Korean Job Discussion Forums

[isisaredead]

cleaned my shoebox, unpacked, ventured outside for some food and beer.

grabbed some biscuits, bananas and beer from a convenience store, got lost for about thirty minutes, got home, listened to some music, read some comic books, drank some beer, and then fell asleep for about twenty hours.

woke up the next day, went to work.

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Watched the naughty channel in the love motel. Got bored and went for a walk. Ended up in Nampo Dong.

[goreality]

Jumped in a cab, headed down to the Old School Pub in Itaewon. Drowned my sorrows until I passed out, I woke up hours later in the Hamilton Hotel Sauna. Then I got a cab back to the airport because I lied to my recruiter and told them I was arriving a day later than I actually was.

[orosee]

[northway]

[theloneleaf]

More seriously, if you have time after arriving, go out and walk around your area and see what is there so later when you're in a hurry and need something, you're already more familiar with the area and where things are.
Maybe try to spot things like a convenience store, or pharmacy if you need it. Chances are if you find a pharmacy there is also a doctor's office nearby. They tend to set up near each other for prescriptions.

[weebil]

started learning korean like the first day. that definitely helped.

[paquebot]

On my first day in Korea our director picked me up from the airport and took me to my apartment in Uijeongbu. Since he'd cleaned it earlier in the day it still smelled like disinfectant, so he called some of the other teachers and took everyone out to Outback. (The other American teacher at our academy hated Korean food, so our director probably felt Outback was a safe choice.)

After dinner he took me to his family's apartment to spend the night and let me use his phone to call the United States and let my folks now that I'd arrived safely. Moved into my place the following day and had the first week to myself, so made a trip to Suwon, visited Changdeokgung in Seoul, wandered around my neighborhood, and explored some other parts of the city.

The week after that I had two days of orientation, two days of observing classes at our academy, and then my first day of teaching. Not a bad way to kick things off.

[DorkothyParker]

[revspook]

-got stuck at the airport for 2 1/2 hours. Had to learn how to use a Korean patphone to call my lazy good-for-nothing director to pick us up. He dumped us off at a love motel that wouldn't let us check in for a couple hours. Checked in, then started training.

[seoultee]

Well, I can actually tell you what I've done so far since I am now here! I had to spend a night in Narita, Japan as my flight was delayed in Dallas but that was nice as my airline put us up.

I actually haven't arrived in my destination city as I'm at the EPIK orientation right now. So maybe this doesn't count. Nonetheless, I've gone through medical tests, orientation classes and some crash course korean classes which is really great.

Friday I'll head off to Busan where I'll have the weekend to settle in a bit...more once that happens.

[Reggie]

It was June 2006. I called the school director from Incheon and nobody answered the phone. I called again about 15 minutes later. No answer. Oh well. I hopped on a limo bus and rode to Jamsil station and called again. No answer. There was a torrential downpour and I went in a restaurant called "The Steakery" or something near the Lotte Hotel and drank tea for a couple of hours and talked with a friendly waitress who spoke decent English. After a couple of hours of calling and leaving a message about my location, the school director and the assistant director came and took me to my apartment and to the GS25 across the street to buy a few basic food and toiletry items. The assistant director picked everything out and bought me Pringles, shampoo, an umbrella, orange juice, and a few other items. Both ladies seemed nice, and so did the cashier at the GS25, so I had a lot of positive first impressions, all things considered. After unpacking, I went back to the GS25 and bought a bottled Budweiser, but I had to go back again to the GS25 for a bottle opener after discovering it wasn't a twist off cap. It was too rainy to prowl around that night, so I went to bed.