Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazylemongirl]

One of the things I've started doing a lot more of in my second year here is started hanging out with non-teachers a whole lot more.

I must say I find the change really refereshing. In general I've found English teachers as a whole to be a very bitter bunch (although I freely admit that there are people happy here, myself included).

I find it interesting that some of the happiest waygookins I've met here have been the ones earning far less for doing a whole lot more. The DDD workers, soliders, and students don't seem nearly as bitter.

Which leads me to ask the question. Why is that? I mean we get free accomdation, and airfares. A pretty good wage for not so many hours. You'd think we'd be sweet.

But yet when I hang out with english teacher I hear a lot of complaining about the boss, the job, the bratty kids. The man who gave me the bitter eye on the subway or the adjuma who bumped into me. Even people I know in good jobs still complain a whole lot about how horrible their jobs are, yet they are still getting paid in full on time and get all their benefits (health pension etc.) sorted out.

So why are waygookin english teachers are such a bitter bunch?

[jaganath69]

CLG,

In short, I am bitter (can't speak for others) for the following reasons.

1. Being treated like a circus animal- Koreans reacting to me as if I landed from another planet. Sometimes its cute and funny, repeat it 20 times a day and it becomes grating. Need to grow up and realize not everyone looks like a kimchi-munching, jiggae-slurping salaryman from Gyeonggi do is evident.

2. Discrimination- Ergo my going away party, 30 something waygooks at a tiny neighborhood bar shooed away by the police at 2 in the morning. I lived opposite the place for a year and was kept up till all hours by drunken ajoshis spitting, fighting and singing, never saw the cops come once.

3. Being jerked around by employers. - Not being paid on time, having to submit to rediculous demands in the workplace with little or no recourse to help.

4. Food. Korean food is some of the worst crud I have ever had the missfortune to taste. What is more, decent western food is expensive or non-existant.

5. The hagwon system- Profiteering at its worst, bored kids who dont want to learn, mothers who think they know it all but are the worst kind of ignoramii in the world.

6. Miscellaneous- stuff like driving, weather, poor manners of the locals, not being able to get a credit card or non-pre-pay phone.

That being said there are many things I like, but since most locals I meet are a bunch of fools, I reserve the right to be bitter and twisted. I might even return after I get my ass off this beach in West Java, but for now it is therapy.

Cheers

Jaga

[rapier]

I agree to a certain extent, and i often prefer the company of Koreans to other foreigners in my spare time. You need an escape from all that complaining about the works situation here. And relatively speaking, yes, I think we have it ok at the end of the day.
But its hard to keep up that smiley happy outlook, with all the subtle usual stresses, miscommunications, pressure, abuses, unethical workplace practises, lies and manipulations, hypocrisy and so on. Every day is a battle in Korea, to retain your resrect, dignity, and position. It leads to paranoia- you always have to be on your guard. Is my boss going to try and *beep* me? pull some stunt on me? is the ajosshi in the street going to bump me, stare at me or what? You have to be constantly ready to handle any and every situation.
A whole lot of minor strains add up to a lot of stress in this country.

[kangnamdragon]

I think many are bitter because they are not being treated by Koreans. But, why should they be treated like Koreans? They are not Korean!!

People complain that things are different from home.

People complain they cannot get credit cards? Why should a bank give you a credit card? What credit have you earned?

Foreigners are not treated like Koreans and why should they be?

[Zyzyfer]

I try to stay away or ignore the overly negative people. It's nice to be able to complain about something once in a while, but my situation is pretty damn sweet, so after the 10th conversation about how Korea sucks, I get bored.

[mslaoshi]

CLG,

I thought of the same kind of post a couple weeks ago. I think it is a few different things that makes waeguk teachers so bitter:

1. They are self-centered or think they are superior. Some...I say some, foreign teachers that I have met here are very Western-centric...Amer/Canadians/Europeans who expect that other cultures and countries from the East should be slightly varied versions of their own. I have heard many times, "Why don't they speak more English" or "Their English was horrible." Well, duh! You are in Korea! Your Korean should be better. Many bitter folks complain about the essentials that make a culture: food, behaviors...while I think that in almost every case in Korea, if you are pleasant to others, they will be the same to you.

