Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SPINOZA]

Well, do you?

Everyone vote in the poll please. You don't have to explain your answer, but if you want to, all the better!

My answer is yes. I graduated in 2003 and came to Korea in Summer 2005. The two-and-a-bit years from graduation to coming to Seoul was a complete waste and some extremely unhappy times were had. I'd also be w20,000,000 better off than I am! It wasn't all doom and gloom by any means, but I envy folks who've been here longer than me, although don't beat myself up about it because what happens happens and regrets are usually useless.

[crystal]

what about the people who came here immediately after they graduated, I couldn't possibly have come any earlier so none of your options apply to me

[jojonii]

I came to Korea mainly for money and free housing for seven years to pay off my debt completely and be able to save some. Now I am back in the U.S. and working full-time and I don't miss a thing about Korea.

[ajgeddes]

[mithridates]

More than anything yes. But since I had to have two years in Japan beforehand to make the transition easy and as I went to Japan right after high school I wish I had been born two years earlier. Or three.

[JongnoGuru]

I voted "Not really"

In the long run there wouldn't have been much financial difference to me if I'd arrived a couple years earlier. But it would have been impossible and it wouldn't have occurred to me. That's how life goes. How many people plan for years & years to come to Korea before they actually get here? Almost nobody. Unless they're in university and are looking to teach ESL abroad when they graduate a few years later. Or if they join the US military.

[OiGirl]

[tomato]

One reason is for the money.
Another reason is for the language experience.
If I had known sooner that transportation here would be provided, I would not have wasted all those years in data entry jobs, pizza delivery jobs, and all those other two-bit jobs.

[Cedar]

Yes, I do. But only because I've enjoyed life here so much. I had fun before I came, too. But sometimes I say "Gosh, if I had been here just --- years earlier I could have SEEN that." Korea has changed so much, but I could have come in 1992 fresh out of college, and didn't come till 1996. I missed stuff!

[Percy Nickets]

Do you wish you had learned about the subjunctive mood in school?

[Maserial]

I came to South Korea in the middle of 2003, which places me in the, supposedly, angry group of foreigners as denoted by JongnoGuru in another thread. Do I wish I had arrived earlier? Hmm, I don't know. My earlier experience in Japan had both jaded, and exhilarated, my opinion of residing within another country defined as 'Asia'. I didn't come to Korea for the money (although it is quite nice) but that notwithstanding, I do wish I had the experience of enjoying the World Cup 2002 extravaganza. In that sense, I do regret not coming to Korea sooner than I had.

If one is to compare Korea to Iowa, I'd gladly say that I wish I had come to Korea sooner. (May Ya-ta Boy skin my hide with a corncob.)

[Col.Brandon]

I arrived the week after the end of the World Cup. It was the week of that naval clash between the Korean navies. I saw the news report on the plane and I was wondering, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Back then the exchange rate was fantastic - 1 million won was getting me almost NZ$2000, but then it proceeded to get progressively less and less until I was getting just over 1200 about this time last year. It's much better these days, so I'm glad I stuck it out. Even when the rate was at its worst, I was still able to save more in one month than I was able to save in a whole year New Zealand.

Do I wish I came earlier? Well, the exchange rate must have been better for a while back there, but I guess I needed a couple of years in the corporate world to realise how soul-destroying that was; it allowed me time to get pissed off enough about my situation to get me motivated to do something different.

Everybody needs to find their "thing" in life. Korea is working out well for me now, (even though I complain about it sometimes) so I guess it's my thing.

[SPINOZA]

[Demophobe]

Yes.

I find the political and social evolution of Korea fascinating. To think that in ~1980 there was a military coup, resulting in a huge riot/massacre in Kwangju. Kim Young-sam, the IMF scapegoat, was the first truly democratically elected president, and he was the man when I arrived in early '96.

I would like to have been here to see more of this high-speed rush to modernize. It would have been really cool to witness even more than I already have.

I came here and chose a smaller, though not totally in the sticks town for these reasons. I think old-style Korea is much more interesting, laid-back and less annoying than this version we have today. I wish I could have seen more of it as it really will never be seen again. The country reminds me of "Dark City" with it's nightly 'tunings'...things change at breakneck speed and these people, for all their love of '5000 year history', never look back.

[VanIslander]

how about wishing we'd come later?

like when non-smoking sections (a new thing here) are enforced culturally;

when visa runs won't be necessary for those with contracts already at new places of employment;

when there are signs on every road and the locals know their names;

when korea wins a bid to host the winter olympics and puts some hockey on tv;

when dictatorship ends in north korea and an era of democracy and free markets dismantles the DMZ even if re-union isn't yet a reality

when will all of that be? in about ten to twenty years i suspect: 2016-2026