Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hatter]

Okay...although I am 29 years old, and have been living in Chicago for 5 years, my mother is afraid for my saftey in Korea.

I will be arriving in Seoul and may need to stay overnight before traveling to a camp where I will be teaching the next day...

Is there a "safest" way to do this? I feel pretty confident, but I am very American looking and a female. Are there any words of advice or positive feedback I can pass along?

Thanks,

Beth

[Captain Corea]

What are the things you (or your mother) are worried about?

[huffdaddy]

[steroidmaximus]

reminds me of a popular slogan on bumpers:

Saftey First

Of course the funniest time I saw this was on an SUV that had just rear-ended an SM5 . . .

Your safety will only be in danger while driving or walking alone in a seedy part of town, pretty much the same as in Chicago. Here you also have to watch how much your hogwon or camp owner will try to steal from you; here they also call it 'being competitive', just like in the US.

[jessiaka]

I have to agree with huffdaddy that the thing you should be most worried about is getting hit by a scooter on the sidewalk, hahaha!

Anyways if you're wondering about how safe it is for a female to walk around out here during the day and at night, etc and in regards to the men...

I must say that even if you're blonde and look Russian (like I did my first year in Korea, my hair is brunette now but not because of the comments, because the water here trashed it and it got too dry to bleach anymore) you've pretty much got nothing to worry about. The worst I got was some old man smacking his lips at me and I just walked away. You'll hear lots of, "russia!! russia!" but I just corrected them and said "Canada!" and they'd be like "OOOO!!".

Very nice people as a whole, you shouldn't run into any trouble. I often wander around alone and have had no problems!
It's stupidly safe out here! A kind of shocking but very refreshing change to the big cities back home

[pet lover]

If you have to spend the night upon arrival, you hail a taxi and get in. The back, not the front. Ask them to take you to a yogwan. (cheap hotel) If the driver is nice at all, he will help you take your luggage out of the taxi. If he's even nicer (or thinks he has a chance with you) he might even bring it all the way into the yogwan.

"Yo-gwan ga ju-say-yo" (please take me to a cheap little hotel)

The taxi driver will take you to a yogwan and you will spend the night there. You might hear some lovemaking sounds as these hotels are not called "love hotels" for nothing. But, it's likely that the driver will take you to a more upscale one than a totally sleezy one. In fact, I've been here since 1997 and NEVER had a taxi driver take me to a totally sleezy one. A real hotel is incredibly expensive. In the morning, when you turn in the key to leave (you will pay upfront, by the way), you can mime using the phone and say "Tack-shee ju-say-yo" That should get them calling a cab for you so you don't have to lug your luggage around looking for one. Smile a lot, that always helps and it may or may not get the person behind the counter offering to help you take your bags outside. Be sure to say "Kahm-sa-hahm-nee-da" or Koh-mahp-soom-nee-da" (thank you) to the yogwan people and the taxi drivers.

P.S.
THe more bright-eyed and in awe you act while in the taxi, the more ooohing and aaaahing you do at everything you see, the more you exclaim audibly about how beautiful everything is, the more puffed up with pride the taxi driver is going to be over his country, the more likely he is going to bend over backwards to make sure you get to a good place and everything goes smoothly and the LESS likely he is to try to pull anything on you, be it overcharging you, driving you really far from the airport, or scarier things like inappropriate touching, gestures, etc. That works in lots of situations, by the way.

[VanIslander]

bring a gun

watch out for the gangs

don't wear anything American

lock all your doors and windows

and you'll be just fine

[kingplaya4]

How will my physical safety be if I wear the shirt with the Swiss fucking the Korean player?

[maeil]

I would say Korea is generally safer than where I'm from (Boston).. I'm more comfortable walking around at night, not worried about shootings of any kind, and I always feel safe on the public transportation system here.

HOWEVER, don't be unaware. I do, rather frequently actually, have problems with men here. (I'm 23, tall, blonde, thin etc.) I've been groped, followed, and once actually two men grabbed me and tried to pull me into some bushes. They don't expect you to fight back though. I've seen so many more penises and so much more public ma$turbation here than I ever would want to... and I live in the suburbs. I understand that these people aren't representative of the whole population... but this never ever happened to me back home.

So, yeah. Don't be frightened of living here, but don't be totally clueless, either.

[kingplaya4]

I hope its safer than Boston. I lived there for awhile in college and got beaten up my first day there.

[Roch]

[quote="huffdaddy"]

[kingplaya4]

Could you elaborate a little on the "lynching of foreigners"? I assume that term isn't literal. Also is this a nationwide problem or just in Seoul?

[huffdaddy]

[SPINOZA]

I'm pretty sure Roch was joking, guys.

Chicago vs Seoul? Jesus God, that's actually funny.

Road safety tip: when the green man starts flashing, always look left and right first, since cars go through several seconds after it starts flashing. I've been nearly run over twice when crossing, both by middle-aged female drivers too (just to get my customary 'ist'-comment in).

[sjrm]