Korean Job Discussion Forums

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:30 am Post subject: Working on an island

It's vacation time and I'm over here on an island called Baekryongdo (��ɵ�). I had heard some stories from friends of mine, locals here, about trying to hire teachers here for its modicum of schools, but they all ended in failure. Getting a suitable teacher for this island though is no mean feat. It's 16km long, has a population of 4800, and only one large town. There are 2-4 PC bangs, no coffee shops (just dabangs, the coffee shops for old men who come to read Chosun Ilbo newsmagazines and the like), one library, one bank, you get the idea...whether the salary is the same as jobs in the city or not, living a year or so on an island isn't for everybody. I was thinking about the kind of person who would be suited for an island like this:

First of all the kind of person who shouldn't come:
Someone who gets lonely/depressed easily
Someone who doesn't speak Korean (the kids here don't know any English at all)
Someone who doesn't like rain

Here's the kind of person who might want to come:
Someone with a Korean wife/husband that would move here together
A couple
Someone who grew up on an island
A hi-tech guy/girl who works on-line all the time anyway and doesn't mind the country

This island gets two ferries from Inchon a day that take four hours, so at least there is the possibility of going to Seoul every once in a while. I speak Korean myself and do like this place, but I need the city and couldn't live here. I've only been here three days and sometimes I'm really impressed with the kindness of the locals (I get rides everywhere for free, have made a great number of friends, etc.) but other times when I look at the complete lack of coffee shops and things to do I imagine how boring it would be to live here. But then again last night I went to a bar at the beach and was walking home along the dark seashore at 1 am and that was quite nice...

Anybody living on an island right now?

P.S. today went up to the north shore and saw North Korea from 16km away. Didn't see any people or soldiers though...

Mody Ba · Joined: 22 May 2003

Good post.And what you say about living and teaching on an island as you describe also goes for small towns...out in the middle of nowhere.Nice,friendly people sometimes...but NOTHING to do...and in the winter...we are talking BLEAK and DREARY.LIke to read?Sorry ,no English books or newspapers for sale.Like to hang out,talk to people.NO place to do that.Like a certain kind of slow,crawling death.... Rolling Eyes

Ryst Helmut · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 4:53 am Post subject: Islands, not for the ....

Mith,

I concur, islands are not for the easily deterred. I have spent time on islands, and get antsy after a month of nothing...yea yea, but there's something about doing nothing save baking in the sun and slurping a favorite beverage with a line and lure at hand.

In Korea, the Korean teachers fresh out of school/certification usually have to pay their dues and work on an island, mountain, or some remote location.

Although some people may not really travel much, there is something psycological about being trapped on an island....even if it were 'nice' like Cheju, I doubt that I would even work there.

Shoosh,

Ryst

mithridates · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:39 pm Post subject:

It's my last day here and though I like it I'm looking forward to getting back and drinking mochas and other such drinks that they don't have here. I was walking on the beach last night and the weather had finally cleared up and lo and behold, the sky was lit up with stars. I'm an astronomy fanatic myself and read up on space at every opportunity but after all this time in Seoul I had forgotten what a star-lit sky looks like. An astronomer could probably enjoy a place like this.
I just remembered the first company I worked at in Japan. They hired one guy from Canada who was known to get depressed easily. They put him in an apartment in the middle of nowhere and a few weeks later he hung himself...
And that's true about the winter. It's summer now and this place looks almost bearable but after November who could say?

Wishmaster · Joined: 06 Feb 2003

Yeah, actually, I've worked in several small and isolating towns in Korea. I must admit, if you need friends around constantly and cannot deal with periods of isolation, you will suffer. I would say that to survive on an island or a small town, you need the following traits: 1) Be independent. You have to be able to rely on yourself. 2) Like solitary activities. Reading, writing, art, etc. Actually, I prefer these activities as opposed to bar hopping, so this aided me during my stay. You can get a massive amount of writing done when working in a small town here. The bottom line is that you must be able to deal with the loneliness of living in an isolated place. Burnout is the biggest factor.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Island fever, Cabin fever - 2 sides of the same coin. Been there done that, and have decided that small islands are best left as vacations.

tomato · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:27 pm Post subject:

Hello, Mithridates!

Too bad I didn't see your post a couple of weeks ago.
When Wishmaster described the kind of person who can work on a small island, he was making a perfect description of me.

Two weeks ago, I was looking for a job in exactly such a place.
Too late now, though. Everything has been compromised and settled with my present employer.

mithridates · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 4:26 am Post subject:

On that island I saw a total of two English-speaking foreigners, both of which were just passing through. I assume that a teacher without a knowledge of Korean would be quite lonely there.
In my view, a Korean teacher that has learned English is good,
a native speaker is better,
but a native English speaker with fluent Korean makes the best teacher in almost all cases.

Does Jeju really have that small island feel? Even the one I was on was bigger than I thought it would be and it's only 16km across. Jeju even has a number of universities here and there. I've never been there myself so that's why I'm asking. I'd like to go some time around...March, when there are few tourists. And can you handle the dialect? And why do you have coffee shops in there along with bars in the list of things you hate?
(Who could hate a coffee shop?) Shocked

mithridates · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 4:52 am Post subject:

Ah, are we talking about two different things here? I don't like the 'coffee shops' (�ٹ�) in that island I went to because they are smoky and icky, quite depressing really, but I was thinking about smoke-free mocha/espresso filled trendy coffee shops. I like those because I can't study anywhere else. Study at home and one gets sleepy, same for a library, but a coffee shop is the perfect blend of noise and comfort. Just enough distraction that one doesn't fall asleep yet quiet and comfortable enough that one can concentrate. I was at one today and met a few people, some nice Koreans who were curious about what I was reading.
As for Jeju-do, here are some sentences I just found online:

Seoul:���ʽÿ�. ��ֵ� �� ϴϱ� �� ϴ�� 𸣰ھ�� ?
Jeju:ȥ��ɼ� ��ֵ� �� 㳭 ��Űŷ� ��ŵ� �� ?

Seoul:��ͼ� ��ʽÿ�.
Jeju:ȥ�� .

Seoul:�� ־��ϱ�?
Jeju:�� ̽ʵ�?

Seoul:�� ٰ� ��ʴϱ�?
Jeju:�� Ѽ��?

I think that's good that you get to learn a dialect though. Sounds like fun.

mithridates · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 4:57 am Post subject:

I used to live in Fukuoka in Japan and they have a really cute dialect there. The thing about dialects is that those who speak them also speak the language in the capital and thus are effectively bilingual. Those who are from the capital speak the common language and generally can't understand the others, so after a bit of time in Jejudo when you've picked up the dialect I suspect people from Seoul will begin to look a bit dull. That's the experience I had in Japan myself. Also dialects don't generally differentiate between age so it's a lot more relaxing; instead of thinking about who's older and how close you are, just start out with the dialect and keep it simple. I think it'll be worth it, whether it's difficult or not. I'm quite sure you'll be able to find places to seriously study it there.

gang ah jee · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: city of paper

that jeju dialect is simply adorable.

reminds me a bit of korean netspeak.

Zyzyfer · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 1:21 am Post subject:

Jejudo was awesome. I know I was only there on vacation, but I'm quite solitary myself(I. Chica was with me, but still), so living out in the boonies somewhere is totally bearable by me. Actually, it's what I need.

But I don't think I'm getting another contract in Korea after this one, not for a little while, anyways. Time to move on for a bit.

katydid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...