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oppa637
Joined: 05 Dec 2011
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 Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| What part of texas? |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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Other non asian or middle eastern countries pay crap wages. That's why not many people do it elsewhere. People who do go there are privledged kids who don't need the money or older people who already made their money.
As for diversity, many of us folk who came from smaller towns in the US or Canada have found more diversity here than where we came from. Met many antionalities here. We'd see the odd foriegner or minority and it wasn't shocking to see them, but it has been much more easy to meet people of different nationalities over here. We don't all come from LA, New York, Toronto, or Vancouver. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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| radcon wrote: |
| Another LRP- life reclamation project. If you are depressed in your home country moving to Korea most likely wont make things any better for you. |
Yeah, your issues will follow you here. (If you have them, not saying you do personally.) |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, your issues will follow you here. (If you have them, not saying you do personally.) |
The OP said she'd just come out of a relationship. Moving to another country can be a very effective way of getting over heartache quicker - complete lack of places/people/events that remind you of your past situation. |
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JeffersonDarcy2010
Joined: 05 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Charlie Bourque wrote: |
| JeffersonDarcy2010 wrote: |
Bad reasons to teach in Korea:
1. To experience culture
2. To enjoy great food
Good reasons:
1. To save money
2. Can't think of any more... |
That seems pretty subjective. I think Korean food is great. And how would someone not experience another culture if they are living in another culture?
Seems like you should go home and flip burgers. |
I guess the only thing you can do at home is to flip burgers. Luckily for other people, they have skills. I'm already at home, living by the coast, and am working in HR for a fortune 100 company. Enjoy your kimchi. |
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K1020
Joined: 20 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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Gotta ask if you're moving to something or away from something? Others are right when they say dissatisfaction is a mindset that will follow.
That being said the freedom to adopt new a lifestyle, free from friends and family who expect you to be a certain way, does allow for a reinvention; I started lots of great new habits after I came here. I hear of many who go the other way without people to hold them accountable too.
Maybe being a bit older, I'm around 30 too, will help with finding that direction. I say go for it do your best to check references and find a good school and then jump in. |
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pegasus64128
Joined: 20 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| radcon wrote: |
| Another LRP- life reclamation project. If you are depressed in your home country moving to Korea most likely wont make things any better for you. |
Yeah, your issues will follow you here. (If you have them, not saying you do personally.) |
I agree. The LRP, as radcon calls it, is the worst possible reason to come here. I think the best thing anyone can do before they leave home is make an effort to live their life as best as possible and imagine going to a foreign country wasn't possible.
Then take a good hard look in the mirror and say "This is who I am. I don't need to alter my lifestyle in Korea for anyone. If I have to wait a bit longer to find people I have something in common with then I'll wait."
That's how I think it should be done. That's not quite how I did it of course.
Also, I recommend spending much more time in coffee shops and much less time in bars early on and throughout really. But that's just my feeling. Everyone has their own issues and baggage to deal with. Coffee shops seem to be spreading exponentially here. There were once very few but now, they are everywhere. Soon there will be so many, that some passive, non-confrontational types will escape from the coffee craze and flee to the bars.
I personally don't recommend small cities in Korea. Aim for a place that has a million people or so if you can, unless you're planning for the end, or want to be a hermit. Small places are not for everyone. IMO, it takes a particularly boring or sad person to be content with living in a small place here but that's just my opinion. |
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Modernist
Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Location: The 90s
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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I guess Korean culture and quality of life aren't quite the draw, eh? Shocking.
The best reason to come here is money. If you're lucky you can save more in a couple of years than anywhere else in Asia, with little in the way of requirements. In my case, 2 years here will help erase almost 3 years of disaster in America.
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| I chose Korea because its seems like the best place out of all the other asian countries. Not crazy expensive like japan, and not a dump like the rest. Ive been into asian centric things like video games and anime and dramas/films. |
FYI: These are NOT good reasons to choose here. Perhaps you should do a bit more research about Asia? A head start would be: 'the rest' of Asia is FAR from 'a dump.' In fact, depending on how you define 'dump', the term might apply more accurately to things here in Korea than to many other countries.
