Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Avram Iancu]

Boredom. That great cloud which leads to depression. So, when are you the most filled with tedium while in Korea?

[Zyzyfer]

Teaching bores the hell outta me.

[viva]

The rainy season bores the hell out of me as I seem to get cabin fever from being stuck indoors for days on end

[the_beaver]

Hmm. Don't really get bored.

[kimcheeking]

Boredom, don't know what it is. I always have something to do, and if not I have several books that I am behind in reading, or I can work on my web-site, studying, and numerous other things.

KK

[kangnam mafioso]

boredom has been a large problem for me during the past year. i've been teaching at a uni and the excess of free time was a blessing at first, but then i didn't know what to do with all of it.

reading has been a big help as well as some writing projects i'm working on. sometimes i go to the sauna for 3 hours.

the truth is, korea just ain't that great of a place for "hanging out." solitude is frowned upon and there are very few places to go. i've had enough and will depart in september.

i've enjoyed my time here, but 2 years is enough time to experience this place, save some money, travel around asia and move on. i honestly don't know how some people stay here 10 years. i don't think i could ever feel at home here ... there just isn't any room for diversity or anything that is non-korean.

in many ways, life here in korea is easier than back home: abundance of teaching jobs, adequate salary, low working hours, beaucoup paid vacation time, free apt, no car expenses, low taxes. so i can sympathize with the long termers and haven't totally dismissed the idea of one day coming back to asia. but still ... something's missing. i feel like i really belong back in the framework of western culture ... either in north america or europe. and then there is this nagging feeling that i somehow failed by not getting a career going back home ... like this was a cop out, a desperate measure because i couldn't hack it back home.

nevertheless, i don't think i will later regret coming here. i think it makes you a more complete person to experience life outside your home country. and i don't feel like i've been completely wasting my time because teaching is the career i chose and what i hope to do when i go back.

ciao~

[rapier]

If you're determined to save as much as you can, and limit your drinking life, trips etc it can get pretty boring...

[captain kirk]

not bored. i could say that i'm bored talking to the young korean female teacher, but i've modified my tactic and talk AT her with things that are interesting to me, and maybe to her. because she doesn't talk about anything besides work and the students. and she's always scurrying on lesson prep and paperwork, with head down and one ear i veer into. she's stuck on ageism. when i ask jauntily what she did or will do on the weekend she always says, 'meet and play with my friends'. when talking with the boss; his english isn't so good so it takes three repetitions. first normal speed, second loud, third time slow. re; the above there was a poster who said 'let the weirdness of korea wash over you and you'll be fine'. if the above are effervescent about work and the kids, that's the zone for reparte; not boring. there are lines drawn across korea. but like in those spy movies bypass those invisible barriers by respecting them as real and so step over the lazer alarms after having sprayed a fog, which reveals the beams. the fog being your own discretion in this faulty analogy. used to be tormentedly bored walking to work but got a walkman so now i'm at some rock concert all the time. compared to being back home, korea is NOT boring. here it's like 'once i was bored..bla bla bla'. once. teaching with kids is NOT boring. when i reflect on some of the hilarious antics (which is not often) it cracks me up. some characters. yesterday one kid, who alternates between prancing all charming like momma's pet and 'am i his momma?'...to a sullen conscientious objector. when he had his head down on the desk in a sulk, as if 'crying', i wander over (in amazement, i kind of knew he was capable but 'this far?') and tilt up his head which is slack at the neck. then pinch his cheeks like he's rubber testing for vascillatory dilation as if i suspect he might be dead. then he cracks up. so much comic 'mayhem' but all contrived to blast away the potential malaise of 'hogwon city'. i get bored blasting some slick smartass kid who smiles with a sh*t eating grin when i berate him about deliberately not bringing his book, but nothing stays put. next day, that kid'll be robin williams. boredom is from within. as a teacher you have control, choices, you lead; be zany, active, and wild; it's infectious. for example some tot-students in the elevator the way up to school ask what i'm eating; 'met-doo-gies' (grasshoppers, in a pita, really a pita pizza pocket). and i'm thirsty from hunting down about ten big grasshoppers. 'nah, they say, teacher! hilarious. 12 year olds, during the animal chapter, told how i've a pet penguin in the icebox, alligator in the bathroom, owl by my pillow. sometimes forget about the gator on the way to the shower and get a surprise first thing in the morning, the owl stays up all night, and the penguin scampers around (let out of the icebox) like a pocket monster. watching them watching me as i lie madly like tom sawyer is priceless. there's a thirteen year old who does this kind of thing, to me, ALL the time.

[Wishmaster]

To Mafioso: When you do get back to the good old prosperous West, you will see exactly why people stay in Korea long term. Once you start looking at the pathetic classifieds every single day and hearing everything in English(including all of the swearing) as well as the aggressive attitude, you will realize Korea is a pretty good place to live in comparison. I used to be one of those people that said, "Hell, I'll only be here a year. Then, I'll go home and get a real job." Know what? The real jobs are pretty pathetic back there. When I went back, I applied and applied and ended up working a variety of crap jobs. Really crappy jobs. Also, I found the place pretty boring. It just didn't interest me. I got tired of the aggressiveness and the attitude. You can basically get everything here that you can get there. So, I intend to stay in Korea for a long time. My stress level in Korea is basically zilch. In fact, I suffered more stress in the short time that I was back home than the entire time(2 years) of my Korean experience. True, too true. I found myself getting depressed back home. But I've never been depressed in Korea. Never. I found myself saving good money in Korea. But saving money at home...hell, I was lucky if I managed to bank $200 a month.

