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sqrlnutz123
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:43 am Post subject: Leaving for Korea Tomorrow! |
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| I'm stationed in Siheung. Any last minute advice?? |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| Have a safe trip and good luck. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:46 am Post subject: |
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Welcome and good luck.
If you ever have any questions post them here. You'll get 100 people telling you negative bullspit which should be ignored, and 1~3 people telling you something useful, encouraging or interesting. Make wise use of this internet message board.
Have a good time. |
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climber159
Joined: 02 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:15 am Post subject: |
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| Siheung city? Hopefully you're an independent person and enjoy solitary activities. One of the first things you should do is figure out the bus system so you can get in and out of Siheung as easily as possible. Also, learn your address (in Korean) because you'll probably using taxis a fair amount too. |
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sluggle
Joined: 25 Jun 2009
Location: suwon
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:50 am Post subject: |
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| Make sure you don't have a runny nose at immigration or you'll get deported. |
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sqrlnutz123
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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| climber159 wrote: |
| Siheung city? Hopefully you're an independent person and enjoy solitary activities. One of the first things you should do is figure out the bus system so you can get in and out of Siheung as easily as possible. Also, learn your address (in Korean) because you'll probably using taxis a fair amount too. |
Will do. |
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sqrlnutz123
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| sluggle wrote: |
| Make sure you don't have a runny nose at immigration or you'll get deported. |
Haha! I'll try. |
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MANDRL
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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I'm jealous of you. I wish I was going back to Korea  |
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Davew125
Joined: 11 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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don't be surprised by anything (and i mean anything!) and expect a few teething problems. Take everything with a grain of salt and remember transitions and culture shock can be difficult, but if they were easy they wouldn't be any fun.
make sure you have a great time! |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Learn as much Korean as you can!!! Seriously, knowing a little Korean goes a LONG way. Take a class if you have time, and try to make some Korean friends who you can practice with. |
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oldfatfarang
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: On the road to somewhere.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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Remember: Korean kids are very perceptive. If their teacher enjoys their company, and teaching them - they'll warm to you and make your year a great time. I've taught so many wonderful kids here - and I'm leaving next week. I'll miss them kids, but not the adults.
I hope you have a wonderful time here, and as other poster have said, be selective in the advice you get on Daves. Korea is a 'closed' country, and most 'foreigners' are quietly (or not so quietly) marginalised from normal society here. This makes for a lot of lonely and unhappy boys cruising internet formus to pick fights. My advice, try not to get caught up in this.
Good luck in Korea. |
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Reise-ohne-Ende
Joined: 07 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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Have a great flight!! Do tell us about your initial reactions; I am curious.  |
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DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Electron cloud
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Davew125 wrote: |
don't be surprised by anything (and i mean anything!) and expect a few teething problems. Take everything with a grain of salt and remember transitions and culture shock can be difficult, but if they were easy they wouldn't be any fun.
make sure you have a great time! |
This.
It's also important when interacting with Koreans too create good 'kibun' which kind of translates to a good socical feeling. So even if things aren't working as you wanted, or are weird, or dissagreable, try not to get angry or rude as making a Korean lose face will assure you never get what you want. Instead be sneaky and arse licky....
Example.
Me to new Handler.
' I was told I'd be given an apt. The schoolhouse on the school grounds is not the same thing. When can I get an apt?'
Why? Do you hate the schoolhouse?'
Here I could have gone off on a tirade about it not being what was in my contract etc. Instead I said
'No, it is very nice. But everything around here closes at 8pm and I get very bored, so I drink and feel bad (not true, but still, I want my own place... well I do drink, but I don't feel bad  ). I want to be happy so I can teach my students well in class, with a good mood. Also sometimes the Vice Principal said he uses the 2nd bedroom in the schoolhouse. I think he might be uncomfortable with me there and that would also make me uncofortable.
I move into new apt this week....
Or once when I was asked to do overtime for advanced classes and I REALLY did not want to.
'Oh, I wish I could do it, so the advanced students could improve their English. But I have 24 classes a week already and over 1,500 students. I need to put all of my energy into making good lesson plans for them and teaching them as well as I can, and I feel that if I had to do the extra classes, I would be too tired and so wouldn't be able to do my best for ALL of my students, I'm sorry.
I got what I wanted (see Madoka, I'm a cool guy...!) |
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KimchiExplosion
Joined: 01 Jul 2007
Location: Nowhere near Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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School house on school grounds? What kind of place was that? Was it actually a house?  |
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DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Electron cloud
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| KimchiExplosion wrote: |
| School house on school grounds? What kind of place was that? Was it actually a house? |
Yeah, it's kind of like a small what Koreans in Seoul call a 'villa.'
It has one floor. 2 Bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. All fully equipped and furnished. It's on the school grounds. It's very nice.
I actually would be happy to live there if it weren't for the fact that other teachers including the vice principal (not often, but still...) occaisionally use the 2nd bedroom if they stay late. I'd feel too awkward in that siuation and of course, like my privacy in the evenings. |
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