Korean Job Discussion Forums

[billyg]

"expect to be disappointed"

Can you explain?

[dulouz]

Sure,

I think you are a spoiled American and you expect, well everything.

The housing will be substandard. Yes, they are required to house you but it won't be a good house or apartment. It will be small and cramped and have cockroaches. It will have mold. They are required to furnish it so they will go to the second hand store. The apt is theirs so they will make you move if they can save $30 a month. They will send the new teacher to your place, until they get an apt for him/her. They will put boxes of office supplies in your place and office furniture but you cant sit on it.
They pay for the apt but not the bills, but they will deduct the bill money from your pay and not pay the bill. The landlord will yell at you.

They will not give a reciept for your pay check. Asking makes them mad and then you will be a bad employee who will certainly be let go in the 11th month. They will deduct things ie taxes and pension but not actually pay them. There are dozen unconfrontable confrontations everyday.

These schools aren't schools. They are businesses that sell the hope of the good life in America. You are here to make money, not teach. Customer satisfaction is what is important, not grades. In fact, there are no grades. Kids hate you, they dont want to go to the institute so they lie and say "teacher bad". This gets them out of going to the institute. After that, you are a bad teacher and employee.

Theres more, many more but this should be enough. There are lots of jobs here and at McDonalds as well.

I spent my first year in a hogwan, the second in public schools working for a crook and now finally in a good public school but its too late, I'm burned out and ready to leave.

[Grotto]

Its just the typical Korean way to leave anything and everything until the last possible moment and then you can escape all blame. Well its not my fault I sent the ticket the day before the flight

Oh they backed out gdamn waygukin say they will come and not come bad foreigner!!!

Westerners like to have all our bases covered well in advance. Koreans dont know what is going to happen from one day to the next. Koreans are fine with their sytem but us foriegners are driven insane

[the eye]

[dulouz]

This is why ESL Taiwan is better than ESL Korea

1) Nature
2) Location
3) Visa and work rules
4) No risk of being manipulated by airfare or severance threats.

I agree that crooked recruiters and bosses exist in Taiwan. There is no net gain in that regard.

[the eye]

bottom line is there are ways to protect yourself. you didn't. so why blame anyone else? don't do your homework regarding taiwan and you'll be just as jaded. trust me.

and by the way, you think it's nice and warm there? just wait until august.

[Wangja]

And FWIW I have never felt as cold as I did in Taipei in Jauary 04 - it may be warm outside at noon but with no bloody heating, it feels like ice in the buildings.

And did they mention the rain?

[dulouz]

Wang, rains here too.

Eye, how does one protect one self? Really?

[Wangja]

[quote="dulouz"]Wang, rains here too. ..... quote]

True, true; but I seem to recall more in Taipei, and consistently thorugh the year, but my memory is fading already.

[Real Reality]

Foreigners Experience Difficulties in Living in Korea
Overall living conditions, including education, housing, medical care, transportation, immigration, and access to the Internet are pointed to as inconveniences. Not only inconveniences caused by different systems and customs in Korea, but also special discriminating practices, such as the practice of submitting two years of monthly rent in advance like a deposit, which is required of foreigners just because they are foreigners, are ubiquitous. "Even though Korea has achieved some degree of globalization in going abroad, it has still a long way to go for globalization in embracing foreigners inward," said foreigners residing in Korea.

An official in the International Cooperation Division of Seoul City admitted, "The same complaints regarding visas, transportation, education, and environment are raised every year without being solved, due to the lack of cooperation from government agencies involved and their passive attitudes."
by Jae-Dong Yu and Soo-Jung Shin, Donga.com (July 04, 2004)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR] Giving foreigners here a hard time
While I have learned to read hangeul and enjoy practising it every time I take the bus, it is the feelings of anti-Americanism that impede my average workday. For instance, I have been turned away by galbi restaurant owners at the door. "No miguk (America)!" they say.

Another time, at one of Korea's bigger department store chains, I was refused the right to purchase an electronics item. Again, "No miguk!" was the reason. When I asked, in my broken Korean, to speak to the manager, I was laughed at by the young university-aged service clerk.

Aside from these issues, there's the one prevailing issue that no foreigner in Korea enjoys. Being gawked at. Everywhere I go I am stared at in shock as if I have green horns growing out of my head. This was curious enough when I first arrived here a year ago to start work for a Korean company, but after a short while it started to become very annoying.

Many foreigners in Korea, myself included, genuinely enjoy Korea and Korea's rich culture and history. However, there are some fundamental changes that will have to be made in the perceptions of individual Koreans if Korea is to truly become a world-class nation. A recent business trip to Japan and Thailand illustrated this point, where I was not stared at and I was treated very courteously.
by Nathan Drescher, Korea Herald (October 13, 2004)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/10/13/200410130012.asp

For Housing Rentals, Foreigners Easy Victims
Foreign residents in Seoul are preferred over any Korean tenant by their landlords because they are paying several times as much as what Koreans are paying for their rent, realtors and industry sources say.
By Byun Duk-kun, Korea Times (August 28, 2003)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200308/kt2003082818233111970.htm

[Tiger Beer]

[Real Reality]

Tiger Beer,

And, you have how much experience in Korea?
Are you a newbie? No.

[kangnamdragon]

The school is waiting so the bill will come after the parents pay next month tuition.

[margaret]

I think I solved the mystery. The recruiter called me and said that the recruiter I had been dealing with went on vacation and never came back. So the one that was left was swamped picking up the pieces. I got my flight times today.
Margaret