2. They don't want to be here so they don't bother to integrate into the culture, learn Korean...etc. Many ended up here by mistake or really wanted to be in Japan, not Korea.

3. They are in debt and came to save money...and don't want to be here.

This is why ESL teachers are different in most other parts of the world besides Korea...the money is pretty good here while the rents and cost of living is low. Why bother to integrate...just live off Koreans' need to learn English. It becomes very political if you think about the US being a world power and Koreans' need to learn English because of this.

Of course, it is not everyone here...but more than usual.

mslaoshi

[crazylemongirl]

The thing that really sticks out to me the most isn't the complaining that goes on but who it is. In my experience it tends to be english teachers who complain about the racism, bad food etc. rather than other forgeiners who live in korea that I have been contact with.

[T-dot]

"korea food the worst crud"?

i happened to like korean food. some more than others. i complain, but its mostly work-realted, mainly due to the lack of organization that i deal with in hagwons.

did you really expect to eat western food everyday here? or feel like it should be like the states or canada?

i came for new experiences, yes i complain about work (did back in canada too), but if i wanted a western lifestyle i woulda stayed home.

[Harpeau]

When I'm out with friends, I try not to complain much. My thinking is poop or get of the pot. My wife and I over tthe last year have come up with a great idea. Don't talk about anything stressful or negative while you are eating. In addition, don't drink if you are feeling down. Alchohol is a depressant and getting together at a wateringhole can be depressive for many. It's hard to be positive, but sometimes it can make life more enjoyable.

I had the most interesting conversation with this guy from Nigeria last month. He was working a DDD job away from his wife and kids and he was telling me how much he loved Korea. I found that interesting.

One thing we do need to keep in mind though, is some of us are from places where there is much nature and fresh air, and when we don't see that, it can really get us bumbed out. So, that might be another reason. i think ultimately it is the individual and how they see their time here.

Interesting thread.

[itaewonguy]

I agree with jaganath69...

acually I have been here 7 years.. so I have gone through times where I dont hang with teachers.. then I only hang with Koreans.. then I get sick of the BS from Koreans so I go back to the Teachers..
etc... switch alot.. sometimes you really need the company of your kind!

so now I just hang with cool people.. being korean, teachers or whatever.

most of my friends are Kyopos.. so I get the best of both worlds..

and when it comes to hanging with Koreans...
I ONLY hang with Korean girls.. korean men I can only handle in short bursts!!

[Butterfly]

There are a lot of foreign teachers here, certainly not all, who come here with no teaching credentials whatsoever.

Now, if they come here, having never been in a classroom and having no skills in the education field, what do they think they are wanted here for?

"Me! The little Korean people want to meet me! They want to hire me because I'm white and I'm special!"

When of course, they arrive, they find that their employers do not regard them as special at all, but their employers nonetheless want them to be special to their students, and ask them to earn that status by working hard, and helping their students learn and enjoy the learning experience.

Many teachers do not have the basic skills to achieve this, it's not their fault because they believed they were being hired for their ethnicity and their specialness, and did not realize the level of work involved. The boss is angry, he shouldn't be as it's his fault for hiring an inexperienced and unqualified teacher, because the parents aren't overjoyed and aren't rushing to reception with their hard-earned cash begging for their little prince to be in said teacher's class. The bad relationship turns to worse steadily, ending in an alcoholic boss and a deeply bitter teacher, who goes on to blame the entire country for the situation he / she is in.

Throw in all the usual symptoms of alienation, homesickness and you've got a devil's brew of bitterness, from which some actually never return. The most arrogant ones usually.

This has been , generally, the story of the bitter teachers I have met.

[rapier]

I'm happy to make an effort to learn the language, understand the culture and so on, and be patient with cultural misunderstandings.
But what is unforgivanle is the constant lying and cheating, manipulations and subtle abuse from the boss here toward his well meaning and innocent employees.

[mindmetoo]

We're mostly young, mostly socially retarded hormonal males led to believe Korean women would straddle us no problem. Then we find out we're all competing for the same limited bunch of Korean women who know english, are single, would shame their families to date us, would be happy to leave their family and friends to marry us if things got serious, and aren't princesses who will only date first-born chaebol sons. So that's about 5 of them.

No wonder we all hate each other and are miserable.

[nev]

We are spoilt.

[Butterfly]