What
are the Negatives of Teaching English in Korea?
The biggest negative is that it is not
"home"
You are away from family and friends. You are away from the
comfortable and familiar. Actually for some, this may be a plus!
Finding the negatives
of living in any foreign society and
culture is easy. Many people seem to think that if it is not like home, it
must be bad.
Of course there is culture shock. Of course things are different.
Of course people are speaking in a totally incomprehensible language. But
what would be the point of going to Korea if everything was just like
home?
Some people complain!
If you go to bulletin boards on the Internet you are
likely to read many negative things. Some people complain about the housing.
Some people complain about not being paid on time. Some people
complain about the culture. Some people complain about the food. Some
people complain about health care. Some people complain about the
working conditions. Some people complain about the hassles dealing with
government officials (but don’t we all, even in our home countries). Some
people complain about the dangers of driving! Some people complain!
Korea is not
your home country, don’t expect it to be. Koreans have
their own way of doing things, whether visiting foreigners like it or
not. The way they do things may not make sense to you, but many of the things
other countries do don’t make sense to Koreans either.
Oh yeah, it can
get COLD in the winter, that's a negative for some of
us. But, the spring is beautiful!

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"Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than by the
ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." -- Mark Twain |
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