Korean Job Discussion Forums

kangnam mafioso · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: Teheranno

Has anyone left Korea and returned to their quiet lives of petty bourgeois respectability in the West only to suddenly become chronically bored? Maybe it's just hard to go from a city of 12 million in Asia to a city of 200,000 in the States. I find myself missing pojang machas, wild nights in Hongdae ... even Itaewon. The food, the crowds, the sense of displacement and freedom. Hmmmm. Reverse culture shock sucks. Mortgage, car payment, 9-5 blues ... Everyone is so serious about getting old here. I need about a month in the Phillipines.

bigverne · Joined: 12 May 2004

Hell yes. I came back to a city of 7 million, and I still miss the chaos of Seoul, the drinking until 6am and the overall strangeness of the place.

Wishmaster · Joined: 06 Feb 2003

Exactly why I came back to Korea. No mortgage, car payments(insurance, registration, maintenance), rent, etc. It is so much easier saving here and living a great life with disposable income...whereas back home, I was pinching every freaking penny. Korea is not a paradise by any stretch of the imagination but it beats many of the things back home.

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

Life felt so boring when I went back home. No more language barriers, chaos at work and less of a social life. I have a feeling I'll come back to Korea when I'm done grad school.

Zyzyfer · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:55 am Post subject:

I came back for the fried mandu.

sillywilly · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Canada.

At first it was so refreshing to be back home. For some reason everything felt new again. I'm torn, now. The back home glitz feeling is gone.

mithridates · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 12:09 pm Post subject:

Besides my 20-year old cat and best friend (= the cat is my best friend), there's nothing at home that I ever miss with a passion. The first time I was in Japan I decided after 10 months that it was time to go back home and live there forever.

Ha!

After two months I was sick of the place and kicking myself for ever having left.

I think I'll dig up one of my favourite posts on the subject. Hold on a second.

mithridates · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 12:18 pm Post subject:

Found it.

Problem is that it got put in the FAQ section. I say resurrect the thread!

waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

Hell yeah! I hear ya buddy. That's why I'm still posting on this message board. Very Happy

I miss the late night culture, the busy-ness, the cheap and convenient transport, the eating out all the time, always having something new to do.

Life in Melbourne is pretty boring - we just don't have the available cash to be able to enjoy this rather grand city as much as I would like. We've moved closer (from out in the 'burbs) and it's much better, but there's something about the avg Australian lifestyle that sets me off dreaming about living in far off places again.

All my friends are having kids or have them already, have mortgages and gardens - no more all night benders with those guys - now it's a dinner and departure at a respectable hour after discussions about benchtops and paints. Yawn! I should get off my lazy butt and create a bit more fun, but I'm too busy writing my novel this month of November and trying to get a business off the ground every other day.

The summer weather is here at the moment, which seems to invigorate the city - it makes me feel like getting out and about more.

SuperFly · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse

I second that emotion

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

It only took me about three weeks to realized I'd blundered.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

kangnam mafioso · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: Teheranno

[quote="Tiger Beer. Believe it or not I even made a run at 2 1/2 years in Manhattan! Incredible energy and everything else.. but found myself searching out large Korean neighorhoods in Flushing and Midtown Manhattan.. hanging out often with a Korean roommate.. bar-hopping at Japanese places with a long-time gyopo friend and suddenly realized it was time to get back to Korea again!

[/quote]

I spent 6 months in manhattan after seoul. a pretty good place to transition back to american life. korea town at 33rd street rules ... the only place where the food is almost as good in seoul. but still ... $10 for a bottle of soju! come on ...
also, it was so different coming from Seoul where you have a free apartment and taking a taxi is not going to break you to NYC where you have to count pennies, roll your own tobacco and live in crap neighborhoods to get by. C'est la vie ...

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

Mith has a twenty year old cat back home. Jeez, that's old.

This is very interesting hearing people talk about Korea wishing they were back. Mentioning the wonder/strangeness and sense of displacement. The freedom and independence.

I dig it here.

I find it odd that my co-worker is counting down the days until she goes home to Canada for Christmas. She has been in Korea working at a hagwon job for three months. First time to another country. And she is deadset on her Xmas trip home. Canadian food, getting bonked by her boyfriend in Canada, and so on. It's like she's going to heaven. Or going to reality. All the while beefing about being in a big fish in a small pond, overqualified for hagwon work blablabla.

Argh.

canuckistan · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:03 am Post subject:

I took this pic of the Arkansas River 3 days ago in Buena Vista, Colorado. Clean, cold, and full of trout. Big kayaking river. It was 69F. The next day it was 72F. To the left of this river pic is the Collegiate Range including some 14,000ft mountains.

While we had a great time in Korea, it's hard to miss the not-so-blue sky/smog/crowds and get bored with this kind of outdoor life here.

This is someone else's web link of mountain pics in Buena Vista and surrounding areas, Colorado is awesome!:

http://stevegarufi.com/buenavista.htm