Korean Job Discussion Forums

[reactionary]

well, i was walking with my handler and she said "did you know you cant travel abroad for chuseok?"

i said i already booked a trip and this led to a one hour meeting with the principal and VP who insisted that i could not go, citing a nonexistent clause (at least not in my contract) that i need to get permission to travel abroad (which i believe is distinct from asking 15 days advance permission for paid leave aka winter/summer vacation).

i said it was too late to cancel (actually found out just now it's a 90,000 won fee) seeing as the flight is in 2 days.

in the end they said i'd take the sick leave but then i'd have to "make up" the classes. am i going to have to battle over saturday classes soon?

should i just cancel the damn trip?

i asked if winter vacation will also be a problem. they said i'd have to be back in korea 7 days before classes start. not really how i'd like to spend my vacation days.

[I'm no Picasso]

I don't know if my school is ill-informed or just letting things slide, but I'm heading back to the States in three days to visit my family for my home leave at the end of my contract.

I don't know why they think leaving these things to the last minute is the best approach. Clearly if someone is planning on going abroad, the flight is going to be booked well ahead of time.

In short, I have no idea what you should do. If it were me, if it was just a vacation, I would probably back down. If it was, as above, my home leave and my only time to visit my family for the entire year, I wouldn't. I would be as tactful as I could about the situation and lean heavily on the fact that I have to live hundreds of thousands of miles away from everyone I know and love all year in order to work for their school. Koreans get family bonds. If this is the case, this might be your strongest arguing point.

That having been said, I'm getting a little fed up with this nonsense. I really hope it's not still going on for winter vacation. H1N1 is here. The Korean public school system needs to get over it and start coping with the situation as is. The mythology of this as a foreign disease has got to die out sometime. I'm really not holding my breath, though.

[Hamlet]

My Korean girlfriend works at a public school. She says the government has canceled the request to keep public school teachers from traveling abroad due to swine flu. She knows its true because she is the FT's handler. He was told if he went overseas, he had to do the quarantine. Then she got notice from the government last week--the restriction had been scrapped. He's going overseas now--with no quarantine or other issues. You may want to bring this up. My guess is that your school has been informed, but is choosing not to tell you--at your expense and for their own convenience!

[Murakano]

from another forum:

I talked to my VP who talked to the supervisor and was told they cannot officially stop us from going overseas but "recommend" only. They said that some schools wouldn't like it because of the quaratine so they might guilt teachers. Alsomy coteacher said that the more inquiries about it the more likely Smoe are to send out official docs which may say we have to be in quarantine but lose sick or vacation days.

[Boodleheimer]

[egrog1717]

Leaving for Japan tomorrow night, coming back on Sunday... Monday is a school holiday and I have no classes on Tuesday... Was told to call my handler on Monday and let her know if I was sick or not... So long as I feel fine, I work on Tuesday
(I work in a PS)

OP - If Andrew Lyod Webber taught us anything, it's "Go Go Go Go!"

[ontheway]

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

[reactionary]

[MattAwesome]

i gave advice to my friends planning their trips a long time ago right after summer vacation started. dont tell your school anything, they dont need to know.
"what are you doing for vacation?"
"sleeping"
That's all they say anyway.

[Ramen]

Just say "OK" to what ever they tell/ask you to do but do as you please since your handlers are bunch of idiots.

[reactionary]

The principal and vice principal apologized to me. "Mian hamnida" and a bow which I returned.

Problem solved. I am overall satisfied, but yes I should've stayed quiet.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

KTs are meant to as civil servants. You are not. If you were you'd have your Chuseok bonus by now. They do though like to think that you are a civil servant and therefore beholdent to whatever they pull out of a hat.

But yeah, as you see how they handled it-didn't they have anything else to do for an hour??like.....check??-they shows you shouldn't let them know of any of your plans unless it is convenient FOR YOU.

[Hamlet]

You're welcome