I absolutely concur with this point. My experience exactly!
You have been attacked 3 times (the Narc’s do not count) means only 1 thing:
If you are looking for trouble…you definitely find trouble.
Amazingly you were not in the Korean Herald with your stories, because you are sure the most beaten foreigner in the country!
Hongdae & Itawon are not specially the best places to have a calm drink no?
You were there since 4 years no? So how come you were never in trouble in the beginning? The Korean culture did not changed in 4 years…
In my 8 months there, aside facing each Saturday night at thousands of drunken Koreans filled up with Soju (which you could already blow away only by sneezing), I never ever saw a fight aside some disputes between men and their girlfriends…(as the lads were mostly drunk…)
I crossed a lot of times anti-western demonstrations and was never ever even threatened. I am not 1.56 m tall and 45 Kg heavy
[quote=“j99l88e77”]Yeah, I’m teaching in Korea right now. My first job was a switching company-type and the owner fucked me over for almost a month’s pay (I taught there less than a month). He didn’t send me to Japan to get my working visa and I had no cash so had to take a job where I am now (in the country). The new boss is ok but I still don’t have a video machine and I’m stuck where I am (although it’s not a bad apartment). I drank with him and another teacher last night and I let him have it. The pay is good 2.2 million/month and the taxes are low (3.7%) but he promised to get us computers at home and still hasn’t. You gotta keep crying to get what’s promised to you here. If I’m stuck where I am at home and have to take a bus to use a computer then I’m not happy.
I don’t see many women where I am but when I do I have to jump on the opportunity. Maybe the men get jealous but who gives a fuck about their distorted thinking. That website being closed down and the way they talk about the “bad foreigners” is just too funny. It’s the hagwon bosses that are evil and not the teachers. I’ve talked to and met a few foreigners here and they are nice people. Nicer than in Taiwan. Only one I worked with (a woman) was not altogether nice. Kind of stuck up or high on herself or something. Asked her, “Where can I buy bread” at the school and she said, “At a grocery store.” Thanks for that you fing bitch. I didn’t know where I was or where to find anything. They aren’t too helpful sometimes here. I told my boss about a hundred times that I need a scooter and a used cell phone. How many times do I have to fing ask? I was angry last night. Does he think I’m kidding? How hard is it for him to find me a used scooter or tell me where to go? I’m not asking him to pay for it.
I’d go back to Taiwan for the right job but people piss me off there sometimes too.[/quote]
What? Your school didn’t give you a computer?! Yeah they are totally dicking you over. Have you considered the idea that perhaps your hostile attitude may be playing a role in your experience? Thank God you think the foreigners are nicer in Korea despite your claim that they are unhelpful bitches out to screw you over because they won’t hold your hand and help you find every little mundane thing your widdle heart desires. In Taiwan, we assume that people have the initiative to at least get off their asses and get things done.
Here’s your post simplified:
God gave you two hands and a brain. F*cking use them.
What’s this guy doing posting on a website for living in Taiwan anyway?
i found the korean community in Torionto to be extrmely friendly, and humble too. I have often wanted to visit Korea and it was my first choice over Taiwan…these stories leave the completely opposite impression of what i first felt, and I know their is an anti-US sentiment (not to be confused by anti-western ) over there, but that is understandable.
I might be biased as i had many korean friends in university as well as a korean gf, but I still would like to visit that country. Based on my humble knowledge its probably on par with Taiwan, for better or worse.
I also heard to get jobs there u have to be very pretty so every girl there now gets plastic surgery, its as common as going to the dentist here…so if u meet a hottie there, make sure she really is one, or U gonna wonder why your kidz so damn ugly…
What? Your school didn’t give you a computer?! Yeah they are totally dicking you over.[/quote]
Hey if the guy was promised a computer when he signed up, then it’s part of the terms of his employment. And if he’s living off in the sticks somewhere as he says he is, then that computer could be one of his few links to sanity. I can sympathize.
FWIW, every teacher that I’ve ever met that’s worked in both Korea and Taiwan has enjoyed their Taiwan experience more.
One would suppose that average pay would have to be significantly higher in Korea to make up for such a disparity in quality of life. Is this the case?
One would suppose that average pay would have to be significantly higher in Korea to make up for such a disparity in quality of life. Is this the case?[/quote]
The average pay may not be higher but it is why Korean jobs include airfare and Taiwan jobs generally don’t.
For people that haven’t lived in Korea (especially outside of Seoul, Pusan and Deagu) it is hard for them to understand just how much more difficult it is to get anything done there. Taiwan is a breeze compared to Korea. Even the simplest task is a long drawn out affair. Knowing a little bit of the language helps but not very much, you will stillnot get what you are looking for, even overseas experience can be of little help. I understand.
And what is wrong with posting about other countries in the Open Forum?
A question for you Korean English teachers. What is all the anger about English Spectrum website about? Does it involve sex? I hope so. 
Most people here in Taiwan pay for their scooters and cell phones. As for things not being delivered that were promised, that happens here too.
You got a raise. Most people here don’t. Taiwan isn’t necessarily going to a breeze compared to Korea. I have lived in Korea for only a couple of months. You’ve lasted four years. Think positive but be realistic.
