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Korea Megathread V Korean Language Thread ~ Korean Cinema Thread ~ Vapid Korean TV Thread ~ Korean (Good) Music Thread Welcome, gentlemen, to the latest iteration of the Korea thread. This is the general hub for those of us tumbling hither and yon through the landscape, having come here through some combination of happenstance, sloth, or intoxication, and now trying desperately to stave off adulthood by way of expatriation and stave off the morning by way of drinking through it. This is where catchall discussion takes place about relocation, survival, employment, meetups, and the usual by-blows of wanderjahr. There's a heavy slant on teaching ESL as it's the typical gateway drug, but talking about our lack of actual professional skills just depresses us so we try to maintain a moratorium on education-related bitching. This thread is mostly a lackadaisical brown study and a place for Korea goons to thrash about like Karlsson with a broken propeller, drunk on the authority lent them by the internet. We’ve had a recurring issue with cultural relativist bullshit, wherein certain people will fetishize an anecdotal experience, turn it into a kaleidoscope for the whole country (usually in the form of a “Koreans are X” statement), and doggedly proceed to tilt at windmills. Keep in mind that most of us are here for varying degrees of escapism and really don’t care about your spiral into caricature. Goons by KakaoTalk ID Current Listing The majority of anything that happens, happens here. If you’re on the outside looking in the thread is fine, but if you’re on the ground then you should be in groupchat. Ask for an invite. Goons by Gamer Handles Current Listing Navigating the Thread There are four posts below the break. The first is regarding those contemplating the transition. Immigration nonsense, ESL stuff, studying abroad, introductory cultural debriefing, and so on. The second is regarding those living here for a protracted length of time, or about to. What resources to make use of and how to navigate your way through the day. The third is regarding places to be and stuff to do while living or visiting. Lastly, we have ad-hoc bookmarks to topical posts as they come up, so infrequent lurkers don’t have to reread the thread in its entirety. tirinal fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Wherefore Korea? The country comes off as the red-headed stepchild of Asia, so it's a fair question. It lacks the cultural draw of Japan, the scale of China, or the devil-may-care lifestyle afforded by the miscellany smaller countries dotting the local landscape. You can take or leave the society as you please, but Korea does have its advantages in the form of financial stability with minimal barriers to entry, a comfortable lifestyle with relatively little effort, and an increasing number of opportunities in certain fields. One thing to emphasize is that Korea is particularly hit or miss, even judged on par with the standard travails of uprooting your life and schlepping halfway around the world to live someplace where you can't order pizza without help. The country industrialized in the heartbeat of a generation. Contracts aren't sacrosanct, norms are backward, and logic is festering at the bottom of the discount bin. Experiences tend to be found between extremes and people tend to be found in extremis. It is a comedy of errors. Learn to bend. Hemingway once described guts as "grace under pressure." You will need guts. How do I make the jump? Most people, most of the time, make their way here courtesy of the English bubble that has been in existence for the last few decades. Much like Japan, Korea is wedded to the notion of an educated citizenry speaking the global language. Also much like Japan, they are terrible at it with no relief in sight. Enter you, with your commendable foresight of having been born in a geographically fortuitous location. Whether you should opt for this is ultimately up to you. In some respects ESL teaching is very much a gap year sort of proposition. You break off from your current life and likely stall all personal and professional development for the duration of your stay. You won’t see your family. Employers will (with a fair amount of justification) view it as a sort of sponsored holiday for un(der)employed liberal arts majors and cubicle drones going through an existential crisis rather than actual experience in any sense of the word. On the other hand it is fresh start, a change of locale, and a somewhat financially gainful job during a global recession. Season your enthusiasm to taste. There are two main classes of TEFL jobs in Korea: public schools and private supplementary academies (called hagwons). As a rule of thumb, the former is regulated and stable while the latter pays better and gives you more flexibility to specify terms. Outside the rule of thumb, most people who are an old hand at this will recommend the public school route if you’re on the outside