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Hatcher
Joined: 05 Jan 2007
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balzor
Joined: 14 Feb 2009
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 Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:43 pm Post subject: Re: They say we are only here for the money? |
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| Hatcher wrote: |
| http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2010/07/196_68973.html |
"They say we are only here for the money?" Where do you see that idea in this story?
BTW this is the most inane thing I have read in a while. It's like he's telling us 1 single story that happened to him and it's not even a good one and is told hastily and without detail |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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| The OP's not quoting the story. He's making a comment that although many Koreans believe we NETs are here for the money, the Korean education system is rife with corruption; i.e., bribes. |
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balzor
Joined: 14 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Ok, got it. I'm in Special ED this morning |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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That article didn't have anything to do with Koreans saying we are here "for the money" but the OP at least made me think about it.
I just wonder why Koreans would think we're here for "the money?" The average wage for ESL teachers here (lets say 2.3 million won, plus housing, so about 3 million won monthly) only equates to $2,560 Canadian dollars a month. That's $30,720 yearly. Big bucks!???? I hardly think so! I suppose it is decent for survival, but to really get ahead in life you should be making at least $45,000 a year, at the bare minimum...
Last edited by brento1138 on Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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Well considering what most newbees were making back home...30 000 is not bad.
Add to that the far higher proportion of your income that is discretionary/savings and you start to get the money angle.... |
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rumdiary
Joined: 05 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| We are here for the money. Who are you kidding? If money was no object we would all be teaching in Thailand, Vietnam etc. |
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air76
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| rumdiary wrote: |
| We are here for the money. Who are you kidding? If money was no object we would all be teaching in Thailand, Vietnam etc. |
+1
We are 100% here for the money. For us it isn't about the money we earn, but about the money we save. We have decent paying jobs, but far from high paying jobs, and we each save well over 2,000,000 won per month, plus we can do camps between semesters and make an extra 3.5 million per camp there....so with our bonus and pension money, between the two of us, we're set to SAVE, cash in hand, 70 million won in 1 stinkin' year.
Now....we live VERY frugally, but we still go out to eat and have enough fun....there is NO WAY that we could save this kind of money at home (or in any of the countries that we all call home) if we were making $2,500 each per month. |
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DrugstoreCowgirl
Joined: 08 May 2009
Location: Daegu-where the streets have no name
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| rumdiary wrote: |
| We are here for the money. Who are you kidding? If money was no object we would all be teaching in Thailand, Vietnam etc. |
+10
I'd much rather be living at the beach in Thailand than here, but I also want to save some money too. I think that if the money was as bad as it is in SE Asia hardly anyone would come here. |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| brento1138 wrote: |
That article didn't have anything to do with Koreans saying we are here "for the money" but the OP at least made me think about it.
I just wonder why Koreans would think we're here for "the money?" The average wage for ESL teachers here (lets say 2.3 million won, plus housing, so about 3 million won monthly) only equates to $2,560 Canadian dollars a month. That's $30,720 yearly. Big bucks!???? I hardly think so! I suppose it is decent for survival, but to really get ahead in life you should be making at least $45,000 a year, at the bare minimum... |
In real terms, 30K a year in Korea is probably the same as 45K in Canada considering the tax rate. I don't know about Canada, but in NZ, the effective tax rate is probably more than 50% (30% income tax, 15% VAT, with-holding tax, (probably the most abhorrent tax of all, a tax on savings) land tax, on and on.))
The effective tax rate in Korea is nothing approaching this. And we get the exact same level of services to boot! Really, to have 45K in the hand, in NZ (I'm guessing Canada is similar) you need to make 90K.  |
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air76
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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I do have to say, though, that for the average foreigner here (who is teaching as a temporary career, meaning less than 10 years) the real money is not in Korea. If you ever want to make real money, as in $70,000+, then Korea is not the place. Yeah, some people do it, but those folk are working 2 jobs with tons of privates. I mean if you want to make 70 grand or more with just a regular job then this is not the place to do it.
I am not saying that everyone should aspire to this goal....just that compared to a normal job at home Korea pays well, but compared to a proper good job, Korea pays poorly.....and if you were to try and live the same way in Korea that you do at home you would quickly run out of money...but we don't....we live in small apartments instead of in a house, and generally drive crappy cars and we just don't spend our money the same way here, which is how we can save so much. |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| It's always been that people go work where money is to be made instead of living in an ideal place like a tropical beach fishing village. If you already have big money, then you can go live in that ideal place worry free. Korea is not comparable to Europe. Going to have to upgrade infrastructure such as waste management and beautify it. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Well at least they aren't saying we're only here for girls/drinking/diddling |
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DeMayonnaise
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| air76 wrote: |
I do have to say, though, that for the average foreigner here (who is teaching as a temporary career, meaning less than 10 years) the real money is not in Korea. If you ever want to make real money, as in $70,000+, then Korea is not the place. Yeah, some people do it, but those folk are working 2 jobs with tons of privates. I mean if you want to make 70 grand or more with just a regular job then this is not the place to do it.
I am not saying that everyone should aspire to this goal....just that compared to a normal job at home Korea pays well, but compared to a proper good job, Korea pays poorly.....and if you were to try and live the same way in Korea that you do at home you would quickly run out of money...but we don't....we live in small apartments instead of in a house, and generally drive crappy cars and we just don't spend our money the same way here, which is how we can save so much. |
Does this make sense to anyone? |
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Donkey Beer
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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By arguing both sides the airhead can't possibly be wrong.
Looks like someone is enjoying an abundance of free time at school today.
| DeMayonnaise wrote: |
| air76 wrote: |
I do have to say, though, that for the average foreigner here (who is teaching as a temporary career, meaning less than 10 years) the real money is not in Korea. If you ever want to make real money, as in $70,000+, then Korea is not the place. Yeah, some people do it, but those folk are working 2 jobs with tons of privates. I mean if you want to make 70 grand or more with just a regular job then this is not the place to do it.
I am not saying that everyone should aspire to this goal....just that compared to a normal job at home Korea pays well, but compared to a proper good job, Korea pays poorly.....and if you were to try and live the same way in Korea that you do at home you would quickly run out of money...but we don't....we live in small apartments instead of in a house, and generally drive crappy cars and we just don't spend our money the same way here, which is how we can save so much. |
Does this make sense to anyone? |
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