Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Omkara]

What do you most appreciate about your lifestyle? And what do you not appreciate about it? I especially am looking for the answers of those who've been around the EFL block...but any mature comment or insight is welcomed.

[jlb]

The best (assuming you have some sort of hagwon job). Work 2-8 or 3-9. In the morning, get up at 9:00 and use your time to do something productive. Eg:

Study Korean, do an online masters, read good books, learn to cook, update your blog, work on photography, play an instrument, pray/meditate, exercise. The list is endless.

Go to work.

After work, go out with friends for some supper, pool, bowling, norae-bang, a drink or two. This list is also endless! I think the key is not hitting the sauce too heavy on the weekdays. Head home and get a decent sleep at 12:00 or 1:00.

Weekends: travel around Korea, go hiking, relax with friends, hit a movie, go out for some food.

On your 2 vacations: spend one week travelling to some exotic destination and one week in Korea seeing somewhere you haven't see before.

The Worst: hitting the sauce too heavy on the weekdays and staggering out of bed hungover at 12:00 Stagger to work, stagger off to the bar again and repeat the cycle endlessly. Go harder on weekends and holidays.

[kermo]

Best:
-Looooong paid holidays, freedom to travel.
-Every day is a challenge, which can be fun. Where will I buy garbage bags? Will I remember the Korean word for "lightbulb"? Can I keep my balance as the subway lurches?

Worst:
-Losing close friends as their contracts end.
-Language barrier interfering with normally simple tasks, like hiring a housekeeper or a moving van, or communicating with emergency services like ambulance or police.

[John Henry]

Me, kermo, same same.

[Omkara]

I also liked the long weekday mornings. I'd get up, practice yoga, eat breakfast, play guitar or read a book.

I was in a hagwan. What was best about the hogwan was that there was zero prep. On the downside, there was virtually zero intellectual stimulation. But, I got to nurture my inner clown--except when I was abusing my vocal chords.

It also bummed me when good friends ended their contracts and left. Yet, I made friends. Here in the States, there just aren't the same kinds of possibilities for meeting new friends.


Kermo, are you in a uni gig?

[kermo]

[Omkara]

How long've you been in Korea now?

[kermo]

[Paji eh Wong]

The best: economics. Savings, vacation, Won-per-hour worked.

The worst: the job is based on false economy. It's a waste of everyone's time.

[kermo]

[kangnam mafioso]

i find most things about seoul more exciting than my medium sized american city back home. better nightlife, work conditions, dating scene, social scene and friends (everyone back home is married or a slave to the mortgage or close minded and boring for the most part), food (i love asian cuisine). those are just to name a few. there are certainly things i miss ...family, old friends, some food, speaking the language. and i don't care for the seoul weather ...too dang cold in the winter, hot and rainy in summer, yellow dust in spring. shopping is tedious for clothes and such. some things are too expensive while other things are much cheaper than back home. you take the good with the bad. over all though i find seoul to be pretty cool. the trick is to get a good job here where you have adequate paid vacations (plural) that allow you to leave for holidays (plural) back home or europe or better locales in asia. with your qualifications you shouldn't have trouble finding a university job with at least 2 or 3 months off. also, uni gigs free up your schedule for making extra money teaching on the side that can help pay for travel. i did the adjunct teaching thing back home; i don't miss it at all.

[Omkara]

So you're doin' a third year? Sounds good. If I do commit to Korea this next winter, I'll be on the hunt for a uni gig. Is where you're staying a small place? Few waygooks? Has your experience improved over time?

I found that toward the end of my contract, I became bummed out and disconnected. The disconnect led directly to the bum mood. But, I had to in order to get out. At the end of a contract, the kind of friendship a person would seek to find changes.

[Omkara]

What subject did you teach as an adjunct? Save for teaching international students, I am teaching basic writing courses. The students rarely care for education. Those who do, I'll do anything to help them. But, the others really take it out of me.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The good:

I've been lucky to have had two great jobs where the students were motivated. It was a pure joy to go to work and teach and hear the noticable progress.

It's fun to live in a foreign culture a lot of the time.

The lack of grading, correcting papers and making and correcting tests are a definite plus.

It's nice to have the opportunity to live in and get to understand a foreign culture.

I've been a superstar in most of the neighborhoods where I have lived. It's odd but usually entertaining, but not when I'm tired.

The bad:
Many of the jobs do not expect (or want) you to teach. They just want you to entertain the students.

The students in my current job (woo-hoo--only two more days!) are totally unmotivated. The administration says they really want education to happen, but continually undercut any chance that it will.

The feeling of helplessness when there is a problem.

I've missed out on the neices and nephews growing up. I hardly know the younger people in my family now, and that loss is irreplaceable.

[canuckistan]

Can go a lot of places on the planet to visit/work instead of blowing 5 g's on a 2-week vacation launched from your home country which doesn't really get you far beyond the tourist thing.

New culture, new friends, new language, interesting peculiarities and food.
It's a good test of one's mettle and character at times.

Downside: missing out on the family and friends back home stuff. That always sucks.