Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rock]

I said it. I really did. Couldn't help myself, but was having a goodtime, a dinner get-together. Said bluntly to my host, "Korea's a good country." Then my hand twitched, as I was holding my chopsticks out, and my host saw it.

It made me feel guilty, hypocritical or something. I felt there was something in my heart, my conscious, that divided me, and he knew it. Then again, I feel that I want to let Koreans know I appreciate their country and that it's better than most other Asian countries I've been to.

But I just wonder if this reaction was psychosomatic , or whatever it's called. Perhaps it was subconscious. I felt like I was taking a lie detector test and had lied.

Any of you ever go through this when making a positive comment to Koreans about their country, or ever tell them "Korea's a good country" and then you twitch, look away? Feel like a sychophant or guilty, like you lied? Could you look a Korean in the face and tell them "Korea's a good country?"

I once knew this Canadian guy who did this-made some positive comment- while we sat and ate at those low tables with some Korean co-workers, and then he farted. Man, he must've blown it bad.

[On the other hand]

[chronicpride]

I'm very comfortable in saying to Koreans that Korea has it's good and bad points, just as all other countries do. And I've never met a Korean that disputed me in saying that.

[eamo]

You don't need to be so conscientious about it. Never told a white lie before?

I never criticise Korea with Koreans anymore. It's just not worth it and your relationship with them will never be quite the same. I'm happy to talk up Korea and just keep things smaltzy.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

I have a stock answer: "There are things I really like about Korea, and some things that drive me crazy." And then I NEVER say what things drive me crazy. It permits me to tell the truth and to keep myself out of hot water. I rarely meet people who permit any sort of criticism of this country without getting defensive.

Ken:>

[chiaa]

Korea is what you make of it. It can be a good place or a bad place it all just depends on you, and how much good or bad luck you have.

When I taught I believe:

50% was just plain good luck in picking schools to work at.
50% was how I dealt with the schools (let the little things go and fought hard on the big ones).

Next week you will see me post on how much I hate this place

[bobbyhanlon]

there seems to be this implicit belief from some of you guys that korea is actually a bad country then. so, why live here?

[Grotto]

I dont think anyone actually thinks Korea is a bad place to live. It is just that there are times when the frustration and disbelief come to a point where you just want to scream.

Things that I used to scream and rant at when I first got here now only make me smile sagely and nod.

There are still things that drive me nuts but I have learned to take most of them in stride.

Sometimes its just so hard to understand how a country so technologically advanced can be so retarded socially.

[fiveeagles]

how so?

[AdamH]

One word: Perspective.

[Johnny Pro Korea]

I love living in Korea more than I loved living in my own mother's womb. And I make sure to tell every Korean I meet, including world-renowned soccer superstar Cha Du Ri, who I had the immense pleasure of meeting in Munich two months ago.

[stumptown]

SOCK

[captain kirk]

Do you look around and feel at home here, from the ground up? I didn't and still don't, but I'm getting bits of a grounded, deserve to be here feeling. A solid feeling of being on solid ground.

For example, back in Canada the scenery, forests (or whatever country you're from) you grow up with. The surroundings, the 'heartland', are built in to your first experience. Appreciate the nuances of nature, weather, as all you've known and all you love. Home.

But then I'm a type of person that gets recharging from nature, natural solitude. So it's important to get a close identification with the natural surroundings. For most of my time here it's been regarding Korean this and Korean that as separate from me and my homeland, as if I'm a visitor and this is all, this experience, something detached and strange.

I've thought about this feeling and how it's only an ocean separating Homeland from this land. So why the big sense of it being so different? Almost like the polarity, the charge of the place is different. Not the right spiritual food, not digestible somehow, not totally at ease. Just visiting.

Thing is when you get out into nature it's cultureless, primordial. With culture layered over it, making use of nature to its own ends. If you can feel at home with the nature here, that's a big grounding. If you're the type of person that recharges communing with nature, the unconditional giving souce that it is. Then be able to accept with open heart the cultural differences.

I imagine the same sort of things goes on if engaged or married to a Korean. Accepting that human nature, though different.

So, when I'm on my motorbike and looking at the mountains I just gotta yodel And yeah, it's great.

[tomato]

Hello, Rock!

Strange as it seems, you might be in the majority of the foreigners in Korea.
About a year ago, someone posted a poll on this message board:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=11885&highlight=

which found that three-fourths of the ESL Cafe denizens were happy in Korea.
This was surprising, because at that time, this message board was over-run by a very vociferous minority.
The rest of us were inhibited from posting because we always got replies like:

�� "If you see anything good about Korea, then you are not looking deeply enough under the surface. In fact, you are a naive, gullible, fool."

�� "You can't possibly be happy here. You must be compensating. You're like a white person who shakes hands with every black person he sees."

�� "If you're better off here than you were in your own country, then you must have been a real loser in your own country."

�� "If you're loyal to Korea, then you're a traitor to your own country. You didn't give a hoot in hades what happened on nine-eleven, do you!"

�� "So you like Koreans better than you like us, huh? All right, then, reject us! See if we care!"

�� "What right do you have to be happy when we are unhappy? Don't you know there is a Law of Conservation of Happiness?"

�� "Oh! So you're happier than we are! So you must think you're better than we are! Well, touch you!"

I see that you joined the message board a few months ago, but you might have met foreigners who preached such fiery doctrines. They could be very intimidating either in real life or in Cyberspace!

[the_beaver]

I was talking to a friend about this just a little while ago.

I like being in Korea and there's little about Korea that bothers me, but there's nothing about Korean culture that I'd like to transport back home.