Korean Job Discussion Forums

[friendoken]

I did my year there. Loved my Principal, co-teachers, my apartment, the little town I lived in, hated the weather, the food and the attitudes of almost all the students. I will never set foot in the country again.

I still read this forum, and respond occasionally. It seems that for every awesome story there are far too many horror stories.

Why put up with the crap? Is it the money? I don't get it. I live and teach in Laos. I teach 17 X 45 min. and 6 X 90 min. classes a week. I clear $1300 a month with paid holidays, vacations, sick days, business visa etc. My school is the second highest rated in Laos; the Laos teachers make $75-$120 per month.

There is no hassle. Ever. The Laos are extremely friendly and generous and truly want foreigners in their country. Parents are happy when a foreigner is dating their daughter and everyone welcomes you everytime. I have been here going on three years.

What is keeping you in Korea? A country which clearly doesn't want you there. If it is the money, do you feel like a prostitute?

[aarontendo]

[okokok]

There's no future at $1300 a month.

[njp6]

[umpittse]

You are right, there are way too many horror stories on Dave's ESL Cafe.

As to your questions:

1. What is keeping you there? Well, I'm not in Korea at the momment and haven't been there for three years. But, I will tell you what kept me there for one year, about three years ago and why I am moving back in March. I loved my co-workers. The Korean teachers were very friendly and helpful at work. Also, we occassionally spent time together outside of work. Most of the foreign teachers were friendly and sociable. We spent most of our free time together traveling, drinking and hangning out. My appartment was cozy, could have been a bit bigger but met my needs. My neighbourhood was great. There was a gym a block away, several dozen bars and restaurants within a five minute walking distance and work was a ten minute walk from my appartment. I found Koreans to be generally very friendly, outgoing and sociable. I made friends with them easily and still keep in contact with many of them to this day. The food I didn't like at first, but I grew to enjoy some of it. I didn't mind the weather too much except for the extreme heat and humidity in the summer time. As for the attitudes of the students, I found them to be generally very positive. In fact, I loved working with the kindergarten aged students.

You seem to be very impressed with the rewards and benefits of your current job situation. That's good. If I'm understanding you correctly, you seem to be comparing the salary and benefits of your current job with that of Korean jobs in general and have concluded that you current job is better with respect to salary and benefts. You didn't specify how many weeks of paid vacation and sick days you recieve at your current job. But, paid vacation, sick days and visa run money are quite common for jobs in Korea. In fact, many public schools offer 8 weeks of paid vacation, 15 sick days, 15 personal days, salaries of up to 2700 a month and paid return airfare. The job that I recently was offerred and accepted at a Korean college offers me 2200 a month 4-5 months of paid vacation (yes that's right), paid airfare and visa run money. Oh, did I mention that I will be working 12 hours a week (plus 3 hour of office a week). You stated that you work 17 X 45 min. and 6 X 90 min a week.

2. Is it the money that is encouraging me to return to Korea? No, it's the friendly and outgoing people, both Korean and foreign, and the cozy job I will be getting with 4-5 months of paid vacation. For those reasons I don't feel like a prostitute LOL for wanting to work in Korea.

[MUOhio82]

I had a momentary lapse in judgement and here I am

Lol

[Whirlwind]

Money. Why else would people put up with all the garbage in Korea. Anyone that says that they're here for the culture is full of it. It's all about the money, which is why you'll see more people bailing when that won falls even further.

[cruisemonkey]

Korea is the place that has nothing to offfer except money... and depending on the exchange rate, maybe not even that.

Ks are the most fucked-up people in the world. They don't realise China will take over. They're worried about 'face', but have no sense of honour.

They shake your right hand while stabbing you in the back with their left hand.

To generalize - Ks are mostly cunts!

[EuroFunk]

[cruisemonkey]

[maingman]

cruisemonkey wrote :

They shake your right hand while stabbing you in the back with their left hand.

To generalize..

you better maybe come /and meet my current school boss
He's quite a nice man, you idiot IMO !

[shoeboy]

It ain't that bad a place...Alot o people come here to vent their frustrations so of course you hear alot of bad stories. Prostitute?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[cruisemonkey]

[Ya-ta Boy]