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Living & Surviving in Korea | |
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Teacher's Stories from Korea
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The stories and meant to bring you some real experiences of what it is like to teach in Korea and hopefully show you what a great time it can be. All these stories are from teachers that World English Service (WES) Ltd have placed in Korea through the program. Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
Firstly, I must apologise for taking so long to write this. It is an indication of how much fun I have been having and how busy I am! I really appreciate all that you did for me in February - you were so much help and really prepared me for Korea. Most importantly though, you have sent me to a great school which has allowed me to have a great time! The difference between our school and any other school would have to be Dr. Joe - he is great man who cares for his students and teachers a great deal. We have had none of the usual problems or management unhappiness that so many other people experience. Coming to Korea has allowed me to pay off my student loan, travel to China and Thailand (and Hong Kong in 2 weeks). I really love teaching and I have found it a rewarding experience. My contract finishes in under 3 months and while I am looking forward to going home, I will miss Korea too. I thank you for guiding me towards this great experience. Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Alice
When I left NZ for a stint working and living in Chinju, South Korea, I really didn't know what to expect. My trip over was great, I managed to tolerate the Kimchi for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the Asiana flight, and even enjoyed the Korean exercise session at the end of the flight! the first time I had ever see mass 'plane aerobics'! So made it over without any problems at all. I was traveling with a good friend and we had both managed to get work and accommodation in the same town, so we were really looking forward to our upcoming adventures, and what adventures they turned out to be! Our first real taste of what it would be like living in Korea was when we arrived at the express bus terminal to catch a bus to the relatively small town of Chinju. We managed to buy tickets that said 'Chinju' and then waited to catch our bus, what we didn't know however was that the town 'Chinju', was also spelt 'Jinju', so our ticket said 'Chinju' and the bus said 'Jinju' - so we jumped on a bus and hoped for the best! Another thing about the buses that we didn?t know was that when they stop for a rest stop, they then move! We happily jumped out to stock up on snacks, and then jumped back on to what we thought was our bus (they all look similar!), after a couple of minutes we realized that the other people on the bus didn?t look that familiar after all, so we jumped back off! Luckily, our bus driver had noticed that the 'two foreigners' had not come back to the bus and he was running around frantically trying to find us! So, after an eventful day we finally made it to Chinju! We were living in a small farming village called Munsan, just out of the city (surrounded by rice paddy fields!). After a few weeks of epic local bus trips, we sussed out what buses to get and what busses not to get! This was however, a good way of seeing the local countryside for next to nothing, and the bus does eventually turn around and come back to where you started! Initially we thought we were the only foreigners living in the city, however in less than 24 hours we had met up with a Canadian girl and been taken out to dinner with at least 10 other foreigners who were living and working in the area. This was great as they were all really welcoming and helpful, which made our transition a whole lot easier! There was a great mix including, British, Australian's, Canadian's, American's and an Irish guy! The foreign teachers network was really close and we enjoyed many a trip away and numerous parties during our stay. One of the hardest things to adjust to was the absolute lack of English in the area that we were living. A simple journey to the shop turned out to be a totally new adventure! It was not unusual for people to drive by, see us, and then reverse and drive back past to wave and say hello! It was also pretty normal to be asked to pose for photos with the locals (including the local police who approached us one day and then got out their instant cameras and all took turns at taking photos with us to take back to their office!) On the topic of photos, I recommend sending a 'nice' passport photo with you application as ours ended up being printed in full colour on the back of all the kids exercise books! Mind you at least it wasn't as bad as what happened to a friend of ours in Pusan, where his head was cut out and stuck on another body for their advertising posters! During our time, we starred in television ads and posters around the city for advertising for the school. We also ended up starring in full colour taekwondo posters, as we decided to join up to TKW to keep fit and one day the TKW master got out his instant camera after class and took our photo (we only found out that this was for advertising purposes when waiting at the bus stop and realized we were staring at ourselves on the billboard!). I do however thoroughly recommend joining a club such as taekwondo while you are in Korea, we had a great time, make lots of friends and managed to tone our buts all in the space of an hour's taekwondo practice a day. If you injure yourself, I do however recommend you question what the Koreans try to give you to magically cure your ailment?.. I came rather close to taking