Korean Job Discussion Forums

[v88]

In my opinion, teachers in Korea fit into 4 groups:

Tightwads: Those guys that manage to live on their basic salary with no hope of a wage increase forever. If they own a car, it's likely from the last century, when asked it they wish to go out to eat they request Kimbab Heaven and order the cheapest thing they can get and they bring water bottles to school so they can load up on filtered water. Don't be surprised if they are stealing paper and board markers from school. My impression is that these guys like it here and have no motivation to make more money or work harder than 30 hours a week.

Drunks: Similar to tightwads, except they blow an entire week's wages every weekend on beer while eating nothing but ramyeon and kimbap during the week. A night out with one of these guys is likely to end 2 days later in some unknown part of Korea with pictures of you being passed out posted by another Dave's poster (you know who you are). A truly dedicated drunk in Korea will drink Soju so they can drink every day of the week. Had a real perfectionist of a drunkard show up today for a job interview...drunk of course....sorry, no job for you.

The indebted student: Need I say more? Bound to loan payments these poor folks are often restricted from leaving Korea until they can return home without the banks hounding them. I would say they are generally excited about their first time abroad and motivated to teach.

The tourist: Generally my favourite lot, a bunch of folks who live in Korea for the sake of travel elsewhere.

[murmanjake]

Where would you place yourself? Or do you not teach here?

[Perceptioncheck]

You forgot one!

Bloggers: insufferable know-it-alls who feel the need to broadcast their hackneyed opinions and trite observations on discussion boards.

[Modernist]

5) The economic refugee/migrant. These people would HIGHLY prefer to be living in their home countries but for the extended and vicious recession marring job prospects there. They range from just-out-of-college grads to one-time professionals with years of experience <ahem> whose fields have shriveled under the relentless pressure of shortsighted budget cuts and idiotic government bickering instead of any kind of targeted response to poor economic performance.

These people don't particularly like teaching and could care less about the local culture. However, due to their generally strong educational backgrounds, they tend to perform capably well in their jobs. They would like to leave the 'profession' of teaching and Korea with some $ in their pockets, so drinking themselves stupid is not common.

Category 5 is principally responsible for the current challenge in finding Korean teaching work for categories 1-4. Sorry. We aren't any happier about it than you are. We promise to leave and never come back as soon as we can have our old jobs back.

[Paddycakes]

I'll do it by age:

Age 22 to 25: Fresh out of college and not on any corporate fast track. They're the hippy backpacker crowd with a few Valley Girls and Frat boys thrown in for good measure; they enjoy the opportunity to live in a strange land and make a few bucks while paying down some student loan debt. Still very much in "university mode" they like to over-analyze situations and have a bit of an intellectual superiority complex, even though BAs and MAs are a dime a dozen and most grown ups think they're naive and a bit silly. Like to pontificate on the joys of western liberalism and anti-racism all the while making racist states about Koreans.

Usually stay in Korea a year or two max before going home still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. They are the majority. Some of them will return to Korean -disillusioned with the West- after they learn the hard way that some Western bosses can be just as bad, corrupt and idiotic as a lot of Korean bosses.

At the same time, some of them will stay home after having enjoyed their little Asian adventure, find respectable jobs and careers, often as professional teachers, and live the rest of their lives as middle-class suburban lemmings.


Age 25 to 30: Several years after graduation, they're learning the hard way that the economy doesn't really give a dam about the "critical thinking and writing skills" they picked while spending four years studying political science.

Often saddled by large student and credit card debts and floundering from temp job to temp job and living paycheck to paycheck, often doing low level call center work for the minimum wage, they stumble across a job ad that promises an escape from reality: A free airline ticket and 2.2 million a month.

They realize they don't fit very well into the corporate business world back home, and they're going nowhere fast. Unlike the 22 to 25 year-old set, they've got some personal baggage.

A lot can't hack Korea and flee back home, more disillusioned, depressed and bitter than when they arrived.

Age 30 to 40: It's no longer a question of who is a Freak... it's become a question of who isn't a Freak. With any chance of having a real career and a normal life style back home quickly fading in the real view mirror with each passing year, the only thing that keeps them going is their dream university job that offers 6 months off a year, but pays a salary on par with the 21 year-old at the Hogwan.