looking in and about to make a blind leap of faith. You're less likely to find the mecca of teaching positions, but you're also less likely to get screwed. Note that as of this writing, things are changing somewhat due to politics and budgets. Public school positions are being phased out in certain districts, particularly Seoul, as the culmination of decades of middling enthusiasm for the NET program. The writing is on the wall. There are also university gigs, private tutoring, and actual industries exclusive to TEFL, but these are generally things that you feel out subsequent to your initial landing. Contracts, with few exceptions, last the full year. Most public schools hire for the terms in August and February, but there is some demand year-round to fill vacated positions. Salary starts at around 2.1 million won monthly for someone with no experience at a public, which is currently about 1.8k USD. It is principally tax-free for the first two years. You usually get one month's severance at the close of the contract, along with potentially other benefits such as pension reimbursement. Roundtrip airfare is paid for. Lodging is taken care of for free, though you can opt-out if desired, and is often along the lines of a basic studio apartment. Health insurance is provided. Visas (E-2 for ESL teachers; students, Korean expats and others have their own types they should be familiar with) are sponsored by and tied to the employer, meaning your contract determines your length of stay. What will I need? For all schools: -A bachelor's degree from an accredited university. Must be notarized and apostilled. This is an immigration requirement for your E-2 Visa and cannot be circumvented. A letter of intent to graduate signed by the registrar of your school is fine in place of the physical diploma. For baseline jobs, nobody really cares about either your major, your school or your GPA. -Being a citizen of a country with English as the mother tongue (US, UK, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia). Note that this is different from actually being a native speaker - English is not my first language but I still work here. -A passport. -A criminal background check. Must be federal/national, courtesy of people just getting one done the next state over to avoid child molestation charges. For the US, and therefore the preponderance of people reading this, it means an FBI check.  Start your FBI check early. It is the bottleneck for everything.-Stock health evaluation. AIDS is not good for your career prospects. -Various notarized/apostilled nonsense. Sign paperwork recruiters tell you to, etc. For those local, Immigration has a useful helpline that will be able to definitively answer your questions: 1345 on any phone within Korea. For hagwons: -Up to individual discretion. For public schools: -Two reference letters. -A brief essay/lesson plan. -A photo. -A phone interview. -The ability to not piss drugs. -A TEFL certification of 100 hours or more is now all but required, and an offline component having 20+ hours will give you preferred consideration. I've recommended KEI TESOL before, but they're all mostly carbon copies of one another. How do I apply? For public schools, you actually go through a recruiter that forwards your application to SMOE (Seoul) or EPIK/GEPIK (not Seoul). Note that this will probably be changing in the near future and you will apply directly. For hagwons, you either respond to individual job postings or again go through a recruiter. You can choose which to use by personal preference. Some that goons can attest to are: People Recruit ESL Planet Korea Connections Korvia Footprints Recruiting Flying Cows Research your school and location. If you don't know how, ask in this thread and somebody with a decent grasp of Korean will do it for you. You are putting your life on hold for a year to go meander about some malarkey moonland country, and if you do it blind you'll probably end up at Wonderland and everyone here will mock you. Who, what, and where will I teach? As public, you'll likely be thrust in front of elementary students. High school jobs are rare and becoming rarer, and middle schools are following suit. Hagwons have the chance of older learners, which can be a mixed blessing. On the subject of curriculum, it varies broadly by employer. Some will never have you deviate from the course materials, others will give you absolute freedom to do anything you like. If you're at a public you should have a grace period of a week or two just to observe, but at hagwons you tend to hit the ground running so it's advisable to have some introductory lesson plans prepared in advance. Regarding location: you want to be in Seoul. You may not get to be in Seoul, but you want to be in Seoul. It's just better. In any way and in every way. Every year people honk on about the rustic charm of rural Korea and every year I'm vindicated when they break down into a fetal position and have to be airlifted out. This is not western Europe, and