Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Well, thoughts from the West Coast. I've been in Korea for 3 years and nine months, but haven't been home since August, 2003. This time I really didn't even think about home at all for about 16 months, so it is truly surreal being here.

1. Everything seems to be in slow motion! People drive 30 km/h through town and stop for pedestrians. I'm usually doing 115 km/h on my scooter through red-lights on my way to work.

2. It's dark! Very few street lights, shops are shut up dark at night, the view is of mountains and the ocean which are, as usual, unlit. Creeeepy.

3. People are scary! There are a lot of meth-heads on the street these days. Big, dirty unshaven guys living outside. Did it used to be this bad? I'm watching my back everywhere I go.

4. Food is expensive as hell! W20,000 for fried rice, chicken, chow mein and spring rolls. Damn, where's my chigae? That said, it tasted damn good and I had to choose from a menu of Greek, Thai, Vietnamese, and so on. What a chore.

5. People drive old cars! Wow, man. The 1978 Dodge Ram Extend-a-cab may actually be the ugliest car I've ever seen. Do I need to see it for 26 more years?

6. The cops are brutal! I watched a bunch of cops smash three guys face-first into the pavement my first night here, I don't know what they did but one guy had been in cuffs kneeling quietly on his knees when they decided to slam his face into the ground. Totally unnecessary. In Korea they would have written him a letter asking him to lie down.

7. White girls are hot! And horny! I love 'em too, but Korean women just ain't the be-all-end-all. Four letters : R-A-C-K. True, there are some that could use some work, but man, and they speak English! Or French, on occasion. And they're sexually liberated! Thanks, Gloria Steinem!

8. Parts of the city look like slums! I guess I'm just used to every square inch being used for construction but parking lots full of garbage that nobody has cleaned up aren't that appealing. 70 year old houses with rotting porches that sell for a million dollars? Pleeease.

9. Beer tastes good! Guinness, Beck's, Heineken, Tennent's, Granville Island, Okanagan Spring. Had em all this week. Sure, you can get imports in Korea but here they just cost a little bit more, in Korea they're double or triple price. Hey, Korea, get your breweries in shape or ship out. OB, Cass, Hite, utter swill.

10. People actually respect someone that teaches English! It's actually seen as a half-way decent job, not a career-track one but better than living on EI or doing manual labour. Having a boatload of paid vacation goes a long way, too. Actually, Koreans respect English teachers, it's just the other insecure foreigners in Korea that dump on them.

11. Some of my friends are doing really well, good jobs, good relationships but some of them suck! Not working at all, dead-end jobs, garbage relationships. Man, you can't save everyone. They make some of the teachers in Korea look quite together, actually.

12. It's cold as hell! The temperature was much warmer than in Korea, the sun is shining and the day is clear but the damp from the ocean just gets into everything. Everyone wears shoes indoors because the floors are freezing. Man, I never thought I would say this but, I miss ondol. Wow.

13. Nobody in Canada gives a rat's ass what people from other countries think of them! Nor do they expect they should.

14. Kids are allowed to have fun in public! I've seen em skateboarding, cycling, playing soccer and basketball. No uniforms, no adult supervision, no crying and screaming, no ostracising.

15. It's ok to say brutally stupid things about other cultures! I've heard Korean spoken about as a "folk" language and all Asians referred to as dirty dog-eaters. I've become ultra-pc about this in recent years, but it's just the way it is over here. Guess the Koreans must be doing the same thing to us.

16. Music means going to clubs and seeing live bands, not dancing to some DJ or sitting in a TV studio! It's great to get out, meet people, dance, talk to the band. Wicked.

17. Men dress like men, women dress like women! I must say, I do miss the mini-skirts and the hooker boots. (You can find them here, just not in public.) But, guys in pastel shirts with women's haircuts......Wouldn't last a second here. Maybe on Davie St.

18. Marijuana is ok! It's all the rage these days. Had some with my buddy's Mom the other day. And it leads to brutal gang wars that have killed over 80 people in Vancouver in the past decade! Hmm.....

19. I'm rich! Language teachers in Vancouver make $12.00 Cdn. (W11,000) an hour. I wouldn't watch paint dry for that much anymore.

20. I am a different person. Not better, not worse just not the same anymore. After years of immersing myself in another culture I've changed, so will you. As Whitney Houston once said... Nah, skip it.

Merry Christmas, everyone! See you in February!

[canuckistan]

Merry Christmas and enjoy the other side of the planet!!

[The Great Toad]

Well I can't say that you should come back to Korea those French Women have the cooking and lingo to make the weakest fat loving heart brave the Cold Tundra Waste Lands of Canada- and they have moose head and Molson too and Labatts...
But ahh I bet you'd rather be heckled by a drunken starched salary man than threatened by an unwashed meth-head pot head hippie- and don't forget all those meth heads probably began with evil reefer and then progressed to greater highs...(flame away on me you drug lovers) I bet if they legalized pot in Korea you'd begin to see brain fried salary man hacking up even more cannabis laced phlegm than pollution hawkers now. But it must be nice to see the bright stars anon.

Hey can you buy me some books and mail them to me err I could pick them up in Seoul in February on my way to Bali oh ah you got three months though... no no I should just pick them up in Seoul at the Koex...Hmmm well could you maybe find me some tasteful spandex shorts the good ones cost 80,000 won at Halla cycle... well ok mmmm get some skate skiing done - my favorite winter sport- ahhh and remember police in Canada are real- not road guards who were drafted by the government. They will get way pissed if they see any idiots driving on the sidewalk.

[T-dot]

Have a pint at the Cambie for me.

[Daechidong Waygookin]

back in Canada eh? cant say Im jealous.

[Blind Willie]

I also went home for an extended period last year and your post is very familiar.

[bosintang]

[eamo]

Wish I was in Van

Have a sandwich at Bojangles on Davy(?) not sure which street but it's near False Creek.

[I_Am_Wrong]

i second the pint at the cambie....could use a couple myself. peace out and let the good times roll

[Derrek]

You're making me jealous...

My Daelim 125 (same model as yours) will only make it to 100 or 105 on the way to work.

[TECO]

I haven't been back to Canada since February, 2001.

It's gonna feel strange I bet to go back. I'm going back in January to take care of some 'admin' stuff. I don't want to go back really - especially at this time of year! Rather be heading off to Phils, Vietnam or Thailand.

in 2001, I was bored out of my freaking skull when I went home to B.C.

At the time, I was living in Tokyo. Vancouver and the people I met just didn't interest me like Asia did.

And I'm from Kamloops! I already know I'll be good for 3 days and then I'll have to leave again.

I will definitely go down to the Cambie for a few pints.

They closed down the Rose & Thorn Pub since I've been back. I used to drink there a lot when I lived in Vancouver.

Cops sure don't take any schit in North America compared to the Japanese/Taiwanese/Kroean bulls, do they. Pretty heavey-handed compared to the cops here.

[Harin]

i am going to vancouver this sunday (boxingday shopping spree). every year i find great stuff at great prices. can't wait.

i've heard that there are a few outdoor cafes where you can kinda smoke joints.......do you know where?

[Blind Willie]

The cool change I noticed about the cops back home after I returned for a few months was how they all dressed like the future cops in in some dystopian SF movie.

[Cthulhu]

Blind Willie wrote:

[itaewonguy]