All it takes to get into a university is an MA, any MA, and thank god for those internet MA's that can be purchased and completed on-line.

At this stage in life, they're something of a veteran in Korea. They know the scene well, are are probably married to a Korean. You'll find a few normal people in this crowd who regard ESL as a serious profession, but their numbers are starting to thin fast.

The one who "have it" have already found respectable teaching positions back home, sometimes even at the college level.



Age 40 to 50: Their biggest claim to fame in life is making the "News of the Weird", not once, not twice, but three times running in their home countries.

They are the terminally unemployable back home. It doesn't matter if the economy is hot or cold back home, these people just aren't able to functional in a workplace environment where people can see them for who they are since there is no language/cultural gap to hide behind.

Often handicapped by various emotional, health and social skill problems, and in complete denial of said problems, they scare the newbies but somehow manage to show up to work at their university to avoid getting fired.

A bit edgy and off center, they are quick to blame all their problems on "politics" and the world as a whole, but never themselves.

Often married to a Korean, they would like to return home because being treated like a 2nd class citizen for years on end can take its toll, but they realize they have nothing to go back to. At least Korea provides them with a steady income and something of an identity, which is way more than they'll ever have back home.



Age 50 and up: After getting kicked out the Philippines for overstaying their visa, they arrive in Incheon with their Viagra in one hand and Jack Daniels in the other.

Quickly realizing that the action here costs 10 times what it costs in Angeles City, and that even Wonderland won't take them, they quickly run out of cash and are found dead in front of an Anma shortly thereafter.



In case any of you are wondering: I'm the last category.

[eamo]

Silly thread......we're all special snowflakes. We're all having a different experience in Korea. Whether that be short-term or long-term.

Why is the idea of having a good old life here in Korea so strange to many posters?..........aaaah..... I get it.....you're not getting the breaks here in Korea so you think Korea is weird or you have to be weird to like it here.

News flash. There are many very sensible and likable expats living here in Korea doing very well, happy, ruddy-cheeked, and earning nice incomes........there are many different ex-pat scenarios in Korea.

[Draz]

[shifty]

Great post Paddycakes!!! That was a scream!!

[PatrickGHBusan]

[v88]

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[Dodge7]

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[earthquakez]

Dunno why a couple of posts here seem to have disappeared - they should have been kept here such as the one that described twenty something NETs as having few interests outside of holding each other's hair when they're throwing up - classic and true........

Sadly true - as a thirty something Brit bloke I have to say that I don't see English teachers in Korea getting older. Compared to around 4 yrs ago there are certainly many more young as in under 28 yrs old teachers. In my city most of the public school teachers at whatever kind of schools seem incredibly self centred to the point where it's normal for them to go out of their way to avoid looking at other foreigners.

In Japan that was the domain of the foreign veteran who had the 'Keep out of my way, you're spoiling my Japan' mentality. I've noticed that many of the young teachers in Korea now lack the courtesy that I've found to be part of the expat teachers' scene in Korea and elsewhere previously. They will talk to you on the street if they need something such as information but forget to thank you and won't give you their name. They then go back to ignoring you and other NETs when you cross each others' paths again.

And what's with Daejon? Went there a couple of months ago and saw a lot of oddbodds there among the foreign English teaching population - nearly all of them young.

Creepy looking blokes, arrogant women who barge into you in that underground shopping place and act as if they're ajummas with their oblivion to manners, blokes and women with the social skills of somebody who has been locked inside a basement floor flat for most of their life - esp on the subway where they get a moronic look on their face if you are near them and look pained as if they have constipation at the fact another foreigner is around.

Come to think of it, some older English teachers looked like arseh%%s there too. I lost count of the times on the subway the ones I happened to sit across from because that's where the seat was made a show out of looking with distaste over the top of my head and fixing their eyes there when I nodded to them. This is certainly not what I have experienced in previous years. I'm guessing these people are getting more numerous because of their poor to nil job chances back home. Lucky students being taught by those kinds of foreigners......