any romantic notions you may have about salt of the earth smalltown folk will likely be violently disabused of. That said, it's probably not worth taking a vastly inferior job over. How much Korean do I need to know? For the job, none whatever. You will generally have a co-teacher who will translate as needed. It is, however, extremely advisable that you at least learn how to read, write and speak the alphabet (hangul) before coming. It takes an afternoon and will aid you beyond measure. Sogang’s site is a good start. For surviving, your mileage may vary. Korea, and Seoul especially, is actually fairly hospitable to people who don't speak the native language. There is a host of services in English and a lot of the natives have an established if tenuous grasp of the language. Non-teaching Jobs It’s hard to deny that TEFL is an industry, but whether it’s a profession is still up for dispute. People do it, and some people do it their whole lives, but the tea leaves haven’t been in our favor for a while now and we’re well past the boom years. There’s a glut of English-speaking graduates wanting to escape and a saturated market. There are a fair amount of English-speaking jobs in Korea, especially in the technology and business fields. A lot of job descriptions are in English even if the title of the listing itself might be in Korean, but you'll probably have to click around for a while to find them. That said, realistically, you're still probably going to have to know at least a rudimentary amount of Korean to have a chance. There are a bunch of other more popular job recruitment sites such as Incruit. For English job sites, WorkNPlay is the main one, but good leads are few and far between. Most positions are filled by people already local and are never advertised publicly. That is the politically-correct version of this topic. For a more practical approach, the following is an exhaustive, authoritative guide for ditching TEFL in Korea: Know a guy who knows a guy. The end. Studying in Korea Korean universities have fairly mediocre rankings worldwide due to any number of factors. Traditionally undergrad (less so postgrad) was seen as a sort of moment of grace and easy living between the incredibly oppressive competition in middle and high school and the vicious requirements of corporate indentured servitude. As a result, most students slack off. There’s also a well-deserved reputation for rote studying, classes that consist of lectures and little else, and a complete lack of emphasis on critical thinking or independent research. This is all true but in recent years there’s actually been a concerted push among the top universities to change this. An increasing number are adopting western standards for administration, education, and publication, and there’s been some interesting changes among SKY in particular lately in how they are incorporated and managed. Asian universities have been climbing the rankings pretty consistently. The good news is that you have a good chance of being accepted just by virtue of being white, due to being a minority for once. Fees are also relatively low and classes can in theory be conducted exclusively in English. An increasing number of programs are available. Additional Useful Links SA Korean Language Thread Naver dictionary Hangul 101 Korean subtitles (Gomplayer exclusive) KBS speaking practice: KBS Speaking Practice Galbijim Language Lab Additionally there are any number of evening classes for Korean instruction. Some free, some not. Of the formal university courses that span 10 weeks and cost a fair bit, Sogang's is the most highly recommended due to the style. Ehwa is good as is Yonsei, though the latter follows the more traditionally Korean approach of lecturing and rote study. As always, the most reliable way of learning is to get a Korean girlfriend. The downside to this is that you get a Korean girlfriend. Can I take Fluffy with me? Yes, but it is likely unwise. It is a hassle and Korea's cities especially are not pet-friendly. As well, if you are being provided housing there is no guarantee they will allow it. More information here: http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/GK/GK_EN_2_1_4.jsp Can I do private tutoring on the side? In theory, no. Your Visa legally precludes it. In practice, it is commonplace and rampant. Keep in mind that it's a calculated risk and if you get deported you shouldn't blame me. Getting an FBI check A writeup on the process What to Bring Over -A suit, which you should wear for the first day. -Clothing, and shoes in particular. Depending on your body type you may run into serious difficulties here. -Electronics are typically marked up pretty heavily, so buy laptops and such before you leave. -Any vitamins or prescriptions you are particular to. There can be issues with getting access to any number of drugs you may be used to. -Certificate of Residency (see taxes section) -Condoms, if you are an endowed ubermensch paragon or just like to think you are. What to (Maybe) Bring Over -Your unlocked smartphone may or may not be able to transfer to a local carrier if you have a sim card and IEMI registration. Probably not, although the fee for getting it certified has now been removed. -Adapter plugs can be had cheaply here, and can be ordered online. Chances are you won’t need a voltage converter for most modern electronics. -Cooking sundries you are particular to. -If you want, miscellaneous small cultural gifts for coworkers/students and a larger gift for your principal/boss. tirinal fucked around with this message at 12:30 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 09:36