tablets made out of steamed cat (cats are very flexible and therefore apparently good for joint problems!). As I was living in a small county town with no McDonalds or KFC, we had to survive on the Korean food. Overall, the Korean food was O.K., we eventually found food that was surprisingly good, however we also found food that was absolutely disgusting! I had to draw the line at the moving octopus legs and pigs intestines stuffed with blood and noodles. I did however manage to survive the 'lactating soup', which I was told after consuming would make me produce lots of milk within the next week! Thankfully, I didn't start spurting milk, and it actually tastes pretty good, so give it a go if you have the chance! If you are living out of Seoul it is a lot easier to travel around the country. You manage to avoid the horrific Sunday traffic jams back into Seoul and can get about with relative ease. Traveling about was pretty easy (asides from very nearly ending up in Kwangju instead of Kyongju) we didn?t really encounter any problems. I enjoyed a lot of weekend trips away hiking and skiing and got to meet some amazing people. One particularly memorable trip was a journey up to Mt Chirisan. We made it up no problems but awoke to find 2 feet of snow had fallen over night and we were completely stranded in a small traditional Korean village where no one spoke any English. The locals were great, invited us into their homes, and feed us, and we then set of by foot down the mountain, luckily a lovely Korean man (dressed in traditional Korean attire driving a 4WD) stopped and picked us up and dropped us at another small town further down the mountain. We then managed to find the local police station, and got a ride to the next town where there was a small train station, and even managed to make it home in time for work on Monday morning! Another memorable trip away was to Muju resort (a great ski resort), where we ended up being the guests of honour at the 'Visit Korea Year 2001' concert. By pure luck, we managed to get front row seats and meet the governor of the province and hear loads of top Korean bands for free. Apparently the Taiwanese tourists hadn't turned up for the concert and we were the only ones there that looked remotely like tourists, so the organizers grabbed us and we got security escorts for the evening and our photos taken by numerous newspapers and then starred on MTV for a few weeks afterwards. The kids that I was teaching were very impressed that I had managed to meet their pop idols! These are just some of my experiences living in Korea, I had an amazing time and learnt a lot about both myself and Koreans. I really recommend getting out of Seoul and seeing the rest of Korea, as there are some great things to see and do. I have spent a lot of time in Seoul and found my experiences living and traveling out of the main city to be very different and thoroughly worthwhile.
We had heard so many stories about people going to Korea and being very disappointed with their agent, employer and job so we took a lot of time looking at different options, talking to people who were already there and speaking to different agents. When we finally decided upon a contract we felt that we were treated very fairly and received everything we were promised. Probably the most difficult thing about the job was the split shifts - we had to get up at 5.30am and start teaching at 7.00am. Working for four or five hours in the mornings we would then return in the evenings at 6.00 and teach through to 9.00pm. Often we felt like English language teaching machines! We were so tired in the afternoons we just ate, and then slept, and when we got home in the evenings we did the same. However the staff at Pagoda were very nice which made work enjoyable. Other teachers came from Canada, the USA, England, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. People shared their teaching resources and the atmosphere in the teachers' room was usually jovial. We found that the Korean students were obsessed with learning English! I think this is because there is so much competition for the more renowned universities and better paying jobs which require good standards of English. The students always impressed us with the respect they had for us, and the generosity they showed us. It was common to be given drinks, food, gifts, and to be taken out for coffee, meals - and in my case to play golf on two occasions (a luxury in Korea). Seoul is a huge city (about eleven million people). It is polluted, very over-crowded, very cold in winter, and very muggy in summer. We only got out of the city about five or six times the whole year! Everybody takes their holidays at the same time in Korea which means you have to book public transportation months in advance in order to go on holiday. Unfortunately we weren?t that organised. Our experience in Korea was significantly shaped by the fact that we were a couple, a little older, and had both lived and travelled overseas before. We got involved in a small expatriate Church and met some wonderful people there. It was difficult to find time for exercise although the subways certainly provided us with a challenge when we walked up and down the hundreds of steps. We returned to New Zealand late in September, having travelled around Europe for three months and completing a CELTA course in Melbourne on the way home. We are hoping to go back overseas in the New Year (2002) with our new baby to teach English again. If you?re considering going to Korea to teach English get as much information as possible, be very flexible, expect the unexpected, try to get accommodation as close to your school as possible, be prepared for a culture shock and try to maintain a good sense of humour!
