Korean Job Discussion Forums

[davis.sw]

Alrighty,

My girlfriend and I are very interested in teaching in Korea and have decided, like many others, that the public school system is the way to go. However, recently we learned that both GEPIK and EPIK are no longer providing housing for unmarried couples. This comes as a serious blow to us as we were greatly looking forward to being able to share an apartment.

That said, living in separate apartments is something that would be tolerable, generally speaking. However, we have also heard of couples who went to Korea prepared to do this, only to find that they were living an hour bus ride away from each other. Not good!

My questions are these:

1. How commonly does this happen (getting completely separated)? We could handle some distance in space but an hour would not be tolerable.

2. Between GPEIK and EPIK, is there a better organization to go with in regard to our couple living situation?

3. Would it perhaps better to target smaller cities or more rural areas? We'd prefer to be in the city but if it comes down to being in the city and not living near each other or rural and living close, we'll take the rural.

Also, it should be noted that we are getting the ball rolling somewhat late with our applications. We have contacted a recruiter and discussed things with him (ESL-Planet), but aside from this nothing else. Any advise on areas to target based on this information would be nice to know as well. (Should we target small areas because they are less likely to receive applications, essentially)

As always, thank you all very much for the help!

[ttompatz]

Under section 11 sub 8 of the current contract:

8. Employer shall provide couples housing only to married couples jointly employed by the Employer. If the couple holds different last names, they must prove their marital status with a marriage certificate or other relevant documentation.

You have a couple of options.

Find a larger PS in someplace like Suwon (small city of about 1 million) who will allow you to work and live together in spite of not being married (you will need to use a recruiter for this).

OR

Find a decent hakwon (cause they don't care).

There are some out there (like EOSkorea in Yongtong) who actively seek out couples (even unmarried) and the package can come close to the one offered by a PS. One minor setback is that you will be teaching kindy in the morning and elementary in the afternoon.

.

[toniyellow]

I can tell you from personal experience that Daegu is very good. My boyfriend and I came to Daegu with EPIK with the March 2010 group. We were told we would be living close, but noone actually confirmed it until the day before we got here. It was nerve wracking but ended up well.

There were at least 100 people who were going to Daegu, many of them couples or people who had joint applications - some friends, two sisters. When we finally met the Daegu POE at the end of Orientation they had a master list of all the people they were placing, and it was color coded so people who had asked to be placed near another person were highlited. Everyone I know has been placed within walking distance of who they applied with. My apartment is about a 15 minute walk from my boyfriends, both our apartments are in between our two schools.

Most people I have heard are actually closer, within a few blocks, some people in the same building as their partner - I'm jealous of them. From the start of the application we did ask about a housing allowance and they
wouldn't let us take that or even just one of us. Currently we live in one of the apartments and leave the other shut up to reduce utilities. The extra apartment is a waste, but I can't complain.

My boyfriend's school has invited me to their social events, and have mentioned coordinating our vacations with my school so we get them at the same time. So far they have been really helpful.

[davis.sw]

Toniyellow,

Thank you for that great reply!!! It is very encouraging. This couples situation is literally keeping me up at night.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences or can offer more insight into the 3 questions I asked.

Of course, thank you all.

[salgichawa]

[davis.sw]

To all,

Thank you very much for the insight. I realize that it all comes down to rolling the dice. I'm just trying to play the best lottery!

Again, anyone else willing to chime in on the topic with their personal experiences about it is greatly appreciated.

Salgichawa, you mentioned that you would not take a rural job unless you knew the addresses before hand. I've been lead to believe that with the public school system you never know where you are living until you get to Korea. Am I wrong on this or would there be someway to investigate this before arriving?

Thanks again

[missmodular]

Hey there,

My boyfriend and I are also really concerned about this issue. We're applying to EPIK for the August 2010 start date. We're both going to request to be placed in a city, mostly because we'd like to enjoy our time in Korea and have lots of things to do, even if it means having to commute between two apartments. The ideal situation would be to have our schools near each other so that we could live together in one of the apartments. Barring that, having an easy commute between the two apartments would be the next best option.

With that in mind, we're trying to figure out what cities are relatively dense (better chance of being close to one another) or have really good transportation systems. We're thinking of either Busan (like half the people applying it seems), Daegu, or Daejeon. It seems like Busan has the best transportation options, but Daegu also seems to have decent subway and bus systems. I haven't found out much about Daejeon, but I know its smaller than the other two and seems like a nice city.

Anyway, that probably wasn't much help since I'm a newbie to this whole process, but just wanted to share my thoughts as someone dealing with this same issue!

[salgichawa]

[wylies99]

If you tell them that you are engaged and PLANNING to get married, and don't have enough money, some of the schools will cooperate with you. SOME of them will cooperate. That's a common problem in Korea. Many Koreans don't have enough money to get married and maintain a household.
But if you are just "in their faces" about living together and not being married, expect A LOT of resistance from Koreans.

[Cerriowen]

I knew a couple like that. One took housing, the other took housing allowance. They worked for a PS (last year) and just verbally told everone they were married already. Since they weren't taking married housing, they didn't have to prove it. However they ended up with very limited space for 2 people.

[muyricotico]

Ok, so not exactly the same situation, but I have no idea how this living with your girlfriend who is not an english teacher works. I'm planning on going to Korea in August. I'm also planning on going with my girlfriend who is not an English teacher and will be working as a nanny during our stay.
So my questions are: 1) Do PS even accept the idea 2) Would there be enough space for the 2 of us in the given apartment 3) What are some suggestions about this

[conbon78]

missmodular - I would have to disagree. Busan's transportation kind of blows, especially compared to Seoul. Its just because its straight up and down next to the ocean, so it can be annoying and take a long time to get around there. Yes they have a subway, but still. However, in both Daegu and Daejeon, you can easily take cabs/buses/or the subway. You are likely to be much closer if you are in either of those cities. I lived in Daejeon for a year and my friends are dating, one of them lives at one end of the city and the other lives at the exact opposite. Its really not hard for them at all. They meet in the middle all the time. Everything in Daejeon is pretty central, so its pretty easy to get around. I think in the year that I lived there, I only took the subway like 5 times. I always took cabs because they are cheap and fast. Similar to Daegu, but its a bit bigger, but their subway is really good. If you definitely want to go with EPIK...I would go with Daejeon or Daegu because you are likely to be located closer together and if you aren't, it wouldn't be much of a headache to see each other. In Busan, it can take over an hour to get from one end of the subway to the other, without connecting. Hope that helps!

[Francis-Pax]

[Lolimahro]

[Lunar Groove Gardener]

Seems that you'd be better off taking one of the "couples positions".
Those jobs are poised to provide apartments for unmarried couples, and you'd be working together, have same vacation perhaps etc.