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Initial Days The first things you should do upon landing is get your Alien Registration Card from immigration. How fast you do this determines how fast you get your phone and your bank account, which are the next things you should do upon landing. If given the choice, KEB is probably the most foreigner-friendly bank. Set up internet. Find out what utilities you're responsible for and how to pay them. Learn how to use your ondol heating system and how much it costs. Get a T-Money/whatever card, which is a rechargable pass for all public transportation and can be gotten at any subway station and most convenience stores. At some point in the next few weeks you should file tax paperwork with your employer (see the later section), learn how to make use of the NHI (health care), and make sure your employer is paying into the NPS (pension). Make friends with the locals and make use of them without pissing them off too much. Then make more friends. The only benchmark for failure in this country is if you turn into that guy who spends every weeknight in the nearest foreigner bar bitching about his job. Travel from/to Korea Aside from the usual haunts like Kayak and Expedia, there are a few local travel agents you can make use of that aren't shady scam artists. Soho Xanadu WhyPayMore (korean) Using your Ondol (Heating) Most Korean apartments use a boiler system for maintaining hot water in your pipes and heating the floor. There is typically a control unit and a personal boiler elsewhere in the building. In winter you should keep it on at the lowest setting to prevent your pipes from freezing. They are rickety, come in a million different variants, and are notorious for working badly if at all. All models are different, but you will typically have a 전원 button (power) and settings for 실내 (general indoor heating), 목욕 (your bathroom/shower), 외출(hibernation while you’re out), and 예약 (timer). Additionally you may have specific settings for sleep heating, water vs. room heating, and so on. No interface is standard, so if you’re confused try flailing about helplessly in this thread and someone will aid you. Cuisine and Diets in Korea International food hasn't really penetrated here to any reliable degree, so if you're used to Indian restaurants on every corner and shopping at the typical Western market you're going to find it hard going. This is changing fast, but mostly only in Seoul. Korean fare can be awesome and cheap for a while but also gets a bad rap for being monotonous over the long-term. Luckily, Costcos dot the landscape, you can have food delivered, and there’s an increasing number of alternative options. Good resources here are Gmarket (Amazon equivalent, along with groceries and fresh fruits) and iHerb (amazing, particularly for vitamins/supplements). Vegetarian or vegan diets are viable, but not easy. Random stuff like kimchi has fish paste in it. I and many other people manage fine however. Good resources: Alien’s Day Out and Vegetarian Restaurant Map Also keep in mind many schools have mandatory dinner outings, and eating together is a large part of the culture here. The main issue isn't really logistical so much as social. Taxes Taxes are basically a smoke and mirrors act, and frequently the best you can hope for is that when it comes time for them to gently caress you it happens gently. A brief introduction to the taxation schema: http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,16586.0.html Some practical information, from a Yank perspective: Korea has a special reciprocal treaty between itself and the States that it does not maintain for the most part with Commonwealth countries. This excludes you from paying domestic Korean taxes for two years if you work for a certified institution. In order to qualify you must have the IRS issue you a Certificate of Residency (form 6166), which takes anywhere from four to eight weeks. The application form and instructions are found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8802.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8802.pdf It is a good idea to get started on this well in advance of landing in Korea, and you should give it to your school as soon as possible. On the domestic front, you do not have to pay taxes on any overseas income under $91,400. Any amount you make over that is only taxed on the surplus. You need to have lived abroad a full year to qualify, and any time spent shy of 330 in a 12-month period after you return home is prorated. The relevant form is number 2555: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2555ez.