Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Wishmaster]

Yeah, I'm right now dealing with one of my co-workers who is finishing up his year in Korea. He now is trashing everything about the place and saying that he is going to go back home and get a real job, a real apartment, a real life...ad nauseum. Granted, esl teaching isn't the most professional thing going but it is still a lot preferable to some of the things that you have to deal with at home. This guy keeps bragging about how he's going to be making 80k a year and buying a nice house...I hear it every single day. I've had some of those "real" jobs back home and I can't figure the attraction. Longer hours, more stress involved, having to have a car to get around, dealing with higher taxes, etc. Korea does have major flaws but I find that there are plenty of flaws back home as well. He doesn't take into account that he is now working less than 30 hours a week doing a job that requires hardly any brain activity and doesn't produce any stress. He lives close by...doesn't need a car. Rent is paid...back home, he'll get killed by the cost of housing. He'll probably end up going back home and realize how good he had it in Korea.....

[spidey112233]

not everyone loves korea! even if it does mean working more back home. there are many things back home that you cant find here. thats why its called "HOME".

he isnt the first OR last to have said this. thousands of people come here for the quick 1-yr contract and split. sick of the place or just not for them.

[sheba]

So now you can sit back and smile! he'll be doing his best to make himself feel better about going back home. If he was so sure and excited about his decision, he wouldnt need to keep justifying it. Wait for the reverse culture shock to set in...

I told people how much I earn after tax back home and they were like "oh ok, not bad considering you have a free apartment"... then I worked out how much I would need to be earning back home with the high tax rate to get the same amount after tax.... they were very impressed considering all the benefits!

[Captain Corea]

80k a year, what was he doing here??

I smell BS.

[Alias]

Do you consider working at a kiddie hagwon to be a "real job"? The benefits are great but thats about it. It requires about as much skill as telemarketing. (no disrespect to telemarketers).

[captain kirk]

You sound envious. And annoyed. Probably more annoyed because he's trashing the place and you're sticking around. Notice that he's spewing negativity. Do you wonder if he'll get his wheels stuck in Canada, start spitting about it and glowing on about Korea?

What has changed for him? He came over to Korea to get out of debt and now he's going back? Is there some opportunity for him back in Canada now? That wasn't there when he left? Have his parents lured him back with the promise of money? For a business, more school?

It's not very considerate of him to be blabbering on dissing the place around you. He must know you're staying on. He sounds unfinished. Are his parents going to send him to charm school?

[livinginkorea]

I say that he is only trying to make you jealous and reassure himself. You is he trying to convince - you or himself?

I say that he'll be back in a year!!

[Homer]

Thats a common one!

"Yeah man, I can get a big time job just like that back home (snap of the fingers here)".

Ask what job and you get mumbles.

It is also called the grass is greener syndrome or the I always live in the then disorder.

I agree with one of the posters here: if this guy was so happy about going home and so sure about his future he would not need to brag about it. He is simply blowing smoke to make himself feel bigger.

This is not to say here (Korea) is better then there (your home country). That conclusion depends on the person. For some who do not want to be teachers career-wise then home might be better as far as employment is concerner. For those who wish to be teachers it would also depend but Korea and other ESL markets offer a fulfilling career option.

[Gopher]

[Zyzyfer]

With just a year here and the right qualifications, he might be able to do something, but if he's here in the first place, he was either dissatisfied with work there before or didn't have a real job/wasn't on the track to one.

[Hanson]

[ajuma]

[Gopher]

I will amend what I said so that maybe there are some non-hogwon jobs that might be fulfilling in Korea. (But have you taught EFL in other countries? Do you really have a good basis for comparison?)

On the other hand, I would classify myself as a highly educated and trained EFL professional, and, from what I've seen, given what the Koreans have set up for themselves, people like me are not needed here, we are underemployed (not financially, but professionally).

I have about, say, roughly 40-60 "students" altogether at my hogwon. (They're just children and less than five adults). And none of them can tell you how they are, except to say "I'm fine, thanks," or "I'm happy" or "I'm angry." They will answer "yes" or "no" to most questions, and will rarely understand what they are answering: "What do you wear in the rain?" "Yes."

So they have very, very little English abilty. I've spent over six months now, forced to comply with the franchise books (90% of my time), but squeezing a little bit of real vocabularly teaching here and there (10% of my time), to teach them to tell me their names and how to spell them.

You could replace me with a monkey, a guy in a Ronald McDonald clown suit, or better yet, a video cassette with singing chants, and no one would know the difference.

And this has nothing to do with my quality as a foreign language instructor. It has everything to do with being forced to comply to a cookie-cutter, hierarchical system, driven, ultimately, by ignorance and corruption -- these things being outside of my ability to influence.

Why do I consider this significant? I do not believe my situation is in any way unique.

[buddy bradley]

Is selling smack a real job? I mean, I know it's tax-free and all, but what do you guys think? I need your opinion in order to form my own opinion.

Thanks!

[Homer]