Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Newbie]

I like being in Korea, and overall it's a good place. But the love-in on the other thread makes me feel that some people are living in a fantasy world. So, trying not to be too negative, what are the things abou Korea you just can't stand.

1. The Food - bland, bland, bland. No variety.

2. The general rudeness of people - Every class I teach I do a few lessons on manners and how to better treat strangers

3. The us vs. them mentality - held by both "us" and "them"

4. The lack of a truly vibrant, metropolis - Seoul lags so far behind other major cities around the world. Bland, bland, bland. No variety (although a nice night life)

5. The mal-treatment of women and foreigners - no, not me. I'm treated quite well. But, the "others".

[VanIslander]

(1) the distance from family
(2) being an outsider
(3) the lack of lakes
(4) taxi drivers in Busan
(5) Dave's malcontents

[Yu_Bum_suk]

1. Uneasiness around foreigners.
2. Outrageous xenophobia of about 10% of the population.
3. Spitting and peeing in public.
4. Little children and their idiot parents.
5. Wongjongnims.

Fortunately, I've got myself in a situation where I only have to deal with 1-3.

[nicknack]

I'm a malcontent and I must say that I take the greatest offense at your comments.

How dare you? What are you doing in Korea anyway? Shouldn't you be back in your own first world country; back where happy and content people belong?

Korea is for miserable; hateful; semi psychotic; alchoholic expats and it always has been.

I mean who throws a cupcake, really. It's just not cricket!

[travel zen]

Funny.


I think Korea is a pretty cool place.

Xenophobia? Yes.

Bad treatment of black peoples? Hell Yes. Disgraceful.

The city itself is cool. Food is good and nutritious. Fun nightlife fo'sure.

I liked Korea, and I'm a black guy. Go to China and be amazed at the crap there.

[peppermint]

my job- mainly for the fact that heat, toilet paper in the washrooms and communication about schedule changees are considered non essentials.

other than that, I don't bother Korea, Korea don't bother me.

[Mashimaro]

trolls

[Ya-ta Boy]

[billybrobby]

[plattwaz]

The same-ness of everything.

4 new 7-storey commercial buildings have opened up in the past 3 weeks, all within eyesight of my home. Tennants are beginning to move in and the signs are going up. And guess what -- it's all the same stuff that we already have in the other 7 commercial buildings within eyestight!! Each building comes complete with:

2 PC rooms, a billiards room, 3 oriental doctors, 3 skin doctors, 2 hair shops (one Blue Club, one random place for women), a bakery, a Family Mart, a cafe, a galbi restaurant, a sushi restaurant, a hof, a "Pho Bay," 3 donkass restaurants, a norae-bang, and an ice-cream store.

Same. Same. Same. And same again. I'm soooo bored of it all.

[Qinella]

I think HATE is too strong of a word, as there's nothing I truly hate in Korea. There are some things I dislike.

- My presence making people visibly uncomfortable and nervous.
- The lack of architectural beauty.
- Not much variety when shopping for things.

That's about it.

[steroidmaximus]

man, it must be like, 4 months since a thread like this has surfaced. I was beginning to worry.

driving, green, variety, social interaction, pollution

[SPINOZA]

I've not come across anything I've HATED yet. And even if I did, I'd never make the leap from my own subjective experience to the generalization "I hate this about KOREA".

But one thing that does rather annoy me is the mundane dinner/lunch time chat. I'd much rather have uncomfortable silences whilst eating than have some boring question fired at me when I've got a mouth full of raw tuna. Depends who I'm with of course, but generally when I'm eating I'm hungry and just want to eat and shut the fook up. Once, me and colleagues went out for dinner and my friend's coteacher just wouldn't shut up for the whole time I was trying to eat and it just pis5ed me off to the max.

I like my co-teachers, but at lunch I'll get:

"James, you've only got 2 side dishes today"

"James, you've got the same sauce on both types of lettuce"

Yes, I know.

I don't like being looked at by restaurant owners/servers when I'm eating either like it's entertaining watching the white guy eat his San Gyop Sal, but that's relatively minor.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[ChimpumCallao]

1) pushing and shoving....general rudeness
2) inability of walking in a straight line or extend the courtesy of moving out of someone's way
3) nightime subway smell of booze, pork and vomit.
4) busywork
5) low quality goods at expensive prices.

these are honestly the only things that kinda bug me here...only #1 are #2 are things I HATE...the rest is meh...