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i2555ez.pdf That said, you can request a rubber-stamped two month extension until June as an overseas resident. You can then file for another extension if you want to use that time to pass the 330-day physical presence test, since contracts rarely sync up with tax years and the qualification is retroactive. Regardless of whether you pay taxes or not you still need to file the same as everyone else. File your taxes. Abstaining can and will cause major headaches for you when you return. Note that while you may or may not qualify for Foreign Income Exclusion based on a number of criteria, you should still attempt it as it's possible to basically avoid taxation on either front for the first two years. Filing jointly seems preferable if you're married and both citizens, but do your research. Note that all of the above is moot if you have an F-series Visa (in which case you are considered a Korean resident) or dual/+ citizenship anywhere, which will turn your entire filing experience into a nightmare. For everything else, call the IRS. Then wait five minutes and call them again to see if the answer is the same. Telephone Assistance for Individuals: Toll-Free, 1-800-829-1040 International Number: 215-516-2000 (not toll-free) Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ”The Gay Bean” posted:1.) Make sure you've been in the country for at least 330 days to establish residency. Checking/Retrieving your Pension By law Korean employers are required to pay into the social security system, the surprisingly informative English portal for which can be found here: http://english.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/main.jsp. Upon leaving the country, you are able to request a refund of this amount if your home country has a reciprocal agreement with Korea. Of the English-speaking nationalities, South Africa, Britain and New Zealand do not have a reciprocal and are therefore excluded. To check your pension amount, go to http://csa.nps.or.kr/main.do and click on the little paper with magnifying glass (국민연금 납부내역조회). Then enter your ARC number, log in with your banking information or I-Pin, and google translate the subsequent page. Owning a Car/Motorcycle in Korea I wouldn’t really recommend it in Seoul due to congestion and expense, but for backwater towns you may want to look into driving or riding as an alternative to public transportation. The process for doing so legally is fairly straightforward, even if the process for doing so practically is anything but and is very likely to see you maimed on the pavement. Traffic laws here are... pliable. If you have an international driver’s license it is valid for up to a year, so you can take that approach. Alternatively, you can swap a foreign driver’s license for a domestic one courtesy of a couple stamps, a physical test, and a comically gobbledygook written exam at your local DMV. There is no supervised driving session if you’re merely converting one license to another, unless you’re trying to be certified for certain higher cc’s of motocycles. Useful Phone Apps Korea-specific programs that are useful. Most are cross-platform between Android and iOS. Kakaotalk - The big messaging app. Seoulbus, Subwaymap, Korail - The big three apps for public transportation. Bus schedules, GPS locations, subways lines, and so on. Soundmanager - Useful for automatically disabling calls during teaching hours. Google Translate - Useful for obvious reasons. Eggmon - Barcode scanner. Incidentally, if you're wanting to make international calls from your cell phone you can dial 1600-0030, which will route it over the internet and only charge you the same fee you'd get for any normal domestic call. Simply punch in the country code + area code + phone number, and you should be connected. Tattoos/Piercings I seem to meet more inked expats than not these days, so this deserves a mention. Korea is one of those Asian countries with a long and storied history of discrimination against tattoos, as they are/were associated with criminals and the lower elements of society. Amusingly, it is technically illegal for anyone in Korea to puncture skin if they do not have a medical license (thus giving acupuncturists a legal out). The stigma is predictably changing fast among the younger generation, but workplace reactions vary wildly and it's impossible to typecast without quibbling over anecdotes. Suffice to say it's suggested you cover up at least to begin with. The same principle holds for bodymods. Korean Software I can’t write about this topic without flirting with cardiac arrest, so I’m going extricate myself briefly. frozenpeas posted:
plashy posted:
