Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Homer]

Indeed sparkx...indeed...

I was being deliberatly ambiguous...its fun aint it?

[Circus Monkey]

I wonder if a person can experience some of the beginning parts of culture shock (such as where half_pint is) all over again when you do new things. That is, for the first four years I didn't need nor require a car. Now I have one and man...I can speak with complete justification that most (99%) Koreans drive like maniacs. You can see it when you take the bus or walk on the sidewalk, but it's a different ballgame when you're mixing it up.

CM

[Homer]

CM,

Me thinks you have to get used to Korean driving habits and then you will not see them as "crazy" but you will adapt to their style of driving.
But thats just my opinion.

[sparkx]

I've said it once and i'll say it again -- Korean drivers don't have anything on South American drivers. I braced myself for the worst after hearing so many horror stories and when I arrived I almost laughed...
Brazilian or Guyanese drivers make Seoul drivers look like poster boys for Young Drivers Of Canada.

[narsty dog]

Urban myth : Why do you say I m 'bitter' ? You imagine that Korea was bad to me ?? Well , it wasnt it. I did well there. I have a lot of Korean friends. I have a Korean partner. I lived with Koreans for a long time . I speak Korean . I was also in major films. So what?? I m not bitter about "Korea". Korea is fascinating. But because I post my 'opinion' in reaction to what some people on here say , ie I DONT AGREE WITH THEM, then you label me as 'bitter'. Shall I label you ??? I dont think I did ...but if you wish

Bitter means someone angry cos they feel they lost out. I didnt lose out on anything in Korea ...I had a great time . It doesnt mean I find the general culture, discourse of the press, and ways of looking at the world appealing.
AND MANY KOREANS DONT LIKE IT EITHER . Do any of you talk to Koreans ??? Do they talk fondly about their schooldays ? Their boss and working hours ?? Their dreams ????
The problem with most of you posters on here is you dont know Korean people well enough. They re friendly to you in class, buy you drinks for the free english lesson out of class, so you live in you cloud cuckoo land . Good for you - but it isnt really insightful now is it ?

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Homer]

N-dog,

Lets look at this quote from you:

"The problem with most of you posters on here is you dont know Korean people well enough. They re friendly to you in class, buy you drinks for the free english lesson out of class, so you live in you cloud cuckoo land . Good for you - but it isnt really insightful now is it ?"

See whats wrong with this statement man?

1- Its a blanket statement that puts everyone in the same basket. It assumes you have superior knowledge and that most others are ignorant.

2- It assumes that because you perceive Korea and Koreans in one way it has to be the right way and that most other peoples perspective is wrong.

3- It assumes only you live or lived in reality and that most others don't

Now, I have been married to my Korean wife for over 5 years now. I also speak fluent Korean. We even lived with her parents for 8 months after we got married. I also have many Korean friends who quite like Korea and do have fond memories of their schooldays and thei dreams.
The "boss" topic is not a fond one but can you honestly say the "boss" is a topic that brings happy convo anywhere in the world?
My boss in Korea is one of the better ones I have had. She is kind, generous and understanding but she expects us to work hard.

You may not be bitter but you are agressive and condecending about Korea and Koreans. Look at your past posts and at the wording of your last post in this thread. I am not talking about being PC but about the way we present our views.
You present yours in a way that demeans Korea. This is not constructive or very valid. Criticism is one thing, bashing is another.

[itaewonguy]

wow for me the first three months were the BEST!! acually I stayed 8 months the first time and I love it all the time couldnt get enough, unfortunately I had to leave to go home cuz my mum was sick, so I went home for 1 and half years and everyday back home I couldnt wait to come back..
I came back and stayed 8 months in seoul this time..
again was loving it newbie in the city, doing itaewon, hongdae, all the tourist things, it was all cool, stayed 8 months again and left to explore eroupe with some good mates for 1 year, that was awesome, still I missed korea...
came back again, loving it again well for the first year I did, the second year the stress and hatred days started to set in, before I just didnt give a toss , never let it bother me, just blocked it out...
but the second year back in seoul after being in europe then I started being judgemental and my eyes were more open to fault, I was always comparing here to spain, or france, or italy even back home which before I never did, I just wanted vegemite in the ol days...or some nice fish n chips...
and now just started my third year here without leaving the country, I am really HATING IT!!! I feel I have burnt myself out, and the spark is fading, thats why I am always looking for new things to do on weekends, go to new bars or hangouts, or travel on weekends, but now I look at koreans in a negative light especially when I see them act like idiots!
I find myself argueing with them and hating them sometimes,
but I live here now, I know this place too well, I try and keep my distance from koreans, because once they start spitting, and smoking everywhere, and staring, and cussing, and being just stupid and asking me dumb questions like, how long have you been here??? 5 years..
ohhh do you know kimchi? it makes me crazy!!
hahhhhaa all in all I have up and down days here, of course the good days beat the bad otherwise I wouldnt be here, I am not here for the money, I am here for the entertainment, the girls, hanging out!
once that dies out, I will be hitting a new place..
anyway for me,
the first year is always the best!!!
never any problems, I mean you're in a new country, experiencing a new culture, people! meeting new girls!, partying a new style!.
looking at all the neon lights, soju bangs, tents, norebangs, PC bangs, subways, crazy cabbies, bus drivers, the land of a thousand smells, vege trucks in the mornings that wake you up!!! all these little things is what makes you happy, these is the experience!
when you go home and tell your stories you say all these things, so keep it positive even with the negative!! when I went home last time I was telling love to hate stories!..
I have experienced a lot here, done many kinds of things and have had many things happen to me,these experiences like I have nevr even experienced back home!!

