Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gigijones]

hello, i am gigi, just beginning my route to korea. i have been reading over everyone's posts since april 2006 (thank you for being so informative), and have done a few searches trying to find info on this school and others.

i contacted them directly based upon a post about them on a greenlist and haven't seen mention of this school on any blacklist. i grew up in the restaurant business where "one bad experience = 10 very negative and very loud reviews, and the good experiences never get spoken of..." wondering if this may be the case with this school?

anyone who has any experience with this school and the "suburbs of ulsan" who would like to share some info, i would really appreciate it. reviews of the area, things to do there-not just nitelife, but real life too-hiking, swimming, outdoor stuff, cuisine...

a little about me-i just finished my chemistry degree and will be studying for my celta in october. i do have some experience in teaching-afterschool tutoring programs and some private esl instruction. i also coached athletics, so i do have some varied experience.

again, thank you in advance!

[kat2]

A lot of people don't like Ulsan that much, so I can only imagine what a suburb of Ulsan would be like. If it was on the southern side of Ulsan, it would put you close to Busan, which would be alright. I would definitly try to talk to the curren teacher and see what they say.

[John Henry]

Suburb of Ulsan???

I lived in Ulsan for a year, never heard of that place. It's hard for me to say yes or know about Ulsan, because some people really like it, but I didn't.

If you live in Ulsan, you probably don't want to be in the "suburbs" unless you like isolation and the joys of living in rural Korea.

[sjk1128]

I lived in the suburbs of Ulsan, more or less - that is in a poor neighborhood on the periphery- last year. I was routinely screamed at by my neighbors. People shoved trash through my bathroom window. Neighbors regularly called my boss with trumped-up complaints. To put it all in perspective, in a similarly poor neighborhood in any North American neighborhood, as a visible minority, I might have been in real physical danger. That was not the case in Ulsan because it is Korea. Still, it was very unpleasant.

To polish off the experience, my boss fired me because I demanded my pay - which was then two weeks late and had been delivered progressively later for the previous 6 months. He then proceeded to kick me out of my apartment, attempt to have me deported, and was other wise as unpleasant as possible. I went through a two and a half month Labor Board battle with him which ended in my being paid my severance, but nevertheless resulted in much wasted time and a loss of the salary I would have earned in the last month of my contract because I wasn't working.

I live in Busan now and happily work in a public school. I have had no significant problems here for the last 8 months. My biggest complaint lately has been that my school takes me out too frequently for food and drinks. That speaks volumes about how I feel about my current situation.

This is just one anecdote, but take it seriously. I did my research before I came, chose a school with a decent enrolment and a relatively content departing foreign teacher, and negotiated a good salary, schedule, and housing arrangement before my arrival. Sometimes it doesn't matter. You can be easily manipulated into signing on from a distance, and the more rural the folk the less likely they are to consider you as fully "human" as other Koreans. In my case, it maybe that I was actually treated more like the Korean employees because I worked hard at fitting in and learning the language, but that is even worse -- the LAST thing you want in Korea. I knew people who were happy in Ulsan, but most worked closer to one of the major downtown areas, spent very little time alone (not in the company of other foreigners), and didn't plan to spend a significant amount of time in Korea -- that is, not beyond one year.

Good luck. If you don't have a very thick skin, I'd go to a large city like Seoul or Busan, or at the very least a city center and not the 'burbs.