TheYellowCellPhone said:
I swear, was it last month you made a thread about living in Korea? Small chance I'm thinking of someone else...
That was me. It was a while ago. I think I created it shortly after I left.
OT: I read in a book (Lost in Planet China) of piss-poor air. Your opinion?[/quote]
Yes, it is very noticeable and worthy of mentioning as a negative. If you any severe allergies or respiratory problems, stay the hell out of China. Hell, you might want to stay out of Asia entirely.
A friend of mine said that walking through Tianjin (a large city in China) for a full day is equal to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes. I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating, but it does show how severe the pollution problem is and how little of a shit the government gives about it.
Spydercake said:
Depends where you go. The food safety regulations are non-existent. I've actually seen restaurant workers re-use rice from uneaten or partially eaten dishes. Your cheap places are not going to be that great. Good, but nothing amazing. Some of the food here also has tiny bones in it and it takes practice to get all the meat off without pulling the bone completely out of your mouth.
However, the mid-range restaurants (not the cruddy places you see on every street) are absolutely delicious. I could gorge myself there. The major difficulty is that all of the menus are in Chinese characters. At least in Korea, I could read what food they offered because Hangul is way easier to read than Chinese characters. In China, I'm either relying on another Chinese person or pointing to random shit and hoping that it tastes good.
In short, I eat at restaurants way less often than I did in Korea. Ditto for my friends as well.
LeonLethality said:
Aside from the whole arms interlocked and thighs thing, what's one of the biggest social norm differences you have seen there compared to say, North America?
Tough call. There are so many of them that it is hard to point out just one as the biggest.
I would say the way PDAs are looked at here between couples. Aside from a brief peck or holding on to your significant other's arm, PDAs are frowned upon in the public spectrum. Normally, couples will find darker places outdoors at night and make out there. I forgot the Chinese term for it, but it literally translates into "love talk". They will make out there for extended periods of time. It's weird to walk by and see random couples spread about a large dark area (like the stands near a track next to my apartment), passionately kissing and (in some cases) outright feeling each other up.
MartianWarMachine said:
How are you able to access this site, what with the government's "CENSOR EVERYTHING" mentality?
I use a VPN. I'm pretty sure this site is uncensored by the government though.
johnzaku said:
I'm thinking about going to teach english in South Korea, how is the process?
What's it like being in a new area with a new culture?
I'm from N. America
From the US or Canada?
It's a drastic adjustment. If you end up living in one of the major cities (which unless you have a lot of teaching experience, you won't be), you might be able to find the foreigners quickly and they can soften the culture shock. But if you're on your own, the stress will be quite immense and it is hard to gauge how you will respond to it unless you've had it before.
I'd definitely recommended South Korea or Japan as a nice place to get your feet wet if you watch to be an ESL teacher in Asia. There's a large enough foreigner presence to soften the blow of being in a different culture while having enough Western influence to not totally mindfuck you. However, it is very hard to get into either country unless you have a lot of teaching experience. The amount of paperwork for SK is enormous. If you want to go there for the fall, you should start the paperwork process within the next month or two.
I hear that the JET interview process is VERY intense. I almost went through it, but had friends in SK and thought it would be easier there.
