Korean Job Discussion Forums

Ihavenolips · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Location: Korea

The thing that always shocks me back home are neon-lit grocery stores. They play that horrible elevator music and have an overwhelming number of selections. I have to spend a few weeks adjusting before I can even step into a corporate grocery franchise.

Home is boring to me now. I always manage to boomerang back overseas for another treaching job. Asia is very exciting and I thrive off the adventure. My quality of life is higher in Asia, too.

Still, there is always a part of me that wants to live back home. I often imagine settling down there. Maybe I just fell that I should end up in the United States one day.

Crazyteacher · Joined: 13 Nov 2004

Well, you'll all be happy to know that I am going back to Canada on Sunday. Maybe I will end up doing janitorial work, or perhaps I'll go back to backbreaking concrete work. Yes, I do feel like a bit of a loser after leaving for Korea only to loose my car and girlfriend.
I am fed up with subjecting myself to hundreds of racist reactions to my presence everyday. I could stay but I don't think it's the right thing to do. Why should me but ourselves in the line of abuse?
You know what? There are more important things than money.

mithridates · Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:51 am Post subject:

Perhaps you would prefer Japan, or maybe Sweden? If you're under 30 you can get a working holiday visa for either of those two countries. Malmo looks like it would be a fun place to live in for a while.

tommynomad · Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Location: on the move

inthewild · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Location: Korea

mithridates · Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:37 am Post subject:

I think it would be fun. I learned Norwegian to a certain extent and it was really easy, and Swedish is 80% or so the same language. All verbs conjugate the same irregardless of who does what and most of the vocab looks like English or German. Malmo's the third-largest city in Sweden, right across from Copenhagen and so it's got more of a Vancouver-like climate.
I've never been there but I think it would be quite fun. I would go live there for a year if I didn't have a vested interest in Korea.

Metsuke · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

Reading this thread... I'd just like to say thanks to everyone for sharing. Because there really is a lot of good information being presented and shared. I hope that I might be able to add something in a small, but helpful way.

I'd like to comment about the idea of this "loser" mentality.

I'm from Canada, and although I love this country... I also feel there are a few things wrong with it as well. I'm very much an average guy from Canada... wanted a good life, didn't know what that was. High school guidance counsellor said University would guarantee a good job/salary/life... so I signed up.

However... could not afford University. My parents could not pay for me either... so I took on student loans. Looking back now, I value my education very much... but I also did not understand the amount of debt I was to take on. This all started in 1998... I worked all through University as well... graduated with my first degree in 2002. All I could find was low paying jobs, and the Bank wanted their money regardless. I didn't know what to do... so I took on every job I could to make money... all the way from working as a janitor at one point... to working as a teacher of outdoor adventure education which is my main passion/line of work.

The end result of all of this was that I could literally not make my own way in Canada. So I had to figure out what to do. Well... I blamed it on the current job market... to many Baby Boomers still occupying jobs and all that stuff... so I went back into University and completed a second BA... but this time with no student loans. I figured that with dual degrees I would be able to find work. Again... this was not the case.

There have been quite a few other strange things that have happened to me in Canada as well, mostly to deal with my loans which I don�t feel is relevant to share at this point. But through it all I�ve had some dark thoughts... and some good ones to. Sometimes regretting getting a University education... but really realizing that it has helped me as a person to... so I'm still very grateful for the chance to have educated myself.

Now all I want to do is pay off the student loans, and then see where life takes me. It looks to me like life is taking me to Korea at the moment. I understand there is good and bad everywhere. And there may be a few troublesome things happening in Korea, but then there are a few troublesome things happening in Canada currently for quite a few people I know... myself included. I view Korea as an opportunity in many ways. For one reason or another... my ability to achieve some of my goals can be realized much quicker in Korea than they can in Canada.

To get back to my original idea of "loser". I don't think we should ever be too quick to judge. By many accounts I could be considered a loser as well, but I don't feel that way about myself. I'm making the choice to leave Canada because I can't seem to find opportunity in my home country. That makes me actually quite sad... but I'm thankful for the tough times that have brought me to this point in my life... because now I feel free in my thinking for the first time in a long time. I'm thinking globally instead of locally... and am not bound by what I think my life should be.

I guess I just don't think anyone should label another as a loser unless you know the man or woman in a more personal sense.