Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thisisausername]

[Malislamusrex]

So you are saying.... everyone else is going, but you are somehow special and don't want to share a facility with other people. If you are unhappy with what everyone else is doing, why don't you suggest paying for the extra expenses for an additional room and whatever special requests you may have. I'm sure of you are ready to splash out 1 million won you can get a red carpet. maybe another million won and you can get the staff to hang up a banner with your name on it.

[CentralCali]

[Waygeek]

[thisisausername]

[Malislamusrex]

I agree with you the military, teachers at international schools, athletes and corporate workers etc etc etc are children because they have curfews and share rooms.

You should flat out refuse. It's completely unreasonable for you to follow your employers procedures.

[maximmm]

[joeydonuts]

[Weigookin74]

Suckers!! I had the joy of coming in the middle of the semester and not having to attend any of these things. I did several months later attend a weekend session of EPIK in Daejeon on a Friday night sharing a room with a guy. He lives in a neighboring town and is a decent guy. I did a month before that an overnight jaunt to the town I was actually living in with newly hired teachers in my province. In that case, they had 5 or 6 guys in each room where you slept on the floor. I just went to my own place and slept and met them the next morning.

I sure am glad I got to skip this that you speak of. But, in truth, I do stick up for myself. I'm guessing I'd suck it up for a few days in crappy orientation and then get to my town and do my own thing. Most places, you go to your school and they otherwise leave you alone. A few places, the local ed office constantly interferes and watches you like a hawk because they think foriegners are dirty and not to be trusted. Hope you don't get one of those rare gigs and get through it.

My advice just do it and get beyond it.

[Bobo Vette]

I will say first that the dorms are very clean and maybe not as bad as you think. Honestly, of all of the things I found demeaning and offensive about the EPIK orientation, staying in clean facilities with free internet and my meals provided were the least of my problems. The dorms are just a practicality of getting that many people together in one place, especially since these always take place at college campuses. My roommate was clean and polite and we respected each other's privacy. Pretty easy stuff there.

But on the whole, yeah, these things are indeed terrible. We are agreed in that. The few things you can actually learn about teaching will be lost on you since you've had experience. You already know the things I didn't know about Korea when I first arrived - that many foreigners here are completely inept and your job is BS. You don't need the orientation to teach you that like I did.

However, I will say that not *everyone* there is awful, so one big benefit is that you actually can make friends with the cream of the crop. I met several people I am perfectly happy never seeing ever again, but I also met a couple of folks that were really cool and are still my friends now. The week of idiocy and torture was worth it to meet those people.

And I will totally agree with the other posters that said this is a test more than anything. The Koreans are trying to see if you are going to be the piece of shit foreigner they think you are.

We drank after hours just fine, by the way - use your brain and the curfew and alcohol ban are not much to worry about. Again, they are just testing you. If you are dumb enough to get caught then you are probably too stupid to function in this country successfully.

If you wanna TLDR, I guess what I am trying to say is that it's not so bad that it's worth losing your job over. I hated it but it affected my life in Korea in such a small way that it was not something I look back on with shame or anger, just mild annoyance.

[Lucas]

[recessiontime]

In my one year stay in Korea in 2008 the EPIK orientation turned out to be my worst experience. I got stuck with an asshole of a roommate that would blast music on his laptop despite the fact I was trying to sleep. He was also from Toronto like me but a complete dick to everyone he spoke to. He looked white but he was of Iranian descent. I came very close to confronting him physically about it. After a recorded discussion between him, me and some of the higher ups allowed me to switch room mates.

I don't think the orientation or the facilities were at fault, at the time I was just mad at how low the standards were for hiring some of these idiots. I wonder whether this moron is still teaching in Korea or if he's back in Canada, jobless and living with his parents. He told me that he moved to Korea because he didn't get along with his dad, go figure.

[World Traveler]

[Plume D'ella Plumeria]

True story:

At my one and only GEPIK "orientation," I got stuck into a roommate situation with a distturbo. She came and found me as I was innocently having a beer in the hotel restaurant with a couple of new found friends.

"I'll be your roommate," she said with a worrying gleam in her eye. I had already noticed her before that and how she seemed a bit off.

I was not happy over it but didn't want to cause a problem so I just accepted my sad fate for the next few days. And what a weird few days it was.

The next morning, that strange middle-aged woman sat on her bed which was in the open area of the living area, with her robe half undone and one sagging breast exposed and her flabby white belly there for anyone to see. She gave me a suggestive look.

I drew in a sharp breath, averted my eyes and hastened back to the bedroom which was my sole sleeping place. You can believe that I locked the door behind me rather quickly.

She took her revenge for my disinterest. Ms Sick then proceeded to leave the half digested contents of her large intestine, which resulted in somewhat shredded turds floating in the toilet, unflushed for me to discover in the morning.

I guess she was still menstruating because she then left bloody tampax everywhere ... floors, towels, you name it. The toilet was literally, a bloody mess. It was beyond disgusting.

I stayed well away from her and out of that room for the remainder of the days. The woman's name was Anna something-or-another. Really scary lady.

So, I can kind of see where the OP is coming from. There are some pretty wacky people out there. And on this forum too for that matter.

[World Traveler]

There are SO MANY freaks (crazy people) teaching in Korea. It really sickens and disgusts me.