If you are a teacher here and find yourself questioning whether to quit your job or not. You may want to send me a message, because I have gone through this experience.
This post is meant to show, visually, the changes that are possible when you quit one job and start another.
The job I quit had me housed in a little pocket part of Seoul called Gil-dong. The following is a picture of the building I lived in:
In my opinion, the place was nothing to get excited over.
There was a general lack of green space and fresh air. I found my surroundings to unidentifiable with my way of life.
The new job I took on has me now living in Sanbon. One thing for sure my house itself isn’t exactly a pretty picture. There is no window.
But!! But…I tell you! The area is spectacular!
For you now is a picture of the new building I live in and a video of my new surroundings.
So changing your job is risky in so many ways, and I would actually tell a person to wait a while before making the move. But if you are going to do it, at least go for better surroundings!
*Okay, that is my teaching job two cent bit.
10/11/2008 at 9:31 pm Permalink
It’s important to do research before coming to Korea in the first place, but there is some room for misinformation. However, if a person switches jobs while in Korea there’s very little reason NOT to put in the extra effort to check on the details before agreeing to a contract. Sure, if a person is looking to move across the country it’s a bit harder, but if he/she stays within the 경기도 or 서울 areas and isn’t getting fired … well, why isn’t he/she checking out the school and its surroundings beforehand?!
(People who don’t do proper research before agreeing to a job / neighborhood in Korea but then complain about it later are a personal pet peeve of mine … although I will admit it was pretty funny to hear from the guy who wound up in Icheon due to his own stupidity.)
11/11/2008 at 11:47 am Permalink
Ahoy. I’m a blogger cum 선생님 cum journalist cum whatever and I’m writing an exposé about what I see as a scam where recruiters are paid by the head to supply teachers to schools that are run solely for-profit while teachers’ housing is leased by the directors of those schools and other housing requires laying down a steep bond that people accepting such jobs would be unlikely to afford. Also, racism, ableism, sexism, and weightism – for lack of a better word, dishonesty, visa strictures, and lack of legal recourse for immigrant workers. Obviously, this is very one-sided piece at the moment and I was wondering if anyone knew a Korean who could sincerely make the case for foreigners to stick it out in this country and, if so, would they be interested in an interview?
11/11/2008 at 2:57 pm Permalink
I love it here after 2 and 1/2 months. Obviously, I was lucky enough to end up at a decent hagwon, but I knew I wanted to be in Seoul, not an hour outside of it by train. This was non-negotiable. I’d make a few suggestions though to any native English speakers thinking of taking the plunge and coming over here:
1) Expect to work roughly 50 hours/week at a hagwon, even if your contract says you only have something like “20 hours of class time.” It’s really stupid that schools here try to tempt people by telling complete lies like this one. Maybe it’s a cultural thing as well, but in the States at least, if you’re at work, you’re working. You’ve “clocked in” to to speak. The work ethic in the ROK is very high, masochistically so, so if you see some business about classroom hours vs. “work” hours ask questions. Chances are you’ll be expected to be at school at least 40+ hours a week.
2) As bad as certain hagwon/public school teaching situations can be, there’s a high level of fluidity to the ex-pat teaching scene. Like I said, I’m happy where I am for now, but I’ve met plenty of people who had some sort of nightmare experience to start, had a meltdown with their boss, and simply found another place of employment.
3) If you’re living in an Office/Tel rather than a “real” apartment, you will be charged a monthly “maintenance fee” before actual utilities of about $150/mo. I’m negotiating this with my boss right now, actually, and I’ve made it clear to him that I’ll be moving on at the end of my contract if he won’t pick up this fee, since it wasn’t mentioned on my contract as far as “average monthly expenses.” The larger point being, Korean managers aren’t used to be questioned by their employees. Use this to your advantage. Your boss over here might be a dickhead, but he probably doesn’t want to go through the hassle of shipping another foreigner over to replace you. He also probably wants to avoid confrontation as much as possible, so don’t be afraid to ask for things. What’s the worst they can do, but you a plane ticket to send you home? They can’t exactly cut you lose as an illegal alien (although I’m sure some places would do that if they could).
