Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Weigookin74]

It was 31 degrees this afternoon. I was getting the heebee jeebees. It wasn't so humid, but still hot. I can take some heat without humidity but when it starts getting up over 28, it shouldn't be unreasonable to turn this on. The problem is the over 45 types love the heat and their the ones running the country. Kids are hollering for me and it's driving me nuts too. Probis my school was great last year and this year they turned into a bunch of pricks controlling it from the main office so I can't even turn it on in the rooms. I'll give it a couple of more weeks, before I start asking for it I guess.

I did go to this school one day a week last year where they wouldn't turn it on and when they did, it was part of July and part of August. Even then, it was very minimally 28 or 29, I believe. There was one teacher's room where they had it one more as one of the rare older female teachers that seemed to like it and she'd go all ajumma on them to turn it on. Needless to say I visited her a lot.

Up until now, I could tolerate Korea because I could turn on the A/C when I needed it. But, this is pure crap. I imagine a lot of tourists and foriegn businessmen will come to Seoul in the summer and never come back here.

I spent a couple of days in Seoul last summer and the whole damn place was like an oven even indoors. By the end of the day, I was so worn down by the heat that I even yelled at a couple of people. I went to Tokyo a few years back and everything was air conditioned. It was awesome.

How's it in China? Either I need a new country to teach in or I need to go find a job in the Arctic. Ah the Arctic, seems like effin paradise.

[DosEquisXX]

Northern China is disgustingly cold. If anything, you'd be bitching about the lack of heat during the winter.

Opposite is true for the south. If you work at a uni, expect to teach while wearing a light jacket in the winter and sweating bullets during the summer with shorts and a t-shirt.

As for academies, it depends. Some of them absolutely needed it because of the extreme weather. Others in more temperate zones can and do skimp a bit on it.

[Weigookin74]

[J Rock]

My Hakwon manager has flat out told me it's too expensive to run the aircon, and she wants to look good for the owner. Like she's a hero for saving 10,000 Won a day by turning the aircon off but on the other end she loses 10 kids a month because of how hot it is in the rooms.

I swear she's happiest when the kids are sweating their asses off dying (along with me) of heat stroke.

My second year at the same hakwon I found an extra remote and hid it in my pocket. I'd walk around all day turing on every single unit and walking away. The manager would run around all day turing them off and resorted to taking all the remotes from the classrooms and keeping them in her office. When this didnt work I had her convinced the units were somehow motion sensored so that whenever we walked into a room they would turn on.

She called a repairman to change them from motion sensored to remote operated. He informed her that they were already in fact remote operated. His only explaniation that was possible was the remote signals from the floor below or above were being read by our units and there was nothing he could do.

I half expected her go to go to the other floors and ask them to stop using their remotes becuase it was messing with out aircon machines. She didnt however.

She ended up giving up and we had a nice cool summer!

[Hokie21]

First thing I do when I get into my class is crank up the AC. Only problem I have is that while almost every kid will say they are hot you'll still get 1 or 2 kids complaining about how cold they are.

I just tell them that if they are cold then can move to the front.

[wings]

Government offices and buildings are not supposed to turn on the ac until it is 28 degrees inside the building. I work in a government office and there are signs about it all over the place.

[Weigookin74]

[Chaparrastique]

[Milwaukiedave]

A few people have mentioned the energy problems. The nuclear power plants in Korea were found to have faulty parts (fake) and had to be taken off line to be inspected. Taking all the plants off line created a problem last year and they were talking about the possibility of rolling blackouts occurring with a single siren being the warning that it was imminent.

The university I work at has them on in most buildings, but not all. When the air was turned on in the main building we teach at I warned the students that if they were going to be cold they'd better bring something to cover up because I was going to blast the A/C.

[greatunknown]

[cdninkorea]

[Squire]

For guys struggling with the heat Uniqlo do short sleeve, button down shirts made from a very thin material that are great when the weather is really hot. They do checky and plain ones of all different colours, and I find they aren't so long on the body that they look scruffy when they're untucked.

In my first year here I wasn't prepared for the temperature and humidity and I was wearing long sleeve shirts, tucked in and not thin enough to let air pass through. I was melting. Second year I was better prepared with short sleeve shirts but they were too long on the body to look good untucked, and still made from too thick material.

I can only imagine how nice it would be to wear a dress or skirt. Somewhere in between wearing shorts and being naked I guess, but I've never taught naked before so I can only speculate.

[Lucas]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cotton-String-Vests-medium-white/dp/B00CEVZ6MU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402357213&sr=8-3&keywords=string+vest

I just wear one of these. I do get chafed nipples sometimes, but worth it for the coolness.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/passion4fashion-Plain-Black-Cotton-Sarong/dp/B0090SPMVA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402357319&sr=8-3&keywords=sarong

^ this matches well with the white vest.

[Weigookin74]

Actually, I spoke to some foriegners yesterday who didn't seem to mind the heat that much. It only bothers them a little bit; they hardly use air con like an older Korean. Personally, I think they're nuts. But to each their own, I guess. On the flip side, winters here don't bother me that much.

[Weigookin74]