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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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| Do you want to make Korea your permanent home? |
| yes |
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21% |
[ 30 ] |
| no |
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46% |
[ 64 ] |
| maybe |
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31% |
[ 43 ] |
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| Total Votes : 137 |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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 Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:33 am Post subject: Do you want to make Korea your home? |
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So, I am having an interesting discussion in the job discussion forum. We are talking about the glass ceiling (or lack there of according to a selected minority) in Korea. Question...do you plan on or want to make Korea your permanent home?
Remember, you can by:
Investing 50 million or more in this country (c2 visa)
Living here for 5 consecutive years then taking the Korean language proficiency exam. Finally, interviewing with immigration for the final "okay" (let's hope they like you are let's hope that they are in a good mood that day).
Sorry, but marrying a Korean doesn't count.
Are you interested in one of the two options? |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:36 am Post subject: |
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Some cool stuff for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_Korean_visas
HAHAHHA. C-class is only short term (i.e. 5 years). Damn, imagine opening a business and then immy booting you out! lol. There goes your investment! |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:46 am Post subject: |
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| Count me out. |
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Cerulean
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:13 am Post subject: |
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| No. |
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Dragoon
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:16 am Post subject: |
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| Hells yeah I do. Ain't nothing like being a 외국인 for the rest of your days!!!! Just think you could come here when you are a 22 year old man and when you are at the end of your days say...90 years old..you'll still be treated like you just got off the plane. Aint that something!!! |
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v88
Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Location: here
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:38 am Post subject: |
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I said ya, but based on what you wrote I would say no.
I'm married to a Korean, so I have far fewer problems than most.
I like Korea and would love to have a little Korean Hanoak in the country side. Some little dogs roaming around for boshin tang, my wife in a hanbok, some bamboo growing in the garden and the pleasent view of Korean mountians behind me with the ocean out front. Lovely little place. It'd be nice...of course I'd have to learn a wack load of Korean so that I can finally stop teaching English. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:48 am Post subject: |
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Cuban you had a great idea with this thread but the way you posted to start it off pretty much sets you up for a landslide of negative responses.
Maybe that was your intent, who knows.
For the record, we had no intention of leaving Korea but fate intervened. Had that not happened we would have stayed as we had a great life.
Then again I am married to a Korean woman and we had an extensive network of support from her family.
To stay here, I did not feel the need to become a citizen either. The F5 was fine as far as legal status goes.
This whole treated like a new arrival line of thought is flawed at its very core for many reasons.
First, why do certain people care what Mr Kim or Miss Park on the street thinks about them? Do you spend your days wondering what strangers think about you back in your home countries?
Once you reach fluency in Korean, or even advanced level, magically things change as you are able to communicate with the locals...odd how that works...
Second, you should care what the people around you think to a limited extent. These people are your neighbors, co-workers, friends....If you stay in one area for a while and make an effort....magically you will become one of the residents of your area. When we lived in Busan (Haeundae) I had no issues with neighbors, shopkeepers, local businesses...they knew me and for the most part treated me with respect. They knew me...funny how that works as well...
If I went to another Korean city, what did I care if Mr Im at the market did not like me? Are some of you just that sensitive that you crave acceptable and approval from everyone?
Home is where you make it....end of story. |
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lukas
Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:13 am Post subject: |
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As for the poll, I've only been here 6th months, so maybe leaning towards yes.
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
Once you reach fluency in Korean, or even advanced level, magically things change as you are able to communicate with the locals...odd how that works... |
+1
People wonder why they have a horrible time in Korea, but don't put in any effort to learning the language. To the poster talking about being a 외국인 for the rest of his days.... what do you expect when you act like one? (an alien/foreigner).
Back at home do you treat immigrants who have lived in your country for years and years and yet speak none of the language? I doubt it. How could you expect anything more from Koreans? Act like a foreigner, you're going to be treated like a foreigner.
I believe Korea has way too many waygooks with some absurd sense of being cultured just because they graduated from college with their bachelors. At any rate, love Korea or hate Korea, it's been here a lot longer than your opinion of it and it'll still be here when you're gone. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:39 am Post subject: |
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I own a Korean car here (Korando), a big screen t.v. (44" LG LCD as monitor for my LG computer), 29 boxes of things (everything I own in the world) and furniture and am in my 8th year here, expecting it to be 10-20 years in all.