4) If you don’t want to live in the suburbs, don’t take a job in them. My hagwon and home are in Seoul proper. A lot of ex-pats I’ve met hate the fact that they live so far outside of the city itself. So, don’t take a job somewhere outside fo the city in the first place. Look at a map. There are way too many hagwon and public schools to take a job somewhere where you don’t want to live.
I’ll finish by mentioning that I’ve met some unhappy wayguk-in who probably have no one else but themselves to blame. I’ve met vegetarians and vegans who didn’t do the basic internet research required to realize that the ROK is _not_ friendly to people who eschew meat. I’ve also met a few “ugly Americans” who seem to think that the local culture should adapt to their needs, rather than the other way around. This is Travel 101, however, but it still kind of surprises me that college-educated people could be so ignorant as to how things work outside of America.
That’s more than I intended to type, but hey, it’s always worth sharing a little info with people.
Now to go work on my apps for a university teaching job. . . .
11/11/2008 at 6:14 pm Permalink
Hi Dimanche..
That is an interesting inquiry. Is there a Korean out there that would make the case for Foreigners to stick it out here.
Maybe my boyfriend would or the boyfriends/girlfriends of other foreigners.
12/11/2008 at 8:11 am Permalink
OOOoo Jaim had some really great points.
I want to add that I am really enjoying living out here in the “burbs” or lower parts of Seoul.. Gyeongi-do. Life moves a little slower here, which makes it more comfy.
I think too that we shouldn’t be afraid to demand things we need, especially if they pertain to our way of life.
12/11/2008 at 10:17 pm Permalink
Jaim –
You make a lot of great points and I agree with most everything you said. I’m also teaching at a hagwon and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience — in fact, I signed a second contract with the same institute back in August. While I’m living in Uijeongbu, an hour north of Seoul, instead of the nation’s capital, this is because I was specifically trying to find a job in northern Gyeonggi-do. To reply to some of your other points:
1. While it does seem like 50 working hours (or “contract hours”) is pretty common, schedules do vary a lot between hagwons. Last month I worked a total of 21 hours a week and a 30 hour work week is the most I’ve ever been asked to work over the past fourteen months. This isn’t time in the classroom — it’s how long I’m expected to be at the academy. Personally, I would recommend staying away from contracts that mention “teaching hours” or variable schedules and go for those that list the earliest start time and latest end time that you’ll be expected to work. (i.e., for my contract it says that I will be required to work between the hours of 2pm and 8:30pm, although I can also show up late/leave early if I’m not teaching at those times.)
3. I wasn’t charged a maintenance fee for my place. This is another area where it pays to look at the finer details of what’s in a particular contract. Like you said, the availability of teaching positions here is constantly changing. If you don’t like what’s in the contract, don’t sign it! On top of that, I also agree that many of the people in educational management (principals or academy directors) aren’t used to having employees question conditions, so teachers can use that to their advantage. Ask about any of the details you don’t agree with — if the answer is “it’s in the contract, but don’t worry about it”, ask to have it removed. My hagwon is part of a franchise and sent me their “standard” contract to sign, but the director removed several parts (and added a couple others) at my request. So that should serve as an example that it is possible, even for a brand-new teacher coming to Korea.
4. I love living in Gyeonggi-do, but as I said above, it was one of my goals when I set out looking for jobs. It’s painful to hear people complaining about living outside of Seoul when that’s an area they had full control over during their job search. I had a phone interview with a prospective teacher last winter who was surprised to hear that Uijeongbu wasn’t in downtown Seoul. It’s hard to muster sympathy for the folks who choose not to do any research — especially given how much is out there on the internet these days.
