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adeeod
Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Location: Perth, Australia
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 Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 1:25 am Post subject: Pros and cons of being the sole foreign teacher at a school? |
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| When coming to Korea for the first time will a job as the only foreign teacher at a school, and a single apartment, make it difficult to find foreign friends for socialising and support in a new country? (In Gwangju to be precise.) |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 2:13 am Post subject: |
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I was a lone teacher for my first 10 months here. Looking back, i wasted a large portion of my salary going into Itaewon/Hongdae.
I'd handle it a lot better now, even enjoy it,- but for a first timer I think its just too hard. |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 2:24 am Post subject: |
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| We're two foreign teachers now but in a week he'll be replaced by a Phillipino woman. I anticipate him going and I WILL MISS the laughing 'til it hurts. I mean making stupid jokes with the same, Western sense of humour and laughing with a kind of cathartic, explosive, manic, shivering completely goofy ABANDON. I WILL miss that! Being the only foreign teacher you hear the Korean teachers cracking up, but do you? NO! |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 2:24 am Post subject: |
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i have been the sole teacher for nearly 2 years, i have never taught at a school with another foreigner.. I LOVE IT!!
i am in gwangju often enough, i live nearby.. we'll go for beers if ya want |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| Pro: It would be easier for you to make Korean friends. Why are you so worried about making foreign friends? |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:14 am Post subject: |
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| kangnamdragon wrote: |
| Pro: It would be easier for you to make Korean friends. Why are you so worried about making foreign friends? |
thats right.. i have plenty @ home |
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waterbaby
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:14 am Post subject: |
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I'm the only foreign teacher at my school and it's been great, though if it was my first job, it'd have sucked big time. I was really glad I had someone to show me the ropes.
kd - I am the only foreigner in my neighbourhood, I work with only Koreans, my husband is Korean, sometimes I am starved for fluent English conversation!!! And sometimes I just need to be around people who have 100% empathy with what it's like to be a foreigner in Korea & people who totally understand my sense of humour. I have Korean friends & I love them to bits but sometimes I just wanna hang out with my foreign friends. I need them! |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| kangnamdragon wrote: |
| Pro: It would be easier for you to make Korean friends. Why are you so worried about making foreign friends? |
Perhaps so he can have more stimulating conversation than what he had for breakfast that morning. |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:23 am Post subject: |
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| wylde wrote: |
| kangnamdragon wrote: |
| Pro: It would be easier for you to make Korean friends. Why are you so worried about making foreign friends? |
thats right.. i have plenty @ home |
Yes, you understand it. |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:33 am Post subject: |
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| you have come to another country.. take a challenge |
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ryleeys
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:41 am Post subject: |
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| I'm the only foreigner at my school... didn't even see another foreigner the first two months I was in Korea. Now, they're firing the only English speaking Korean teacher at my school, so I'm gonna be able to go for weeks on end without speaking to other people. |
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osangrl
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Location: osan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:55 am Post subject: |
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| Im the only foreign teacher now, and i love it. I hate working with other foreigners, they b*tch and complain, and wine and make a stink over everything. Without them, its a much more positive atmosphere. Plus, you get to interact more with the korean and chinese teachers, they are more fun, kind, and tolerable anyways. |
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adeeod
Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Location: Perth, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for all of your opinions and experiences.
The reason I thought having some foreign freinds would help is cos they might provide advice about settling in, and for people who understand how it is to be a foreigner and who speak fluent English.
Thanks Wylde, I'd love to go for beers when I get there! |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| osangrl wrote: |
| Im the only foreign teacher now, and i love it. I hate working with other foreigners, they b*tch and complain, and wine and make a stink over everything. Without them, its a much more positive atmosphere. Plus, you get to interact more with the korean and chinese teachers, they are more fun, kind, and tolerable anyways. |
In my experiences, I have to disagree with you. At my hagwon job, I generally find the Korean teachers to be nice people, but overall quite boring. They work ridiculous amounts of hours, whether they are actually doing anything or not. They live sheltered lives, almost never travel, and the odd time they go out to do anything, it's to sit around a hof to drink soju and eat fruit. Again, I think they are nice people as individuals, but they are hardly the frothing adventure I came looking for in Korea.
I think it's a good thing to have other foreigners to work with, at least your first year in Korea. It's nice having someone to help you laugh through the idiocies that you may have to put up with. It's nice having someone a little more experienced than you to help you draw the line between when you are putting up with "cultural differences" and when you are being abused. It's nice having someone else to go for a pint with, and to reckonize and talk about the weird & bizarre events that will happen to you in your daily life. |
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wylde
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| bosintang wrote: |
| They live sheltered lives, almost never travel, and the odd time they go out to do anything, it's to sit around a hof to drink soju and eat fruit. |
don't forget these guys probably have families and children or are saving money for that time. i don't know which korea you are in but in this korea, koreans don't eat fruit and drink soju and they don't drink soju in hofs. they eat meat and soup with soju and fruit with beer and whiskey. it sounds like you don't mix with them at all. who is the sheltered one now?
| bosintang wrote: |
| It's nice having someone else to go for a pint with, and to reckonize and talk about the weird & bizarre events that will happen to you in your daily life. |
that said, you don't need to work with foreigners.. there are plenty around, just go to the right bars and there plenty of foreigners that you can talk to and they 'reckonize' the daily life here. the schools that have a few foreign teachers that i know of in my area always go out together, eat together, teach together.. i never see them with koreans, never. you are limiting your experience if you come to korea and just hang out in the foreign crowd.
5 months without a beer with a foreigner when i first came.. then, for the next 3 months it was only one 54 year old foreigner, he is my best buddy here. he is fluent so it was great going to the places i went alone and with my korean friends with him. i loved it.. you are robbing yourself if you don't take all you can get from this.
Last edited by wylde on Sat Feb 14, 2004 8:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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