All Throughout and Roundabout AmbientParadox posted:After the training seminar this past weekend, I had the weirdest urge: to watch the Jetsons. I couldn't find any of the episodes, but I did manage to find The Jetsons meet the Flinstones and The Jetsons Movie. About halfway through the Jetsons v Flinstones, I realized that the Jetsons are Korean. Now, I know: George has red hair, his wife blonde, his daughter white, and son blonde. But beyond those obvious dye-jobs, it all fits. First off, they care very much for their outward appearence. In the JvF film, George is late for work, so he hops into his new future tech machine that dresses him. The machine doesn't quite seem to be working right, but he finally manages to get a decent shirt & pants on. He gets in his tiny car, and flies to work. At work, George basically sits at his terminal talking to his computer for 8-10 hours while pushing a button. He gets home and complains about how stressful and awful his work has been, when in reality it was all desk-warming. TEFL Resources This is for lesson plans, resources, and discussion on classroom management. Waygook - The main forum for Korea-specific teaching. A Good Site(tm). Prezi - A cleaner, more streamlined alternative to Powerpoint if you aren't making use of the advanced macro/animation features. Eat Your Kimchi ESL Kids Manythings Powerpoint Games Edochan A4ESL Breaking News English Wordle Boggle’s World Mes English ESL tower ESL Printables Barry Fun English Surviving Korea Resources These are sites that deal with the day-to-day business of nursing the hangover that is this country. ESL Cafe - The big one. Full of obnoxious twits, it is nonetheless useful due to mass and the monkeys with typewriters principle. Waygook - As above, a nexus for lifestyle stuff in addition to the teacher resources. ESL Oupost - Goon-operated, this is a catchall site that is new to the scene but is evolving and should get some patronage. Gmarket - Amazon equivalent, plus groceries, complete with buggy English interface. iHerb - Enough nice things cannot be said about this site, and now that they use Korean Postal shipping is more reasonable. SMOE - Government positions within Seoul. EPIK - Government positions outside Seoul. WorkNPlay Seoul Subway Map Online Korean Movies Daum streetview Korea gig guide Korea4Expats The Yeogiyo The Korea Herald Costco Delivery If you ever need help with anything or need a translator, call 02-1330 (tourism) or 02-120 (global centre) on a phone. The people manning the phones are surprisingly competent. Blogs/Reviews of Stuff The Grand Narrative Gusts of Popular Feeling Brian in Jeollanam-do Seoul City Blog Korean Modern Literature in Translation Seoul Grid Miscellaneous Links Prior SA thread Highly realistic employment simulation SA Korean cinema thread In case of nuclear winter tirinal fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 09:37
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This is mostly a list of things like nightlife, events, gigs, and interesting sites or locales. Heavy Seoul focus because, well. K4E is decent about updating. Otherwise: Clubs Gangnam- Club Answer ---------- +Plays mainly electro and electrohouse +Great dance floor layout +Great crowd; a lot Korean people, decent amount of foreigners and gyopos -Very strict. Don't gently caress around there. -Very expensive drinks -Tables are a little expensive, starting at 380k Club Junkie ---------- +New club, so draws a big crowd every night +The interior looks amazing. They did a great job fixing all the problems Heaven had. +Plays mainly electro and electrohouse, later on changes to psytrance +Table prices are CHEAP. Starts at 330k and the tables are NICE -Location is not great... it's not near any bars, or anything really Octagon ---------- +Newest club in Seoul, and one of the biggest by m^2 +Cheap entry before 11; only 10k but no free drink -Dance floor isn't really that big because the loving elevator blocks off a large portion Club Eden ---------- +Resident DJs here are pretty good +Guestlist here is typically a password so you don't have to contact people directly -Not a fan of the crowd here -Feels sorta cramped as far as the dance area goes Ellui ---------- +One of the kings, brings in MAJOR players as well +HUGE DANCEFLOOR +This is where pretty girls go to get their picture taken by club photographers -I hate house and tech house -it's too loving big; crowd doesn't mingle well because of that -table prices are insane Sinsa- Club Holic ---------- +Have a reputation for prettiest girls +Crowd is fun... if you like total anarchy -Male crowd is typically very aggressive -Not a lot of foreigners but you won't be treated badly by staff Club Double 8 ---------- +Plays pure electro all night +Easy guestlist -gently caress this place in many ways. Some staff are really cool, but some are very blatantly racist -Music actually isn't that great Club Phantom ---------- +Only decent hiphop club in Seoul +Interior is nice +Tables are cheap to start with, 330k -Crowd is more into finding a girl/guy to take home (credit