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Trumpcard
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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 Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject: You know your hagwan is not so good when... |
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you, being one of the 2 foreign teachers working alongside 4 K Teachers plus husband and wife directors (wife is the 5th K teacher) and you've been working for a total of 4 months and 3 weeks at the place AND you have been working there the longest (aside from the directors)!!!!!!!!!
The head teacher didnt work yesterday and it turns out she's actually not coming back. A new K teacher started 4 days ago. In my short time I've witneessed 2 foreign teachers leave and now 4 K teachers leave.
God bless Jung Chul Junior! |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I worked half a year at a hagwon and during that time saw seven KTs leave (six of them being replaced). And this wasn't that large a hagwon, either. |
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hubba bubba
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| ..they "forget" to pick you up at the airport. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Or, ... an entire class leaves, comes in ten minutes late for their lesson, walk right past the director, and he does absolutely nothing. |
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dmbfan
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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.............you get to the hogwan, and find out your shared apartment is INSIDE the school. YOUR bedroom is right next to the kindergarten play room...........you have to leave the the apartment to use the bathroom, which is........in the kindergarten play room.................................................I did this for a year.........I lost a piece of my sanity their.
cheers.
dmbfan |
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ChuckECheese
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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| dmbfan wrote: |
.............you get to the hogwan, and find out your shared apartment is INSIDE the school. YOUR bedroom is right next to the kindergarten play room...........you have to leave the the apartment to use the bathroom, which is........in the kindergarten play room.................................................I did this for a year.........I lost a piece of my sanity their.
cheers.
dmbfan |
Sh*t man! 
Now, that's what I call a Hellwon!  |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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| I can just see you in your ratty old bathroom, toothbrush in hand, stepping over kids to get to the john. Niceeeeee. |
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dmbfan
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Ah yes...........my old stomping grounds in Gwangmyong City.
A year of living in the school, which was right next to a 24 hour taxi repair shop. The building itself was a 5 story building. The 1st floor was a Sam Gyup Sal place........the 2nd floor was the apartment and kindergarten play room..........the 3rd floor was the school......4th and 5th, I don't know.
The Korean teachers would come in the playroom at 8:30 (when classes did not start until 10:00 am) and let the kids run around and scream. I hated them............not the kids, but the korean teachers. They were all worthless..............Anyway, there were several times when I baracaded (cant spell today) the door. Oh, and when the owner would make decoratio changes to the play room, it was always on a weekend.........nothing like waking up to the sound of a metal saw at 6:30 in the morning, everyweekend, for 5 weeks.
They just could not figure out why I was in such a bad mood.
dmbfan |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| dmbfan wrote: |
Ah yes...........my old stomping grounds in Gwangmyong City.
A year of living in the school, which was right next to a 24 hour taxi repair shop. The building itself was a 5 story building. The 1st floor was a Sam Gyup Sal place........the 2nd floor was the apartment and kindergarten play room..........the 3rd floor was the school......4th and 5th, I don't know.
The Korean teachers would come in the playroom at 8:30 (when classes did not start until 10:00 am) and let the kids run around and scream. I hated them............not the kids, but the korean teachers. They were all worthless..............Anyway, there were several times when I baracaded (cant spell today) the door. Oh, and when the owner would make decoratio changes to the play room, it was always on a weekend.........nothing like waking up to the sound of a metal saw at 6:30 in the morning, everyweekend, for 5 weeks.
They just could not figure out why I was in such a bad mood.
dmbfan |
OMG,
I was going to add ... when you arrive to find your apartment building crawling with co.ckroaches but quite frankly I think I'd prefer to live next door to co.ckroaches. |
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Trumpcard
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:04 am Post subject: |
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| dmbfan, why did you stay under those conditions for a year? |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| dmbfan wrote: |
.............you get to the hogwan, and find out your shared apartment is INSIDE the school. YOUR bedroom is right next to the kindergarten play room...........you have to leave the the apartment to use the bathroom, which is........in the kindergarten play room.................................................I did this for a year.........I lost a piece of my sanity their.
cheers.
dmbfan |
Your apartment was in the school, you had to leave to use the bathroom, and on top of all that it was a shared apartment?
