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Do you care about the won?
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hello kitten



Joined: 20 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:39 pm    Post subject: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.
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sarbonn



Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: Michigan

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't see other teachers as dead weight but as other professionals who work in the same country I do. I've always felt that I'd rather make strides based on my own abilities than take advantage of the hardships other go through. In the end, I feel everyone benefits if the won does better. Very few benefit if it tanks, either short term or long term because that new "opportunity" you may think you are achieving will probably come at you at a much lower pay rate based on the new economic reality of where that tanked won might be when it's time for you to cash in on everyone else already having left.

If the main foreigner population leaves, the Korean government isn't stupid. It may be corrupt, nationalistic and sometimes outright hostile towards foreigners, but it isn't stupid. They'll start importing foreigners from other countries to compensate if this ever does happen, and they'll probably hit some of the lesser affluent countries as well, possibly tanking English teaching salaries even further than they might already go.
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hello kitten



Joined: 20 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sarbonn wrote:
I don't see other teachers as dead weight but as other professionals who work in the same country I do. I've always felt that I'd rather make strides based on my own abilities than take advantage of the hardships other go through. In the end, I feel everyone benefits if the won does better. Very few benefit if it tanks, either short term or long term because that new "opportunity" you may think you are achieving will probably come at you at a much lower pay rate based on the new economic reality of where that tanked won might be when it's time for you to cash in on everyone else already having left.

If the main foreigner population leaves, the Korean government isn't stupid. It may be corrupt, nationalistic and sometimes outright hostile towards foreigners, but it isn't stupid. They'll start importing foreigners from other countries to compensate if this ever does happen, and they'll probably hit some of the lesser affluent countries as well, possibly tanking English teaching salaries even further than they might already go.


Actually, teacher salaries didn't start rising till the first IMF scare.
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maddog



Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Location: Daegu

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

hello kitten wrote:
I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.


Well, since I get paid in won, and I send a large portion of my salaray home, I care great deal about the won.

What would be the point in a sweeter deal if your salaray is ultimately worthLESS.

Additionally, if all the dead weight went home, there would be NO ESL/EFL industry in Korea. 90% of English teachers are here for the short term. They're here to get drunk and get laid.

I'm getting my sev and final salary on Tuesday, so I hope the won is uber-strong.
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prideofidaho



Joined: 19 Mar 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doesn't everything ebb and flow?

Of course I care about economies in which I work. Am I tired of hearing about it? Yes.

I read about things on my own time, and fifty people telling me that the won jumped two seconds ago is just as ridiculous as fifty people telling me that the weather is getting colder. In case you haven't noticed, us humans are smart and resourceful above being observant.
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hello kitten



Joined: 20 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:57 pm    Post subject: Re: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

maddog wrote:
hello kitten wrote:
I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.


Well, since I get paid in won, and I send a large portion of my salaray home, I care great deal about the won.

What would be the point in a sweeter deal if your salaray is ultimately worthLESS.

Additionally, if all the dead weight went home, there would be NO ESL/EFL industry in Korea. 90% of English teachers are here for the short term. They're here to get drunk and get laid.

I'm getting my sev and final salary on Tuesday, so I hope the won is uber-strong.


Good for you.

Sadly, I'm a lifer. I'm afraid a masters in history isn't worth squat back where I come from. And I'm too old to start again.
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Rusty Shackleford



Joined: 08 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm from NZ and the Kiwi $ is tanking even harder than the won so doesn't really bother me. Every second thread being "Your won predictions" is getting old though.

If you could predict what currencies were going to do in the future, you would be a gazzillionaire and not teaching esl in Korea!
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maddog



Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Location: Daegu

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

hello kitten wrote:
maddog wrote:
hello kitten wrote:
I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.


Well, since I get paid in won, and I send a large portion of my salaray home, I care great deal about the won.

What would be the point in a sweeter deal if your salaray is ultimately worthLESS.

Additionally, if all the dead weight went home, there would be NO ESL/EFL industry in Korea. 90% of English teachers are here for the short term. They're here to get drunk and get laid.

I'm getting my sev and final salary on Tuesday, so I hope the won is uber-strong.


Good for you.

Sadly, I'm a lifer. I'm afraid a masters in history isn't worth squat back where I come from. And I'm too old to start again.


I can relate to that. Six years since I even lifted a screw-driver, so my engineering career is in the toilet unless I get a master's. And at 32, even that'll be a hard-sell.
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Dharma_Blue



Joined: 11 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

hello kitten wrote:
I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.


Your logic doesn't make sense. If anything, a bad exchange rate would encourage DECENT or QUALIFIED teachers who can command better salries elsewhere to leave. If pay levels stay low, that just means the bar drops even lower, and more and more unemployable trash who are desperate for a job, any job, and more than willing accept a crap wage will come flowing in. The same thing seemed to happened in '97.
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marlow



Joined: 06 Feb 2005

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:23 pm    Post subject: Re: Do you care about the won? Reply with quote

hello kitten wrote:
I don't. I hope it continues to spiral down so all the dead weight goes home, and I can get a sweeter deal with sweeter benefits.


I would think like that, except it seems that salaries won't adjust soon. I think we'll see Filipinos before we see 3.0M a month.

Also, your sweeter deal is only sweeter if the won recovers. If it stabilizes at this rate then you're only going back to where you started if your salary improves. As is, you'll be losing out if your salary doesn't adjust.

The other problem if it doesn't recover is savings. For those of us who have saved some money in won, even higher salaries won't make our past wages go up....

Anyway, I'm optimistic about the long term and extremely pessimistic about the next year or so.
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seosan08



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I plan on staying at least 2-3 more years--that'll put me at 15 years in Asia. I'm getting certs in Adobe and SQL now, since my MS Ed is in Curriculum Design. Hopefully, I can re-jump start something back home.

I'm also investing heavily in the market starting next summer doing the "value buying" approach. I'll try like hell to turn my savings into several times what it is now.
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Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
If pay levels stay low, that just means the bar drops even lower, and more and more unemployable trash who are desperate for a job, any job, and more than willing accept a crap wage will come flowing in. The same thing seemed to happened in '97.


This is not exactly what happened. When the economy crashed in '97 it was dangerous to be walking anywhere near an airport because you could get trampled by the rats abandoning the ship. Lots of 'good' jobs opened up for a year or so. When the economy started recovering, people started coming in.

The difference this time is that everyone's economy is suffering. That may well make a difference since the unemployed at home may decide to come over. The employed here may hang on to whatever job they have since there are even fewer alternatives at home.
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Soccerstar



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: Kyungsangnamdo

PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I care about the won because I actually send some back. I suppose it only matters to those who are either sending some back or leaving soon.
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jkelly80



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Soccerstar wrote:
I care about the won because I actually send some back. I suppose it only matters to those who are either sending some back or leaving soon.


Yes, and yes. Sad
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Wisconsinite



Joined: 05 Jan 2007

PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone remember what the Won was to the USD in 2000, 2001, 2002? I am pretty sure it was up there...maybe 1700? I think it was quite high at the time I was there....just curious.
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