Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TK421]

If so, how do you like it? There are hagwons where the actual apartments/studios are at the top floor of the school building, so all the foreign teachers live up there on the same floor. No school commute. Easy to go home for lunch.

Anybody have experience with this? Do you find it good? Bad? pros/cons please.

[rowdie3]

I did it for my first year. I lived right above the hagwon with my coworker, so it was good.

Pros: I used to get up 10 minutes before my class. Showers in the summer on breaks if it's too hot. Can go up and get a snack on breaks. We kept a pot of coffee on all day too. Didn't have to go out in the cold in the winter.

Cons: My boss saw our apartment as an extension of the school. She too took showers up there when she was hot, put her little girl down for naps on our couch, went up to look in the fridge whenever she felt like it. The cons were pretty harsh, but to be fair they were all attributed to our boss' lack of respect for our privacy and not to our proximity to the school.

All in all, living above the school was a fun experience and one that I would do again.

[blackjack]

Do you really need to be told the possible bad aspects, stop and think about it for awhile

[bassexpander]

My university job has apartments on campus. I lived in one for 2 years. I had to get use to the noise of students coming and going, and of fall/spring fairs and celebrations. Otherwise not bad. Was great living 2 minutes from my office. There was a feeling of being at work all of the time, although it didn't bother me much.

It was a good deal because utilities were hooked right into the school's system. I didn't have to pay anything at all the first year. The second year another foreigner living off campus complained and we ended up having to pay 50,000 per month after that. I've heard that figure has gone up recently. I live off campus now.

[pkang0202]

I remember in Gimpo there was this one school. If you live in Gimpo, its this small random town the bus always stops at before you get to Gimpo City. Anyways, they have a small elementary school there.

A girl who worked at the school lived at the school. The school had some chicken pen, and above the chicken pen was a one-room apartment.

Needless to say, after 2 months she pulled a runner. I don't blame her, her working conditions were horrendous. On top of that, she lived above a chicken pen 10 feet from the school.

[morrisonhotel]

I live right beside my school. All our bills are incorporated with the schools so I don't pay anything. So far it seems like a pretty sweet deal. Only problem is that I'm right out in the country.

[jsk]

I'm doing it now. I agree with the pros and cons. It's nice being able to nap or eat a meal at home between classes. Also I appreciate not having to commute to work, especially in this weather. I just go downstairs.

The bad thing of course is that your boss is also your landlord...enough said.

[gmarthews]

My wife and I lived above our Hagwon a few years ago. Mostly it was fine and as others have said it meant that you could get to class quickly and come upstairs for tea/coffee/shower between lessons.

The only cons were that if the Hagwon worker went away for the weekend and forgot to leave the heating on, we got cold. Also the occasional curious kid knocking on the door to see what was behind it.

Again as others have said, no bills! Amazing! We could hear the Hagwon owners rows with his wife and they could hear ours though!

[SeoulMan6]

[TK421]

Interesting posts, thanks everyone. Anyone else have experience?

I ask because I'm about to live on the top floor of my hagwon with my girlfriend. I talked to the girl who just moved out of our studio and she said she liked it a lot. She said once in a while the director of the school, a woman, would come knocking and inspect the apartment to make sure everything ran well and was functional, but besides that there were no privacy issues. I'm hoping we don't have anything like the first posters experience. I would flat out tell my director we are not baby sitting your child, this isn't your place to take showers, this is our only place in the country where we have privacy and that she needs to respect it. How did you live with that!??? I hope it wasn't too often that that happened to you.

[nomad-ish]

[Captain Obvious]

Heck no!

[seonsengnimble]

I had that experience for two months. It wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't do it again. My boss was a [mod edit], but he at least stayed out of the apartment.

The pros: It was very convenient. My commute was about 30 seconds.

The cons: Coming home Saturday morning and seeing your students is no fun. Going to the store and picking up some soju and smokes and then bumping into your students is no fun either. The boss was my landlord, so I had no boiler throughout the coldest months in Korea. No floor heat is ok, but freezing cold water in a bathroom that's about -10 is terrible. Also, my internet was a cable running down to the computer classroom and plugged into a router. This meant that my internet was gone quite often because they would need to plug a different computer in, or the modem would need to be reset, but it was locked inside the school. I was also charged for the internet, which I wasn't too happy about. Also, coming home when the school was closed was a pain in the neck. I would have to unlock and relock about 5 doors and walk up six flights of stairs before I could come in and sit down.

[TK421]

[jiberish]

I knew people who had to live in a building next to their school. It had security cameras in the hallways and communal kitchen/living area. To me it seemed like cheap uni accomodation. I think we all graduated so we didn't have to live like that.