You only lost a piece of your sanity? I think I'd lose all of it... |
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merkurix
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Location: Not far from the deep end.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| dmbfan wrote: |
.............you get to the hogwan, and find out your shared apartment is INSIDE the school. YOUR bedroom is right next to the kindergarten play room...........you have to leave the the apartment to use the bathroom, which is........in the kindergarten play room.................................................I did this for a year.........I lost a piece of my sanity their.
cheers.
dmbfan |
Jesus! You truly are a hagwon martyr! I'da gone postal the first month there. |
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merkurix
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Location: Not far from the deep end.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| . . . . . . when the kids don't have textbooks and they are told that they don't have to purchase one, yet there is only one textbook copy and one photocopier for all 5 teachers to share every morning for that very purpose. |
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jaganath69
Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: Re: You know your hagwan is not so good when... |
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| Trumpcard wrote: |
God bless Jung Chul Junior! |
Haha, I have some coworkers who are survivors of one of these franchises. It wouldn't be in Cheongju by any chance, would it? If so, run like the wind! |
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dmbfan
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| dmbfan, why did you stay under those conditions for a year? |
That is a good question, and I have answer. My first very first school in Korea was a Wonderland........perhaps one of the worst Wonderlands in all of Korea. I lasted 7 months.........ya know, after signing three different contracts, ownership switching hands, us foreign teachers being blamed for everything (at one point we were ALL going to be fired......but, we had a talk and managed to keep our jobs. We should have just let them fire us), horrible korean teachers, etc. One day, on a Friday just when we finished our classes and getting ready to go to the bar, we were all called into a meeting. Bascially, it was a set up. I got fired for standing up for myself and the othe foreign teachers.......I won't do that again. To be fair though, I had no problem letting them know how I felt...........
Then, from there I started working at another school in Gunsan. This school, as I found later, had some trouble in Seosan, and the owner was shamed because everyone found out what she was doing to the foreign teachers (anyone ever heard of K.N.C.?) So, I go there, being the only foreign teacher. Things are ok for a wihle. I'm working hard, building up the classes, designing curriculum, etc. Then, I am farmed out to one of the high schools, which .......I knew was shaddy, buuuuut I would go along with for awhile. THEN......when it came time to have a vacation, as promised, I was told "No, and we will give you your vacation when you finish your contract. You will leave a week early, and that will count as your vacation"....................THE HELL IT WILL!!!!!!!!! So, this went back and forth for about a month, and I had pretty much had it. I had it out with the director, and put in my resignation. Fine..........then, the new teacher comes and is given all of the classes that I built up and started with, and I get the new scrubs (usually one or two kids). This lasted for six weeks, and she was trying to get me to quite ......no doubt about it. There are other things, but no need to go into them.
What I did have in my corner, was the fact I found about her and her school in Seosan, and what she did. I let her know that as well. I told her "If you don't phuck me, I won't phuck you"...................yeah, and she was a good Christian as well.
So, I finish my notice..................and got this job in Gwangmyong. I talked to the foreign teacher and he told me things were pretty good......laid back, no pressure, etc. So, I took the job. I showed up, and I did not know the apartment was in the school.
At that point, I just wanted to finish a contract. So, that is what I did. Yes, it was hard, I hated living there (the apartment was nice though), and it put me in a bad mood for an entire year. The first bach of K-teachers that were there were great. We hung out, and they were good friends. Then, they quite and along came the "princess teachers"........uuuggghhhh. I never was able to sleep in, go to the bathroom in privacy, leave work and actually feel like I am away from work, and the K-teachers did everything they could to get me to quite.........the dumbshits could just not figure out why I was always edgy, stressed out and in a bad mood (not to my kids though)
The owner was a cool gal though. She was really laid back, paid us early if we needed, and let us take our vacation any time we wanted.....(and she was hot as well) Her and her husband were already rich, because they owned one of the major taxi companies in Gyonggi do.
But, yes.............I lost some sanity.
Cheers.
dmbfan |
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