Well everything went great for me this year and I was incredibly fortunate to get such good directors. One of the first things they said to me is that they wanted to understand my culture as much as they could and to make me feel comfortable so that was great and they certainly did that. I haven't been without anything and they've been a great surrogate family for me! Like everyone I got really sick over here in January (fever and all that) so spent a Saturday in hospital and afterwards was given 2 choices - either stay in the hospital or go to Miss Song's house (she's one of the directors). I would've been fine going home but that wasn't an option so I went to Miss Song's house and got treated like royalty for the rest of the weekend. Alison, of course, came in March and from the moment she got here we've been talking and laughing - you couldn't have matched us up better! It's been great flatting with her and we went on some awesome trips to China in our summer holiday (with Sara and Simone) and to Hong Kong at Chusok. We'd also go and look at something different in Seoul every weekend so that made the weeks go really quickly. And when I was by myself at the start of the year, my neighbour was the coach of one of the basketball teams in the national league (and apparently was a star a few years back himself - my boss's wife and fellow teachers had/have a crush on him ) so I'd often get into Olympic Stadium for free and sit sideline to watch the games. The team would train near where I was living and would have dinner in a kitchen on the ground floor of my building (it was a really small building - kind of like a hostel I guess) and I'd join them there occasionally. There were 2 Americans in the team too so it was good talking to them - they were the only ones round me at the time who I could speak English to! This week the directors here had me in the office and said they'd like to get a hanbok made for me as a thank you present for 1yr so I didn't turn them down. Went and got measured that night and then they took Alison and I out for dinner. We also had dinner at our boss's house last night too (he lives in the building opposite us). I'll get a chance to wear my hanbok (picking it up today) as I've decided to come back for 6mths. We're having our annual concert on Dec 29 and lucky me and another teacher are hosting it so I'll wear it then. Thanks for all your help in getting us over here and have a great Christmas if I don't see you in Dunedin.
Simone and I get along wonderfully! It's quite amazing how similar our tastes are. She is really enjoying her time and seems very happy with her work. Eric is nearly finished his contract and is going back to NZ for a holiday before returning to England and basing himself there for a while. My work is going along fine, although the school is small I think the kids are leaning some form of English, if it is only commands such as sit down, stand up etc. Truly they seem fine.
Things here continue to be exciting!! I am slowly mastering the taxi/bus system and every day seems to be learning new and exciting things!! I have met quite a few foreigners here, and have made a couple of good friends. I have also just started taekwondo classes - so I am looking forward to being a legendary black belt by the end of the year!!! We'll see! Take care, and keep in touch
Accommodation is fine, and the other teachers a great help. Very little preparation before teaching, I am doing some now (Sunday), learning as I go. Other teachers are helping and say I'm doing ok. From what I have heard from other teachers I have met here, this school seems to be the best in the city. It is very new (about three or four months old), and the director is good to deal with. It is a small school, and only teaches English at the moment. It has a Christian component, but there is little that the teachers have to do with this. The Christian faith is not forced on the teachers. The working conditions seem to be reasonable at the moment. There are meetings and preparations from 1PM and teaching begins at 2:30PM. There are only short breaks of five minutes between classes, which continue until 7:30PM. There is a break from 7:30 to 8:30 when there is another 55-minute class. I will be doing more teaching later in the evening, and perhaps at other times, when I have settled in and become comfortable with teaching. This will probably be an individual lesson. I don't know how many additional hours I will be expected to do. There was very little preparation for me as the new teacher before my first class, but I had support and understanding from the other teachers, and also the director.
Aside from that, James' job is so good, and our boss is really kind and generous (different from some horror stories I've heard), we're paying off our loan faster than we ever would in NZ, we have some wonderful people around us - why move? Anyway I won't bore you with the details of how we came to our decision, but we're planning to come home for around two weeks (if our boss lets us, we're telling him today, we will definitely get one week, but we're pushing for two).
He has also opened a bank account for me, so I won't ask for anything else (as would hate to push my luck around here). One I took a few classes and learned something of the syllabus things have Yes, been reasonably good, and I have got to know some of the foreign teachers and recent goings on. The Korean teachers can be very helpful too.
