Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mashimaro]

Seoul: 10,000,000 people
my hometown: 2500 people

Seoul: Still relatively homogenous but still has people from all over the world.
hometown: The only asians I saw ran the one and only chinese restaurant.

my hometown: doesn't even have McDonalds or 7/11
current korean home: 3 minute or less walk to dunkin donuts, baskin robins, McDs, burger king, kfc and any one of 15 7/11 or clones.

Strange when one of the biggest difference that comes to mind is the abundance of junk food chains (I don't even go to them that often).

Seoul: Public drunkeness is accepted if not encouraged by friends.
hometown: Public drunkeness is accepted (from the town drunk)

[Saxiif]

There's more than one stoplight here.

[Mashimaro]

[shawner88]

Bangs!

Outdoor social eating culture!

Little crime!


My home town is a suburb but the city is worn down and drab. The suburb looks like anywhere in America, fast food chains, Walmarts and shopping strips.

[Zyzyfer]

My hometown is technically several interconnected cities. 7 of 'em, to be exact. The biggest differences are that my hometown actually has a lot of trees, there is such a thing as rush hour, and there's a lot of friggin' water.

There are also several tunnels that go under the various rivers, and Norfolk Naval Shipyard/Newport News Shipbuilding are stationed there as well.

Oddly enough, the area totally feels like a suburb.

[mindmetoo]

I've found the key to going from a smaller city or town to a big city is to find a neighborhood that reminds you of a nice neighborhood in your home town and move there. It's a bit harder to do in Seoul, of course. And we don't really get to pick where we want to make our home. But the point is to find something that reminds you of home and build a comfort zone around that.

[inkoreaforgood]

[Homer]

Seoul: much less public violence and crime then my home city (not that it was all that bad there).

More pollution, more traffic.

Better public transit (by far).

[jajdude]

My hometown: 10,000 people. Clean. Can walk anywhere within a half hour or so. 30 taxis maybe. Everybody knows you. Few foreigners, 99% white locals. Not a very interesting place, but people seem to have high opinions of themselves and their "worldliness" for no reason anyone can explain. 5-6 months of cold winters with lots of snow, several feet that is. Can drink water from tap. Most people live in houses and have front and back lawns. Absolutely everybody speaks English all the time. Oh, and the beer store closes at 11 pm or maybe there is one open till 2 am. Illegal to sell it after that, and you have to buy it in cases of 6 or 12. And no one eats kimchi or ramyon. And no one has heard of soju.

Seoul... just a bit different.

[djsmnc]

The population of my hometown is less than half the size of Seoul, but over half the size (riddle me this riddle me that).

Also, there's more bongs than bangs in my hometown.

[matthews_world]

My hometown:

One of the highest murder rates per capita in the U.S.
Guns.
Gangs.
Gambling.
Decent music scene.
Country bars.
1 Million city-wide.
3 professional sports teams.
Sucky transportation system. Everyone has cars.
One of the highest populations of fat people in the country.
Fairly cheap real estate, especially in the burbs.
Crappy public schools.
Damn hot weather in the summer. Cold Canadian air in the winter.
Awesome BBQ and Mexican food.


Anybody guess which city this is?

[hellofaniceguy]

Comparing Seoul to Honolulu?!?!? Hmmmmm....
Hawaii! One of the best places to live in the world! And I have to come up with the differences?!
Let's see....the differences....
how much time do you have? This may take some time....

[Homer]

Begs the question hellofaniceguy...why come here at all if ya love honolulu so much...

Or, nevermind answering that.

[little mixed girl]

according to this random site i googled ann arbor has 114,024 people.
RACE AND ETHNICITY


Number Pct(A2) Pct(MI) Pct(US)

White 85,151 74.7 80.2 75.1

Black or African American 10,070 8.8 14.2 12.3

American Indian and Alaska native 332 0.3 0.6 0.9

Asian 13,566 11.9 1.8 3.6

Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 41 0.0 0.0 0.1

Some other race 1,384 1.2 1.3 5.5

Two or more races 3,480 3.1 1.9 2.4

Hispanic or Latino 3,814 3.3 3.3 12.5

we certainly seem to have more trees than seoul. and of course a lot less people. there's not much of a night life either. in some ways i think it's a lot easier to get around in seoul due to the subway system...even if it isn't operating 24/7

[VanIslander]

Another unnecessarily Seoul-centric thread. (Over half of us don't live there people!) I don't have anything to do with that place and on many levels I make the following comparison: Seoul is like Toronto, the largest metropolis of stink and traffic I'd rather not live in and only rarely visit; plus, it fashions itself the centre of the universe.

I can compare where I live (Geoje Island) with where I'm from (Vancouver Island):

Both are very large, with hours of beautiful coastal drives and great beaches. Both have fresh Pacific Ocean air and mild winters without snow (two winters here: notta). Both are underdeveloped tourist destinations on a national and international scale. Both are less than an hour's ferry from the country's largest port city. Both I've called home.

However, there are big differences too.

Geoje has a lot more rainless blue sky days (unlike Jeju) and yet much stronger storms (summer typhoons!). Geoje has no black bears, cougars and killer whales to look out for when hiking and swimming. Geoje has a lot more seafood but no beloved salmon. Geoje has a bridge to it on its westernmost coast (at Tongyeong) and a 80 km-plus long bridge being built now on its north coast (to Busan) and a gigantic underwater tunnel on the scale of the European Chunnel being designed and vigorously proposed by the Japanese for the island's easternmost coast. Also, Geoje has two world-scale shipyards. So, Geoje is growing faster economically than Vancouver Island.

I like where I am and where I'm from. And I remember that when I choose where I'm going.