Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ThisCharmingMan]

This is a two part question because I'm looking into moving to Seoul.

1.I'm currently living in a medium sized city.Most of the Korean people here rarely come in contact with foreigners on a daily basis.Once every two or three days I'll spot a "white" foreigner myself.It's no surprise to notice that a foreigner will inevitably have all eyes focused on them whever they go whether to their general pleasure or chagrin.But with my Kato mask, I pretty much assimilate undetected unless I open my mouth.People often put on a puzzled look when first meeting me and often times jump to the conclusion that I'm either a Chinese or Japanese foreigner.Sometimes they will ask.I've heard that there are a small number of gyopos in this city, but for as long as I've been here, I haven't even met one.They do seem to be even more of a rarity among the expats here.So, are gyopos treated any differently in Seoul by the locals?I notice in big urban sprawls Koreans generally don't take as big of an interest in foreigners.Would this be the same for gyopos?

2.To supplement my income I'm always out on the lookout to pickup a private of two, but I find that in this city, Koreans have a huge prejudice in wanting only "white" foreign tutors.My appearance is clean and presentable and still under 30 years of age, so looks shouldn't work against me.I hear of gyopos in Seoul soaking up privates left and right all the time on this board.How much of it is true?Will there be many hurdles to finding privates in Seoul as it is in a smaller city?

[shakuhachi]

I dont know about private tutoring, but there are a lot of opportunities for Kyopo in English teaching. Many schools prefer Kyopo because since they are ethnic Koreans, they need not worry about visa hassles as Kyopo can get the f4 visa.

Finding privates is a lot about self marketing. You do have a disadvantage in that you dont look foreign, so people you dont know will not ask you to tutor them.

[ThisCharmingMan]

[cheem]

I've only lived in Seoul and Busan so I can't really make a comparison between big and small city attitudes, however, I can say there are A LOT of gyopos in Seoul (esp. around the Shinchon and Hongdae areas). In some ways gyopos are more of an oddity to Koreans than white foreigners are, so it makes sense that you'll meet more acceptance in a place where people have had more interaction with gyopos. Having said that, I can think of at least two instances where I was shot down for being gyopo (the irony being that I didn't even want to tutor them and went in thinking I was doing them a favor).

So I think you can expect less resistance in Seoul, but at the same time you should always be prepared for the deer-in-headlights thing.

[jurassic5]

for me, there's been positives and negatives, i assume that's the same for non-asian looking people here in korea too.

as for gyopos in seoul, as stated above, hongdae and shinchon have a lot due to the universities being nearby. also, in the gangnam/apku it seems that quite a few come here on the weekends.