |
I came very close to becoming a Korea lifer but once you hit the glass ceiling, there is nowhere to go and that ceiling isn't very high.
Canada is not a third world country. It is just most of the posters here are young and have not worked on their careers in Canada. It takes YEARS to build a career but you can arrive in Korea with a BA and make relatively good money right off the bat but try raising a family in Korea; you'll find it hideously expensive and hard to do on an ESL teacher's income.
I left Korea in 2004 and it wasn't until 2009 that my standard of living surpassed that of Korea. It was five years of grinding labour, with a divorce thrown in but there is nothing like a couple of kids to get your nose to the grindstone.
Another five years later, I am plugged into the Mainland Chinese immigration boom here in Vancouver, extremely wealthy people. With the tremendous assistance of a Chinese wife, my income is light-years beyond what I was making in Korea, and I get to do it in my home, with my friends and family. If I want to visit Asia, and we often do, it's not a problem to come up with the travel costs.
The key here is time and patience. When I got to Korea, I was in the "I will never go back to Canada" camp quite firmly, but as time elapsed, things changed. The real points here are:
-Unless you want to stay single all your life, and most of us don't, Korea is a deal end.
-If and when you go back to your home country, you are not going to be handed anything on a silver platter. You are going to have to WORK for it, long hours, lots of driving and plenty of door knocking. … |
If you're still teaching ESL, then it sounds like you took the right move and made out. If you're comparing teaching in Korea to more lucrative work back home, then yeah, of course, no comparison. I started off teaching, but followed my interests elsewhere, and now have these same things in Korea:
| Quote: |
| …a nice residential street …, a nice luxury car parked outside (and it is mine) and the mountains in the distance. |
Glass ceilings are more a matter of the profession you choose than where you choose to do it. |
In fact I am a private tutor for the children of very wealthy Mainland Chinese, and we have an agency sending tutors all over the Lower Mainland.
There is no glass ceiling in this business. It will continue to grow to the point you don't want to expend any more time into it, or until you have to hire staff, which we have done. My personal hourly rate is much, much higher than anything I ever made in Korea and triple what my Korea lifer friends are making. However, without a Chinese spouse I doubt this would have been possible.
Yes, the cost of living is higher, but I have a much better standard of living that I ever did in Korea. However, this took a decade of hard work. Now I can pick and choose what I take and pass off what I don't to employees.
I looked at the job boards. ESL teachers in Korea are making less now than they were a decade ago, and much less when inflation is taken into account. W2.1m is hardly luxury living and I was making more that that in 2004. |
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Lucas
Joined: 11 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| True & even then, who knows. I had myself pegged as a lifer through 15 years here. I really love Korea, its been good to me, but now my thinking has shifted & I'm up for somewhere new. |
I thought they were evicting you?  |
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