Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Justin Hale]

In the last 3 months, I've gotten drunk only twice. Had to leave Korea to do it though.

[PRagic]

Bingo. 5 of us went out for dinner last night and split one bottle of soju and 3 beers. We all have work this a.m., and we're all pretty active. Not worth it.

For some reason, drinking in a hot city just won't cut it. Ice cold beer on a tropical beach, however, is fantastic.

[ds_fan]

i used to drink at least 1 beer every night, didnt feel too bad about it either, enjoyed it.

now im eating healthier food i cant be bothered drinking al the time and do it maybe 3 times a week- though im on a bloody school bus at 9.20am

if i worked at 1pm or whenever most schools start i would drink more often, including going out to bars and having a lot more fun, 3 things iv realised which people thinking of coming to korea should remember, dont teach kindergarten, aim for a late shift, try to find work in seoul

[sojourner1]

Many (especially newbies) might increase drinking in Korea, because there's nothing else to do such as gangja and it gets boring during your lonely nights.

When I taught in a stressful hagwon my 1st year, it was 3 or 4 nights a week beer drinking, but now I'm only doing 1 or 2 nights of a six pack and sometimes a dram of Scotch. It's just so harsh on your body to really enjoy enough alcohol to get you buzzing. When they say moderate drinking is healthy, they mean only 1 beer or 1 shot of liquor; not 6 or 12 of them. I feel horrible when hung over from having a drink and that's because my body is saying I'm harming it with poison.


Even though it's legal, it's really really bad for your heart and overall health. If you are a regular drinker who gets drunk often, expect some cardiomyopathy to set in because alcohol destroys the heart muscle cells and screws up the electrical pathways that control heart functioning and then you can end with an enlarged heart that leads to heart attacks since there's not enough vascularization to supply oxygenated blood to the increased heart muscle size. My big brother got this from drinking beer every night for 10 years straight as he was recently diagnosed. Also, booze causes your blood pressure to go sky high after drinking which is a part of hangover headache. If you feel abnormal heart beat after a night of imbibing, then watch out and lay off the booze. Go google and read for yourself if you think I'm nuts about preaching how bad having a drink really is. I'm abstaining more and more though still enjoy an occasional drink for fear it will screw me up as it's not a soft drug to be playing around with.

It's too bad it's got to be this way with something that is legal while something else illegal is not so destructive if you have a puff or two of an evening. Drinking can be a lot of fun and it's too bad they didn't make a product less destructive as alcohol is a total assault on your body. It's true that it's effects are a result of it being poison, no bones about it.

[crusher_of_heads]

At first, with no routine or little structure, yes.


The positive side of the honeymoon effect ending is less alcohol.

[Cheonmunka]

I think Seoul and big cities do.
Just returned from a beach island in ChollanamDo and didn't drink much - slept with the stars and up with the crows.

[njp6]

I find that drink over here out of boredom and association. I'll have a few beers and play video games, mainly because I can't find much else to do. If I do that often enough, then I find that can't play video games without craving a beer. One action begets another.

On a somewhat related topic, drunk monkeys:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYuIYNaKynI
Reminds me of some of my friends (does not remind me of myself of course).

[maddog]

I got pretty bad a while back. I was getting hammered on two pitchers of Cass Red every night.

I've been dry for ten days now, not counting a small glass of beer I had with galbi last night.

So yes, Korea has turned me into an everyday drinker. That's why, from now on, I'm gonna stock my fridge/cupboards, and send home 1.5M at the start of the month every month. At least that way, I'll be limited by how much I can afford.

My contract is up in late November (I might extend) so I need to save anyway. After a year, I'll probably have saved $10K plus severance, so it's not all bad.

MD

[mervsdamun]

4 days on, 3 days off on average for me.

Wed, Thu go easy - Friday and Sat are brutal though.

However, I�m considering quitting. Have a friend with similar drinking patterns to me who noticed he had hematuria (blood in the urine) after a 3 day binge. Says the frequency has gone down to about 1/5 visible blood per piss episodes (from 3/5) but after 5 weeks it�s still here. Apparently blood tests and urine tests show he is okay but he swears it�s related to alcohol and would get a CT scan if only he could.

[metalhead]

Pretty pointless going to Korea in the first place and not getting sloshed on a regular basis. How else will you experience true Korean culture?

[PRagic]

Used to go out and hit it pretty good on Fridays and Saturdays back in my 20s and even into my 30s. Now, though, that I'm in my 40s, I've found one night a week to suffice, and I don't get pickled. If there's a Wednesday function for work, I'll give the weekend a miss.

[alexc2000]

Korea was where I started to actually drink socially but it is still only less than once a week. Back when I was living in America, it was probably only once or twice in a whole year.

[Fallacy]

Sounds like a problem. Time to get yourself to AA meetings.

[420bro]

I drink too much. I now believe that I'm a high functional alcoholic. Hold down a good job and make money but spend most of my free time drinking either socially or alone. I have tried many many times to quit or cut down but eventually I find myself caving...I'm not happy with this and would love to find a support group to help out. I'm not religious and want nothing to do with AA since it inherently refers to a higher power. However I am looking to start a support group for like minded people who feel they need help or someone to turn to when they feel like a drink. Pm me if you are interested.i think a buddy system or being accountable to someone else might help.

[Brooks]

I don`t know about that.
AA meetings on army bases don't have that much religion.
They gave ex-soldiers the Bible, but I don't remember Bible thumping.

In Maryland the dude that ran the group was a friendly black guy with a sense of humor. I don't remember much about religion.
Having a buddy is a good idea.

For me I think having a wife nag me and tell me to just drink on the weekend helped.
Just stick with beer and avoid the hard stuff.

For me work is more important so drinking on a weeknight can disrupt my sleep. Plus getting a beer belly is no fun.
Sometimes I drink non-alcoholic beer and pretend it is beer.

My great-grandfather from Iowa was an alcoholic and his wife left him, so my grandfather never ever drank, and my father drank a little.
You cannot escape your DNA.
I never heard my grandfather even talk about him, such was the shame in a rural, small town.

For me, living in Russia made me drink less since I saw what happens when people cannot stop.
Or go live in a Muslim country where getting booze is tough.