Korean Job Discussion Forums

yjo086 · Joined: 04 Jun 2009

I have a contract with GEPIK, which I'm about to send off to my recruiter, however, my recruiter has been quite vague with me in regards to my living conditions. I just want to know, what I will have in my apartment. While I don't expect to live in Buckingham's Palace, I would think I would have the basics right? (bed, bathroom, t.v. stove, etc..). Any thoughts people?

Someone throw me a beach ball because my head is swimming.... Shocked

E_athlete · Joined: 09 Jun 2009 Location: Korea sparkling

one thing i learned is that if your recruiter is not answering questions he/she is probably hiding something. I'd bug him/her about it more.

My apartment is a one-room as they call it in Korea. Has a kitchen, washroom, bedroom and balcony. It looks really clean but to my horror I saw tiny cockroaches start appearing when I settled in. I was pretty horrified because I have never seen cockroaches thus far in my life. I had to buy those poison bug food kits and I think the situation has improved.

Other than that I have a tv with cable, a bed, 2 dressers, one closet, washing machine and air conditioning. It's also a 3 minute walk from work. Not bad, except for the insect problem.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Look at your contract. It should tell you what the basics are that the school has to supply.

My experience is with hakwons, and I'd bet it is similar to public school jobs -- that it really depends on your particular school -- and the situation when you arrive.

Some people at the school might have better or worse conditions than you just depending on what the school was willing to locate at the moment each arrived.

I lived in some pits and some fair apartments. the single residency ones were always very small.

I don't know if you'll get a TV (unless it is stated in the contract), but you should get the other things mentioned.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Oh --- on the bathroom ---- since it is single occupancy, I would guess that you could end up with something that basically only has a toilet and small "shower" area which is a line connected to a faucet with a drainage hole in the floor...

Koreans frequent public baths and in a couple of the hakwon-provided places I lived, the set up was as described above.

Then other times, when I stayed in an official "officetel"/studio - I had a real small bathroom with toilet, sink, bathtub, and so on...

DCJames · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

Gepik is usually pretty reliable when it comes to housing. Although there are exceptions, they have do have minimal standards in place to ensure their teachers are taken care of.

Talk to other Gepik teachers out there and get their opinions.

thoreau · Joined: 21 Jun 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD4eG1Q5k1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBhk_JeVxbE

etc.

VanIslander · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:08 pm Post subject:

who was the poster who had to shower on his balcony?

climber159 · Joined: 02 Sep 2007

When I worked with GEPIK I lived in a shoebox. They bought new furniture, which included a single-size bed, wardrobe, TV and stand, desk, chair, washer, A/C (after I pleaded and begged), and a very small dining table with 2 chairs. My clothes drying rack took up the remainder of the floor space in the apartment. My bathroom didn't have a sink and the kitchen sink had a decent sized rust hole patched with masking tape. With SMOE I had a beautiful office-tel, and with the hagwon I had an apartment of a size and quality falling somewhere between the other two. In short, it's a crap-shoot. Good luck!

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

I don't know --- if you had all those things in your apartment, it wouldn't be the size of a shoebox. It might after you crammed all that stuff in -- I'm just saying...

My wife and I lived in a real shoebox our first year of marriage, and I actually think it was a good thing for us --- you really, really, I mean - REALLY - have to get along with someone if you barely have enough space for the two of you to lie down.

And that was without having a bed taking up much of the floor space.

yjo086 · Joined: 04 Jun 2009

Thanks for the advice everyone. I just unsure what to do, since I'm with GEPIk I don't know if I should just cross my fingers and hope for a decent apartment or just try to find a new recruiter fast. The school seems pretty nice, so hopefully they care enough to give me a reasonable place to live... Confused

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

yjo086,

How far from a major city are you?

This can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. For me, both in Japan and Korea, I had reasonable accommodations 15 minutes to an hour from major cities. After an hour, it gets mixed. That is what GEPIK covers. So, you should try to talk to the school directly about this.

In my case, the head English teacher found a new place. However, I live in a crappy area, but I just have to walk to the other side of the tracks.

Before GEPIK, I lived about 5 hours from Seoul, way out near the mountains in the eastern part of Korea. If you are getting paid extra for working in a rural area like this, then you need to definitely check. I didn't, and when I got to Korea, promises of me living in Andong were quickly changed to "Either you have to get a car and drive into work, or you can rent this old house I used to live in 5 years ago, and you have to live with 2 Korean guys who smoke every night in the center room".

I suggest you not wait for a similar experience Laughing

I later got woken up, 2 months after the 2 Korea guys moved out, to a grandfather throwing my stuff out the house so a Korean family of 3 could move in. My hagwon owner told me it would be the same as with the first 2 Korean guys, but he only told me it would be 2 new people.

blackjack · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: anyang

This is my apartment. Bear in mind that I pay for it my self. It is mine

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daxwave/MyApartment#

For hagwon or public I have seen better and much worse here are some of my hagwon apartments

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daxwave/OldApartment?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmqxo3f56TJbA#

Last two are a different apartment

It is better than the goshiwon I stayed at for fourish months

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daxwave/101_0906?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ6e4Z-H95rSGw#

Apartments here are measured in pyeong 1 pyeong = 3.3 squared meters

This is further divided into apartments, offictels and villas

an apartment building looks like

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daxwave/MyApartment#5323249737963965602

all those buildings you see. You probably won't get one

I live in an officetel some have lofts like mine, others are smaller some are bigger. Tend to have high monthly management fees

Villas are more like houses, you typically have one floor or half a floor in a building (3-5 story building), monthly fees are minimal, you can get a roof (if ya lucky), but you have to deal with noisy landlords

wakingup · Joined: 20 May 2009

From what I hear with GEPIK (my job isn't through them but I have several friends whose are), a lot of it depends on your area. GEPIK is in all sorts of places - rural, nice urban, not-so-nice urban, it really depends. Do you know what area you're going to? And what area within which area?

The GEPIK contract should have a list of the furnishings they guarantee you. Most folks I knew got extras, too, but those are just that - extra.

The typical Korean apartment is small, so expect small and if you get larger, you'll be happy. The typical bathroom has no door on the shower, may not have a sink, etc. The things I can almost guarantee you won't have are: a dryer and an oven. I've yet to meet any English teacher who had those provided for him/her. Your "kitchen" area will probably be very small.

But there is no typical, really. Especially not if you're asking about anywhere GEPIK covers - because that's a wide range of places. If you know what school you're going to, you should be able to ask your recruiter for pictures of the place - of course, they may not have gotten it yet, depending on what the situation with the school is (if you're replacing someone, if they can keep the same apartment, etc).

saw6436 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, ROK

I wish I had pictures of my first place here in Korea. My first "house" was built in the 1920's by christian missionaries. Quasi-traditional Korean house/ "modern" western style. It was 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. My bedroom had a fireplace which was nice. To use the bathoom we had to go outside and around to the back of the house. The bathroom was in the cellar and had all sorts of critters living there.

If you looked closely at the outside walls you could still see bullet holes from the Korean war. In fact, NK soldiers lived in my house for a time. One benefit to the place was that we had an awesome yard and garden. The house was sitting on a knoll so we had a great view of the city and distant ocean.

SFValley · Joined: 18 Jun 2009

blackjack, your apt rocks! heck, i'd even be really happy if i got a place like your old apt. funny where the fridge is kept, guess there's no room in the kitchen for it.

what city is it that you live in? you can pm me if you'd rather not disclose. are apts like the one you live in now standard in your city or very expensive?