Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mithridates]

I'm quite certain this subject has never come up before:
I've learned some 5000 or so chinese characters in my time here and before in Japan and recently took a high level test over here. The people at the organization there that manages the test spotted me applying for it, hauled me off to the office and asked for my phone number, then arranged for an interview for their magazine.
A few weeks passed, and I was in the magazine. Showed the magazine to a few people, and that was about it...
until two days ago when a phone call came from a professor in a university in Daejon. She said she wanted me to study at her university and so we arranged to meet today. I went down there this afternoon to see exactly what she wanted from me and it turns out she wants me to study for free in this...not so much a school as an old-school Korean sino-Korean literature study area (old-school in architectural style but recently built). There are only five people there right now; they live there and study, from about 6am to 10pm or so, spend the whole day memorizing confucian literature (of which there are seven books). With work it takes two years to memorize them all inside and out, whereupon one becomes a professor of Sino-Korean literature. The other students I met there can recite pages upon pages of the stuff from memory - kind of cool and a bit creepy at the same time. Apparently she contacted me because there are few professors who can translate the stuff into English well and there is apparently a huge demand for it, and as a fluent English-speaking professor of Korean literature I could get a job pretty much anywhere. This is especially tempting to me especially because I haven't gone to university yet on the basis that I would once they recognize what I've learned up to now on my own.
But on the other side it means spending all day and night there, except on Saturdays, and Daejon is some two hours away from Seoul. There's a university within walking distance so it wouldn't exactly be a complete death knell on my social life, but being able to trot off to Gangnam at a moment's notice would be a thing of the past (for two years at least).
I'm mostly in a daze from the suddenness of this - I told her that I would get back to her sometime next week.
Ah yes, for those who know Daejon it's right next to the World Cup Stadium there. There are mountains around but at least it's not right in the middle of nowhere.

[J.B. Clamence]

I'm not sure if I understood you correctly, but it sounds like you are stating your dilemma to be whether or not you want to study full-time intensely for two years, or whether you want to be in Daejon for two years. If it's the former, I guess that's a question only you can answer.

If it's that latter, well that depends on what you want as well, but I can say that Daejon is not the backwoods you seem to be making it out to be. Teachers who live in Seoul seem to think of it as the center of the universe. What's wrong with living in Daejon? It's a big town with lots to do there. Not that it really matters if you're going to be studying from 6am-10pm. If you really have to get your Seoul-fix on the weekends, as you mentioned, it's only 2 hours away.

[mithridates]

It's basically whether to continue living in Seoul like I am right now, or move to Daejon where the university is for the next two years. It would entail giving up a majority of my social life (everything except Saturday, and sometimes not even that if there's a lot of material to cover) for two years in order to concentrate on the subject material. Besides that disadvantage I'm quite attracted to the proposal though.

[scarneck]

It sounds like you are very gifted with the language abilities. Being able to further your studies for free seems too good to be true. The tuition is free correct? How will you be able to "live"? All in all, sounds pretty good. Maybe want to look deeper for hidden agendas...

[Mashimaro]

and what exactly is the point of memorizing all this text?

[FlagWaver]

You have a wonderful opportunity before you. What would she say to you thinking about this for awhile? Take some time to think about what you want to do. Good luck.

[IconsFanatic]

Careful of Daejeon.... lots of creepy pseudo-religious cults there!

I almost took a job with an international Daoist organization (which would have suited me great, as I'm into Daosim, especially Zhuang Zi), but it turned out to be a right nut-job group.

Are you even into Confucianism? Most Westerners think it's bollocks, so careful signing up to memorize it for two years.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Daejon is fine, good shopping and social life, but the job sounds like a mindblower.

[Harpeau]

I guess one has to look at motivation. You studied Chinese, why? You sat and wrote the test, why? Interesting? Stimulating? What are your choices at this point in your life?

Not sure of what exactly you'll have when you get out- degree wise. If working in a uni, asks a few Western unis if this will suffice, or will you need to go for further study? (BA, Master, Ph.D., etc.) It's worth looking into it. That's a huge time commitment.

I would also encourage you to talk to this school in Daejeon about getting some kind of bursary for a little pocket money. also, be clear about time restriction, if they'll get you to teach, or if you'll owe them later on- how exactly that works. In addition, find ou if any other Internationals have done this course and contact them.

Remember, the energy is she approached you first. Therefore, maybe they want you more than you want them. Don't rush into it. Take as much time as you can to think about it, but remember the door may close fairly soon, so do make a good decision.

Sounds to me that it might be a very interesting experience. Don't let it scare you. Two years will go by pretty quickly. Do let us know what you decide to do. Best of luck either way.

Cheers!
Harpeau

P.S. It would be really cool if we could follow your thought processes as you consider this possibility. How about thinking out loud and we give you a little feedback -though, the choice of course is yours totally.

[schwa]

Sounds like you have an opportunity to become a world-class expert at something that interests you deeply. Destiny on a platter. Its not easy to stand out one among 6 billion. Best luck.

[justaskdan]

I agree with Schwa, you need to take this wonderful oppertunity and run with it. I am very jealous, I can't write one Chinese character and I have no memory and stuggle with languages. It took me three months to learn to count in Korean and I still haven't learned the Chinese method that the Korean use.

[mithridates]

Well, the professor told me that the reason she wanted me to study there so much is because of the lack of people that can transliterate ancient Chinese into modern English, or modern Korean for that matter. After doing away with Chinese characters in 1950...in the 50s, they lost quite a few scholars that used to be able to read the stuff and now they're quite rare which makes it quite a rare thing to know.
As for Confucianism, I'm not as big a fan of it as I am of Daoism, but Taoism is basically composed of two books, much smaller than the Confucian works, so if I get used to it I should be able to pick them up as well. Confucius is a bit pretentious and long-winded sometimes, I suppose. But it would be interesting to have that the next time somebody tells me I can't understand Korean culture because I'm from the other side of the Pacific...
I've decided what I'm going to do is head off to an organization I know that promotes this kind of thing and tell them that I've been offered a place to stay and study at for free, but would like an allowance of a sort; otherwise my money would just dwindle away. Slowly, but nevertheless on a downward spiral. My best friend is also getting married in Canada in July and I would like to take a week off to see that.
I will check to see what other universities think of that, however. I don't really know how universities work having never been to one, and aren't really sure how they credit self-study. I didn't think that they made people professors just for knowing what a professor knows; I always thought it required eight years of study on top of that, no matter how much you've done on your own. Since most people on this board have gone to uni, you probably could enlighten me on this point...
So basically, if I have some pocket money included in the deal as well (the professor said she would have liked to give me that as well, but letting me stay and study for free was all she could handle financially), I'll likely do it.
Ah yes, the home page for the place is www.onjidang.org.

[weatherman]

Wow, sounds like an opportunity of a life time. Most people can only dream of doing stuff like that. Hey its free too. I would do it, the experience itself would be worth it. And the doors this will open will be many.

[Tiger Beer]

[CaptPorridge]