Korean Job Discussion Forums

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

I thought maybe you were doing some study of languages related to the Finno-Ugric group and you would be asking about Hungarians next.

Gwangjuboy · Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Location: England

Alias · Joined: 24 Jan 2003

I've actually met two Finns in the 15 months that I have been here. One guy worked for a international company here in Seoul. Got to know him a little bit before he left. Like me he was a big hockey fan.
Met a Finnish girl on the DMZ tour of all places. I think she told me that she was starting a stint at the Consulate. That was last summer.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

FINN: I've met many people with this surname. Do you think originally it was a name given to a person who came from Finland, and stuck?

Likewise the surnames "English", "Holland", "French', "Dane", "Alban" (ie albanian), "Turk", "Welsh", "Ireland",etc.
Just wondering.... Razz

Also, in Germany, the surname "Engels" is fairly common, likewise "Anglais" in France, etc etc....

mithridates · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 3:45 am Post subject:

Uh-oh...

that incident above about the Finnish embassy, I put it up on my home page, but my home page was then selected to the the feature page of the day and I've gotten 10 000 visitors so far. One of them happened to be the girl from the embassy, who wasn't to pleased about it! She writeth in return:

---
"Hi! I'm just stopping by."

"Hi, what do you need?" �� How can I help you?��

"Well, first I was wondering how many Finns live in Seoul."

"I think about 30 or 40. Not too many. Are you Finnish?"

"No, but I was there for two days and Estonia for a month before. I'm studying it again. Do you help people out with that?"

"No we don't." (Because there is no HAGWON that teaches Finnish in Korea. AND how many people do you think that they call us and say they want to study Finnish? You can give a suggestion to the Finnish foreign Ministry. I got two phone calls from the Koreans who showed their interest in learning the language over the last t two years.)

"I see. Where do these Finnish people in Seoul work?"

"Companies, I think." (?????) (Don��t remember this question. You asked what the Finns in Seoul do for a living. I said they are mostly businessmen and exchange students.��

"Ah... do you speak Finnish?"

"No." (sorry. I studies Japanese and English.)

"Have you been there before?"

"No." (Just graduated from university and got this job. Sorry.)

"Ah. May I ask how you got the job working here then?"

"No..." (Am I supposed to help our customers with this personal question? Were you looking for a job opening at the Finnish Embassy? I didn��t know. And you did not ask the question with "May I" )

"Ah, I mean, it's kind of funny that you're working in the Finnish Consulate of all places isn't it?""..." (Was I going through an Interview for a mag or somethin��?��

"Because there's what, about four people working here right?"

"Three."

"Ah. So, you really don't want to tell me how you got the job?"

"No I don't. Do you want some information?"(You said ��If you don��t want to tell me how you got this job, you don��t have to.)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

If you think they are what you said above in Korean, I have to say your Korean was not all that good. I hope the next time you visit, you can come and ask more proper questions that I can help you with. So, have you visited other embassies and asked the receptionist how they got their job and how you can learn the languag? What did they say?And about the USELESS information, I will tell our cultural attaché and ask what we can do about it.

"Today's 'adventure' made me think about the nature of consulates once again."

You know it really is tiring to hear ��Embassy people are rude and they don��t do anything for their customers. They get paid for doing nothing��. This attitute is really frustrating, but what can I do? People all have their own sides of the story. Whatever. And for the record, Ms. �ڹ̳�, I am not ��ϻ�.I found the wanted ad at the Korea Herald 2 years ago and applied, went through 3 interviews and a test and got hired. I am (along with other Korean staff at the Embassy) trying to get a chance to at least visit Finland so that it can help our job in any way.

Since the Finnish Embassy is very small, we don��t have any seperate Education, Culture, Science section. Never heard that the consulates are made for those who ask questions, ��I want to meet Finns in Seoul. Where can I meet them?��

So I got some pamphlets, maps, and the like. Mostly useless except for one book and the map itself as I like hanging maps on my wall.Today's 'adventure' made me think about the nature of consulates once again.

So wow, you make me sound like a dummy who has some connections to be hired at the Embassy. Did not know you were THAT disappointed with our service. If you have more problems or complaints, can you come again and let me know in person, not putting up a message like this and making me pissed off?
-----

Now I know how she got the job though; we can stop imagining about that.

mithridates · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 4:06 am Post subject:

Ah, after a few more messages we seem to have smoothed out out differences somewhat (the girl at the Finnish consulate and I); that's good. I don't like fighting.

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

Oh and I see ur cyworld has 25000 hits now.

WTF you doing posting that kind of stuff on such a popular site?

mithridates · Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 6:45 am Post subject:

^^
Burned!
Actually it only had 12000 or so hits until yesterday when it was featured on the main page and I got an extra 12000 guests for the one day.

Nevertheless, I don't like consulates that try to turn away people with real questions with a few pamphlets. I also don't like consulates that hire people that don't know a thing about the country. I don't blame her for working there as they hired her but the fact that a Finnish consulate can't do anything more than distribute info that can be found anywhere on the net is a bit weak.
Still better than immigration though.

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

tokki · Joined: 26 Jul 2003

Mith was WAY out of line. How the hell do you post info like that on a site as popular as yours Mith? Also, I agree with JB, what did you expect? She did the right thing blowing you off.

mithridates · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 4:50 am Post subject:

In my defence:
Actually my site became twice as popular that day as it was the day before...
before posting the info: 12000 visitors
The next day: 25000

It's an individual home page, and I write pretty much whatever I want on it.
Also, I wasn't looking for phone numbers; I was curious what kinds of companies they worked at and how they came to Korea in the first place.
Lastly, a Canadian living in Seoul asking about Finns in Korea is much different than a Korean living in Seoul asking about Americans.

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

mithridates · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 5:13 am Post subject:

It's different (in my opinion) because Finland is a small country, the embassy is small, and no one was there. I suppose it would be the same if a Korean went to the Finnish embassy...my point isn't that I'm special because I'm Canadian but that an embassy with no one in it should take a bit better care of its 'customers'. She was just reading the newspaper by herself when I waslked in.
As for what Finns do in Korea I was looking for an answer like "They usually work in hi-tech / cell phone companies", something general like that, much like how most French people that live here are connected with TGV - that's not classified information.