Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazylemongirl]

As I was out doing the stupid degree reconfirmation thing today I've yet to hear about it. But I'm telling my school that I will only attend until 4.30 on Friday and will require transportation there and back. I don't give up weekends unless I get something back from it.

I think everyone should do the same thing.

[TheUrbanMyth]

If you don't go, what happens? If anybody complains they'll probably just say "Tough, not our problem." As for the poster who talked about a union, I wouldn't mention that out loud around the Korean officials. A union for E-2's is illegal.

[Hobophobic]

C'mon...u know you wanna...!

It is 20,000 Won in your pocket...a chance to sleep on a floor in a big hotel, (some rooms only have Yo's)...and as many cheese slices and mini hotdogs as you can handle for breakfast!....YIPEE!

[crazylemongirl]

[ilovebdt]

[Francis-Pax]

My "co-teacher" told me about this training workshop last week. I don't really want to spend a big part of my weekend at that place in Suwon. If I thought that the workshop would be actually helpful to my teaching, I would feel different. However, I can't see this program being any better than the initial orientation.

I am going exclusively to maintain good relations with my school.

[Hobophobic]

Same here. I am going to stay in good with the school.

...my co-teacher says I'm "lucky" because apparently her seminar is during winter vacation and for a week....

...well if I had the winter vacation she has I might agree with her...

...and I have been afforded with the luck of going to immigration in the morning and zipping back to catch the bus for this on the same day....get to confirm and learn all in one day...

[Fat Sam]

I'm in GEPIK and have heard that it is only for those who started this September, so I won't be going as I've been here since last year.

Being expected to work on a Saturday is one thing, but for me it is the last minute notification about anything and everything that pisses me off the most about the job (I'm otherwise quite happy). The contradiction is, that any plans made a few days in advance are often postponed or cancelled at very short notice, but when I tell them that I've already arranged to do something when told on the day, I'm met with forlorn looks and all-round disappointment that I can't just drop everything and go.

Two examples spring to mind. I was busy preparing for a teachers' class on a Friday afternoon when my co-teacher told me I would not need to teach as it was a teachers' afternoon excursion. She added that we would be leaving in fifteen minutes to go hiking a mountain a couple of hours away, followed by a meal and eventually ending up at a noraebang late in the evening. I agreed to go to the mountain but insisted on being back by six (when I'd arranged to leave for Seoul). All the other teachers in our group (there were five of us in one car) were decked out in hiking gear. Meanwhile, I ended up walking around the hills in my suit and getting a few blisters in my shiny new work shoes.

The other month, I was told on a Wednesday morning about the grade six trip to Soeraksan, which would last from that afternoon until Friday evening -only because I'd enquired about whether we would have to make up the Thursday classes. "No, we don't have to because we are going with them". Now, I've never been to Seoraksan and, given a few weeks warning, would have loved to have gone as it was during the week and wouldn't encroach on the weekend. However, my girlfriend had arranged to have Thursday off work and was, at that minute, on her way down from Seoul. Once again I was met with disappointed looks from my coteacher, who said that she thought it a good opportunity to give the kids a good memory of their time with a native speaker. I agreed but had to stress the importance of due notice.

Back home, if there was a school trip arranged, then as a student I would get told weeks, if not months in advance. On these occasions, I know that the students and other teachers knew before me and felt a little insulted that they would lay it on me so late in the day. My fellow teachers are fantastic so I know it wasn't a "he's only a foreigner so we don't have to tell him early' kind of thing.

I just wish that they would understand things from my point of view a little more sometimes. My main gripe is that Friday night seems to be the preferred time for making arrangements, because they all work on Saturday. The concept of the weekend beginning on a Friday evening is a relatively new one for the teachers to grasp. I live in the middle of nowhere and without exception am heading off somewhere as soon as I finish the week. They have longer vacations so it's a fair trade-off -I don't think they would want to meet up on a Saturday evening, for example.

[moptop]

I learned about this yesterday. I told my supervisor that I have nowhere to leave my dog, and I can't leave her overnight.

I got, "that won't be a good enough excuse for the Education office. It's not an emergency."

"Can I bring her with me?"

"Nooooohhhhaaaaaa!" with an incredulous laugh.

"You wouldn't leave your child alone overnight, so why would I leave my dog?"

"Bring her to your puppy daycare", says the supervisor.

"I don't leave her overnight there as they lock her in a glass cage and it wiggs her out", I say. (I said stress to the supervisor, and the dog really goes neurotic if I leave her in there)

"Well you have to go. This is not an emergency situation"

After several more rounds of this, the supervisor said I have to let her know by tomorrow morning, hinting at dire consequences if I don't go. What do I do with my dog? Do I show up at the conference with her? Do I just say I couldn't find anyone to care for her? I don't want to leave her with strangers....

I also agree with other posters that this mandatory attendance is a joke. I have to admit I don't want to go at all, but I'm not using the dog as an excuse. I don't see any way out of this situation....

[TheUrbanMyth]

[ilovebdt]

[Hobophobic]

Byeong Jeom Subway station #1 ...if I am reading right...I will see those of you who are going there I guess...

....sorry to those of you who have prior plans...I would rather be somewhere else as well...ah, the joys of Korean planning....

[crazylemongirl]

Just got told about it... but my I'm too sick to go....

[Grotto]

Last year the forced meeting was a much bigger waste of time then the orientation..some people coming from 5 hours away to listen to their stupid lectures and have some Korean teachers stand up and complain about their FT's and how everybody MUST WORK HARDER

Long and short of it is: dont go...or if you are forced to go...go shopping and tell them you went.

Saturdays not a chance in hell!

[ilovebdt]

Does anyone know the exact location of this thing? I want to know if it easy to escape from.