Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Keepongoing]

1. floor heating

2. Banking system!!!! I use a very friendly bank here in Itaewan. I can go to an ATM and pay for airline tickets simply by making a transfer and that is to a diffeent bank!!!!! Awesome..I always use my debit card in Thailand=no problems

3. love the community HOFS

4. Love the quaint little restaurants

5. some of the values i really admire

6. i love the older people who walk up the hills every weekend

7. i love the politeness-i will never forget the strangers that offered their seat or asked to hold my bag for me on the subway (both were women).

8. I love the determination i see in so many

9. i met some great people here as well.

i did have my nightmares here, but i realize that there are things`about this place that are quite special

do you agree Beaver???

[the_beaver]

[rapier]

Of course their are nice things here. I like the spicy food and the mountain-clad hillsides.
Now, lets continue with the ten million bad points, to being in Korea.

[tomato]

I like the multiplicity of small businesses.
I like the convenient transportation system.
I enjoy the challenge of dealing with the language barrier.
I enjoy learning Korean sign language.
I enjoy learning to sing Korean songs.
I enjoy learning to play Korean musical instruments.
I don't miss the hoodlums who holler insults at people on the street.
I don't miss the people in my own country who found fault with me and tried to reform me.
I enjoy kids anywhere, including here.
I am glad to get away from the sexual abuse hysteria.
I enjoy working a job that offers a creative outlet.
I can get a job here but can't get a job at home

[nev]

I enjoy being able to walk about at any time of day and never feel threatened.

I enjoy the rooftop on my apartment block, that I go up to after work to have a beer and look over the city, the quaint patchwork of coloured tiled roofs below and the nearby green mountains.

I enjoy money never being a concern any more.

[tomato]

And now to answer Rapier's question:

People who infantilize me by speaking to me in English although I am trying to learn Korean.

I've ranted about this on other threads, and some of you are tired of hearing about it, so I'll shut up.

I crave buttermilk.

Does anyone know where I can buy buttermilk--in Itaewon or anywhere else?

I wish Taco Bell would expand into Korea.

I miss the Saturday opera broadcasts.

KBS-FM is nice, but they never broadcast complete operas.
For that matter, they are reluctant to play complete multi-movement compositions, except in evening concerts. I don't like single-movement excerpts.

Foreign language education in Korea stinks to high heaven.

This item is worth subdividing:

Korean English teachers speaking English to people who are trying to learn Korean and Korean to people who are trying to learn English

Do you have to be a genuis to realize that it should be the other way around?

the myth that a class which covers a page a day learns a page a day

the stubborn refusal of Korea's millions of English students to practice English among themselves

[shortskirt_longjacket]

[rapier]

I love many things here, but I'll keep it brief:
1)Koreans can make great friends- they are genuine people.
2) There is a lack of western style problems: theft, vandalism, drunken hooligans (as mentioned before) etc.
3) The food.

However its the small things, those little actions that speak louder than words, that get to me, such as:
1) Silly nervous Korean will not sit next to you on the bus, although its packed and there are no other seats.
2) Dizzy Korean walks right into blocking your path, bumps you, or walks straight into you.
3) Kids think they have the right to their hello chorus just because you're white.

[captain kirk]

The community market places with the veggies and elderly folk selling are 'adorable'. I've got this pair of pants washed so many times the old thread rips at the seams, and a flaring gap down the inside of my leg while I indicate I'm in search of 'koh muh shill', elastic thread. A stall owner points that way. I stop at the sidestreet within sight of him still back there chuckling with someone at my predicament and point indicating, "that way, really?". He nods and I walk on when a woman tags me from behind and points to a small, grey, portable building. She has walked twenty meters out of her way. The 'communal' nature of Korean society has 'telegraphed' that I'm looking for thread. The seamstress in the porta-building points to a noraebang and says it's over there. 'Over there' the elderly couple and a nearby fishmonger lady are helpful all over the place rummaging in search of thin 'koh muh shill' of which they have none, only big rubber cords.
Communal, lead with emotions. At the haggie I've stepped back taking in the bigger picture considering it's a two way street and being less suspicious and demanding, less like a fearful, spoilt child overseas and wary of being duped, thinking 'conspiracy'. And that down to earth trust, or devotion, or faith in the people around me is reward in kind.
If I'm having a topsy turvy day the students who are humanly devoted in this sort of way are 'there for me', and I'm 'home' out of the fray. There are a few students who are without question accepting of my presence as a whole, trusted person, 'through thick or thin'. There are some wholesome ideals instilled into them by their parents which makes them 'awesome beings'.

[Keepongoing]

[desultude]

I love how solicitous my students and department assistants are when I need something, or they think I need something. It feels like a kind of harmony/equilibrium thing. If I am sick or need something, things are out of alignment, and they need to make it right. It can be a bit hard for someone who is really independent, like me, but it still feels good.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

You're cold?

[desultude]

[marista99]

Posting about liking florr heating in July is quite odd, I must say. I have yet to experience it but I trust it will be cool....er, warm.

I've been in Korea for two days now. So far, what I like are the following:
The fact that people can park wherever they want
The cheap stationery stores with lots of cute stuff
Korean Chinese food
People can leave bikes and even whole outdoor stalls full of merchandise unattended all night without anything being stolen.
Because crime isn't such a problem kids are able to walk around alone without worrying about being abducted or anything.
E-mart!
PC Bangs...incredibly cheap and only way to feed my net addiction until my connection at home is hooked up
My cute little apartment--yes it's small, but I don't really need much space, and I like having everything almost within arm's reach
I can walk two blocks or less and find everything I need on a daily basis, and the airport or Gimpo are only quick bus rides way if I'm craving McDonald's or something else western-like

So, in summary, so far I like Korea. There are things I don't like too but for now I'm focusing on the positive

[ZUL]

Ha, Ha, I love my TB Mexi!!! Seven layer burrito's, Nacho's, oh my!