Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mr-Dokdo]

How about something positive about our lives in Korea? And while at it, how about something positive about Koreans?

Yes, go ahead and share it with us!

[valkerie]

I have excellent foreign friends. Happy to have had the chance to meet them.

Love ondol.

The weather is good today.

[Captain Marlow]

driving my scoot like i was in akira... i like the driving style/time here far more than the hour and a half of sitting in traffic to get 20 miles across town in atlanta...

also, i like playing the dumb foreigner card to my advantage... we seriously do get away with a lot more here than i could back home, simply by being a foreigner...

[fruitcake]

I'm happy I have one more month in this hell-hole

[nuthatch]

fruitcake, yes,

I am happy that I am out of the moldy, insecticide ridden, one-room slum with no window that was generously given to me by a public school district in the south.

Mass transit (especially bus system) in SK is great - one of the best things about the place -

second to the the special/sweet/goodhearted children in the village schools.

[ciccone_youth]

I'm leaving Korea in two weeks. I came here only for a year, it was a real roller coaster ride, but I'll mostly remember the good stuff. I'll really miss it.

-my friends
-the shopping
-tons of neighborhoods to discover in seoul
-close to japan (ha)
-galbi and everything grilled
-the efficient subway system
-annyong haseoooooo (being greeted everywhere)

[fromtheuk]

Positives about Korea:

I feel safe, no violent crime has come my way.

Homeplus.

Brownies from Homeplus.

A parent of one of my students serves my pizza (at Pizza Namoo) with genuine warmth and kindness. She gave me a couple of oranges last week, for free.

Pizza Namoo.

Halal restaurants in Itaewon which are cheap and taste good.

Efficent subway system.

A nice apartment.

A lack of war and killing.

Positives about Koreans:

The kindness of the parent at Pizza Namoo.

When I first came here and didn't know my way around, I asked for help from strangers quite a bit.

Honestly, many were very helpful and kind.

When I set up my bank account with my first co-teacher, the banking staff were very helpful, it's their job, but they were helpful.

The students and staff at my school were really polite and friendly when I first arrived.

When I first came, many of my students were delightful, really pleasant and enthusiastic about me being here.

[the ireland]

somone kicked in my apartment door last night at 3 in the morning and i never seen who it was, it took the police an hour and 20 minutes to come to my apartment and none of the neighbours even got up to see what happened or if i was murdered.

But that all happened in Belfast (northern ireland)!!!!

nothing like that ever happened me in Korea........so that's something good about the place

[Zantetsuken]

Definitely a good thing about living here is you can look however you want and still earn a little bread. I never wear suits...or any kind of formal wear. I can wear T-shirts jeans and sweatpants and have no problems. I can also have long hair and a nice beard too. Really can't get away with that back home. I can look like a rock star without being one...which is nice.

[ThingsComeAround]

I have a great girlfriend

Funny stories, great food

Met some really cool people

Saved enough coin to travel the continent of Asia and Europe (Beijing to Amsterdam) on a train~ most other jobs that I had my eyes on wouldn't give time & $ like that after a year...

[coralreefer_1]

For me the best part of being here in Korea is being free to pretty much do anything I want with ease.

Back home, having to work a full time job, plus being on call on weekends (I was the service manager of an irrigation company) I did not have much freedom to suddenly take a trip or plan some getaway.

While I am not an English teacher here in Korea, between the stipend I get from my university and my part-time job, I make plenty of money and have plenty of time to simply decide to jet off to Tokyo or Hong Kong with ease. Granted I don't do that often, but the freedom to do so is a plus.

Also, being here in Korea is a great way to learn another language. I can only imagine how hard it is for Koreans who live in Korea, speak Korean in almost all situations in their daily lives and struggle to learn English. Being immersed here makes studying easy and get instant value from studying Korean everyday. The fact that I can speak fairly decent Korean (will take the 고급 and B-Topic in April) makes life so much more enjoyable here. Heaven knows my Korean is nowhere near perfect, but people truly do appreciate foreigners who make the effort.



Though I may not express myself perfectly on this concept, I enjoy the simplicity of life here. I mean, where in America can a college aged man where a pink t-shirt and not be looked at by others as being gay? I enjoy the idea that Koreans in many ways are not so concerned about being proper or politically correct. Though I don't enjoy seeing a mom holding a cup for her son to pee in while walking down the sidewalk, or some ajumma taking her shoes off and relaxing on the subway like it is her sofa, I can appreciate the laid-back attitude.

I truly enjoy the service here. No matter where I go, service people are friendly. There is simply no comparison between an employee at my local Wal-mart back home verses the employees at E-mart here in Korea. E-mart, the movie theater, just about anywhere you go in Korea the service employees are 100 times more friendly that what I was used to back home.

I also like the fact that in most neighborhoods in most cities there is no shortage of things to do within walking distance. From my home within a 15 minute walk I can buy a book, attend a MMA gym, visit the health club, stop by the bank and post office, get a cone from Baskin Robbins, buy/rent a DVD, get my dry cleaning, have the oil changed in my car, visit a singing room, stop by a PC room, get all of my printing/faxing done, and eat at any number of numerous restaurants. I have both a car and a motorcycle, but frankly I don't need either.

Just a few..