Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

Ghost is heading for Korea for a job as a teacher trainer in April, 2007, and is concerned about all the negative press the place (Korea) gets on these boards.

What are some of the things you actually like about living in Korea?

Ghost spent a school year in Taiwan last year (2005-2006) and did not like the country very much, but still acknowledged that some of the things in Taiwan were positive, such as:

1. Very low crime in Taiwan, and safe place to live (aside from the danger riding scooters)

2. Generally courteous people....in Taiwan

3. Low cost of living in relation to the salary.....(e.g. $20/hour goes a lot further in Taiwan than it did in Canada)

4. Ghost also liked the fact that Taiwanese never exercise between 12-2pm in the afternoon, meaning that it had the whole local swimming pool to itself during those hours...when ghost asked the Taiwanese why they never did exercise during their lunch break they said.....``that time is for eating only.``

5. Relatively easy (little stress) teaching adults in Taiwan....(kids teaching did not suit ghost)...although ghost found a lot of apathy.

6. Decent place to study Mandarin Chinese at a quite low cost.

7. Easy travel connection to Philippines, where ghost travelled to 4 times in the space of 8 months.....only 1.5-2 hours by plance from Taipei to Manila

Ok, so what are the things which Korean ESL teachers can stay about Korea, in a similar vein to ghost?

ghost

[dalpengi]

Why does ghost speak in the third person?

The following thread may provide you with some positives:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=72817

Here are my comments:

1. Yes, just like Taiwan, Korea has a very low crime rate. However, Hogwon directors probably make up the most significant class of criminals in this country, which is not good for your average English teacher. That said, things don�t seems as bad as they used to be.
2. It would be difficult to describe most Koreans as being courteous but there are quite a few acts of random kindness in this country (purely because you are foreigner). Most of the time however, expect to be pushed out of the way, elbow in the face etc. in most public places (though this will have nothing to do with your nationality � it�s how things are done).
3. Low cost of living � it depends where you live and what your habits are. I do find quite a lot of items cheaper than home.
4. No idea.
5. Illegal to teach adults outside of the designated place of employment.
6. Wrong country.
7. Well, you�ll be quite close to Japan, if that�s your sort of thing. Taiwan does win out when proximity to attractive locations is concerned.

I think if you make the effort to learn some Korean and not to interpret everything that they do as having anti-western agenda then the positives here should outnumber the negatives.

[MissSeoul]

[ilovebdt]

[JongnoGuru]

[RACETRAITOR]

[Fresh Prince]

[tiger fancini]

Tiger Fancini, of course, would never do something so silly as refer to himself in the third person. He finds such practices bizarre, to say the least....

[MissSeoul]

[Fresh Prince]

Good things about Korea. I don't know about Taiwan but I can compare it to living in the U.S. (Yes, I know Canada is better off economically and in many other ways than the U.S. but a lot of things are similar )

OK, most of the people here on Dave's are probably middle class, relatively young and not aware of the working conditions of the poorer people in their home country, so they post a lot of complaints. It's not that bad though.

The bosses I've had in the U.S. were just as bad as the those here in Korea. The bosses in the U.S. swore at me, lied to me, made mistakes i