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| I will give kindy/elementary a try since kids love me and i like singing songs and teaching babies to talk. I'm a proud aunty of 7 |
This is a disaster waiting to happen. A train wreck. Rocks tumbling down the mountain above the road. <sigh> Again, FYI. Being an aunt is not the same as teaching. Have you ever been in a room of 20 screaming 7-year-olds who don't speak a single word of English, alone? Can you stop a fight? Can you get them to pay attention? Can you be a fair judge?
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| Another LRP- life reclamation project. If you are depressed in your home country moving to Korea most likely wont make things any better for you. |
Yup. Typical. Again, tell me how people coming here are doing so well in America but just can't stay away from the glorious Korean lifestyle? Nope. Never. Their lives are a mess--bad breakup, in this case---and Korea's money and soft landing is the solution, they think.
Be prepared, though you won't be, but understand how isolated you may be. It can be EXCEEDINGLY difficult to form connections here with anyone. Many people you'll meet will be socially inept, or drunks, or frankly crazy. Can you deal with being alone? Not as in, I don't have a boyfriend. Alone as in no one who speaks English is within miles of you at any time? As in, you have to travel to find familiar foods, books, restaurants, anything?
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| Then take a good hard look in the mirror and say "This is who I am. I don't need to alter my lifestyle in Korea for anyone. If I have to wait a bit longer to find people I have something in common with then I'll wait." |
This would be good advice, but I'll bet this OP is in no position to take it. I more or less succeeded at this only because of what I went through right before I got here.
Korea can't fix your life for you, OP. It can get you some money, buy you some time, test the limits of your flexibility, and finance Asian travel; but it can't break out of your 'rut' for you. Only you can do that, in your own mind and attitude and sense of self-worth. If you are miserable there, you will still be miserable here, most likely. |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Modernist wrote: |
I guess Korean culture and quality of life aren't quite the draw, eh? Shocking.
The best reason to come here is money. If you're lucky you can save more in a couple of years than anywhere else in Asia, with little in the way of requirements. In my case, 2 years here will help erase almost 3 years of disaster in America.
| Quote: |
| I chose Korea because its seems like the best place out of all the other asian countries. Not crazy expensive like japan, and not a dump like the rest. Ive been into asian centric things like video games and anime and dramas/films. |
FYI: These are NOT good reasons to choose here. Perhaps you should do a bit more research about Asia? A head start would be: 'the rest' of Asia is FAR from 'a dump.' In fact, depending on how you define 'dump', the term might apply more accurately to things here in Korea than to many other countries.
| Quote: |
| I will give kindy/elementary a try since kids love me and i like singing songs and teaching babies to talk. I'm a proud aunty of 7 |
This is a disaster waiting to happen. A train wreck. Rocks tumbling down the mountain above the road. <sigh> Again, FYI. Being an aunt is not the same as teaching. Have you ever been in a room of 20 screaming 7-year-olds who don't speak a single word of English, alone? Can you stop a fight? Can you get them to pay attention? Can you be a fair judge?
| Quote: |
| Another LRP- life reclamation project. If you are depressed in your home country moving to Korea most likely wont make things any better for you. |
Yup. Typical. Again, tell me how people coming here are doing so well in America but just can't stay away from the glorious Korean lifestyle? Nope. Never. Their lives are a mess--bad breakup, in this case---and Korea's money and soft landing is the solution, they think.
Be prepared, though you won't be, but understand how isolated you may be. It can be EXCEEDINGLY difficult to form connections here with anyone. Many people you'll meet will be socially inept, or drunks, or frankly crazy. Can you deal with being alone? Not as in, I don't have a boyfriend. Alone as in no one who speaks English is within miles of you at any time? As in, you have to travel to find familiar foods, books, restaurants, anything?
| Quote: |
| Then take a good hard look in the mirror and say "This is who I am. I don't need to alter my lifestyle in Korea for anyone. If I have to wait a bit longer to find people I have something in common with then I'll wait." |
This would be good advice, but I'll bet this OP is in no position to take it. I more or less succeeded at this only because of what I went through right before I got here.
