Korean Job Discussion Forums

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

I just got the lowdown on what my school expects my summer schedule to entail: At first I was told there were no classes in August, but that was a boo-boo, you see. So, our vacation begins July 17th and the new semester starts August 15th. Which means all of June plus two weeks in July and two in August in the classroom.

And my school has no air-conditioning. We are apparently the only school in Bundang without it. I'm so stoked.

So here's my question: Has anyone experienced Korean summer in a non-ac classroom? I don't even see how it's possible. The little buggers are hard to keep focused at the best of times and now they are already pulsing from the recent heatwave and when I walk into the class it feels like I've stepped into a hot water bottle. We have ceiling fans, but get this: they never blow on the front of the classroom, so the teacher has nothing--just the summer heat to enjoy.

Now, I am sure most of you have AC, and congrats, but I am really looking for people who have experienced this to weigh in on just how bad it can be. Label me a wimp if you will, but I am really considering cutting my losses and attending a full-time language school all summer. Severance be damned.

Horror stories and "it's not that bad, don't be a *beep*" stories are both welcome--from people who have actually run the gauntlet.

Cheers all.

VanIslander · Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: Public School With No AC?

moral of the story: ensure that air conditioning is in one's contract, and ideally see that it's in the classroom before signing.

Ekuboko · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: ex-Gyeonggi

Surely the classrooms have fans attached to the ceiling?
Not as good as AC of course, but better than nothing... the AC in my classroom last year didn't work, so we just had the fans blasting.

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

You bloody bastards.

Follow directions will ya?

Van, I will assume you were taking the piss and I will simply seek revenge on another day. But to explain: the metaphor was sarcastic and also, for the deep reader, meant to illicit the literal image of being stoked. Like on a fucking fire, you dick.

Ahem.

Ekk. Please note that I said we do have fans, but they DON'T touch the front of the class where I will be. Now, how bad was it? You said you had them, but did you find the summer survivable? Are you an active teacher? I do a lot of modelling and moving around, and it seems to me that summer is the season of hangman and the crossword puzzle, as much of a lame-o as I would feel.

Col.Brandon · Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Location: Seoul

I'm at a private (read: rich) elementary school, and the principal has told me that they will bring out the fans in the middle of June. I asked him if it would be OK for me to pay to have my own aircon installed and he said, "No." I could be pissy about it, but the money is out of this world, so I don't want to rock the boat.

Ah well, I'm gonna look at it as a good way to lose some weight.

English/Sauna: a new trend in in the well-being wave.

Ekuboko · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: ex-Gyeonggi

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

Yes my first year. It sucked. Big ones.

When everyone runs the aircon at my school then it overloads and the fuses blow. Fourtantly during the english camp, I can run my aircon without this happening.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I did it and survived to tell the tale. It's grim. It's unpleasant. It is miserable. It is doable. I don't know what you want me to say. People have lived for a few hundred thousands of years without air con. Several billion still do.

Review your Puritan heritage and confront an air con-less summer as an exercise in character-building. It will make you a better person. Limp and sweaty, but better.

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

I had to go a couple years without airconditioning.

Let me tell you, IT WAS HARD.

Bascially, I just told my school I would get dizzy because of the heat. They wouldn't let me wear shorts and a t-shirt. So I told them there might be classes where I have to just sit down and take a minute to let my head stop spinning. That is what I had to do.

The classrooms can get REALLY hot with all those bodies in there, no aircon and a hot/humid Korean summer.

In my current situation I have air conditioning, but if I had to go back to no air conditioning it would be hard...

Another option you have is taking the students outside and having class in the shade.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

A few of the older classrooms in my school don't have A/C. I could put up with the fans if they didn't blow my handouts all over the bloody place.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I forgot to add my bad old days of no aircon were with 40 stinky sweaty teenage boys. AFter gym class it was nasty.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

I had AC in the summer but no heating in the winter. Pick your poison I suppose.

Scott in Incheon · Joined: 30 Aug 2004

Heck I did it in Hong Kong for almost 5 years...we got A/C in the middle of my fifth year there.

If I can do it...big man...who breaks a sweat at the drop of a hat...you should be able to do it as well...

A handkerchief is your first priority as you need to mop the forehead...soak one in cold water and put it around your neck for extra comfort...and then a hand fan to constantly cool yourself down.

Walk around the class as you teach and stop under the ceiling fans whenever possible.

Short sleeve shirts...of course...and then if you can get the right style...untucked...as this allows extra ventilation.