Korean Job Discussion Forums

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

That's not what the c ockroaches in my apartu say.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

But, the roaches are natives. They were born in Korea.
They have the "right birth."

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

Not like China, where they do it in your face. Here, they smile at you and wonder why you're mad while they *beep* you in the ass. Ask my 018 hand phone. I wanted 011 but I couldn't get it.

rawiri · Joined: 01 Jun 2003 Location: Lovely day for a fire drill.

wtf? internet access??????what's wrong with it?

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

dogbert is correct.

Many sites seem to require a Korean ID number. A foreigners ID (alien) number will not work.

What about the recent development with the websites and BLOGS? Are foreigners and Koreans equally bothered by the blocking?

Swiss James · Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Location: Shanghai

I've never ran aground of the Korean ID number problem, but I can see it is a problem. The whole blog blocking thing is worrying though, if CNN starts running footage the government don't like, will they be next on the "ungood" list?

Generally speaking though, I think net access over here is streets ahead of England

slap it · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

real reality: i have never seen you write anything positive about korea YET.....why do you stay in korea and write all these negative posts all the time? are you trying to block the foreigners from coming to korea so we'll have more pickins?

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

I actually don't have much opinion about what RR's opinions are because he so rarely says anything directly. I'm not sure if a given article posted by him is to mean "this is what I think", "isn't this interesting" or "I think this is a load of crap". So I really don't know what he believes personally. I haven't really thought of him as rabidly anti-Korean or a miserable malcontent.

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

Not the main concerns of people working for hagwons. Must be foreign company employees. In any case, except for the 3D workers, they probably have better living conditions than when I first came to Korea nearly ten years ago.

Living in Korea is now affordable, and pleasant enough for me. Prices have gone down on many items (I remember seeing the same Daewoo mini-stereo my mom bought for 179.99$ in Canada on sale for 375000 won at a large electronics franchise store, and that's when the exchange rate was roughly 700 won for one US dollar). Don't get me talking about the selection of coffee, food, and beer. I could go on for hours about this.

For what I've seen, housing provided by hagwons is also a lot better. At my first hagwon provided 'appartment' (actually what used to be, and still looked like, two former adjacent yogwan rooms turned), I could hear the rats scurrying behind the walls when it began to rain. It was so poorly insulated (patching up the big hole in the bathroom wall or the missing window in the boiler room didn't help), that I was convinced Korean winters were cold...and I'm a Maritimer!

My friend had it worse. He worked for a hagwon that was located in a former bus depot. His appartment was two storage lockers where the wall in between knocked out. He had access to a toilet, but he had to walk 20 minutes downtown to go to the YMCA if he wanted to shower.

Despite my less than idealic living arrangments, I didn't complain much. It was part of the whole experience. Besides, I had lots of fun trying to score some imported products, which was one of the activities that served to bind the local expat community. "Hey, I found peanut butter!".