8 Questions An Employer is NOT supposed to ask in the US, compared to Korea   How many of you were asked these questions when interviewing for jobs in Korea?  

One of the things I appreciate about Korea is how safe the streets feel.  Even in Busan, a city of 3.5 million people, you can wander at night without feeling like every unexpected sound or figure signals danger.  The lone man lying on a bench who looks like he’s sleeping is really just…sleeping.  The young guys standing outside the open-late food stall aren’t loitering, they’re…snacking on ramyeon.  Even when no one’s in sight, the street’s silence is peaceful, a chance to hear the trees move, if there’s wind, or the whir of a floor fan as you pass a shop’s entrance, its owner napping on a mat behind the counter.  Not that I roam the streets alone very often, but, you know, if I feel like it I can.  So on my last night in Jeju City, I slowed down on the way back to the hotel, and listened.  And looked.  Peering through the lens of a camera pulls me into the present moment like nothing else.

Not too long ago, in a place not too far away, I was joined by a few friends for a hop around Seoul restaurants and neighborhoods to try as many different types of food as possible in as short a period of time as possible.  Eat, move, set a screen, sleep, drive left, drive right, eat, drink, repeat several times a day.

Jeong Hwan Shin, a well-known TV figure whose quick wits have made him a popular figure in the variety show circuit (though strictly speaking he's a singer), is in trouble over his trip to Philippines.    The trouble began when he missed the taping of several TV shows in which he was a regular.  While everyone wondered what was going on, he was said to have been seen by several people at the casino in Cebu.  Given his track record with gambling, speculations were rampant as to what could be keeping him in Cebu, forcing him to miss his all important TV engagements.  Rumors spread like wild fire saying that he piled up a large amount of gambling debt and his passport was being held by his creditor.

What are those little white bags you seem piled up near dumpsters throughout Seoul?  Why do simple, white plastic trash bags cost so much?!  Is it true you can get fined, jailed, beaten as an environmental terrorist or worse if you don't jam your trash in the right containers before taking them outside?

    Ever since I found myself belly-worming through an increasingly dark and unexpectedly narrow crevice in a cave in Vang Vieng, Laos, a few years back, I’ve been sketchy about spelunking.  Something about the cold, damp walls pressing in on both shoulders and the inability of the local boys guiding us to clarify how far the exit was gripped me with my first-ever claustrophobic pang.  Probably the worst thing you can think of during a moment like that is the possibility of an earthquake, but that of course is what crossed my mind.

Y'all:   Quick little pubserv announcement from our good friends at KOTESOL --

I was naked, yet I felt no shame. After emerging from a HOT hot tub, I cooled off by jumping into a tub of cold water - it's great for the circulation. Quick! Jump back into the hot tub to really get your blood moving. Put some clothes on, then head into a dry sauna guaranteed to make you sweat. Welcome to the jimjilbang - a bathing experience unlike any other.

In the Rough Guide to Korea, my guru Norbert calls Yakcheonsa one of Jeju’s most magical experiences.  The best time to arrive, he writes, is 7 pm on a summer evening, when “worshipping locals chant under the interior glow with their backs to the sunset.”  So I hiked a staircase at the end of Jungmun Beach, grabbed a cab from the Hyatt hotel, and missioned to the temple, which was built in the 1990′s and, according to Norbert, is considered one of the most impressive in the country, despite its less-than-historical 20th-century roots.

  This is the last part of a three part series of hints directed to recruiters, employers & schools posting jobs on line.   Would appreciate your commentary and thoughts below. Previous Articles in this Series