aeglus) Music The music scene is making a slow and burgeoning recovery from the barren wasteland it used to be. Kpop and Psy can still gently caress right off, but for the discerning gentleman of taste and leisure, you can generally find good gigs on any given weekend. Korea Gig Guide is the main resource. Korean Indie is useful as well, as is SuperColorSuper, though it’s run by those of ill repute. The Seoul Arts Center is amazing if you are of a classical bent. I live here. InterPark is used for a lot of booking, but you should learn to browse and use the Korean version. Fooding Seoul is amazing and is finally, finally, becoming an actual international city. The solution to everything ever on this subject is to ask Kant, but failing that it’s recommended to just google or use something like Seoul Eats. Their map is useful. You should also check out traditional temple food at least once while here, which is very different from all the pork and sauce you find in the streets. Museums, Galleries, et al inc General Activities Hiking - This is a the national pastime and for good reason. If you can avoid the crowds there is a considerable amount of interesting nature to be discovered. Templestay - Buddhism has a long history here despite being trampled over in recent times by evangelical Christianity, and a number of monasteries host live-in programs. It’s actually fairly neat, from both a cultural and religious standpoint. Couple of links (mostly obvious ones): Korean Tourism Organization Wikitravel Lonely Planet tirinal fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 09:37
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Reserved for any content to come that is pertinent but doesn’t fit neatly into the OP. SEOUL FOOD MAP AmbientParadox posted:Share this pin with anyone you need to shove some culture into. We have ~50 pins on our food map now. Somebody fucked around with this message at 16:40 on May 26, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2013 09:37
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And, we're live. Welcome to the new thread. I've been doing this for years now and editing the OP as I go, so to be honest I really don't feel like rewriting everything just to be trendy. I'll be adding links and making it pretty later today, but for the most part it's wholesale plagiarism. Yell at me if you want something changed. Traditionally, the title of the following thread is a quote from someone during the preceding. For I am a man of tradition. This time around, MA-Horus is entrusted with the mantle.
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Jan 23, 2013 09:43
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I sternly object to Kant being the only food nerd recognized.  If you are browsing or someone else knows, when be Kant back in country? We could theoretically have that cooking throwdown soon, unless I get hosed on overtime/have to do interviews I'm going to Seoul next week. And Kant is the only person I know round these parts who I think can beat me.
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Jan 23, 2013 09:47
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27th.
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Jan 23, 2013 09:51
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Indeed. We will have a bit of a discussion when he gets back, then.
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Jan 23, 2013 09:58
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New thread! Needs more bitching.
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Jan 23, 2013 10:01
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Grand Fromage posted:We could theoretically have that cooking throwdown soon If myself and a documentary team from the National Geographic are not invited to this, there will be consequences.
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Jan 23, 2013 10:03
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The thing about TEFL for public schools needs to be updated, they're no longer counting online only courses.
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Jan 23, 2013 10:14
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tirinal posted:If myself and a documentary team from the National Geographic are not invited to this, there will be consequences. We will have to discuss venue and such. He has the appropriate restaurant skills to cook full meals for 30 people but I don't. But as just a tasting event, doable. There may be a couple openings for Prep Bitch as well. But, if I have job interviews I obviously have to prioritize those. And I'm not going to be terribly sad if I'm too busy getting a job to come up, though I do want to visit. Been over a year. 
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Jan 23, 2013 10:37
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That's a really nicely written OP. Man, seeing all those shows happening in Seoul on the SCS site is making me sort of regret moving to Busan already.
