Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kraggy]

...but not giving in just yet. So need your help...

Here just over 4 months and feel like my girlfriend and I are in a rut already. Can't think of things to do, which seems strange in a city this size (Seoul).

So far we've,

Gone up N-tower
Went on a big hike
Went to Busan
Got drunk
Strolled around Insadong
Went along Cheongny...stream
Went to Myeong Dong
Lotteworld
Cinema
Shot guns


But now we're not sure what to do. Is there anything blatanlty obvious that we've forgot to do?

We desperately need inspiration as neither of us are very happy here. In my girlfriend's case, it's life in Korea that's not impressive, for me, it's my job that is affecting my abilitiy to be happy. The people I work with are very frustrating to deal with. They tell me nothing that I need to know. And the incompetency of my co-teacher could have got me in deep crap some weeks ago (she told me that I didn't have to come to school one Friday, it turned out that I was indeed supposed to be at school). Add to this that some of my classes contain the most lazy, non-interested kids I've ever met. Giving the finger sign openly in class, shouting, laughing, sleeping, refusing to participate in exercises etc. I know it's not my teaching as 75% of my classes are full of brilliant, lovely, interested kids. It's the other 25% that are killing me. And the staff that I work with.

So if anyone can provide some ideas for things to do that would be great. We need something to be engergised about.

[Rutherford]

Find a hobby you enjoy.

[cwflaneur]

It's your fault that you aren't spellbound by Seoul's magnetizing culture and that unruly children don't fawn over you.

[Taiwantroll]

My old school librarian used to say, "if you are bored, then it is probably because you are boring".

Sounds like you have nothing to be unhappy about. It is likely you would feel the same anywhere in the world. You are in an exciting metropolitan city, learning about a new culture, language and people and you have a fulfilling job as a teacher. If three quarters of your students are enthusiastic about your classes then you are very fortunate. If you were anywhere else in the world the situation would be far worse, particularly in the United States.

[vDroop]

[kraggy]

We both have a sports hobby but that only takes up some of our spare time.

I'm just looking for ideas. I don't need an analysis on my character (I'm far from boring, if I was boring I wouldn't be asking for ideas of things to do) or smart comments. Just some ideas.

Regarding feeling lucky/having nothing to be unhappy about, try teaching in my school here. It's renowned for being a lunatic asylum, so I'm just looking for things to look forward to to help compensate for frustrating times at work. I'm a qualified teacher at home and have worked in some of the roughest areas in my country. But even I feel tested at times. I have to say though, it's mainly by my work colleagues, not the students.

If you don't want to suggest ideas, don't bother replying please. Don't see the point why you would waste your own time, or mine, in taking up thread space with irrelevancies.

[sadguy]

i'm not sure what you are expecting. maybe you are expecting the city itself to entertain you. what did you do back in your home country that kept you happy? just continue to do that while living in seoul.

for me it was exercising and playing music. you and your gf seem to have the wrong mentality to be successfully living overseas.

[ccikulin]

You could try a weekend trip to the east coast before the weather cools off. There are some nice beaches and it's not as crowded as busan. Some other people on here might know the better areas, but I was in Donghae last summer and it was pretty nice. You can rent 4-wheelers to ride on the beach and go jet-skiing.

[Mr. Peabody]

Buy a cheap car. Get out and explore the countryside.

[Zackback]

Start doing alot more of the weird/bizarre/unusual. Believe me this will definitely spice things up.

[sojukettle]

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto
http://www.korea.net/events.do
http://www.adventurekorea.com/

http://english.seoul.go.kr/

http://www.visitseoul.net/en/index.do?_method=main

Check out the available things - festivals, travel - public transport is cheap, accom is easy, Hike every weekend - different mountain, temples, fortress, rent a bike and cycle the Han, join a different sport, do cooking classes, language classes, photography, browse the markets, eat something you've never tried before, drink one of everything outside a Family Mart, walk around older areas, go to museums, do the exercise equipment on a mountain, play badminton in the forest, ultralight flights, paraglide, scuba dive, surfing, off-shore fishing, trail biking..........

What do you want to do?

sk.

[Captain Corea]

OP, what would you be doing if you were back home?

Why not try to do it here?

[minos]

Get a motorcycle- there are no laws, so you can speed everywhere
Get some privates
I generally found korea to suck whenever I made less than 3 mil a month. Once your rolling in cash, it's alot more fun...

[Captain Corea]

That's it...promoting illegal activity is exactly what we should advise.

[nathanrutledge]

I'm from Nebraska. Lots of people knock it - it's farm country, nothing to do, etc.

Before I was around, my parents lived in Des Moines Iowa. Personally, I find that place to be boring as hell.

I asked my father how he could deal with it and he told me all the stuff he and my mother would do. Nordic fest, art classes, outdoor plays, etc. My mother would take the newspaper every weekend and just find random stuff to go to and they never did the same thing twice. Growing up in Nebraska was the same way for me. My mother would find all the random, off the wall stuff to do.

Sojukettle posted some good links. Check out the English newspapers too. Joongang Ilbo, Korea Herald, Korea Times, etc. This summer I went to a car show at COEX, some Cosplay stuff (i like photography myself), the foreign food festival by city hall, the comics convention in Bucheon, and that's besides the usual stuff I do.

Everything you've said you've done is tourist stuff. If you're living here, you're not a tourist. Nothing wrong with what you've done, but as you're noticing, you're bored.

If you don't feel like doing all the work of searching, then join some groups. Meetup.com has a couple of very active groups around seoul. meet some people, find new things that way.

Taiwantroll hit it on the head - if you're bored, it's because you're boring. Plenty of things out there - you just have to get up and go do it.