Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiduncan]

Cognorati, you should check out teaching options at fully fledged international schools. There are opportunities all over the world. I knew some teachers working at the Seoul International School and they were quite happy with their conditions.

I've considered doing it myself but I'd have to go back to NZ to do a year of teacher training. Personally I'd rather teach Korean university students, enjoy my vacations and keep on adding to my savings for the next few years, but it's still an option for the future.

Good luck back in Texas.

[spirit2110]

[PGF]

[Cheonmunka]

I'm certified also. I'm a certified public high school teacher in New Zealand. The things that keep me here are * family * money * cheap cigarettes and the abilty to smoke them without PC people actively seeking me out to demand I don't. People are much the same, the world over. There are nutters there are cools.
The pollution here is disgusting. It's what I hate.

I know teachers in NZ. They are no better, no worse. I'm not a loser for being here. It's just a fact of geography. No sense getting worked up about attacks from the long-termers (who got the hell out anyway (Indy.)

There are many writings about the difficulties of living in a different culture. Some writers say that to live within a culture that was not originally your own requires great resolve and strength of character.

To be honest, I like it here often, much more than NZ, but sometimes it sucks, sure.

[Homer]

cognorati....

Fun post.....you make some valid points but pretty much flush them all down the toilet with your final sentence...

[daz1979]

Ha ha!

I've never been able to get my head around why anyone would go home and flip burgers. What's that all about!!

I'm certainly not going to be teaching in a school in the UK. I will however be going back into the world of business consultancy or starting up a business in the same field.

No BURGERS for me!!

[mspencer1983]

[thegadfly]

Cognorati,

You made more in Texas than you do here? You must have a pretty crappy job here, or you must have stayed in the system in Texas for more than 5 years...and if you stayed in Korea for more than five years, trading up as you ought to have, you would be making way more than teaching in Texas.

Your RN to Doctor analogy is flawed, as both are related to medicine, but they aren't the same job -- and it implies that RN's are inferior to doctors, since you set them up on the "bad" side of your analogy. If I am in a hospital, I need a doctor for a few minutes a day...so if you compare a nurse to a teacher and a doctor to a principal of a school there you go -- the teachers and nurses do the "heavy lifting" in their respective fields, and doctors and principals have more of a guidance/supervisory role -- they may need to be called in for emergencies, or to make a ruling (diagnosis), but they don't really do the work themselves (except, perhaps, surgeons).

Where were you then? Oh yeah, not making your point with your flawed analogy....

You are not heavily armed in the battle of wits, which is fitting, since I would guess you are someone's sock...if not, then your "big guns" in this battle seem like...a sock.

The step system in the US is approximately $1500 a year, more or less, depending on the state...which works out to about $125 a month -- the basic "re-signing" raise at most schools is 100,000 won a month, or about $115...the difference is, if you are any good at your job, you can get a better raise than that. In the US, doesn't matter how good you are (or bad) you get the same steps...so I would guess the US is indeed better for you, since your attitude indicates you won't be getting any merit-based pay increases.

A great job in your home country is most likely going to be better than a great job in a foreign country -- there are many stressors present in Korea that one would not have to deal with back home. However. the average teaching gig for a new teacher in the US is a good deal worse than the average gig for a new teacher here, if you just crunch the numbers.

Oh, incidentally, my first 2 years here I spent about 20% of my pay, and used 80% of it toward my debt -- I lived quite comfortably on 300-400k won a month. 100,000 won a week on food and weekend bar tabs. I spent $30 a week just on gas when I lived in Houston, and another $20 a week on car insurance...$15 a week was taken out of my pay for the teachers' union dues -- didn't have a choice, pay or lose my job -- you can see that my first year teaching in Texas, there is no WAY I could live on the same $300-400 a month there.

Meh. Go back to Texas or stay here -- either way, you are driving MY stock up -- either fewer folks with crappy attitudes in the market here if you go, which means a shortage of folks to fill jobs, which makes pay go up, or more folks with crappy attitudes in the market here if you stay, which makes me look good in comparison, so I can negotiate a higher salary.

[Vicissitude]

[kingplaya4]

300-400,000 a month and lived comfortably? You must really like kimbap.

I completely agree with the OP's post. You have to uproot yourself to realistically clear about about 10k in a year here. Two years might be worth it, I was smart enough to know from the beggining that I needed to stay two years or it wouldn't be worth it. I just didn't consider the quality of life would be such a drag.

[indytrucks]

[indytrucks]

[Cheonmunka]

I wish you wouldn't call people 'Morons' or 'Idiots.' It's not really in good taste. People can express an opinion without personal insults.
'There are people here with credenitials,' can be expressed easily. No need to add personal flavors.

[indytrucks]

[Cheonmunka]

No problem my Dear boy...

I just hate it when people call me an 'Idiot.' Happens enough and makes me CrAzY.