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rayne
Joined: 05 Aug 2009
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 Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:40 am Post subject: Living with a Friend |
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*Please note that we're not going for another 2-3 years but I like to plan early! I know maybe things will change... but I'd like to know now!
My friend and I want to live together when we go to Korea. I will be teaching (hopefully!  ) and she will not... she's going to try and find a non-teaching job related to her degree.
The thing is, will any hawgon let me live with someone? To my knowledge, since they pay your rent, that probably means that they assign you where you live? Can I ask them to give me a bigger place or something? My friend is willing to pay her half as long as we can live together.
Also, do I have much choice in which city I can live in? It seems as if there is more of a choice in Korea than other places.
In the Japan forums it looks like this:
"Where's a good place in Japan to live/teach?"
Answer: You don't get much choice, you'll probably be stuck in a rural area.
In the Korean forums:
"Where's a good place in Korea to live/teach?"
Answer: You should go to *insert Korean city here*!
My friend wants to go to Seoul, but I kind of want to go to Busan or somewhere else. But since she's planning to live in Korea long term/permanently while I'll just be staying for 2 years or so, I think it's more fair just to go where she goes.
So if I do have more of a choice to work where I want to go, I guess I'll focus on Seoul, but if there's no choice I'll apply all over the place equally. |
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Goon-Yang
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Duh
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:55 am Post subject: |
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Tell your friend she'll only get a job in her field if she can do something no Korean can do. Why would they hire her? What's her major? Is she a Korean American?
Your friend might be in for a surprise when she gets there and "doesn't want to teach". |
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rayne
Joined: 05 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:16 am Post subject: |
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| Goon-Yang wrote: |
Tell your friend she'll only get a job in her field if she can do something no Korean can do. Why would they hire her? What's her major? Is she a Korean American?
Your friend might be in for a surprise when she gets there and "doesn't want to teach". |
I won't go much into detail since my question isn't if she can find a job or not.
But she's studying a lot of languages and I think she's pretty good at them so she probably has that to her advantage. She'll probably work in a hotel? Airport? Travel agency? We never really talked about it.
And we're not American nor Korean. We're Canadian and Chinese.
Ummm... I never directly said that she "doesn't want to teach" so I don't know why you put quotes in there... but she actually plans to get a job teaching (a short term, summer one, if possible) and job hunt for another non-teaching job at the same time. I think she'll do that if she doesn't find a job right away. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:28 am Post subject: |
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| rayne wrote: |
I won't go much into detail since my question isn't if she can find a job or not.
But she's studying a lot of languages and I think she's pretty good at them so she probably has that to her advantage. She'll probably work in a hotel? Airport? Travel agency? We never really talked about it.
And we're not American nor Korean. We're Canadian and Chinese.
Ummm... I never directly said that she "doesn't want to teach" so I don't know why you put quotes in there... but she actually plans to get a job teaching (a short term, summer one, if possible) and job hunt for another non-teaching job at the same time. I think she'll do that if she doesn't find a job right away. |
I hate to break it to ya, but finding a non-teaching job in Korea is going to be very difficult, probably next to impossible. ESL teachers can get hagwons and public schools to sponsor them for visas because they are in demand. However, other than teaching English, we are not very in demand over there. A few foreigners move into management positions in hagwons sometimes, or land the occasional editing/translating jobs, or do something else, but those types of jobs are few and far between. Your friend won't be able to just go over there and land some random job. I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you honestly. |
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rayne
Joined: 05 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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| AgentM wrote: |
| rayne wrote: |
I won't go much into detail since my question isn't if she can find a job or not.
But she's studying a lot of languages and I think she's pretty good at them so she probably has that to her advantage. She'll probably work in a hotel? Airport? Travel agency? We never really talked about it.
And we're not American nor Korean. We're Canadian and Chinese.