The school only caters for students up to middle-school age: the oldest of our students are 14 and 15 years old. The amount of teaching we do in a day varies from teacher to teacher, but as a foreign teacher, it is likely that you would have five or six forty-minute classes every afternoon for six days a week from 3pm to 7:30pm, although some of us [well ... there's me] can teach as late as 9pm. On Monday and Wednesday mornings, there are two kindergarten classes. You would teach during one or both of these classes between 10am and 12:30pm. Each class is shared with a Korean teacher, so we work fairly closely with them all the time. Half of each class is taken by the Korean teacher, and the other half by the foreign teacher. It's always very clear what tokens of English you are expected to teach. How you teach them is entirely up to you. There are suggested activities in the resources, but there is no reason why you should not adhere strictly to these. In fact, in my humble opinion, they deserve to be ignored in a lot of cases. Each teacher seems to have his or her own style, as it where. I know this is probably somewhat of a clich?, but the job is only as 'hard' as you make it for yourself. If you find your classes fulfilling and productive, it's a sign that your students do too. Things are adequately, although not ideally, organised. As I have come to understand is typical of Koreans, the supervisor, and the senior foreign teacher for that matter, loves to inform you of things or change her mind about something at the last minute. Luckily, it's only ever a small, pointless task, which is all that's at stake. The president and vice-president (his wife) of the franchise are both very accommodating and generous, at least to their foreign staff. For instance, last weekend they paid for our hotel room on the East coast in order that we may attend the wedding of one of our colleagues. The details of the wages and overtime are always clearly itemized and I understand that there have never been any problems with being paid on time. I wouldn't say that overtime is something we have been 'expected' to do. I think that it's more so the case that our hours are organized in such a way that we work as much as possible within our overtime thresholds. Consequently, the only case when you would be likely to work overtime is when you are needed to cover someone else's classes in the event of sickness, or in a situation where a teacher leaves and a replacement hasn't yet been found. Staff dress fairly casually. There are no strict rules, but miniskirts and shoestring shoulders for women are a big no-no. For the males, so long as your shorts aren't too short, or that you don't show too much of your shoulders [singlets and tank tops for instance] you should be okay. In other words, it is perfectly acceptable to work in a T-shirt and jeans here. I understand that this isn't the case at every school. Koreans are generally very honest when it comes to how they think you look, sometimes brutally so. This means that if there's anything they think you should change, there's no doubt that they'll tell you. This seems to go hand in hand with a kind of Korean vanity and materialism: I think I may just have to strangle the next man who asks me what I think of his wife [sitting right beside him] as I sit down to dinner. There is no easy way to answer such a question without instantiating either offence or hostility. The subway probably provides the most convenient means of going to and from Seoul. The traveling time depends largely on the district of the city you want to visit. To give you an idea, the trip to the City Hall, Chongno or Ulchiro area in the middle of the city realistically takes an hour and a half. Other closer districts, Gangnamgu or Chamshil, for instance, may only take an hour and a quarter. It is also possible to catch a bus to some parts of Seoul from here. This can potentially halve your traveling time depending on the traffic at the time you go. Other satellite cities are more accessible: Ansan and Incheon are within a twenty to thirty minute bus ride. There are other cities which are within a 'bus-able' distance: Icheon (an hour and a half) and Suwon (an hour). Travel elsewhere in the country is normally also very convenient. Buses and trains are infinitely superior to driving yourself for the simple reason that the traffic at times can be absolutely ridiculous. When people tell you how far something is by car anywhere here, you basically have to double or triple the figure to get a realistic idea of the time your bottom will have to put up with being under you. Private traffic within 100kms of Seoul over the weekends is diabolical. I'm just going to have to laugh very loudly next time someone complains about the traffic between Christchurch and Dunedin on the weekend of an NPC clash at Carisbrook. At least you don't sit in one spot on a four-lane expressway for an hour at a time! At one point, it took us an hour and a half to budge a miserable 15kms. Buses, on the other hand, have their own lanes in times of the bumper-to-bumper blues, making long-distance travel much more convenient. Koreans are typically very friendly and generous. There are people here who have gone out of their way to help or to make things as enjoyable as possible. Koreans are very loyal to their friends. I don't think there's anything a Korean man wouldn't do for his hyeong, chingu or dongsaeng [the form of address depends on where you are on a Confucian hierarchy of social status ... things like how much money you make, your age, or whether or not you're married come into play here]. One weekend, I was treated to a weekend drive to the beach on the East Coast in a rental car [very kind, although it took 11 hours!]. Another time, a friend fought another man to the ground because I was 'clearly offended'. I've even been asked if I would like to be accompanied to a "massage parlour" to take my mind off being single. A touching sentiment, but not exactly my thing. Most of the time, you are taken out for dinner or drinks and you are 'never' allowed to pay ... not even for a taxi ride! Some of these people are so thoughtful and giving ... and, well, I guess it's the thought that counts when violence or sex is on their minds. Admittedly, I haven't been in contact with Marilyn since I arrived [which is actually a good sign I guess] so I hope you don't mind me sending a copy of this missive to her by way of giving her an idea of how I've found things since I've been here and also to update what information she might have about the school.
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