Korean Job Discussion Forums

Cthulhu · Joined: 02 Feb 2003

(some of these might still exist, though I haven't seen them in a long time)

--beer had foil on the cap

--mosquito trucks shot that foggy stuff all around the neighborhood (maybe still?)

--moon boots and miniskirts

--1000 Won basic fare taxi rides

--Budweiser was considered exotic

--more than half the buses didn't have air-con

--bus/subway tokens

--the Won was worth something

--riot police actually had a job to do

--coffee shops had telephones at every table (and grossly overpriced coffee...but wait, we have Starbucks now)

--TV stations (except AFKN) basically shut down all afternoon

--beepers (pagers) everywhere meant pay phones had long lineups

--related to the above, people you were meeting would disappear for awhile to answer the pager message instead of gabbing on the phone in front of you

--every second bar was a so-called Jazz bar playing DJ DOC...hey, wait a minute...

--black market stores actually had stuff foreigners deperately wanted. "Is that Corona I see? Ohhhhh! And peanut butter? Woohoo!"

--people would try to sell you things on buses

Any others?

denz

bap · Joined: 10 Apr 2003

i haven't been here for long but i think the mosquito trucks are still roaming my neighborhood.

FierceInvalid · Joined: 16 Mar 2003

makushi · Joined: 08 Jun 2003

Every taxi was a green Pony

Every pochangmacha owner was Mrs. Kim

The Sportsmen Club was happening

Kings Club was fun

Denny's was in Itaewon

Salary men only wore white socks

Texas street didn't have any Russian signs

Itaewon didn't have any Russian signs

Polly's Kettle house was a small hole in the wall across from her current spot that sat six comfortably

88s and Pierre Cardin were the two most popular cigarettes

Crown Beer (yech!)

Canadian Teacher · Joined: 22 Jan 2003

Dang, I loved Cass when it had the foil!

Korea has developed massively in the last ten years. While it is much more convenient that it used to be, the rustic "you can get away with anything" charm is gone now.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

H.O.T. (High-Five of Teenager)

soda did not come in plastic bottles

internet?

ATM's had no English

an exciting weekend was a trip to Kim's Club 50 miles away

children would ask for my autograph

mustard was not sold in stores

health clubs were cheap

Tower Records was the place to meet people in Kangnam

Hardee's was Carl's Jr.

threre was no subway to Itaewon
real cheese was an exotic food

the Tico was a new car

people sent "1010235" on beepers instead of hearts on mobile phones

Korea had only one cell phone company

renting a movie was 500 won

Kim Young-sam was president

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

I remeber when there were not PC Bangs everywhere.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

1) I remember when all the bars closed at midnight!! Can't even conceive of that now!

2) I do remember the mosquito trucks.. I saw them several times a week in Busan.. I never once have seen them up here in Seoul.

3) I remember all Korean women let their hair grow long, and either wore extremely tight jeans or very mini-skirts. Now, its all collegiate with shorts and sweaters. Speaking of which, I remember when shorts were considered weird and strange, however mini-skirts were perfectably normal.

4) I don't remember Budweiser being here before either.

5) No one knew what an email account was, including myself.

6) Pagers were all the rage in Korea.. I had a pager/beeper myself, and would search out a payphone to check out where my buddies were drinking or whatever the call was about.

7) People would stare at me like I was an alien.

8 ) Everyone said 'welcome to Korea' everytime.

9) Teaching English here was kind of exotic and interesting to a Korean person. Now we are a dime a dozen. 'ohhh.. hmmm.. your another English teacher, huh?'

10) Any Korean man over the age of 35 ONLY wore either green or brown plaid checkered pants/shirts.. usually not matching.

rudyflyer · Joined: 26 Feb 2003 Location: pacing the cage

yeah I remember all of that but how about:
using a short wave radio to get decent foreign news from the BBC or VOA

What about the Denny's in Myong-dong? Wasn't it wild that Dennys had a bar?

Heck the mosquito trucks still come through here. Even worse somebody comes through the building where we live with a portable fogger.

paying $2000 for a laptop with 100Mhz pentium, 16MB RAM, and a 1 GB HD?

No Emarts, Carrefours etc outside of Seoul

No western resturants besides McD's and KFC outside of Seoul?

When we actually talked to our spouses instead of spending all this time online?

When you had to wait 2 hours to get online at the Net Cafe and used PINE to access your email

man this place has changed in 7 years

Cthulhu · Joined: 02 Feb 2003

Random thoughts on the replies:

Yeah, funny thinking about Korea before PC bangs...I also remember having to wait for a seat. And back then they cost W3000 for one hour...but I have to wonder, what did the high school kids ever do back then before Starcraft was made?!?

I guess the mosquito trucks are alive and well...not where I live, thankfully. Anyone still get the noisy veggie trucks or the early morning garbage trucks playing that damned song? Can't say I miss them. I think a law was passed a couple years ago regarding speakers on Bongos...

Speaking of western restaurants I remember when getting a pizza without corn on it was next to impossible. And McDonalds (as bad as it is) was a luxury.

Speaking of the mini-skirt thing, I also remember when too many middle and high school students wore them in the downtown areas. Thankfully their short hairstyles and "liberal" (*gag*) use of makeup gave them away...It's funny watching Korean movies from the 80's from time to time on OCN or the MBC movie channel. It looked like heaven back then when the lead actress went through 10 different changes of minis throughout the movie, and everyone around her wore them too. Made the 90's look positively Victorian, if such a thing is possible...

I also remember Crown, as well as Nex...didn't like either. Cass for me! Yep, tearing off the foil...

Even though I'm not a smoker I remember 88's being big, and I remember cigarette vending machines, including a wretched brand (so my students tell me) called "Pine" that sold for 100 or 200 won...

lawyertood · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 4:52 am Post subject:

Public phones everywhere but all in use....

Citiphone......(aka sh*ttyphone)...

3 digit won/US dollar exchange rate (and then the currency crisis called "IMF" where the rate doubled almost overnight Crying or Very sad

)

Kim Ji ho in every third tv commercial....

The Reggae Pub...

The girls in Itaewon were hot, plentiful, and not all hostesses...

Hollywood was upstairs....

Teargas was a common smell in Myeongdong....

There wasn't a separate listing for Korea on Dave's....

Taking the shuttle between Tangsan and Hongik stations...

Being American in Korea didn't make you a target for abuse....

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

seoulman · Joined: 21 Feb 2003

Forgive me, since I've been out of the country for a few years but . . .

seoulman · Joined: 21 Feb 2003

Others I can think of to add . . .

Seeing IMF signs and products everywhere. I even had an IMF burger at Lotte once.

Seeing the World Cup 2002 merchandise (limited as it was) right after Seoul won the bid and thinking that 2002 was about as far away as 2020 - boy time really does fly.

Hearing "I Love You Baby" blaring from every street corner as Frankie Valli sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" then turning the next corner and hearing "Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na yeah, yeah" by Yoong Sung Joon. Five years later I still can't get this song out of my head - as my wife will attest to if she enters the bathroom when I'm taking a shower.

Kenny Rogers Roasters in Daechi and Shinchon. Rumor has it that the Daechi branch still has the Dolly Parton mural painted on the ceiling despite the fact that it is now a low-brow kalbi place.