Ummm... I never directly said that she "doesn't want to teach" so I don't know why you put quotes in there... but she actually plans to get a job teaching (a short term, summer one, if possible) and job hunt for another non-teaching job at the same time. I think she'll do that if she doesn't find a job right away. |
I hate to break it to ya, but finding a non-teaching job in Korea is going to be very difficult, probably next to impossible. ESL teachers can get hagwons and public schools to sponsor them for visas because they are in demand. However, other than teaching English, we are not very in demand over there. A few foreigners move into management positions in hagwons sometimes, or land the occasional editing/translating jobs, or do something else, but those types of jobs are few and far between. Your friend won't be able to just go over there and land some random job. I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you honestly. |
I totally understand, and I'm sure she does too but she's really dedicated to doing this... She really wants to live in Korea for the long term. All I can do is support her decision and wish her good luck.
I'm still hoping the questions I actually asked would be answered though. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Sorry I don't have the answers the OP is seeking, but I would like other posters to kindly refrain from giving him or her all this unsolicited, negative advice and off-topic commentary. Please, say nothing that might discourage the OP & friend from making the big leap. See, I don't know if I'll still be in Korea come 2012, but you can bet I'll be on Dave's like a fat kid on a 초코파이 to watch the fireworks when Miss (or Mister) "I Plan 3 Years in Advance" squares off against the Republic of Last-minute Changes and Nasty Surprises. |
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Carla
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
| Sorry I don't have the answers the OP is seeking, but I would like other posters to kindly refrain from giving him or her all this unsolicited, negative advice and off-topic commentary. Please, say nothing that might discourage the OP & friend from making the big leap. See, I don't know if I'll still be in Korea come 2012, but you can bet I'll be on Dave's like a fat kid on a 초코파이 to watch the fireworks when Miss (or Mister) "I Plan 3 Years in Advance" squares off against the Republic of Last-minute Changes and Nasty Surprises. |
Ok, you get today's prize~!
To the OP, the answer is.... It Depends!
It depends on the contract, the size of the apartment, the exact location of the apartment. You are going to have a slightly harder time than normal finding a job, and your friend is going to have a hell of a time finding a job if she's looking for a job besides teaching, and when she finds one, who knows if it will be near yours (because your apartment will be near your job). If you both get jobs in Seoul, it's still a long way from one side to the other. If you have a nice sized apartment, it might be too far away from her job for you to live together.
Either way, good luck to the both of you. |
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thoreau
Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Surf the web and find 3 or 4 recruiters. Tell them you are looking into teaching in Korea and you want to know if a 'friend' can live with you in the space furnished by your employer. They should have a good idea on if this is ok or not. |
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Goon-Yang
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Duh
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| rayne wrote: |
| Goon-Yang wrote: |
Tell your friend she'll only get a job in her field if she can do something no Korean can do. Why would they hire her? What's her major? Is she a Korean American?
Your friend might be in for a surprise when she gets there and "doesn't want to teach". |
I won't go much into detail since my question isn't if she can find a job or not.
But she's studying a lot of languages and I think she's pretty good at them so she probably has that to her advantage. She'll probably work in a hotel? Airport? Travel agency? We never really talked about it.
And we're not American nor Korean. We're Canadian and Chinese.
Ummm... I never directly said that she "doesn't want to teach" so I don't know why you put quotes in there... but she actually plans to get a job teaching (a short term, summer one, if possible) and job hunt for another non-teaching job at the same time. I think she'll do that if she doesn't find a job right away. |
I put them in quote cause that's what she's going to be doing. Loads of my students want to work in hotel/tourism fields. Most of them speak great english, so like I said, you're friend isn't going to get a job doing what she wants.
She has no connections. She can't speak Korean. You said she speaks a bunch of languages, but so do a bunch of Koreans going for the same job. It's too much of a pain to hire your friend when they could hire a Korean. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| She could marry a Korean. |
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benji
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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I must ask, as a Chinese woman, why has she committed herself to living in Korea permanently? I have known numerous Chinese gals here, and all have hated it, citing poor treatment by Koreans.