Do I want to make Korea my home? It already is! For today and tomorrow anyways.
Citizenship is sooooo 20th century.  I am a Canadian expat in Korea. I eat in Korean restaurants but cook Western food at home; I teach Korean kids but speak only English and learn likewise; I live and work in Korea but take yearly holidays elsewhere. |
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Jeonmunka
Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| Korea does have very good things, such as medicine and infrastructure is second to none. It's just that you are always considered a foreigner even by people you know and love. All the Korean language skills in the World will not change that basic premise. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| Sure, but it's not all about work, nor is it all about citizenship. |
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lukas
Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:55 am Post subject: |
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| Jeonmunka wrote: |
| Korea does have very good things, such as medicine and infrastructure is second to none. It's just that you are always considered a foreigner even by people you know and love. All the Korean language skills in the World will not change that basic premise. |
I appreciate the opinion. But, a little arrogant for one person to speak for an entire nation, no? This is Dave's of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from time to time |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:04 am Post subject: |
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| lukas wrote: |
| Jeonmunka wrote: |
| Korea does have very good things, such as medicine and infrastructure is second to none. It's just that you are always considered a foreigner even by people you know and love. All the Korean language skills in the World will not change that basic premise. |
I appreciate the opinion. But, a little arrogant for one person to speak for an entire nation, no? This is Dave's of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from time to time |
He lived here for a decade, you've lived here for 6 months.....what the heck do you know about anything, apart from being arrogant that is? |
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lukas
Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:17 am Post subject: |
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| English Matt wrote: |
| lukas wrote: |
| Jeonmunka wrote: |
| Korea does have very good things, such as medicine and infrastructure is second to none. It's just that you are always considered a foreigner even by people you know and love. All the Korean language skills in the World will not change that basic premise. |
I appreciate the opinion. But, a little arrogant for one person to speak for an entire nation, no? This is Dave's of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from time to time |
He lived here for a decade, you've lived here for 6 months.....what the heck do you know about anything, apart from being arrogant that is? |
I know an opinion when I hear one, that's all. What does one person know about the people who "know and love me"? If that makes me arrogant, so be it. I'm sure there's a lot more that I don't know than I do, but I know the difference between a fact and opinion. Have anything else to contribute, Matt? |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:54 am Post subject: |
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| lukas wrote: |
| English Matt wrote: |
| lukas wrote: |
| Jeonmunka wrote: |
| Korea does have very good things, such as medicine and infrastructure is second to none. It's just that you are always considered a foreigner even by people you know and love. All the Korean language skills in the World will not change that basic premise. |
I appreciate the opinion. But, a little arrogant for one person to speak for an entire nation, no? This is Dave's of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from time to time |
He lived here for a decade, you've lived here for 6 months.....what the heck do you know about anything, apart from being arrogant that is? |
I know an opinion when I hear one, that's all. What does one person know about the people who "know and love me"? If that makes me arrogant, so be it. I'm sure there's a lot more that I don't know than I do, but I know the difference between a fact and opinion. Have anything else to contribute, Matt? |
Of course it's an opinion, but it's an informed opinion. You have been here for 6 months.....that is not long enough (in my opinion, if you like) to really add anything to a debate about living the rest of your life in Korea.
I have lived here for 2 years....and no I do not want to live here for the rest of my life....but I don't consider that long enough to contradict somebody who does want to live here for the rest of their life. Once you have lived here for a much longer period of time then I would lend more credence to your opinion. As it is, what Jeonmunka said tallies with what I have learnt about Korean society. Korean notions of citizenship and what it is to be Korean are tied up with notions of han min jok (pure blood). If you do not have Korean blood, you are not Korean....simple as, in their minds. Now the people in your life may accept you as a resident of Korea, and in time a citizen of Korea but you will always be a foreigner. I can understand that this is not something that sits well with somebody from a migrant society that accepts people from other countries as Canadian, American, etc. However it doesn't mean the people in your life that you know and love will love you any the less.....it just means that you will always be 'other'. Now for some people, that doesn't bother them....for others such as Jeonmunka that does and is a reason they might not want to settle in Korea for the duration.
Anyway, returning to my point.....Korea is a complex place and very difficult to understand. You have been here for 6 months, therefore you understand this country less than somebody who spent 10 years of their life here. You are not in the position to be telling anybody what is what, and whose opinions are valid and whose are not. |
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