Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jrwhite82]

[Carbon]

[Modernist]

Oh, Carbon, I wish that even 5% of people reading this thread actually grasped your point, of course including jrwhite82 here.

[jrwhite82]

[jrwhite82]

[Chris.Quigley]

[Chris.Quigley]

[jrwhite82]

[Carbon]

[PRagic]

OP, get yourself a mood ring and display it prominantly. Have mood ring, will travel, I always say.

[Enrico Palazzo]

Mate, if you keep up with the trolling you'll have no more account. Users, if you see more trollin', you let me know.

'Rico

[earthquakez]

Yes, let's get back to the topic. Of course people can control their various mental conditions well through medication but that's not everybody (depends on the severity of the condition, how the medication works etc).

I am not on medication except normal pain killing tablets for the headaches I get after the weekend's supping of any decent imported beer I can get. But living in a country that's not yours always gives you a lot of issues to deal with and at times for all of us and sometimes/often depending on your ability to deal with stress, various pressures can become serious. I can cope well with the stress of living abroad - I've done it enough in different countries and I don't have mental issues.

But somebody with a verifiable mood disorder is making a mistake coming to Korea to live and work in my opinion. I've worked in Japan, a much easier country to live in from the viewpoint of how the society works and how much freedom or otherwise you have to live your own life and work without being on stressful year to year contracts. But living there can be too isolating for some foreigners and too much lacking in relatively cheap and healthy ways to eat a variety of food in many locations. You'd be surprised at the lack of goods to buy in many cities in Japan outside Tokyo.

Daily life issues such as eating healthily without spending too much of your budget and controlling your weight for example can turn into stressful situations in countries like Japan. But it was easier to switch off problems at work and with the broader society owing to more generous visas and more respect in that you are not owned by your employer.

Korea has issues such as more aggressive expression of anti foreigner feeling (although not by as many people as some foreigners would have you think if you are an English teacher that is), being owned by your employer on the E-2 visa, a brick wall designed to stop you moving to other visa categories unless you get married to a Korean.

Korea has none of the opportunities Japan gives you on English teaching visas to work at other jobs, and a harder society where the Japanese in group/out group notion of excluding others who have not established certain type of relationships according to norms that belong to the past's feudal heirarchy, is more openly expressed and lacks the notion of compassion that you will find surprisingly often in Japan when you are a stranger.

Factor in the multiple problems of lack of communication at workplaces, being the lowest on the totem pole at work and when it comes to trying to establish connections with Korean pepole, and a more aggressive society where compassion to others including those you haven't been introduced to is certainly not a Korean characteristic as a rule - and it seems clear that somebody who has a mood disorder is going to feel worse in a country like Korea. Even if you're on medication I don't recommend it to you. You will be found at during medical checks for those meds and medication helps people function - it doesn't solve the underlying problem and it won't help in a stressful situation in a country that's not yours to the extent you need it to.