As far as being considered a failure because I haven't "made it" back home, I really don't give a damn. I figured that I was more of a failure working those jobs and hoping to advance...so, I decided that I needed to return to Korea. If I am considered a failure for banking a good deal of money, for working a job that causes me no stress, for having a good deal of spending money, for being able to take vacations to tropical islands, for having the free time to work on my writing and learning Korean, for being able to have an adventure in a foreign land...then I will happily agree that I am a failure. When you get back home and your savings start to dwindle, you will see what I mean....................

[whatthefunk]

I usually don't get bored, but when I go out with my coworkers (11 middle aged korean women), they completly ignore me and i get pretty bored. After listening to them talk about socks and how they want to marry a prince one day, i feel a little deader inside.

[crazylemongirl]

Although my apartment is great I don't have TV. I like TV. I miss TV.


CLG

[camel96]

[kangnam mafioso]

crazy lemon girl --

there are used appliance stores all over seoul with tv's starting at 50,000 won. i picked up one for 80,000. vcr's are also cheap. why don't you do a couple of private lessons and go and pick one up. cable costs me 5,000 a month and i get afkn, ocn and several other channels that regularly have english movies.

[kangnam mafioso]

wishmaster, i can sympathize with what your saying. the situation back home that you described is what prompted me to get on the plane to korea in the first place.

but after 2 years here, i want to give home a second try. if i can't find a decent job in one semester, i may come back to asia or head over to the middle east.

i'm too spoiled after being in korea. it would be difficult to transition from the korean uni life to some dull office job or something else making 10 dollars an hour. people talk about america being the most proserous country in the world, but it can be a really cruel place.

nevetheless, something is missing here in korea. i miss being able to understand what people are saying around me, walking into a bookstore and having limitless choices, being able to travel all over town in 15 minutes, not having to have reservations for a movie, less confusion on the dating scene, abundant magazines and newspapers, good music stores, better weather, less crowds, diversity, individualism, better hygine, clean streets, large selection of ethnic foods, american barb-b-que, authentic mexican food, big skies, my family, and so much more. i know i will miss so much about korea and will have to adjust all over again, but i don't see myself here indefinitely.

do you plan on retiring here? if not, what do you hope to do when you get back? i don't suspect it will be any easier when you return in 10 years and have to work in some entry level job when you are over the hill.

ciao~

[Wishmaster]

Mafioso, I can completely understand the desire to give home another try. That is what I did. Perhaps I am a bit impatient regarding the job situation but the dropoff from Korea was too poignant to me. It was like going from the penthouse to the outhouse. So, once I decided on a school and they paid for the airfare, I was on my way back. I thank God every day that I came back here.

I agree that the English teacher is rather spoiled over here. I mean, they pay our airfare, give us a free apartment and pay us a pretty good salary to boot. The apartment. I must admit that it was the biggest shocker to me. After all that time of paying zero rent, I came back home and found the price of housing to be extravagant. Every time I paid rent, I hated it because I knew that I was living rent-free in Korea and bagging a significant amount of cash just a few months earlier.

You are correct about missing things. Sure, there are plenty of things that I miss about home. But the longer I stay in Korea, the less I actually miss the things from home. For example, I am a big, big football fan. Of course, in Korea, it is safe to say that the NFL will probably never expand here, so things like the playoffs and Super Bowl just aren't considered as a priority here. But to me they were. I love watching the games and I do miss them but I really don't need to watch them. Yes, I get the AFN but I am not as obsessed with football now because it just doesn't seem that important.

Actually, I do not miss being able to understand every conversation around me because the conversations back home usually revolve around sex and endless tirades of profanity. I love the fact that I do not have to hear such things in Korea(although I do hear the Korean profanity...it just isn't as relevant because I am a foreigner). I don't know about the less crowds, better hygiene, clean streets, "big skies"(?) comments. I mean, there are crowds eveywhere unless you live in the country. Where I lived, the streets sure weren't any cleaner than Korea. Books/magazines, no problem because I have them sent to me here in Korea. Mexican food? Yeah, the selection might not be the greatest but Pancho's does the deed for me. Better weather? Yes, the humidity does bite. However, where I am from, it is hot desert. I mean, if you think Korea is hot, live in the Southwest for a spell. Diversity? Yeah, you've got me there. I actually like the unity of Korea so that doesn't really mean a great deal to me. Movies? I don't really go to the theater often but making a reservation is not really backbreaking. Of course, I have a VCR and don't really feel the great desire to pay the extra cash that going to a movie theater would require. Family? Of course, I miss my family too but I lived quite a ways from them(about 1,500 miles) when I was back home, so it really doesn't factor into my stance from here in Korea.

Do I plan on retiring here? Good question. I certainly hope so if I continue to bank the jack that I've been banking. The future is always clouded...just ask the people at Enron who thought that working for the company all those years would pay dividends...wrong. Just like anyone that could be fired at anytime, whether you've been at your place of employment for 10 days or 10 years...you would have to start over and most likely from the bottom of your next company. ANYTHING can happen in life...that is why it is a game. One minute you can be the king of the world and the next in a gutter. There are no guarantees. You take as much of a risk back at home as you do here.