Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Starla]

I'm a 31 year old American female heading out to Korea in a couple of weeks. Right now, I'm leaving a boring 9 to 5 job that gives me good benefits but doesn't allow me to save up money. I have some money in the bank but the chances of it multiplying in the coming years is low given the cost of living and high tax rate in New York. I just couldn't imagine working there or any other major company doing the same thing every day and seeing the same faces at the same time every day for years on end. So many people at my job are in that situation right now. I saw that's where I was heading and my motivation to stay here just plumetted. Corporate culture and the greed to make bigger money with no regard toward who you hurt along the way has really turned me off from working in my career in finance. I've never met a bunch of greedier, fake and shallow individuals than at my current job. Some are decent people but the bad ones stick out like sore thumbs and make going to work an annoying chore nowadays.

I have no husband or kids here so nothing is tying me down except the guilt trip my family is giving me for leaving them. I don't plan on owning a home or doing weekend barbecues or shopping at Wal-mart but this seems to be the materialization of the "American dream," a dream that I find pretty unappealing. I want to live a non-generic life and I do want to get married and have kids but not with someone whose perspective is "America is the best country in the world" even though they've never been anywhere else in the world. Americans seem to suffer from that disease of unenlightened self-righteousness. Many have a disdain for Asian cultures especially and some for all foreign cultures in general. I don't want to become one of them or even be around them so traveling overseas is a good preventative measure to me.

A lot of my co-workers are envious of me for having the "guts" to go across the globe although my family is not that happy. Few of them understand why Korea though and I don't care to explain it to them. Well, I'm a little sick of American society and I foresee things going in a downward spiral from the way things have been progressing here culturally and socio-economically. I have a desire for people to return to a more innocent time although most people younger than me have no clue what that means because I'm living amongst a Sex and the City culture and mindset here in the U.S. I have a feeling I could find something similar to that innocence in Korea though I may be wrong. And whomever said that ESL teachers over 30 have something seriously wrong with them has some major self-esteem issues to put others down like that. I've never had problems getting dates or attention from men here in the U.S., and I have no social problems to speak of. I think I look pretty damn good for my age but that's because I don't believe in poisoning my body and letting myself go ever.

Moreover, getting over a difficult breakup has created the desire in me to wander the world. If I wasn't in some way attracted to Korean culture or men though, I probably wouldn't go to Korea. I'd go to some other place in the world perhaps but right now, my sights are set on Korea. Who knows what I will want and where I will want to be after my one year contract is up? For someone who has always gravitated toward stability and predictability but never managed to really find it, I find venturing into the unknown to be appealing now...because no matter how much you plan in life and do things by the book, things never turn out the way you planned or hoped. That's my story.

[blaseblasphemener]

[Illysook]

I'll be getting on a plane in about a week and will be celebrating my birthday on September 5th. It will be my 44th trip around a yellow sun. This will be my first time in the Korea. I can't wait.

In one of my little daydreams, I meet a cute Canuk, Brit, or Aussie and I never have to go home. Instead, I sell my house here at a huge profit and buy a villa somewhere in South America.

In reality, I have been hanging onto my home here in Columbus by the skin of my teeth. Renting it out and going to Korea for a year will help me cushion my bank account so that I won't have to worry about playing my own tragic role in the story about Ohio being the biggest foreclosure state in the nation.

[Spliff's Son]

[Whirlwind]

Also, if you are irritated by the "America is the greatest country in the world", wait until you get to Korea. You'll be hearing so much "Korea is the greatest country in the history of civilization" that it will make you realize that America pales in comparison. If you watch TV here, you will be inundated with it. Oh, and make sure to watch a tv channel called, "Arirang".

[nautilus]

[Starla]

[Starla]

[metalhead]

According to studies, all true EFL teachers are over 30.

[Fallacy]

Rethread. People like going or they like staying, and arbitrary age distinction seems unrelated.

[PRagic]

I had been abroad quite a few times in my teens and early 20s, and moved to Seoul when I was 27 after having done 4 years in the service and completing my undergrad degree.

Living and working abroad was something I had always planned to do, and as I had hoped, it provided a lot of opportunity and the motivation to improve myself. Over the years I knocked out an MBA, started a company, managed another company with my wife that she had started, did my PhD back in the US and inevitably successfully transitioned to a tenure track position in academe here. We're happy.

I've often wondered if I would have done half the things I've done, or done with the better half, had we just packed it in and moved back to the US after a couple of years and done the 9 to 5 thing. We certainly wouldn't have seen as much of Asia and we probably wouldn't have our current net worth working for us.

But by and large, it's not all about the money and the vacations, it's about living and learning something new and about challenging yourself. People take different approaches to living and working abroad, something that the OP apparently discounts.

[PRagic]

My bad...the OP has a positive outlook on Wanderlust! Was thinking of a different, and decidedly more critical, thread. Cheers...

[Nick Adams]

I am 40 and have been teaching overseas at international and private company schools for the past 10 years. If you are one of the people who plans to live overseas indefinitely, I strongly recommend the extra year of study it takes to get a teaching license in the United States or Canada.

If you already have a teaching license, get a master of education degree from a brick and mortar school. If you already have both, you are golden (as long as you don't have more than two kids...or a non-teaching spouse and kids...a teaching couple with one or two kids is fine).

The difference between a decent international school and a language school is huge.

The difference between a good international school and a language school is ridiculous.

The difference between the top overseas schools and a language school is difficult to explain without people getting cynical and taking potshots. You can legitimately have a higher quality of life than you would working in your home country, for 10/20/30 years (retirement planning, home ownership, travel, funding plan for kid's college expenses, medical insurance, continuing professional development, etc.)

Planning ability, experience, education, hard work, and native English speaking/writing skills are worth a lot. The ESL market is collapsing and shifting in many countries. International school teaching jobs are more resilient. Most of the good long-term international school jobs are in Asia and the Middle East.

[YujiKaido]

I started traveling around Asia when I was around 23. Took me forever to finally graduate. Now that I am 36, after teaching there for almost 3 years in HK. I wanted to try and make back in the states. Everyone back home always talked like I was on a vacation and I should get a real life. After repeated failures, and yet again I failed this year to make it.Things kept happening no matter how much I prepared . More savings may of helped but its never enough it seems. I realized if the opportunities and everyday experiences here in the states is what real life is all about, I'll take life in Asia anyday. It's far from perfect but no place is. America is great in its own right but seems to becoming loose at the seams. Only sure thing there it seems is death and taxes.

This time I am returning to teaching in Korea. About the same salary as in HK but no crazy expensive rent. Going to further my education from abroad with a masters degree or two. Get my US teaching license and see where that takes me. Happy for a new beginning in Korea. My first experience teaching was in Korea back in 2008.

[PRagic]

A different thread has an 'age poll', and it seems that it's pretty well split between those under and those above 30.