Korean Job Discussion Forums

[travelx]

My parents (mid 60's) came to visit me and thought Korea was fantastic. I started to agree - till they left and it was back to normal.

They never stood on the subway, small children would stop in the street and bow to them, people would stop and ask if they could help, and they have more Korean friends in my area than I do!!

Has anyone else noticed this? or were my parents just lucky?

[RACETRAITOR]

My parents also had a great time in Korea.

[ajgeddes]

People don't dislike Westerners here. There is just a little disdain for GI's and English Teachers. Of course, usually I get treated just fine by everybody.

[Wishmaster]

A "little disdain"...you're joking right. I've been around and Korea is the most anti-foreigner place that I've been. If they would actually integrate with others rather than excluding, more people might be receptive. As for the liking westerners comment...ask the businessmen that have to deal with the discrimination every single day.

[DCJames]

[djsmnc]

[SPINOZA]

Yes, me and my mother found the same thing, OP.

My mum's observations were that she didn't feel as though she stuck out like a turd in a swimming pool. She expected to be stared at, feel uncomfortable etc etc. Mind you, that was in Seoul and generally people don't give two f*cks if they see a foreigner.

Observation #2 was that Koreans LOVE women with white hair. They think it's a sign of "luxury" (I assume wealth).

We met some of my students and even one of the naughtiest girls in school (who I've had run-ins with, very exceptionally) bowed and gave a hearty anyonghaseyo to my mum.

It was, well, just normal.

[periwinkle]

My mom won't visit- she wouldn't be able to tolerate 13 hours on a plane without a cigarette...

[I_Am_Wrong]

I've never had a problem in Korea and my parents had a fantastic visit last summer. It's not like they haven't been around, my parents have travelled a lot. They gave their trip to Korea an A. People are friendly here and we got lots of help all over the place. A teacher from my school and her husband gave them their apartment to stay at while they were visiting. In Jeju we were stuck out somewhere without any busses or taxi and an adjosshi gave us a ride back into the city in his truck. On the ferry, a Korean family next to us shared their grapes and cookies with us. On the return flight, Korean air bumped them up to first class without charge.

Unfortunately, the wrong people travel. In Korea you get a lot of people who come here because they REALLY don't have much in the way of job options and see the free airfare as the real bonus. If Korea didn't offer free airfare then most of these people wouldn't be out in the world teaching.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I'm sort of hoping that my parents never come. They'd hate the food and could probably only cope on a guided bus tour. I'd rather meet them in Guam or Hawaii if they figured a visit was absolutely necessary.

That said, there's some truth to the OPs post. My school district has hired some older teachers and they get treated with an enormous amount of respect. I do, too, but not nearly on their level.

It's interesting that hogwans would almost never hire them, isn't it? Perhaps that because most of them only want people they feel they can order and screw around.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

[periwinkle]

[ilovebdt]