Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

Right now I know a few foreigners who are eager to bail. Some just stick it out but really want to go elsewhere. I'd say close to half of the foreigners I meet are not keen on being here a lot longer, just hanging about and trying to make some cash, and looking for happier, easier to live places.

[Qinella]

I only know one waygookin and he seems to be pretty happy.

Hi Chris!

[canuckistan]

Unhappy waygooks got a wide berth because they were a drag on my psyche. Working in Korea was challenging enough.

[Wangja]

I probably know 100 or so foreigners, mostly European, plus of course some Canadians, Americans and Antipodeans. Only a few are teachers.

After 7 years here, I met the first unhappy one on Sunday. He was a teacher.

I wonder????

[VanIslander]

The only unhappy waygook I know of is a hagwon teacher lamenting his inability to keep his Korean girlfriend despite spending a small fortune on her time and again. He is heartbroke and very sad. (I don't like being around him much because he's constantly forlorn about it!)

Does that count?

[SPINOZA]

Not many, to be fair.

I do bump into a couple who teach in a hagwon who live in my neighbourhood occasionally and they're always bloody moaning, but other than that, not really.

[mindmetoo]

Bah, want unhappy make friends with single 30something professional women in North America. Now they are an unhappy lot.

If people are unhappy here, I suspect they're the types to be unhappy in any environment. Like something better is waiting to kick down the door at home?

[crazylemongirl]

About half a dozen... I try to avoid them as much as possible because their attuide tends to rub off on me. Most of them would be unhappy no matter the location.

[blunder1983]

Hi Shane!

I dont know any unhappy waigooks. I'm a regarded as always happy at school cause I'm a noisy bastard. Singing, whistling etc.

My only complaint is a lack of friends my own age. That said this scenario is vastly better than my English village. Its all a question of relativity.

[joe_doufu]

(raises hand)

[SarcasmKills]

Most waygooks that I know that aren't happy here are those who keep trying to live like they were back home.. only hangout with other waygooks, only eat western food, and complain how things aren't like home..

There's more of these lot than you think..!

[indytrucks]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I have to laugh at the ones who always bitch and complain about their job but when asked "why don't you just tell them to stuff it?" say they want to save up money. Slaves to money will be unhappy no matter where they live. The ones who are always whining about Korean this or that but won't leave are, when you get to know them, a lot happier than they look most of the time. They just like complaining and making fun of stuff. I'm sort of that way myself.

[weatherman]

I don't really know any truely unhappy foreigners, I know a few lonely foreigners and that is understandable, but I do know a couple of angry foreigners that ought to take a break a from Korea.

[JongnoGuru]

Just a few thoughts.

First, despite having made a long-term go of it and feeling pretty comfortable myself, there's absolutely nothing wrong with not liking Korea or feeling unhappy here. It's natural that many foreigners come and find that they just don't like the place and that it doesn't agree with them. Where is it written that Korea must be every foreigner's non-stop never-ending favourite cup of poison? The same place it's written that "happy in Korea = winner, unhappy in Korea = loser"; to wit, nowhere.

Second, I know there are certain _types_ who are just sad cases... prickly personalities, irritable, unpleasant wherever they go. I know there are also plenty of Westerners who you could only describe as "happy people", even when living abroad, even when living in other parts of Asia, but who just happen not to like Korea in particular. And I know the difference between these two groups of people.

Korea is not some universally applicable litmus test of anyone's ability to adapt to, appreciate, get along or "be happy" outside their own cultural, ethnic or linguistic habitat. Let's stop pretending as though it is.

Third, people say they actively avoid unhappy foreigners because it brings them down, because Korea's difficult enough without them, etc. Would it be speculating too much to wonder if that's because you're having a hard time yourselves here? Feeling some inner pangs of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and... a desire to hurry up and get this "Korea chapter" done with and get a move on with your lives? If so, you may consider yourselves quite normal and well-adjusted. And that's very different from the Guru.