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Jan 23, 2013 10:44
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Busan has lots of stuff too. And if nothing else there is a bullet train across a tiny country, which is fairly affordable if you're not paying the King Kong of student loans like some of us.
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Jan 23, 2013 10:47
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I could have walked 20 minutes into town here to watch Beach House. If I'm too loving lazy to do that I'm probably not gonna take the KTX to Seoul, AM I?!
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Jan 23, 2013 10:49
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In like flint on the first page of our quality thread on the Something Awful Forums. If you're new to Korea get Kakaotalk and post your ID. The group chat is really where most of the activity is.
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Jan 23, 2013 11:06
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Outsider perspective: Korea goons are cool, the group chat is all kinds of crazy. A++ would visit again.
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Jan 23, 2013 11:10
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Can't forget this treasure from the mysterious orient. 
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Jan 23, 2013 12:03
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Who said the title?
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Jan 23, 2013 12:54
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Should something be said about the job market right now? Might as well let the new guys looking forward to spending a year in Seoul know what's up. I'm not an expert on it but if I'm understanding things right (based on the last thread) it's weird right now, right?
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Jan 23, 2013 13:07
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It's pretty bad. I don't know if it's actually weird, as such.
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Jan 23, 2013 13:11
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Yeah bad was what I was thinking. I just used weird because I don't know the details, for all I know theres a booming market on Jeju or something.
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Jan 23, 2013 13:59
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Came here looking for Gangnam style: disappointed.
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Jan 23, 2013 14:02
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GuestBob posted:Came here looking for Gangnam style: disappointed. Good
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Jan 23, 2013 14:33
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I'm still getting jobs sent to me like 3 months after I started searching 
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Jan 23, 2013 14:47
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Cameron posted:I'm still getting jobs sent to me like 3 months after I started searching Man, your dick pics must have been so much better than BrainDance's!
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Jan 23, 2013 14:50
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GuestBob posted:Came here looking for Gangnam style: disappointed. USA GET OUT
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Jan 23, 2013 16:12
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in on the first page 
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Jan 23, 2013 16:20
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Cameron posted:I'm still getting jobs sent to me like 3 months after I started searching Pass them on bro
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Jan 23, 2013 16:42
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I think they mean bad as in entry level pay for crazy hours. Everywhere. Not bad as in no jobs.
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Jan 23, 2013 16:59
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Posting on the first page of this cool Korea thread... from Thailand!
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Jan 23, 2013 17:17
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THE LUMMOX posted:USA GET OUT Send them to Pyongyang.
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Jan 23, 2013 17:28
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busan is better than seoul.
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Jan 23, 2013 17:36
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Kant, if you don't care too much about where. I've seen quite a few in Daejeon. It's really not as bad as some people have made it out to be.
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Jan 23, 2013 18:28
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Limes supposedly have begun to appear in grocery stores here in Ulsan. I'm going scouting tomorrow, I've been told it's 6 for 8,000 at E-Mart. Hopefully this is true and portends widespread lime adoption across Korea.
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Jan 23, 2013 18:33
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Well, I had time to make one more bad decision before I left. I attempted to root my phone and hard bricked it, won't even turn on. Anyways, I just told my phone company that it was lost, so I'll have to repay my large deposit to get another phone. Hopefully my old phone from the US will work in Cebu, at the very least the wifi on it should work.
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Jan 23, 2013 20:06
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New thread! Haven't read one for ages, but just realized that I'm more than a year out now and want to say: SAVE ALL THE MONEY. People may say that you should enjoy the experience and will regret not traveling, going out, etc., and maybe you will. I sure as hell don't though. Living where I want and doing what I want while not having to worry about money is the best. Worth every year I spent in Korea being not particularly happy most of the time.
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Jan 23, 2013 22:23
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Welcome new thread. Come to Korea; everyone gets laid.
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Jan 24, 2013 00:13
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 10:32 |
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GuestBob posted:Came here looking for Gangnam style: disappointed. Firebomb Gangnam.
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Jan 24, 2013 01:12
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