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[Method of Madness]

Anyone here from/ever been to South Korea?  I'm moving there in May to teach English, and was hoping I could get advice on some things.

[Sorflakne]

Juice bars are fun, just keep an eye on your spending.

[Barmymoo]

I haven't ever been to Korea but I do tutor a South Korean boy in English. He is nine years old and his english is excellent. I don't know if this is usual or if he is just very bright and the fact that he lived in America for a year might help too, but I was impressed.

This is a blog by a Canadian who teaches english in South Korea, you might have seen it already but if not, it's great and definitely worth a read.

[Trollstormur]

Isn't that that place where they jail people for posting things the government doesn't like on twitter?

[Is it cold in here?]

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/south-korean-man-thrown-in-jail-for-retweeting-the-north_b18236

I've never been there. From what I've read, national pride runs high, so the advice you'd follow everywhere about being respectful and avoiding local politics is especially important.

It's said to be almost impossible to practice your Korean, since everyone is determined to speak English with you.

[Method of Madness]

Thanks, everyone!  I'll keep you guys updated as I find out more (like where in the country I'll be).

[Is it cold in here?]

Have a bug-out plan. Living next to the DPRK is like living next to a volcano. It hasn't gone off in sixty years but the magma pressure hasn't gone away either.

[Akima]

Anyone here from/ever been to South Korea?

I have been there for work several times, but I mostly got to see offices, factories and the inside of hotel rooms. Koreans work hard and expect it from everyone else. Korean guys have no concept as effeminate as machismo. You don't say where you'll be working, but if it one of the major cities, and especially Seoul, expect people to be in a hurry; a New York minute is an eternity compared to a Seoul minute. As in all East Asian cities outside Japan, be careful crossing the street until you have got a feel for the aggressive traffic.

South Koreans are proud of their "high-tech" society, but a surprising number of services (using WiFi at a café for example) can be a pain to use if you don't have a Korean citizen registration number. I only ever made shortish trips to Korea, while you'll be staying longer, so I don't know what documentation you will need. Your employer should be able to guide you. Speaking of employers, Korean society is much more hierarchical than you're probably used to. People like factory managers, and I'm guessing school principals, tend to run their domains as personal fiefs.

I'm assuming that you're not going to live in Korea without having some idea of the complex relationships, and difficult history, between the countries of East Asia. The Japanese occupation is still a sore point in Korea, as it is in China, and Koreans love to beat Japan at anything. Relations with North Korea is a tricky area best avoided, or glossed over with "it is a difficult situation" or something. South Koreans do tend to be damn proud of their country, with good reason, but claims of their nationalism should be taken with a pinch of salt, because "nationalism" is typically no more than the name given to the patriotism of people who live in other countries (because everyone knows that our country is really the best, right?), and it is the extremists that make the news.

[Method of Madness]

I don't know where in the country I'll be yet, but I do know it will be a city, and hopefully Seoul.  Also, I'll be there at least a year, and I'll have an Alien Registration Card, so hopefully that helps out with things like wifi.

[Is it cold in here?]

A US serviceman committed a PDA with his Korean wife once. It touched off a riot and a diplomatic incident. Beyond the respect you would show South Korean women automatically because you are a decent human being, do nothing that could be misinterpreted.

[Method of Madness]

Shit. A riot over a guy kissing his wife in public?  By those standards, is there anything that couldn't be misinterpreted?

[pwhodges]

Well, there are places that would feel like that over people of such different backgrounds marrying at all.

[Is it cold in here?]

Well, the PDA in question was patting her on the rear, so there was room for misinterpretation. Apparently nobody waited to see what the woman's reaction was.

To amplify what Akima said about relations with the North, not only do feelings run raw and in unpredictable directions(*), but people can be and are imprisoned for saying the wrong thing about North Korea. Fortunately, saying the situation is "difficult" is compatible with the strictest possible sense of honesty.

(*) One human rights advocate was beaten up and run over, in the South, for criticizing the North's human rights record.

EDIT: From someone with experience: http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-letter-to-new-teachers-in-korea.html . Mostly it's obvious don't-be-a-jerk stuff, but the bit about never talking to a Korean journalist was not self-evident. He also warns that people may try to suck you into comparing Korea with America. Elsewhere there was advice to give way to older people.
EDIT: http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-state-of-esl-teachers-in-korea.html

[jhocking]

To amplify what Akima said about relations with the North, not only do feelings run raw and in unpredictable directions(*), but people can be and are imprisoned for saying the wrong thing about North Korea. Fortunately, saying the situation is "difficult" is compatible with the strictest possible sense of honesty.

(*) One human rights advocate was beaten up and run over, in the South, for criticizing the North's human rights record.

I would agree about being careful about who you talk with about sensitive topics like the North, but I do want to point out that these examples give a misleading impression of a wantonly dangerous place. Take that advice with pretty much the same mentality as, say, someone advising you not to joke about bombs while going through security at the airport; unless you're specifically looking to be a troublemaker, it's not like people are trying to trap you into saying the wrong thing.

In other words, this:

the advice you'd follow everywhere about being respectful and avoiding local politics

It's pretty much the general advice not get into political discussions with strangers, with the local political situation in Korea applied.

[Method of Madness]

Makes sense. Thankfully my Korean won't be good enough for any serious discussions for least a few months.

[Zingoleb]

"North Korea wants to know where the bathroom is"

[Method of Madness]

So the company I wasn't going to work for fucked me over, and I'm not going.  I don't want really want to go into the details.

[Carl-E]

Sorry to hear - an adventure lost! 

[Method of Madness]

Indeed...but hey, that's a year I get back to find new adventures, I guess.  I'll make the best of it.

[pwhodges]

Ah well - tough!

[Skewbrow]

So the company I wasn't going to work for fucked me over, and I'm not going.  I don't want really want to go into the details.

Oh. That sucks. Good luck in finding long(er) term employment elsewhere!

[Method of Madness]

Thanks.  It's what I'm doing now, I'm taking some time off substitute teaching, because I just can't deal with the day to day not knowing if I'm working until the night before, hoping I find something full time.  (I'll take pretty much any non-education full time job at this point).

[LTK]

Forgive me if I intrude, but apparently a friend of mine is planning a vacation in North Korea. Is that a crazy thing to do?

[pwhodges]

Is it even possible?

[Method of Madness]

I don't know if it's been possible since Kim Jong-Il died, but it was possible to take a tour there if you paid for the government-provided guides (read: armed guards) who accompany you everywhere, as well as decide where you go and what you see.

[Barmymoo]

I wouldn't necessarily say it was a crazy thing to do, as long as he is intending to play by their rules and not try to do anything subversive. But if he is even slightly inclined to stir up trouble then I would say it was crazy, it doesn't strike me as at all improbable that someone who makes a joke about dictatorship or some comment that could be interpreted as negative might find themselves imprisoned for some fabricated crime.

I'd be fascinated to see how visits to North Korea are handled, please keep us posted! People often talk about not being able to see the "real North Korea" but I'd be just as interested in seeing the imaginary projected NK and comparing it to the few facts that we know.

[Is it cold in here?]

http://www.koryogroup.com/

It's apparently easier to get in if you're not a US citizen.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/north-korea

Now, trying it with the idea that you'll get to know the country and build bridges with the people, that would be crazy.

[Method of Madness]

So the company I wasn't going to work for fucked me over, and I'm not going.  I don't want really want to go into the details.

In case anyone missed that post