Korean Job Discussion Forums

The Grumpy Senator · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Location: Up and down the 6 line

For those new here or those awaiting arrival (or those that are looking for interesting things to do) in Korea, I wanted to to start a thread discussing some of the cool experiences some of us have had that being in Korea has allowed us. I hope our experiences can help others gain some invaluable experiences while here. I'll start:

Two years ago, I organized a trip for my hagwon to head out to Tae-an and help clean the oil spill. I am pretty sure that will be the only time in life I have the opportunity to do something like that. We took two busses of teachers, students and parents. It was a great time, we cleaned for most of the morning and were invited to join a group of Koreans for an awesome lunch cooked on the beach (not using the spilled oil) in the afternoon.

I hope others share and maybe suggest some things for the rest of us to do to help reduce stress and increase enjoyment.

Thanks.

Steelrails · Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System

Wake up and see mountains outside my window. Having an office with a view.

Have a patio for morning coffee and tea

Enjoy tea time on a daily basis with my coworkers

Talk about art and classical music on a more frequent basis. EDIT: The chance to listen to live classical music more often. Getting to see kids work at art and music.

Eat healthier. Be above average at basketball for once.

Walk more. Read More.

Save money. Spend Money.

Have affordable health care.

The chance to have The Long Quiet more often.

At least in my area, teachers, even FTs are respected, so a chance to have the status of 'gentleman'.

Being able to walk down main street and see people you know and say hi on a regular basis.

Being able to wear a suit and tie and not have everyone give you crap about it.

Getting away from pro sports and American politics, celebrities, and gossip. EDIT: Enjoying local sports and rooting for our school. Getting to coach.

The most beautiful thing? Regular pickup baseball. Completely dead where I'm from in America. Here the kids still do it. Something really charming and good for the soul about it that I can't describe.

Things I miss back home...theater, symposiums and lectures, grilling with my family, friends and neighbors, knowing the plants and animals, a few restaurants, baseball on the radio. Cruising, shooting guns, and immature drinking fun that you can only have in America. Cultural diversity.

Overall a fair trade. Korea is better for my alone time and personal development I think. America is better for social events and cultural things. The thing is with Korea, it really lets you actually DO things instead of talking about them/getting distracted by friends. As Grumpy mentioned in his case, I'm sure back home he thought about doing such things, but here he actually got to do it.

Nice thread Grumpy.

The Grumpy Senator · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Location: Up and down the 6 line

I got the chance to play ice hockey in Mongolia. The farthest I had traveled for hockey before was from Charlotte, NC to Philly. Now I have some great stories to tell about the trip to Ulaan Bataar and the teams from Seoul, Tokyo and UB that played. Plus, I got some cool jerseys.

Tundra_Creature · Joined: 11 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Nice thread, guys. Smile

Coming down next month and when I'm not studying, I will of course, be looking to check out what kind of things I can do. I'm actually pretty darn excited, if not a little nervous of course.

I'm curious actually- how does family from back home tend to enjoy themselves when visiting? My mom would like to come over and visit in December (a long whiles, I know and I'm not even there myself). But I'm just wondering if it's usually an alright time for them. In general of course. I know everyone have different experiences.

AgentM · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Location: British Columbia, Canada

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

The DMZ tour is probably the only truly unique Korean experience I can think of.

Drew345 · Joined: 24 May 2005

Last year I tried to use some automated stamp machine at the post office. I thought I did everything right, put the stamp on and put the letter into the lockbox. A few minutes later I realized that I must have used local postage rates; it couldn't have been enough to be international. A helpful manager came out from behind the back when I was looking confused, and got the guard to open up the letter lock box so I could get my letter out and add a stamp.
Most places in America would not come ask what's wrong if a customer is confused and I am sure no-one would open up the letter box so you could fix the postage on your letter. It was a nice experience.

The Grumpy Senator · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Location: Up and down the 6 line

beercanman · Joined: 16 May 2009

Tjames426 · Joined: 06 Aug 2006

Ten minutes from my apartment is a wonderfully build bike / exercise path. It runs through the city. It has piped music, running path, bike path, and exercise areas. Every mile or so there is a bridge that has bike storage areas. People can rest along the river under the bridge and watch the water flow by.

In Korea, you can order books and food online and have them delivered to your door within 2 days. No reason to push through crowds, be overwhelmed on a bad day, or go through shopping cart hell.

The Inner city Bus Transportation is superb. Buses are clean. They leave on time. They arrive on time. Unless it is peak travel time, they are usually not too crowded. Purchasing tickets is normally fast and efficient.

Traditional farmer's markets can be found in your neighborhood once a week. Fruit sellers, vegetable sellers and etc... . You have a chance to get out and practice Korean, or just get to know some locals.

Hearing the sounds of children playing. The children do not fear adults. There is no fear of being kidnapped, or of drug gangs. Nothing can be so assuring and therapeutic as happy free playing children at times.

The Internet in South Korea is excellent and cheap.

alphakennyone · Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Location: city heights

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

peppermint · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:05 pm Post subject:

Steelrails- your list is great, but I find it sad that you'd have to go to Korea for most of those things, because most of them are things I take for granted.

For me, temple stay was just amazing. Whether you believe in Buddhism or not, I think most people would appreciate a weekend away from the neon and noise of Korean cities sometimes. The closest thing to pressure there was when a monk told me that he'd have to shave my head if I didn't eat everything in my bowl. He smiled after a bit, so I think he was joking.

There were a group of Korean businessmen and their families staying at the temple at the same time. We rose at 3 am to ring the huge bell, and the air was so clear, and the stars so bright, that it startled some of the Koreans.

flakfizer · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:08 pm Post subject: Re: Cool Experiences

Unposter · Joined: 04 Jun 2006

Korean loyalty.

Once you make a real friend, you have someone who will go to hell and high water for you. I don't have time to fill up the pages it would take to recount the number of ways I and my family have been helped my friendly and gracious Korean friends.

And, I have had some excellent, amazing experiences with the Korean health care system, too. But, it is best to use the larger hospitals.

Plenty of good things about Korea...especially when your hakwon is not cheating you (I have had that happen too and I will tell you it can blind you to the beautiful things...at least it did me. Fortunately, I had some good people around me to see otherwise.)