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Don't come here for the scenery
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mack the knife



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:11 pm    Post subject: Don't come here for the scenery Reply with quote

A lot of job posts these days claim that you will be working in "Scenic this place" or "Beautiful that place". Ignore them. Ignore them hard.

If you are coming to Asia to teach in a place of scenic wonder and beauty, basically any other country is better than Korea. Southern China has more beautiful mountains, southeast Asia has more beautiful beaches, Japan has more scenic, well, everything.

Don't be fooled into thinking that you'll be able to hit the surf after a hard day of teaching kindergarten kids. You'll be fighting the 10,000 other people who were thinking the same thing.

Being totally surrounded by mountains would be a good thing if the view wasn't obstructed by all the Soviet-communist-era-looking apartments.

Did I mention that living far away from an international airport will most likely be a huge pain in your ass?

Don't be a sucker.
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mrd



Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: fluorescent-filled paradise

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the heads-up, but "Beauty" is a little too subjective to use blanket statements that Korea is an un-beautiful country. Japan has a more beautiful everything? In Japan, every single mountain has a radio tower on it. In Korea, this isn't the case. I live next to a mountain and thus have a beautiful view. If you think Korea is so ugly why are you here?

Perhaps you're a little bitter becuase you were promised a beautiful spot but it ended up being anything but? I don't think anyone here is that naive. I live an hour and a half from Incheon - but I don't make weekly plans to go world traveling so its a non-issue for me. Why would it be an issue for anyone, except those who didn't do their research when accepting a job then being placed in the country side? Really, sounds like you're just complaining instead of warning.
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a lovely view from my school, but I could have just as well ended up at sh*tholeville, one town over, which is as ugly as they come.

Like with a lot of things, there's really no way to know until you check it out for yourself.
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Bibbitybop



Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is why you should come to Korea and see your school, and your apartment, before you sign that dotted line.
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migooknom



Joined: 10 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

maybe its because I'm from the suburbs, but I like looking outside and seeing the big buildings and bright flashy lights.
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poet13



Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I ride my bicycle all over my province. Mountains, rice paddies, little rustic villages. To me it's beautiful. To another, anything less than an all-neon world is ugly.
Being lied to is another thing. Being offered beach biew and looking at the back of a factory is not cool, but other than that, each to his or her own.
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oneofthesarahs



Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Location: Sacheon City

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's the view from my apartment. I think it's pretty darn scenic. But beauty is subjective.



C'mon, Korea is pretty!

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Zoidberg



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Location: Somewhere too hot for my delicate marine constitution

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oneofthesarahs wrote:
Here's the view from my apartment. I think it's pretty darn scenic. But beauty is subjective.



C'mon, Korea is pretty!



Where's that? It's pretty nice.
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Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are some scenic points, few and far between. To see them involves laborious travel. And they have to be explored on a weekday. Even then you may find them crowded with noisy soju-swilling people.
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Novernae



Joined: 02 Mar 2005

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Don't come here for the scenery Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
Did I mention that living far away from an international airport will most likely be a huge pain in your ass?


Very few places in Korea (meaning a couple of isolated islands, maybe) are far away from an international airport. At home I am a 4 hour drive from the closest semi-international airport, and a bus there is not cheap (and an extra hour or two). A real international airport is a 10 hour drive or a $600 flight.

Korea has done a spectacular job of not ruining its mountains by building up on them like some many other places. I think it's great that I can look out onto a city-scape and see unspoilt mountains in the background.
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mack the knife



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Being lied to is another thing. Being offered beach view and looking at the back of a factory is not cool, but other than that, each to his or her own.


That's what I'm talking about. If I had a dollar for every teacher I've talked to who's been promised a "beautiful" or "scenic" location but found out otherwise, I'd have tens of dollars.

Bottom line: Korea has beauty, but if that's why you sign on the dotted line, you're making a huge mistake. I've never said otherwise. What I have said is that it's a 99% guarantee the premier scenery won't be in your backyard if you sign with one of these schools which makes such claims.

Don't be a sucker.

Oh, and Japan blows Korea away for natural beauty. There's simply no comparison.
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ella



Joined: 17 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Amazing, oneofthesarahs! Where is that?
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ajgeddes



Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:26 pm    Post subject: Re: Don't come here for the scenery Reply with quote

Novernae wrote:
Korea has done a spectacular job of not ruining its mountains by building up on them like some many other places. I think it's great that I can look out onto a city-scape and see unspoilt mountains in the background.


Uh, you are definitely wrong here. Over the past 40 years, Korea has bulldozed over 10% of it's mountains.
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PimpofKorea



Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Location: Dealing in high quality imported English

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know about any of you mammajammas...but I came strictly for the 홍어 man that stuff makes me do cartwheels down the stairs..,,it tastes so goshdarn good.
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chris_J2



Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:50 am    Post subject: Don't come here for the scenery Reply with quote

Strongly disagree about Korea being ugly, unless you're in Ulsan.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/ChrisJ/photos/Asia/South_Korea/

The Aeryongpo Dam turnoff at Yeongpungri is like a 10 minute bus ride & then a 15 minute walk from my town. Hardly an ordeal.

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/South_Korea/photo512413.htm


Last edited by chris_J2 on Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:32 am; edited 3 times in total
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