Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Son Deureo!]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Son Deureo,

Just my two cents here but last summer when we were in busan there were quite a few open air concerts along gwanganlee beach.

There are also lots of free shows in the parks. Near my in-laws house you could see traditional dancing, theatre and some small concerts for free.

[rodriguez.guadalupe]

If you want free books and don't care how contemporary they are, search Project Guttenberg for full text E books and Librivox for audiobooks. They feature books that are past their copyright and have entered the public domain.

Also, I saw that somebody mentioned using Skype to call home, so I'm assuming Netflix works over there. Whoever mentioned it has got something, especially if you didn't have a reason to watch TV before. They have lots of instant streaming movies and seasons upon seasons of TV shows. Their streaming movies section sucks for my taste, but I never watch TV. Figure I'm set during the week.

Finally, what I loved when I was in Korea last time were the house parties. Make it a BYOB, screw the bars for a night. Call it a potluck and you wont even have to leave to get food! I'd like to do one fairly regularly. (Hopefully it'll catch on amongst my friends and we can avoid the bars one night every weekend!)

[soulofseoul]

Dont buy Apple products!!

[Underwaterbob]

Find a good cheap obsession that keeps you sealed away in your apartment by yourself and live off rice and gochu-jang.

Writing, music, gaming, movies, TV: all can be good and cheap obsessions.

Don't make friends: they're expensive!

Co-workers are alright. By all means go to all free-dinner, co-worker events.

[HymanKaplan]

No, it's a pitcher. The sink hookup is more convenient, but I haven't seen any of those.

[pattinsons]

I just wanted to add something about coffee. I usually go to Dunkin Donuts. They usually go with a 3/4 coffee and 1/4 added hot water. You can tell them not to add the hot water. If you are a regular you will only tell them a few times.

Also Paris Bageutte also has cheap coffee, but it's half the size of a large Dunkin Donuts cup.

I also do think that you should go out to dinner some times. I would usually go for a nice dinner once a month. It was a taste of home. Most of us make a good salary, and can afford a nice meal. That said I never drank at a western restaurant. While once a week I would usually go for pizza. My Korean girlfriend told me that if she doesnt eat rice one a week she goes crazy. The same thing happens to me if I dont have pizza.


Planning ahead is important.

Try to make a realistic budget. Us common sense. I've been here a while, and so many people dislike it because they set unrealistic goals, and get depressed when they don't meet them.

[Cedar]

[Illysook]

I like the idea of splitting a Costco membership. I was going to swear off of it for this year but there are a few things that are cheaper there and a few other things that are just delicious. Packs of filters for the Brita pitcher that I bought last year are way cheaper at Costco than at E-mart or Home Plus. Coffee is well priced there and if you want hamburger or chicken breasts, they are not cheap anywhere, but you will get more for your money at Costco. The key is to be aware of prices and be willing to pass things up when the prices are stupid. Lately, it seems that the prices are always stupid. 2 carrots for 1800 Won at E-mart? No thanks.

[Tarztastic]

[wishfullthinkng]

these types of threads can be so depressing. although i don't live and die by adages, there are some that exist for good reason. one of them is "it takes money to make money". people didn't come up with that saying to hear themselves speak.

instead of scrimping every single penny in a foreign place and sitting at home playing video games or doing all the other anti-social things that are sometimes suggested, go out and make native friends. you might have to spend some money but if you are enjoyable to be around it will pay off in the end.

for example, at first i knew no one here so i went out and started making friends and networking. now i get invited to events all the time where i am comp'ed, guestlisted, or vip'ed and the food and drinks are free. i get free tickets to various paid events and all sorts of fun things that actually involve interacting with the foreign people and place i am in and NOT my apartment, and none of it would have been possible if i had taken a lot of this advice.

don't get me wrong, the point of this post isn't to brag because i could care less about all that, it's to try and illuminate the fact that you aren't going to get the most out of saving if you just scrape your coins together. the initial investment of making friends and networking and the returns received far outweighs the savings of just hoarding hard currency and it's a bit sad that most people don't realize it.

[DaHu]

It's a bit sad that you think everyone would like doing the things you like doing.

[freddy teacher]

edit.

[wishfullthinkng]

[Draz]