Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mcviking]

I have been living in Busan for a month and it is my first time in Korea, or anywhere else out of the US for quite a while.

Teaching has been great,but by the end of work I am usually just so frustrated and bored that I have to go out and do something. I have no laptop or TV and I read all of my books, twice.

While it has been fun going out and wandering about the city to find various places to drink and have fun, I am getting really bored of drinking.

I want to find other things to do here, but it has been hard trying to make friends. My coworkers are cool, but they either go to the casino or go out and get drunk. Koreans are very friendly if you are in a group of people, but if you try to mingle alone, they stay away from you like the AIDS.



Is there anything else out there? I am trying to learn Korean,but my weekends are usually spent wandering around aimlessly going to check out a club or a bar, that I heard about online.

I wanted to take some martial arts classes, but they all wave their hands and say no.

I din't know has anyone else felt this way?

[Robot_Teacher]

Yep, the honeymoon is over, buy a notebook and get KT Megapass. Not only foriegners like to isolate out on online, but Koreans do it big time. Of course Koreans don't mingle with loners, you've got to have association via 3rd party 1st such as them being your co-workers before they'll chat and party with you. Korea has bars, even WA bars serving western beer, but if you're alone, no dice. It's not a western bar where single dudes walk in and sit down and WELCOME! NOT! Korean alcohol is very boring and is not natural so go pursue other things in life. Well, get that computer, books through www.whatthebook.com, join a gym, walk, blog, rant on Daves, and use Gmarket as well as go to any once in a month invitations you receive. It's not easy being cheesy in the land of morning loud speaker trucks. Uh, whatever happened to that land of the morning calm went away when the pandas and tigers had to say bye bye. You're alone on this trip and you're an outsider guest speaker respected for knowledge that in Korean culture is associated with their gaining higher social status. This is not a fun cultural exchange, but it can be a joyful imparting of knowledge with the kids. They're kids are highly eager to be open minded, learn English, and be the same thing as a Westerner and will probably make Korea be pretty cool to tourists in about 10 to 15 years from now. Some kids don't want to do this, so they defect, but they'll lose out in life by having to work a low paying 7 day a week job fixing small engines. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's how it is.

[Steelrails]

At least your in Busan and not a small city like me. All my Korean friends are all in Seoul, and it seems like the only thing us expats can do here is cluster up for chicken wings and beer- which gets boring fast.

I agree, my coworkers are cool also, but Im not into their lifestyles of extreme sin.

Heck Im so bored, sometimes I wish I could work more, my coworkers all wonder why I stay late and show up early- 'shim shim hae'

I kinda picked up on the whole don't go to the bar alone...after I went alone a few times...But, well I still go alone sometimes.

Other than that, Its a whole bunch of solo hobbies and PC Bang-ing. So far I've taken up playing the recorder, pastel drawing, and photographing indigenous birds and trees....Hobbies that 50 year olds do and Im 26...but its kind of nice.

As for suggestions- right now as we speak my coworkers are trying to find a good church for me...uhh maybe a basketball league?...woodcarving?...gardening?...deep research into a field of your choice?

Korea really makes you dig up what your interested in...

[PRagic]

Bar sports. After a year or two here, you'll find yourself at competitive play levels in darts, billiards, and the dreaded dice/boot chug. Set your sights high and invest your time in something that will carry you socially to new hights. Coupled with regular exercise, you'll be set.

Or you could make pottery.

[Draz]

Sounds like you need some friends. I mostly make friends on the internet. I've met people from here, and other forums. Then they introduce me to their real friends. You can meet so many people this way. I'd even hang out with you if you lived in Seoul.

[highdials5]

Go travelling on weekends.

[meursault]

Go to the movies? I'm in Busan as well and I go to Lotte Cinema almost obsessively.

You're not alone, though; I've definitely felt the same way recently.

[Kikomom]

Are you on Facebook? Here's a Paintball group. They played a couple weeks ago at Songjeong Beach, but maybe they'll be doing it again soon? Email them and get on the list.

[eamo]

It beats me what any teacher in Korea does if they don't have a computer.

Unlike Koreans, we tend to have a lot of free time, and Korea is not a great country to have a lot of free time in. There just aren't that many leisure facilities here. Koreans don't need them because they're busy working, drinking, sleeping or studying. Those 4 things take up about 90% of any Koreans' time. Therefore, very little else to do.

You really need a computer with lots of hard drive space, get hooked up to the super-fast internet here, then get downloading!! Movies, TV shows, documentaries, music.......

You can also join lots of online communities in Korea and make a lot of friends and/or partners that way..........

[Caro wack]

Kind of like being at an Artic observatory. Except surrounded
by rude people, not penguins.

[Goku]

I hear you, my honeymoon is kind of ending....

SPORTS is the way to go. Focus on getting a healthy life and you won't be bored it's kind of a project in itself


or you could always do what bored people do:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml

[tzechuk]

[i_teach_esl]

agreed: we've got to have hobbies here or we'll go insane. how about adventure korea? seoul stitch and bitch? facebook korean groups? free korean classes around town?

[mcviking]

Well gots lot of helpful tips, thank you I really apreciate it. i will not play world of Warcraft though did it for 2 years and never again, that ish breaks up marriages, fail out of school, lose their jobs and makes people fail at life, its like the internet version of if all the illegal drugs had a ugly mutant baby that you could ingest somehow.

[moosehead]

try joining a gym - would be willing to bet you'll also meet someone there - and you sounded like you were interested in sports - so there you go

also you could get a bicycle or motorcycle and take off on that - the weather is great right now for it.