Korean Job Discussion Forums

[demianamar]

I'm just wondering, how many of you out there feel like there's a perpetual cycle of "I hate this country" "I've adapted it's ok" "I love it and can stay here a while longer" "I hate this country".....

Same goes for the job. I don't have that much longer to go, and do believe I've adapted as best as one can and better then I'd hoped.

But once in a while it REALLY gets to me that I can't communicate with my co-workers and that despite getting the daily 'don't mess with me' face on for my dealings outside work, (such as at the gym when nasty old men p@#@ me off) some things/people just get under my skin. Thus putting the cycle into motion.

p.s. as you can guess, I'm annoyed with my co-workers and I REALLY had to vent, so....I can honestly say that, to anyone new reading this, eventually, the good days out weigh the bad...I just want my question anwered:)

[rapier]

yeap. It goes like that with me too.
I suppose you have to make a proper effort to cut out the bad bits and enlarge the good bits.

[Dev]

It's been said by many that Korean culture is one of the most difficult ones to understand. On one hand, Koreans have all these inflexable sophisticated rules about how to treat older people at the dinner table. It's even in the language. But once you're outside on the street, there are no rules. How the foreigner fits in makes this puzzle all the more confusing. Some Koreans give you the VIP treatment. Others treat you as invisible 'cause they don't know how to tackle the job of dealing with a foreigner.

I think it takes years of living here to understand the culture before you can truly appreciate it. Your mood swings are the result of your frustration of trying to make sense of a culture that doesn't appear to make sense. I hear you, brother!

[ilovebdt]

You are not the only one.

I went through, go through, the same thing. The first semester at my job I hated it, but now I am looking to stay another year.

As long as the good times continue to outweigh the bad times then I am happy. Should that change, well you won't see me for dust!

Ilovebdt

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I am in the midst of my annual I hate Korea I wanna go home right now swing. For me it is the onset of summer that nearly breaks me. Last year being my first year I kept reminding myself of all the stuff I could be doing at home with my family. This year I find myself doing the exact same thing!

[Newbie]

It's not only you. I'd say for about 3 weeks a month I'm content here. Then, some ajumma does something ajumma-ish and I hate the whole country for a week.

[krats1976]

[JongnoGuru]

[demianamar]

Good to know I'm not the only one! AND, that venting on Dave's seems to have done the trick! I think the "I hate Korea" phase today was triggered by a very aggravating co-teacher who thinks she knows how to speak English, but I beg to differ....STRONGLY! She acts so superior and all I want to yell is "we're BOTH teachers! And if you think I'm getting an easy ride, let me tell you....!!"........but of course I fake a smile and walk away from any and all conversations with her annoyed and confused.

As to the what do I mean about the "nasty old Korean men at the gym". Well, like everyone says, the younger Koreans are cool. They really have no qualms with a foreign girl at the gym. But there's a couple of nasty middle-aged men who can't seem to stop staring and ending up on every freggin' machine next to me no matter how many times I purposely move away from them. I'm just going to try to avoid the after work crowd and pick another time suitable for me. It bothers me that I have to do that though.

thanks for the support people!!

[riley]

For the gym, get a spritz bottle and "accidently" spritz them with water if they get too close.

Or just fart a lot. It works for me.

[Homer]

Not so much a cycle in my case. More of a day here and there when certain things annoy me...well lets just call them bad days and I had them back home too but for different reasons.

I think we all have these cycles or bad days wherever we live but that the stuff that triggers those cycles or bad days just changes from place to place.

[VanIslander]

[rapier]

I find the popularity tough.
Seriously..being in a new estate/city area and the first foreigner at my school is a continual ride of having lots of attention. Its well-meaning but can get a bit much. just walking down the street you have to be ready for a lot of shouted greetings and waves..and all those people wanting to be your friend and meet up..

Talking of negativity though..sometimes korea is just too full of unexpected surprises and situations out of the blue, that you just would never face in the west. it can be like being in the ring..wears you down sometimes.

[Ya-ta Boy]

My take on it is that most days I can handle the stress of living/functioning in a foreign culture. I smile/bite my tongue, whatever, when someone bumps into me one too many times on the street, when my schedule gets changed with no notice, when one government official gives me one answer and another one gives me a different answer...when someone I like and respect starts telling me he sees ghosts in his dreams and takes it seriously....

At some point, usually late in the week when I'm tired, something happens that wouldn't bother me so much right after a nap, but something happens (Joseph Heller wrote a whole book about it) that just pushes me over the edge.

Those 'experiences' are what I call culture shock. I think time in-country is irrelevant.[/quote]

[VanIslander]

a or b ?

(a) you expect it to be like back home

so inconvenient and puzzling differences are met with anger and frustration

(b) you expect it to be nothing like back home

so inconveniences and oddities are just par for the course, generating head-shaking laughter and shoulder shrugs