Korea can't fix your life for you, OP. It can get you some money, buy you some time, test the limits of your flexibility, and finance Asian travel; but it can't break out of your 'rut' for you. Only you can do that, in your own mind and attitude and sense of self-worth. If you are miserable there, you will still be miserable here, most likely. |
bad is all in the eye of the beholder. you should come here and see what you think yourself instead of listening to bitter people rant about what they dislike because that will skew your outlook. this thread is just asking for people to toss their very biased two cents in, and you will only really get extreme haters and extreme lovers.
going anywhere just for the money is NOT the reason to go there. you can make money anywhere, even where you are now. the advice to come here for the money is simply awful.
however, as he says it can be difficult to meet people here. many people, both korean and foreign are incredibly socially inept. it's shocking sometimes when you realize you are running around with a bunch of grown children. then you have the ones who are indeed crazy and hatred spewing like resident master of negativity, modernist. |
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Pablo
Joined: 15 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| Met many antionalities here. |
Korean antionalities are great. I love antionalities! Especially on pizza. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| going anywhere just for the money is NOT the reason to go there. you can make money anywhere, even where you are now. the advice to come here for the money is simply awful. |
For most people I'd say the three most important things that will determine whether they enjoy their time teaching in a foreign country are
the job
the quality of relationships they make
the money
in that order. These are the staples of life that provide people will emotional or financial well-being. The only one of these you can rely on getting (to a certain extent) before you go to a place is the money, so it's not a bad reason to choose. The other two can be good or bad in any place, though there are those on here who would argue that you decrease the likelihood of getting satisfaction from the first one by coming to Korea. Securing a job in a major conurbation will also increase the likelihood of success in the second category
Other things like the food the language, the locals, the culture etc.. are things that can enrich your life or not but if you don't the like the food or culture it's fairly easy to download Western stuff, cook Western food at home or find Western restaurants to eat in, only hang out with foreigners and live quite happily. Some things might grind you down over time, like the depressing architecture, crowds, all the other things on the 'Things I find impossible to Get used to'thread.. but they're not the kinds of thing that would make someone want to leave overnight like my initial list might. |
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leilam12
Joined: 04 Jun 2012
Location: TX
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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*sigh*
I kinda agree that my problems will follow me. Its all mental. My self confidence has hit rock bottom lately....i don't think i could survive Korea or anywhere out there the way i am right now. Meh.
I'm in Dallas. Life is not terrible here. I guess i'm just looking for indirect way to dealing with my issues. Tsk tsk.
Appreciate all the input 
-Leila |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| leilam12 wrote: |
I'm in Dallas.
-Leila |
I'm so sorry for that. No one should have to endure this. |
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leilam12
Joined: 04 Jun 2012
Location: TX
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| radcon wrote: |
| leilam12 wrote: |
I'm in Dallas.
-Leila |
I'm so sorry for that. No one should have to endure this. |
lol. Korea not a bad idea now, eh? |
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pegasus64128
Joined: 20 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| leilam12 wrote: |
*sigh*
I kinda agree that my problems will follow me. Its all mental. My self confidence has hit rock bottom lately....i don't think i could survive Korea or anywhere out there the way i am right now. Meh.
I'm in Dallas. Life is not terrible here. I guess i'm just looking for indirect way to dealing with my issues. Tsk tsk.
Appreciate all the input
-Leila |
As long as you're not yet another debt-ridden grad that spent money you don't have on an education with no practical application in the workplace, then come on over. If on the other hand, you have solid debt commitments, then I'd prefer it was someone else.
Luckily for you, noone really cares. Do whatever you want! |
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