Korean Job Discussion Forums

mount real · Joined: 07 Apr 2005

This is my second year and I find myself hangin out less and less with the foreigners in my town, although I have a couple foreign friends I made last year in different towns....I just don't dig hearing newbies complaining all the time about Korea, what's bad about it, kimchi is spicy, that kind of stuff.....what about others? i usually like it here, study the language, and don't like complaining just cause it's different...what about you? do you keep making new friends with the newbies, or you prefer to hang with koreans or others that enjoy it here?

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Do you live in a really small town?

I'm up here in Seoul.. and I almost never meet a 'newbie' and I go out a lot. Most of the people I know or meet up here have been on at least a few contracts.. some have been here even as much as 5-10 years.. one guy I met has been here since 1972.

A few years ago I went down to teach at a Summer Camp in JinJu.. I went out one night to where all the expats go in JinJu.. nearly everyone was on their first contract and sounded like what you described. It was.. ahmm.. really really really weird.

mithridates · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 4:54 am Post subject:

My first few months when I was study Korean I would avoid English people like the plague. I had already come from two years in Japan though so there was no shock involved. Once I didn't need to worry about wasting precious study time I mellowed out a little, and now I hang out with people I know from Dave's every once in a while. I still usually study alone on weekends though.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Maybe I'm an exception but I've been in Korea 4 years and I find myself in the company of more foreigners than koreans. With the exception of my splendid girlfriend who I spend 90% of my non-working hours with.

It takes a particular kind of Korean male to keep up a long-term friendship with a male foreigner in Korea. They need to be relaxed about it. They need to realise that you don't require the amount of 'keeping in touch' that Korean friends tend to do.

Foreigners like there to be a 'bond' but we like it to happen naturally. Many Korean males think the amount of times they phone/text you equals how strong your friendship is.

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

I spend 99% of my time with koreans or japanese.. or Koreans who were brought up in Japan Smile

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

mount real · Joined: 07 Apr 2005

I like meeting new people but the sheer number of people who just complain complain complain is bewildering here....last year in Gunsan (half the size of the city I now live in) people were a little friendlier and the people on the outskirts were the military guys....now I go to bars and all they can say is "i hate it here, it sucks, koreans have massive heads (as in physically)" just weird people, and I don't feel like blaming all my life's problems on one country just cause I don't get the culture 100%....I feel learning the language and wanting to accept and appreciate Korea has somewhat alienated me from the foreign populace in this city, although I can't complain, I have a great (Korean) girlfriend....just wondering, apart from this board, if you've been here a little while, don't you get tired of the complaints as a form of bonding? shouldn't we have more to talk about? like ROCK??? hahaha

Cohiba · Joined: 01 Feb 2005

I almost never hang out with Koreans. I have nothing
in common with them. I like mountain biking, brewing
my own beer, cigars, 70s80s rock, disk golf. I'm 40 and
it seems that all of the Korean men I know have almost
no interests at all.

Foreigners work to live, Koreans live to work!

adventureman · Joined: 18 Feb 2003

mithridates · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:00 am Post subject:

I'm not really sure what kind of people I like. People who aren't quite normal, I suppose. I never feel lonely and so don't get the urge to hang out just for the sake of being with someone. Usually on the weekend a good five or six hours in a coffee shop studying followed by four hours of hanging out will be enough, unless I'm in one of those moods.

Zyzyfer · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:40 am Post subject:

Know and tend to meet a lot of foreigners, but don't really look forward to the newbies, aside from that first kalbi session to feel them out and see what direction they'll be heading during their tenure here. I only have a couple of Korean friends, but it's plenty; I've picked up a lot about the culture from them and could hold my own on an island with no foreigners if necessary.

I love to meet foreigners who can debate something in-depth, though. Most people tend to scratch the surface and I nod and smile and whatever with them, but I don't get worked up until talk gets heavy, whether about living here or just plain living.

syclick · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: Seoul

Being married, I tend to spend just about all my time with my wife's family. The only time I spend with foreigners is either when I'm hanging with other foreigners from work or when family comes from overseas.

camelina · Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: wishing i was there

Im up to my fourth year, and still basically only hang out with waygooks. All my Korean friends drive me absolutely mad. Hmmm come to think about it, so do my foreign friends. I guess i pretty much hate everyone. Will use people though, when i have nothing else to do.

Will stick to boyfriends. Dealing with one person is enough work. I prefer my own company most of the time anyways.

Butterfly · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Location: Kuwait