Korean Job Discussion Forums

susmin · Joined: 04 May 2003

Why do people come to Korea and stay here when they do not like Korea, Korean, people, Korean food, or Korean culture. Some teachers come and get angry becuase things are different. Some even stay longer than one year. Why come here and be miserable? The money might be good but it is not that good. Anyone have any ideas?

There are many teachers who come here with open minds who are willing to learn and adapt. Why bother to go to a different country if you just want it to be another U.S. or Canada or wherever you are from.

bosintang · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:56 am Post subject:

Do you not feel this question is a little bit too open-ended, over-generalised, and just plain beat-to-death?

Who honestly hates everything about their life and yet stays here for a long time? I'm willing to bet very few people.

susmin · Joined: 04 May 2003

I guess I am hoping that some of the people who are here and do not like it can tell me why. While there are not a ton, there are definitely some people who are here in Korean and have been for some time, but obviously do not like it. I am just trying to understand.

I also wonder why when questions are asked, people do not just answer. When I see a question I do not want to answer, or that I think is silly, I just do not post.

lastat06513 · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:31 am Post subject:

Thats the beauty of having free-thought and free speech; To be able to rant and rave about anything that is on our minds.

True, some people might not like it, but it makes the posters feel better to be able to get some things off their chest after a hard day at work.

And also remember, as sill as some of the questions might sound, some of the things mentioned are alittle bewildering to a person coming off the boat in Korea for the first time. And some of the answers can help some of the people adapt and know Korea better, no matter whether they like it or not.

Do I like Korea?...yes, or why else would I have lived here for so long and put up with so much *stuff*

But that doesn't mean I have to like EVERYTHING about being here, because believe me, I don't and sometimes I have days where I always ask myself "why am I here?".
But after a hard day at work, I can rest assure that I did something to make someone feel confident about their ability to speak better, thus making them more confident about their future.

My point, its all a matter of "perspective"

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

bosintang · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:06 am Post subject: Re: why bother

turtlepi1 · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

Because it is slightly better than working at McDonalds to pay off their student loans...

(I would like to say that was me, but I was actually teaching at the McDonalds of Colleges in Canada for 7 years and when my student loans were paid off, then I came overseas.)

Unfortunately my stay in Korea was far too brief. After only 5 months I ended up moving to the UAE. I didn't really have much choice though. I'm not an ESL teacher so when a great paying (comparatively) job was offered to my teaching in my field I jumped at it.

I must say though, there are days when I miss Korea. And then there are other days when I definitely don't.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

The good days make the 10 billion cr*p ones worthwhile.

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

I think lack of options or fear of options keeps many Korea haters here.

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Why do many stay in bad relationships/marriages so long?

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

I honestly believe that half of the Korea haters do not even live here (anymore?). I think alot of people just come to this board to troll and complain.

As for those wh live here and "apparently" complain about anything, this question comes to mind;

Susmin, i'm guessing you're Korean? Well I'm going to bet that in your life there are people who just like to complain. Korean or not, employed or not, single or not... they justlike to complain. There are peple like that ALL over the world.

Those people who enjoy complaining (whether at home or abroad), have it so ingrained in their psyche that they just can't take their heads outta their !@# to see the light of day.

desultude · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:28 pm Post subject:

I teach at a uni, with a pretty good job, and yet I do have colleagues who are like the people the op mentions.

I know one guy who really hates a lot about Korea, especially the students. He complains all of the time. Yet, after a year in China teaching, he came running right back. I know another guy who hated Korea and Korean students, who stayed two years- complaining loudly the whole time.

Yeah, they exist.

Some just love the paycheck and the long vacations, or at least, for lack of long vacations, the access to S.E. Asia.

Others are people who are miserable where ever they are, and would complain no matter how idyllic the situation was.

What I really dislike about it is that, as it is unfortunately true that Koreans do tend to overgeneralize, these complainers make the rest of us look bad.

desultude · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject:

Koreabound2004 · Joined: 19 Nov 2003

lastat06513 · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:02 pm Post subject:

I can also say that alot of teachers are the ones who come here for 6 months to a year, can't hack it, or there are the ones who come to Korea, find their niche (marriage, g/f, etc.) and decide to stay.
I would say that alot of teachers have the choice to come and go as they please.

The only people I can see who have no choice to be in Korea are mostly soldiers. Alot of them are plucked off the street, sent to boot camp and then thrusted into a country they know nothing about (nor care about, for that matter). These days, many first-timers go into the service married and with children; they simply don't want to leave their families behind while they have to do a year overseas. So, I can see why they might hate it.

I was one of them during my first trip to Korea, this was my first army assignment and I didn't leave the base for about 7 months, except for "the ville", which doesn't really count as Korea anyway. But once I got out and saw what Korea had to offer, I volunteered to come back to Korea and once I finished my degree and was discharged, I decided to come back to Korea as a teacher.

Can I say I made the right choice; in many ways, yeah, I did.

But again, its all a matter of each individual perspective
Generalizing that many people hate korea and saying they should go is not a good way to see things. Even the korea-haters have days when Korea is tolerable

And if you are Korean, chances are you might have been abroad (my generalization). Did you ever feel like you hated the place you were staying at? Did you ever have problems coping with the culture shock and such? These are some of the same problems those people are facing.

peppermint · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:21 pm Post subject:

I don't know of too many people who really, really don't like it here. I think a lot of the negativity that you see on the board is people venting their frustrations at stuff. When you don't understand why someone does something, it's pretty easy to claim it's a cultural thing and rant about the culture as a whole.