Korean Job Discussion Forums

jdog2050 · Joined: 17 Dec 2006

Wow, well, I'm currently in Chicago, and it's snowy, the sun is like an unrelenting nuclear fire in the sky, and it's been about -2 fahrenheit all week.

I'm ready to come back. Not only have I blown about $800 on...I don't know what (the only expense I can track is $300 for a ticket to Oregon, and $40 for VISA renewal), but it's so cold outside that when I finally think of something to do, I want to come back in as soon as the wind starts blowing right through my thick Mongolian hat.

I complain a lot about Korea, but I'm starting to face the fact that, for the most part, it's kind of where my life is now. My friends in the states are scattered all over the country, and prospects for being an english major here are dismal at best. I also have an apartment in Itaewon that I just paid for, and it' s kind of rotting away this February.

So, I never thought I'd do this, but I'm cutting my time back home about 1.5 weeks early so I can recoup some of the money I've lost, and get back into the swing of things before my full contract starts.

Is this how it begins? Is this how you become a lifer? When you come back and realize that for all the gripes, life in Korea is just your life now?[/list]

endofthewor1d · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Location: the end of the wor1d.

Gamecock · Joined: 26 Nov 2003

Yep. Same thing happened to me. I came to Korea to do a one-year stint and left after that year pissed at Korea and SOOOO ready to start a life at home. I didn't want to go back to the public school in the States, and you're right, an English major doesn't mean a whole lot elsewhere. The job scene was bleak, the winter weather crappy, insane politics really getting under my skin, my family more annoying than I remembered, and my friends all newly married with a completely different life and values than mine...and a funny thing happened. I started missing Korea.

I've been back in Korea 2 years and have been really happy compared to my first year. When I came to the realization that the grass wasn't as green back home as I remembered, it gave me a tolerance for the Korean insanity around me.

jdog2050 · Joined: 17 Dec 2006

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

The grass is always greener and all that

MissSeoul · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Somewhere in America

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

I left Korea at the end of 2003 and thought I'd never be back. It was weird though, I started missing it a lot and eventually ended up back here, in the same town (been 6 months). Life is pretty easy here compared to back home and that had a lot of appeal to me.