where I stand now,, I want to leave this year I think, go for about 1 year then come back all charged up again missing this place heaps, then after 3 months say to myself WHY WHY WHY!! did you come back!!! assiiisssssssshhhhhhh!!! haahahaahhaahah

[narsty dog]

Homer - thanks for your comments. Yeah i could do the oneupmanship with you , in fact i ve lived with korean families a lot longer than you blah blah .
like i said in another post, most of the stuff i write is in reaction to what other write- i m not a korea 'basher' , but seeing as you want to separate things out into neat categories / basher-lover etc. , maybe some people will agree with you. When anyone says anything 'critical' about a certain place, people, culture they usually get called names - bigot, racist, basher , whatever.
But if you read what I say , I dont demean "korea ' . how can someone demean a country ? is that possible . No. What is say in repely to some of the posters on here who see the peninsula thoruhg their eyes is , 'sorry , i dont agree with you ' - that leads people like you to call me names . 'Oh , NDog , hes so bitter and twisted. '

Your way of talking is dangerous too. By suggesting that I m demeaning Korea , you pit yourself as one of the 'good guys' and lable as an enemy. Fair enough, but not really intelligent. Thus can be seen to in operation well in the West , during the war. EG if you criticise Blair ( or Bush ) people like to pin the anti - british, anti american label on you.

the pro war crowd label their opponents 'unpatriotic' , stuff like that. in fact , in a democracy isnt it more patriotic to oppose what those in power do without having a vote ?

likewise, when people on here say Korea s great because of this ...and 'I m having a great time in Korea , but other issues we' ll just ignore " , I might respond to this.

My response from someone like you , will earn me the name 'Korea basher' etc. , 'negative', 'whinger', anti - Korean'.
OK - but not really addressing intelligently , the main points of what I say.
If I were Korean , would you say the same thing ? What if I were disabled ?

BTW, I do make generalisations about the posters on here , because the majority of them seem to be in the 'Korea s great' lets not here a bad word about korea ' camp.
Strange, in contrast to the Daves of old, which gained notoriety as an anti - korean site , and was even mentioned on jerry springer wasnt it ??

PS it s interesting to see the way the word 'positive' is used on here. Positive seems to be another word for not rocking the boat , or challenging the status quo. bit like before women had the vote maybe , - the men would tell those troublemaking suffragettes, 'be positive- housework is a noble thing '.

[Homer]

Nawww dog,

I am not one of the "good guys"...I just try to keep an open mind and to put things in perspective.
I was not doing any sort of "oneupmanship" either, just counter pointing your previous point.
As for your line on the ainti-war or pro-war stance...I do not see the point.
My views on that situation have nothing to do with this topic.

If I were Korean...now how can I respond to that N-Dog? I am not Korean...I don't want to be Korean and I don't pretend to be Korean. I just try to understand Korea and Koreans by talking with Koreans....
I have no idea how I would feel if i was Korean but I do know that many of my Korean friends and my brothers in law are quite happy living in Korea. They dislike some parts of their society but thats normal since no country is perfect.
I also have Korean friends who dislike Korea and prefer to live abroad. Now thats the same back home Dog. Some people love Canada some others don't. Thats just the way things are.
As for being disabled or handicapped. It is harder in Korea because that country has not implemented the same apparatus of support for disabled people that is too be found in some western nations. but things will change in time.

As for my general views on Korea they include both bad and good points N-Dog. I most definitively do not love everything about Korea. But I tend to avoid making general comments about entire populations or countries.

[narsty dog]

i dont really follow what you are saying there homer. i think your main point is that you dont generalise or something. i noticed in london a few years ago that it seemed a crime against some kind of liberal university types to make general comments - is this fallout from all that N american PC nonsense?

Whats wrong with making general comments ?? The histroy of western 20 th century social science is one of genralising , ie Structuralism . Most of the anti generalsiation brigrade thing generalising is somehow evil or something - but lets look at the evidence.

1 most koreans eat kimchi - generalisation : true or false ?

2 most koreans havent travelled outside of their country - true or false ?

3 most koreans act in a way that shows their Yugyo/ confucian heriatge : true or false ?

4 most koreans have no real knowledge of westerners, as they are not close friends with them- although some have come into contact with westerners at Uni. or a hagwon. - true or false ?

most koreans , because they havent travelled abroad, met/ know well many foreigners and get most of their information from TV, internet and newspapers or teachers at school - all of which they feel reluctant to criticise due to their Yugyo worldview ( the media / education are all highly partisan and xenophobic - can anyone give an example of a non partisan Korean media outlet ) seem limited , ethnocentric and mistaken in their view of foreigners in their mist .

true or false ?

if you disagree with 4 Homer , you obviously disagree with the others as well.

or maybe i should agree with you - yeah in general koreans foillow no social rules, have no underlying social beliefs and attitudes , but rather exhibit non-linear, self manifesting individualistic worldviews that makes the country unique in the world. Whooo.

[narsty dog]

BTW homer, i said if I (ND) were Korean , not you . read it a bit more closely next time old boy.

[narsty dog]

Sorry hommer , when i said "disagree with 4" , i meant "disagree with 5" ( yep, i missed that number out by mistake )

[Circus Monkey]

[Circus Monkey]

Some of you like to throw around definitions of logical fallacies but perhaps are unsure of what they mean. Check this link out.

http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/index.htm

CM