Korean Job Discussion Forums

dutchman · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: My backyard

Original: Stay for a year have some fun and payoff student loans.

8 years later: Stay for one more contract and then move back to the states with the wife and kids and the small fortune we have amassed. The small fortune will allow me to do the job I want to do and live comfortably despite the low salary.

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

Stay for 3 to 5 years I thought. Now on my 8th, and never wanting to go back, though have to start to save some money.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

iiicalypso · Joined: 13 Aug 2003 Location: is everything

Hmmm... I am starting to feel a bit deficient in the life plans department. Got laid off from my teaching job in the US, got tired of having to spend every summer hunting for a new job (this was the third in a row) and decided that if I had to pack up and move it might as well be a good distance. Got drunk, looked on the internet, and picked Korea. Repeated it to so many people that I had to come, to save face.

In a nutshell, two part plan. Leave Boston. Arrive Korea, Keep the expectations low and you are bound to succeed.

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

originally the plan was to go to japan. i had a contract signed with Nova in Osaka but then I couldn't scratch together the airfare money and I wasn't too keen on their pay us back scheme(I had been to Japan 10 times previously so know what they can be like - same as here) and then I saw this ad, come to korea, we pay for everything.
I was like BINGO BABY I'm there and that was 2 years ago.
Originally it was one year here then I was thinking Hiroshima or Kyoto but as Zyf said I met the chica and stayed and its been 2 years. Will be here for a while left know.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

Basically, it is just as corrupt as here but its more of they don't do it to your face but behind your back.
I had 2 friends there who worked at different hagwons and they walked to find the 2 businesses closed. They just don't tell you anything to do with the business' but the strength is in the visa.
In Korea at least they tell you what the they think of you too your face. in Japan its behind your back. Believe it or not there is so much more backstabbing than there is here.
I still love it there though Smile

mithridates · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 6:39 am Post subject:

My original plan was to come here, work at a hagwon (but not as a teacher as my visa doesn't allow it), quit it after a few months, write a lot of tests and also start writing for some Korean newspapers. I've done pretty much all of that. My visa expires in March so now the plan is to keep on amassing newspaper articles, as well as things like my apartment contract, health insurance, anything that shows that I intend to live here so that I can get a better visa in March and become a lifer here.
I have a few other plans, but those are staying inside my head for now. Thus far, I'm quite content with what I've done here.

IconsFanatic · Joined: 19 Jan 2003

Came here in March 2003. Initial plan was to do a second year, either here in Korea again, or in Japan or Taiwan.

Soon into my time here, I realized there was no possible way I could do this for more than a single year. Sure, saving money is good here, and financially it would be best to stay a second year to finish paying off my student loans. However, I don't care for the country nor the job, and will thus leave as soon as my contract is up.

Better poor and happy than rich and miserable!

sid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Berkshire, England

Emma Clare · Joined: 24 May 2003 Location: Anseong, sung, song.

Erm, would I be conceived as being mad (not to mention hypocritical) if I said that I actually really will miss the place when I return home in a few months time, and that I rather hope to return to Korea in the next few years, in spite of my stating that Korea is smelly, scruffy, overcrowded and unbearable at times....

Well, it is, but I still kinda love it! Very Happy

jpal75 · Joined: 16 Apr 2003 Location: NeverNeverLand

Picture this; Dec 26, 2001 Boxing Day; Sydney International Airport, waved goodbye to my family and the man I've been living with for a year. Waved goodbye to a stressful teaching career- away from bureaucratic b.s., nagging parents, nagging principal and mandatory curriculums...I needed a year to re-ignite my love for teaching. A year away from stress and just relax, teach because I love helping a child learn.
What better way than to teach compliant, enthusiastic, hard-working students? Go to a country, where a teacher's authority is still held to a high esteem.
Hey, I heard Asian kids are great plus I'll get to be a part of the WORLD CUP!!
Then after I've re-energised myself. Go back to Australia continue teaching. Marry my boyfriend of 2yrs and live happily ever after.

Fast track to 2003 and I have less than 2mths left to complete my 2nd contract. Broke up with my Aussie man, met a Canadian. Plan to go to Australia request for an extended "leave without pay" from the Department of Education. Travel to NZ, apply for a casual teaching position; take some acting classes then sail along the Pacific for the rest of the year, and maybe continue to teach and travel, with or without a man.

FierceInvalid · Joined: 16 Mar 2003

I came in August 2001, thinking probably one year but see how it goes. Signed a second contract, then extended the second contract for a few months. I still really dig living here, but my feet are getting kinda itchy, grass is getting greener on the other side of the Sea of Japan (you heard me), wanderlust kicking in. I'm now probably heading to Japan with the same mentality - do one year, see how it goes....

It seems strange to leave even though I love it here, but I'm also glad I didn't overcook it and leave hating the place. I wouldn't be surprised if something brings me back to Korea at some point. It's happened to lots of people that like Korea less than I do.