Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stalin84]

I'm 26 now and turning 27 in mid-2011.

I never really felt old until I hit 25. Now that I'm 26, I feel really old. It hit me really bad being back with my folks, visiting.

"When are you going to be done with the English teaching thing?"
"Getting a wife soon?"
"Aren't you too old to be playing video games?"

I also notice that I can't stand most 21 year olds, let alone people younger than that. It's not that I have anything against them but I just can't relate to them at all anymore.

The easy advice would be to just make friends my own age but that's hard seeing as how everyone my age is married, usually with kids and they don't have time for single guys any more. Or they're just knee-deep in their own long term clique and they don't want to have anything to do with a transient. All my friends who taught in Korea have returned to Canada for the long term and most are getting married/married/having babies. They also don't seem to respect me very much for going back to Korea as they saw it as a rite of passage into adulthood thing and not as a long term career thing (like if someone worked at McDonald's as a teenager and stayed working there after all their friends moved on) despite the fact I'll be making more money in Korea than they are here.

I am a bit (more than a bit) worried about going to my new hagwon to teach adults and being the oldest teacher there and feeling alienated because of it... and knowing Koreans, all the students will point out that I'm "old" or "older" than the other teachers, regularly. Along with griefing me about being single (don't mind so much).

Anyone else feelin' old in their mid-twenties? How do you cope with it?

[redaxe]

Embrace it, women like older men and if you're a good looking young man you're only going to get better-looking as you age.

I'm 26 but most of the new friends I've made after moving back home to the U.S. from Korea are in their 30's and many of them married. They still do fun things, and they also don't complain about stuff like dinner and drinks being too expensive, because they have good jobs.

Then I have my friends from high school and college, who are my own age and single, but are mostly unemployed and still living with their parents or with roommates in old run-down houses like they did in college. They are still fun to hang out with, but there's a lot of stuff they can't do because they are basically broke.

When I see the way most people my age and younger live, I really don't mind being "old" now.

[recessiontime]

I'm 28 and the girls I'm seeing right now are 19 and 20. I use being old to benefit myself and it is working like a charm, literally.

[Louis VI]

[machoman]

i'm 28 and started feeling like an actual adult when i was 26ish. i started feeling more jaded, didn't laugh like i used to, didn't feel the same invigoratededness that i used to. sigh. now i'm just waiting to die.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

When you hit 27, you will find that you have to constantly shoo the vultures away, but your feeble arms can no longer make the gestures appropriately, so they just laugh their hideous vulture laughter.

You're not old, OP.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

You're not old. You're an adult. Men often don't become fully attractive until their mid thirties, anyway, so fear not.

[redaxe]

[whitestboyalive]

I'm 29... I have felt old ever since hitting 26. I saw 26 as the peak age, and from there, everything gets worse / downwards.

Ladies-wise, girls are certainly less interested in me in Korea these days... possibly due to age, but back in the west I had no problem.

[Kurtz]

Once 25 rolls over 30 comes before you know it. Then after 30 40 comes steaming ahead. The body ain't what it used to be, hangovers are a killer but if you exercise right, eat a half healthy diet the ladies still keep coming. The hard part is telling yourself the best is yet to come and not living in the past.

Unless you're from a backwater, I think people in general are more open-minded about starting a family later in life, getting a "real" job; anyways, to hell with them, it's your life.

[Kaypea]

I'm 30 and honestly, I still feel 15ish most of the time. I have little concept of age. I seem to get along best with women 40+, and date old grandpa types, which means I have some kind of granddaughter complex (since I feel 15).

I think age really is just a number. Some people are old by 20. I think I'll be one of those cool grandmas.

[machoman]

time goes by faster too which sucks. plus my body isn't what it used to be either. my nose hairs are peaking out of my nostrils, my refractory period is longer, it's harder to stay in shape....

[Who's Your Daddy?]

If you're a man and treat women decently you'll never have a problem no matter your age.

[machoman]

[Zackback]

Mid 20's? No problem. I'm in my 40's and getting waves, smiles and screams from high school and university chicks.
Dude, in Asia the fun never ends with the chicks here!

Ponce de Leon was unable to find the Fountain of Youth but I have "discovered" it here.