[quote=“ceevee369”]
Korea has the less crime in ALL Asia, and the guys maybe look dangerous, but they will never ATTACK a foreigner themselves without any reason. [/quote]
Sorry but, Japan has the lowest crime rate…in the world.
They did a political survey to ask the people of Korea what their biggest concern was…taxes, unemployment, health-care…etc. Do you know what was the #1 thing that people in Korea worried about? Being sexually molested on the trains and buses. #2 was unemployment.
Hmmm, yeah…what an honorable and humble people.
Teaching in both Korea and Taiwan I have come to the simple conclusion that it’s not about one country or the other… it’s Asia.
tokki1: The same thing you found in Korea is probably what your going to find here. A majority of school owners are greedy little pricks who are just out to make money. If that means screwing you, or anyone else, over so be it…It’s Asia.
Taiwan is starting to resent foreigners. (Did anyone see the T.V. commercial with the teacher telling the student to speak english only?)
They seem to be pissed that we make two or three times the average salary. They love jacking up the price on goods (the white man price), screwing you over while you’re driving your scooter, and most seem to lack common sense…It’s Asia.
I agree with ceevee369 it sounds like you were hanging around in the wrong places. The same things could happen to you here in Taiwan.
All that being said, I love this place. I have found a good boss and I am now married to a local hottie. Life is good… but it’s Asia… it’s time to accept the culture difference.
Post her picture, so we can give you the “Forumosan” two thumbs up.
In the year and a half of living in the countryside of Taiwan and visiting the larger cities, I cannot recall a single incident where I had to pay a “white man price” for anything. Nor have I ever felt like I was being particularly screwed over while riding on a scooter, though that could just be my luck.
[quote=“Drewfus”]
tokki1: The same thing you found in Korea is probably what your going to find here. A majority of school owners are greedy little pricks who are just out to make money. If that means screwing you, or anyone else, over so be it…It’s Asia.[/quote]
Korea has had a notorious reputation as a shitty place to work for a long time. Korean bushiban bosses are known as being particularyly unscrupulous. In Taiwan you do get bad bosses, and the majority are obviously concerned about money (it’s a business after all), but you don’t hear the horror stories here that come from Korea.
I see no evidence of a building resentment.
Until they see the scooter you drive (no car?) the apartment you live in, and the clothes you wear, and discover you don’t have NT$2-3 million in the bank at the age of 28, and you can’t just decide on the spur of the moment to go fly off to England to do a masters because your family is not going to pay for it. 
[quote]
They love jacking up the price on goods (the white man price),[/quote]
This was discussed in another thread. It’s rare. And most places you shop the price is fixed. Are they jacking up the price at Wellcome when they see you enter?
[quote]
screwing you over while you’re driving your scooter[/quote]
They do that to each other, too. Don’t be so sensitive. It’s really not all about you. 
In the year and a half of living in the countryside of Taiwan and visiting the larger cities, I cannot recall a single incident where I had to pay a “white man price” for anything. Nor have I ever felt like I was being particularly screwed over while riding on a scooter, though that could just be my luck.[/quote]
The only time I’ve been screwed was in Tienmu, by my first landlord and her german husband. They took advantage of my “newbie status” three years ago and cheated me out of some money when they asked me to move out 1.5 years ago. I always laugh when I see their ice-cream shop in Tienmu, which always seems empty.
They even accused me of stealing a “power tool.” Anyone who knows me would laugh at this accusation. In one part-time job I had during my college days, my co-workers aked me go and find a “left-handed” screwdriver as a joke. I spent two hours searching for one. A “Bob Vila” I am not.
Anyone know of a “Forumosa” of Korea? Japan? Thailand?
To ceevee and Drewfus:
You suggest that Tokki1 bears some responsibility for the attacks. I know tokki personally and can vouch for what he says. These incidents were not simply about being in the wrong place, mouthing off to the wrong sort of people or anything of the like. These were random attacks that were perpetrated by people who didn’t know him and for sole reason that he’s a foreigner. Ceevee, with all due respect, your eight months in that country don’t give you the perspective and experience that 4 years would. Tokki, believe it or not has always identified with Korea. He fell in love with the culture and the people. He has noticed, though, that anti-outsider attitudes have gone from bad to worse. Do we have anti-American demonstrations here? That alone should inform you of the difference between Taiwan and Korea. I worked with a guy in an ESL college back home. He had lived in Korea for quite a few years, but had to come back to Canada with his wife. Reason? No public school would take a mixed Korean-Caucasian child. He was left with the options of a)paying to send the child to expennsive private international schools or b)bringing the family to Canada. Korea has some serious racism issues. To say that a Korean wouldn’t attack a foreigner for any reason is naiive to say the least.
[They did a political survey to ask the people of Korea what their biggest concern was…taxes, unemployment, health-care…etc. Do you know what was the #1 thing that people in Korea worried about? Being sexually molested on the trains and buses. #2 was unemployment.
"[color=blue][b]As you might know, most Korean newspapers are controlled (at least “checked”)by the authorities… read about it in the book from Breen. And I can confirm it personally as I heard /saw a few examples myself.
…and by the way, do you know one place on earth where women are feeling safe at 1 AM on a bus in the suburbans of a big city?"[/b][/color]