One of my past coworkers was a vegetarian who also hated seaweed and rice. He was also fond of complaining about the lack of American clothing stores and indie hipster clubs in our city, and bitching about how Korea “has no sidewalks” and is “dirtier than China”. (Has he ever been to China? No.) I’d recommend the “Culture Shock: Korea!” book for anyone looking to come over here and teach. You don’t even have to buy it — just check it out from your local library!! Like you said, I’m surprised that people with a college education act this way. I bet there are plenty of them who would spend more time researching a job halfway across their home country but who don’t think twice about coming to Korea without any idea of what things are like here.
Joy –
I’ve been curious for a while now — did the contract for your first job include sick leave?
Also, you mentioned “living out here in the “burbs” or lower parts of Seoul.. Gyeongi-do.” Gyeonggi-do is not the lower parts of Seoul!!! I’m a little perplexed how I can live an hour north of Seoul – while my friend lives two hours north of Seoul – and still be in the “lower parts” of the nation’s capital … >_<
16/11/2008 at 12:48 pm Permalink
I have a slightly different perspective. I neither live in Seoul, nor work in a Hagwon. I live in Jinju which is a medium sized city about an hour and a half west of Busan. I also work in a private school that is administered by the Jinju board of education, so it is kind of like a public school.
I have complained in other posts about corporal punishment at the place, but besides that I am rather content with the job as I resigned my contract. This is through the EPIK program. EPIK indeed has its flaws. One would expect that a program such as this would be well planned and rather homogenious across the board. Unfortunatly, though, like other situations, EPIK will take anyone and then throw them to the wolves pretty much when you get off the plane. There also doesn’t seem to be any EPIK curriculum, and no one really seems to know what they want foreigners to do, or what we can do to help.
Having said all that, I find my life here to be incredibly comfortable and enjoyable. Since I live outside a major metropolitan area I get a 100,000 bonus. If I were to live in the real countryside, a place like Sancheong county in Gyeongsangnamdo, I would get an extra 100,000. (I would also work at about 5 different schools though. I recieved all of the promised bonuses, vacations, and airfare reimbursements. My one room is small but comfortable, and my coworkers are generally freindly. The school is small, the biggest classes have 36 students, and the smallest ones have about 24 or 25. (They sepereated girls and boys, since there are many boys and not so many girls the girls classes seem to be smaller)
Now the best part in my opinion are the work hours. I generally teach between 4 and 5 classes a day between 8:30 in the morning and 4:30 in the afternoon. Last year the school ran an after school program for three hours, 2 days a week from 6:00 to 9:00. That was incredibly annoying, but the overtime was pretty nice. The school stopped that though, much to my delight.
So what I’m saying is, is that the public schools can be pretty decent jobs as well. They can be awfull too, depending on your coworkers and how the school treats you, but if you can find a city that has a school board that at least tries to do a professional job, and a school with a nice principal and vice principal. You can do well. Public schools can also give teachers who want to go the extra mile some freedom in setting up their own programs and clubs too. I know a few people who asked to make up extra classes about things like music or drama, and they get a lot of satisfaction out of doing that kind of thing. They also have the extra time to do so because they aren’t working the 40+ hours as mentioned above.
Between teaching gigs, I went back to America for 8 months and picked up some temp work in a greenhouse. I finally quit the place because I would work about 60+ hours a week at $8 per hour $12 with overtime. Also the bosses were mean and said terribly racist things about the Latino imigrant workers who worked there. Now, after working 60+ hours a week, payday should be a happy day. Instead, you see the amount that you are getting without healthcare, and you just feel angry. So going back home, and expecting to live as comfortably as one can live here is just not a reality that is easily attainable. I looked for 2 months for a job and finally settled on the green house. After I quit that, the temp agency found me a job at a box factory (Which was actually kind of fun, but it didnt’ pay well) I then messed around on the internet for about 2 hours and got my current job.
So there is a good difference between going home and sticking it out. In America, it is hard to find a shitty job, in Korea it is easy to get an O.K. one.