As far as her getting a job at a hotel or some such, she needs to get that idea out of her head quick. Aint gonna happen. No way no day.
Also two or three years from now is an eternity: we might see complete global financial meltdown by then, Kim Jong Il might be dead. Could put a crimp in your plans. |
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rayne
Joined: 05 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Carla wrote: |
Ok, you get today's prize~!
To the OP, the answer is.... It Depends!
It depends on the contract, the size of the apartment, the exact location of the apartment. You are going to have a slightly harder time than normal finding a job, and your friend is going to have a hell of a time finding a job if she's looking for a job besides teaching, and when she finds one, who knows if it will be near yours (because your apartment will be near your job). If you both get jobs in Seoul, it's still a long way from one side to the other. If you have a nice sized apartment, it might be too far away from her job for you to live together.
Either way, good luck to the both of you. |
Thanks, I guess I kind of expected that answer.... I've been a lurker for a while and it seems like some people have roommates but that's probably because they've been in Korea for a while or something.
Ideally, we'll want to live together, help each other out but it'll be okay if we live apart but can easily meet up and hang out.
Would it be completely rude to ask the employer if my friend and I can live together? We're both female and straight so it's not like "omg a guy and a girl in their 20's who are NOT married living together?! Call the Korean police!" I know Koreans are pretty conservative.
I can lie and say she's my cousin or something... we have the same last name 
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| She could marry a Korean. |
She probably will, actually.
| benji wrote: |
I must ask, as a Chinese woman, why has she committed herself to living in Korea permanently? I have known numerous Chinese gals here, and all have hated it, citing poor treatment by Koreans.
As far as her getting a job at a hotel or some such, she needs to get that idea out of her head quick. Aint gonna happen. No way no day.
Also two or three years from now is an eternity: we might see complete global financial meltdown by then, Kim Jong Il might be dead. Could put a crimp in your plans. |
She's pretty crazy about Korea and Korean culture, I'm guessing that's why. She goes to Korea every summer (lives there 1-2 months at a time) and she's intent and going back for the long term.
Yeah I know 2-3 years is a long way off, but I'm a planner, I always need to plan ahead even if I end up not even going with the plan. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't listen to the people on here who say it is impossible. They don't know. On a positive note, I do know a Taiwanese girl here and she works at one of the top hotels in Seoul. So, yes, it is possible for her to get a job at a hotel. Whether or not it is likely, that's a different issue. |
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Carla
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| rayne wrote: |
Thanks, I guess I kind of expected that answer.... I've been a lurker for a while and it seems like some people have roommates but that's probably because they've been in Korea for a while or something.
Ideally, we'll want to live together, help each other out but it'll be okay if we live apart but can easily meet up and hang out.
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Oh, you're friends, not "friends." LOL, it doesn't make that much of a difference. Unless your contract specifically states no roommates, it shouldn't be a problem. You are responsible for all utilities anyway, so it won't make a difference. When I first went to Korea, I stayed at my friends house but she had plenty of room. |
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rayne
Joined: 05 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Carla wrote: |
| rayne wrote: |
Thanks, I guess I kind of expected that answer.... I've been a lurker for a while and it seems like some people have roommates but that's probably because they've been in Korea for a while or something.
Ideally, we'll want to live together, help each other out but it'll be okay if we live apart but can easily meet up and hang out.
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Oh, you're friends, not "friends." LOL, it doesn't make that much of a difference. Unless your contract specifically states no roommates, it shouldn't be a problem. You are responsible for all utilities anyway, so it won't make a difference. When I first went to Korea, I stayed at my friends house but she had plenty of room. |
Yeah I thought about just letting her live with me (without telling the employer...) but the problem is space. I know some people who recently came back from living in Japan and their apartments are so small. Is it the same in Korea? We don't mind small, but we really need enough room so we won't drive each other nuts.
We've been friends since high school and we've heard that myth about being best friends in high school, but then becoming enemies after becoming roommates and driving one another insane.  |
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