Job Discussion Forums

[mtnguy]

I'm in the process of finishing off a B.S. in secondary General Science education and will have my Montana teacher's cert as of May 05. I currently hold a B.S. in Health Science, that I chose to do a whole lot of skiing and climbing with. I've been a professional (Lead University Coordinator) whitewater/climbing/hiking guide for the last 4-5yrs and have had a bunch of fun. I started a climbing non-profit (501c3 pending) last fall and have run a couple of courses through. Currently I'm writing grants to purchase equipment and produce a cooperative- learning/community education program on astronomy and working on teaching high angle ropes rescue to oil rig EMT's because the prairie is quite frankly boring me to tears.
Anyway enough about the stuff I do. I ran into a couple of guys at one of my courses last fall/early winter who had just returned from teaching ESL in Seoul. They seemed to have liked the experience a lot and mentioned that they were earning around $50 USD an hour for private lessons by their third month in country with no shortage of clients.
Basically, I'm a pretty motivated guy who has done a lot of fun stuff in the US but I've never traveled abroad not counting Mexico. I'm wondering a few things:

Is $50USD/hr an accurate number or were some guys trying to impress their climbing instructor?

How hard is it to find work as a private instructor in the Seoul area once you pick up a bit of the language?

Once you secure a job working for a camp or a school, do they take care of getting you the visa into the country?

How hard is it to get your $ out of Korea without the government noticing all of it?

Is it easy to find American roommates to share a place with in Seoul?

I've looked at the posts, but most talk about the costs of apts. and say that like anywhere you can save or spend. However, does it really hold the potential to be this $ bonanza or are guys just blowing smoke? I have a few monetary obligations here and some business/personal ones but I'd really like to duck out of the country for awhile and have an adventure for a year or more. I'm not worried about any of the crap going on in the states, I can walk back into at my leisure, just wondering if going to Korea to work for a year is really worth it or if I should just work my ass off for a month and then go dirt bag at a buddies in Dharmsalla and hit up Nepal. Probably starting a Master's in Outdoor Rec. Mgmt. Intl. Ecotourism too and thought I should actually garner some international experience.
those are my five minutes of thought, please feel free to share yours.
Thanks

[ShaneM]

I can't answer any of your specific questions, still very new as well. However,

Korea Forums

Korea FAQs - You could spend hours here and I know that it addresses at least one of your questions

In reading your post, it sounds like you're more into traveling for a while than taking a job in another country. Also if you haven't been outside the US except Mexico (I'm assuming for <2 weeks) I would highly recommend maybe taking a backpacking trip across Europe or Asia like you mentioned. You do not want to be stuck in a contract teaching and then get regret it 2 months later.

Kudos to the rafting/outdoor stuff. I haven't done that yet but here in Boulder there is so much to do. I had to limit my hiking/mountaineering last semester because I lost too much weight

[PAULH]

I would also look at this website about teaching in Korea

http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~jonb/

Lots of good info on here.


PS I have never taught in Korea (I am in Japan) but be aware that in Korea the employer owns your work visa, not the employee so its relatively diffficult to change jobs and sponsors and they can effectively deport you if you want to quit your job.

I have not really heard too much positive about working there except that its possible to save money compared to Japan.

[dajiang]

If you like to try teaching and keep climbing at the same time you could go to Thailand or Southern China as well.

Obviously the money isn't as good there, but you'd have plenty to get by, and it shouldn't be the most important thing in ESL anyway. If you need to pay off debts though you'd be better off in North-East Asia.

You will have lots of fun though down South. You can stay there for ages living a kind of life-style most people dream about and never get to make happen for real. The mountains are brilliant there, the climbing industry is starting to get off the ground slowly, but you'll meet some excellent like-minded people.

No skiiing there though.
Seeya,
Dajiang

[john henry]