Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teacherk]

I am not at all of a sickly person, but in my 5 months in Northern Seoul, it has been one thing after another. A lot of which were due to my employer setting me up very poorly. I am at a typical hagwon situation-I get paid on time, but lots of promises have remained unfulfilled. I am the only foreigner at my school and basic things are tough for my boss. They moved me two days after I got here to a very small (12X12 square foot) apartment but in a brand new building. I arrived in the end of November and heat was not set up in the new apartment. They made the call the following day, but I caught a cold from the jet lag and a very cold night. There must be a construction defect in my building and I had a massive mold problem. I was throwing up everyday for quite a while and they dragged their feet moving me. I was finally moved to the apartment next door with no visible mold and was doing a bit better. The building is in the middle of a construction zone which starts before 7:00AM which is effecting my sleep since I work a later shift and I am also concerned by what I am breathing in. I do have asthma, but it is normally not bad. These past few days have been awful. I have been coughing and throwing up because I can hardly breathe. I took my second sick day today (the other from the mold). I have a note from the doctor telling me to stay home today, but I know how they feel about sick days over here. Although my job is not 100% ideal, I really like the teaching and was going to stick it out the year. Now that I am seriously sick once again, I am reconsidering. I value my health. What I really need is a vacation, to breath fresh air, sleep and rest but I am told that I can�t use any of my 10 days for 3 more months.

I don�t want to do anything rash and am really interested if others have had similar health problems. Any advice would be helpful.
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[English Matt]

Contact a recruiter, look for job openings in Public Schools, get one and quit your current job. Never understand why people put up with hagwons. At a public school you should get a decent apartment, if you need sick time you will get it, and most importantly tou will get those vacations that you so desperately need.

[teacherk]

I have heard very differing things about switching jobs in Korea. Some say that you can�t, some say that you can�t without leaving the country/being here for at least 9 months, some say that you need a release letter from your first job. I have only been here for 5 months. Also, it is not all bad. I really like the work teaching and enjoy a set up where I get to make my own lesson plans and teach without a lot of supervision/rules. My kids were really, really bad at first, but I have been able to turn around some of the worst classes. I also question how much better a new situation would be. I have been really, really sick and think that starting a new job would not be the best for my health. Some of it has been flat out bad luck with the mold and construction. Again, I am not a sickly person and wonder if anyone else has experienced such ongoing sickness. I just know that I can�t take another 7 months of constant sickness yet don�t want to do anything rash.[url][/url][url][/url][url][/url]

[balzor]

[CeleryMan]

Get rich or die tryin?

I joke... I joke....

The glue from the cheap drywall is making you wheez, cough, and puke, trust me.

Get yourself right, good luck.

[salgichawa]

[Lolimahro]

A new apartment (at the very least) would do you a world of good.

To be honest, I've been sick every month since I moved here in August 2009. A lot of it is probably from working with kids who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom and don't take sick days off from school to get better. The kids in my classes are always sick. To make matters worse, I have a 19-month-old son who attends daycare 3 days a week and he's ALWAYS got a cold.

On April 4 I caught a cold which turned into tonsilitis and I'm still not better. Tonsilitis is going around - a lot of friends of mine have caught it, or their kids have caught it - so I would get your health checked out frequently. I've dropped nearly 200k this month on doctor visits and medication for my son and myself with no end in sight.

So, what I was really trying to say is this: A lot of people get sick when they come to Korea. When I was first here in 2002 the military people I knew had a word for it: "The Korean Crud". Especially since you came in the winter, and the seasons are changing now, you could be sick from anything and not just from your job.

I hope you feel better soon, and find something that works from you - even if it means ditching your current job.

Good luck!

[Adventurer]

Did they change the laws again regarding changing jobs? I thougt you had to be on the job for 9 months. That was my situation when I changed jobs.

[Dazed and Confused]

Buy yourself a dehumidifier and leave it on all the time. That should help with some of the mold problems. Also spray all the mold spots with mold killer. Ask your school about it or have a Korean friend help you find some.
Go to a big hospital and see the appropriate specialist.

[balzor]

[mimis]

Can't you ask your boss for a housing allowance and find your own apartment? If you like everything else you've got going on, you really only need to find a solution for your housing situation. Just don't neglect your health....you'll need for a long time to come^^

Good luck!

[saram_]

Sit down with someone at work maybe your boss or someone you feel more comfortable with that has some authority in there and explain exactly your situation..

Tell them you need to change your apartment as its causing you too much damage and it is a very serious problem. At the very least they should give you all the help you need to sort out the probs you have in there..

Mention that you will have no choice but to quit unless they can help you out dramatically..

Get them to help you find a suitable doctor too..

I don't think simply walking in one day and saying your quitting is the best thing to do. They are there to help you at the end of the day. Hopefully they will feel really guilty and give you all that you need..

Best of luck

[mheartley]

Sounds like my first place. Tiny apartment, really low ceilings, neighbours who would make noise till 3-4am most nights, king kong living upstairs, black mould etc...dude, get out, trust me. Take the first step to doing that asap. Be firm about it but just get yourself out of the situation. The thought of coming home to a craphole apartment where you can't totally chill out is something you shouldn't expect to endure. It can play on you psychologically as much as anything else. If you have to pay a bit out of your own pocket to make it happen do so.

The regularly getting sick thing is something I encountered when I first came to Asia too. I think it can be a lot of things - pollution, different food/bacteria for your body to digest, a lot of holes in your diet etc. Try taking some multivitamin supplements, you can get them at all those pharmacies. And good luck with it all.

[teacherk]

Thanks for the help from everyone who responded. I am a healthy person, have only mild asthma (until now), and do not smoke at all or drink heavily. At home, I have gone years at a time without taking any sick days. To be completely unable to breathe, coughing to get breath, and throwing up because I am coughing so hard is just frightening. I have been sick on and off since I got here, but these last few days have been the worst. I have gone to the doctor and she said that she would call my boss, but honestly he really does not care about me. When I was living in the terribly moldy apartment next door it took weeks to move me even though I was throwing up everyday and at times had to leave classes to go throw up. He said it was not a priority, but if I called in sick again over it he would fire me.

My first apartment got very moldy and I know from at least a few others in my building that they have not had the same problem. Still, I question why I seem to be the only one in my building having such problems and feel like a bit of a wimp.

Any other advice would be very helpful. I don't think he will listen to the (female) Doctor that I went to twice this week and I don't think he will willingly move me. Do I have any other rights here? I like the work, but my health is very important to me.

[English Matt]