| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
chotaerang
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Location: In the gym
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:49 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| Hi, Pagoda (a big language school for adults that has a few branches around Seoul and one in Pusan) doesn't seem to discriminate. You might google: Pagoda21.com and give it a go. Best of luck. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
GoshiwonGuy
Joined: 31 Oct 2003
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 3:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think you'd get some gears but realistically you only need to find one job.
If teachers with piercings everywhere or black teachers with dreads can get jobs here I don't know why you couldn't.
And the kids can be real bastards at times but even though they are Korean kids I like to still think they're somewhat human (haha).
The missing arm will be a big deal at first, then less so, and in time you'll probably have them messing with the stump and rolling around on the ground after faking them out with some faux 'hi-fives'...
If you're cool with it (and it seems so), the employers and kids will likely be much more so. And realistically if you are a great teacher and pull in kids ($$$) for the school, you could be missing both arms and a few legs..., it won't be an issue.
GG |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
I like what a poster this thread says, 'a physical disability is seen as a manifestation of a mental disorder'. And another poster on how children and some 'adults' will state out loud one's 'looks problem'. I'm a bit fat and this happens so often, comments like 'pig' and so on, for no reason and out of nowhere, that I walk around expecting it like I would make allowances for rain as it comes down, or excessive heat in weather like this. Dan, an old poster on Dave's once said that Korean humour is based on mockery. Maybe as a stress release valve given the sharply divided levels of status based on whatever (looks, income, job, age, and so on).
And it does not stop (I'm speaking now of comments spoken aloud by haggie kids). I heard from a 14 year old Korean student, female, that she 'overheard' 'some students' saying that they don't like foreign teachers at all, that is in general. That's the age, middle school, when students can be stubbornly in opposition to teacher and class. Some classes of that age, that is. With the younger kids it's way less fierce, but with one or two spoilt, mouthy kids in class with bad attitudes re; why they have to be there, 'enduring this' and packaged into their already busy schedule shuffled from hagwon to hagwon after a day at elementary, any 'flaw' in the appearance of teacher can be taken up as 'reason' for venting built-up tensions. And children of all ages, the flip side of their wonderful spontaneity and natural warm-heartedness, some of them, can be 'dog eat dog' and follow the 'way of the fishes' acting with thoughtless cruelty. And that's probably true the world over.
The comments about needing a thick skin are spot on. Mindless, mocking, hostile comments are popular, like 'counting coup'. The only recourse is to 'consider the source' and immediately let them fly by BECAUSE they're mindless comments.
I knew a guy who arrived and was 'sold off' to another hagwon by his boss because he had a lot of moles. That is he was hired from overseas, there were too many complaints or whatever, and he was shuffled out. He used some of his saved money staying on working in Korea to get the moles burned away by laser, which was painful and cost five million won.
The herd mentality here has in it the critical importance of being handsome or pretty. And being so anything is forgiven. More up front and blunt, perhaps.
The bosses can flip ninety degrees based on complaints. After having been in a hurry to hire when all they were doing was exercising their authority and increasing their options. Maybe there are islands of sanity but cast adrift a person would need 'job search' money to find that haven which sees through 'the flaw' enough to back one up |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| captain kirk wrote: |
I.
The herd mentality here has in it the critical importance of being handsome or pretty. And being so anything is forgiven. More up front and blunt, perhaps.
|
This is true back home as well. And pretty much everywhere else. The "herd mentality" being "handsome and pretty". You can find those everywhere you look. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| captain kirk wrote: |
I.
The herd mentality here has in it the critical importance of being handsome or pretty. And being so anything is forgiven. More up front and blunt, perhaps.
|
This is true back home as well. And pretty much everywhere else. The "herd mentality" being "handsome and pretty". You can find those everywhere you look. As to the OP pretty much what everyone else said. You can find a job, you'll just have to look harder. I would suggest the big cities, they're a little more cosmopolitian. Good luck and let us know how it goes! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hey, we ALL get stared at...talked about...sniggered at....you'll just have one other thing that gets talked about!
If you don't speak Korean, no worries!!!! You won't understand them anyway! Imagine that they're laughing about your....  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lush72
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: I am Penalty Kick!
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 1:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| ajuma wrote: |
Hey, we ALL get stared at...talked about...sniggered at....you'll just have one other thing that gets talked about!
If you don't speak Korean, no worries!!!! You won't understand them anyway! Imagine that they're laughing about your.... |
Yeah- try to remember this as the koreans around you in a bus or subway stare at your missing limb, and then rub their corresponding intact arm while laughing and pointing.  I am sure not speaking korean will be a real comfort to you in those situations. When mothers stop, point to your missing limb, and whisper something to their children, or vice versa, just remember that since you cant speak korean you have no idea why they are suddenly laughing at you. Some of the posters here on this board are sort of simple minded- and so far no one who is missing a limb has responded to you. Take that into consideration.
I had a cast on my foot and the laughing, pointing, and mocking - yep mocking, was so bad that I actually confronted people about it here.
Koreans will mock you. Koreans will come up to you (especially drunk older men) and try to touch your "arm". Koreans will make you feel different- and not in a good way. I would not come here if I were you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Geez...you just didn't get the humor of what I wrote, did you??? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lush72
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: I am Penalty Kick!
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| ajuma wrote: |
| Geez...you just didn't get the humor of what I wrote, did you??? |
Sorry, I find nothing humorous about this topic- your post was supposed to be funny? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
sparkx
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: thekimchipot.com
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
I welcome anyone's obersvation good or bad about this issue...im pretty thick skinned and tend to ignor undue name calling..and my humour is pretty wacked out anyway.. i can ham it up with the best of them!
I get it in the clubs here anyway! so like its nothing new and i get if from kids..as well... |
You sound like you have an amazing attitude man. My guess is that you're probably stronger than anyone here on this board.
That being said, i'd hate to see that attitude get tarnished by koreans. I've been here 2 years, have travelled to about 15 different countries (lived in 4) and never let things rattle me. korea, though, has a way of wearing you down like no place i've ever been. Things can go well for a few months and then suddenly, whammmo, its as if the whole country had a convention and decided to start busting your balls left right and center. When it rains it pours man...i'm sure for a while you could just laugh it off but when its around you wherever you go -- restaurants, subways, parks, school -- damn, you would have to be the man of steel not to let that affect you.
Whatever you decide, the best of luck. If you do come here and things start getting you down just get the hell out and return to an environment where people know and love you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Look, lush72....we ALL get stared at, sniggered at and talked about. If you can't take it all with a grain of salt and a sense of humor, you might as well give it up! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Why does Korea seem so rough? I mean, several people have commented likewise. They say out of 10 or 20 countries they've been, nowhere is as judgemental or whatever.
How did Korea do so well economically? They are the least world-smart people I've ever encountered. The world is vast. Koreans live in a closet of their own complicity. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lush72
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: I am Penalty Kick!
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gregmgnz
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Location: New Zealand
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 6:53 am Post subject: thanks for all the feedback |
|
|
Its been intersting, Im not put off just lke to know what too expect!
Maybe if I learned the korean for
'Give me some money see if you win' would get the onearmbandit jokes sorted... 
I tend to get noticed here anyway the kids are always curious.. I dont get bothered by others. adults can be wankers all over!...and its all the time!  )
anyway I have a wicked sense of humour.....and I want to travel when i get breaks!
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
