Topic: Does anybody have something nice to say about a school in Korea?

[oldphart]

While I enjoy a good horror story, endorsements of schools and recruiters would be more helpful.

I taught in Korea for three years and would now like to return for a few more.

In 1998-2000 I worked for Top in Jeonju.  Nobody called it paradise, but the owner paid and otherwise lived up to his obligations.  I suspect he was a far better employer than most in Korea.  (He also spoke excellent English.)  You could do far worse than that school.

Jeonju was also small enough for people to get around and the locals were mostly friendly.  (Try catching a cab in Seoul and you'll know what I mean.)  It was big enough to have comforts.  (Hell, MacDonalds and Burger King both opened while I was there.)

I'd try and go back, but I was very temperamental and an incredible slob when it came to housekeeping.  (I've since married and both those problems have been solved  - Oscar Madison has become Felix Unger.)

Now I face the challenge of not only getting an E-2 visa for myself (from the ROK Embassy in Bangkok) but an F-3 visa for my spouse as well.

Does anybody have a positive story to tell about a school &/or recruiter?

[NamTok]

oldphart,
   Having taught for two years in Korea (a long time ago, 1996-8), I know I can continue to say that almost every public school (government, state) is new and modern, with excellent facilities. I'm sure, however, that the teachers still take the club to the Grade 1-8 students. (High school students tend to whack back!)

   Apparently you taught at a proprietary school. Was there a club (and of course I don't mean an academic or language one!)? 

[oldphart]

I taught at a "language institute" (children and adults) and kindergarten and elementary and high school and privates, in-house and outside.

The only three people I ever wanted to beat the living crap out of were:

1)  one of the branch managers (I was in the minority but not alone)
2)  one of the other teachers (everybody else who knew him seemed to feel the same way)
3)  the gossippy foreign personnel manager (most everybody seemed to feel the same way)

Oh, and I suppose there was one hyper-active student.  I never did exercise corporal punishment.  Nor did I ever tell a father that the next time he visits a hooker, opt for the BJ instead of the lay - no more children for you!

And, to be fair, I was on more than one poop-list myself.

[NamTok]

oldphart,
   I'm sure you didn't hit any students, as foreign teachers from the West almost always never do, which is commendable and a good example, even if futile.
   You taught at a Hokwan (if I recall the translitteration system in use at the time)?

   I lived and taught in Gwang-ju, in the government program. Something like 98% of us were from the US or Canada. Not many Brits, Aussies or NZ in Korea at the time...was it the same while you were in Korea? A major reason I left was that, in meeting each class once a week, very little learning of English was accomplished. Korean grammar presents a real problem in the learning of English, does it not---subject, object, verb (same as Japan)? Even Chinese has s-v-o. Thai is all over the place! (I know just enuff about Thai to know why I don't bother to learn it.)   

   I (we) found Koreans to be awfully serious people. I find Thais to be awfully silly people. Do you recommend Korea? Why'd you leave? Etc?

[oldphart]

I left Korea, in spite of being offered a 4th year, partly because I hadn't had a serious accident on my motorcycle yet, and partly because I wanted to get back to Thailand, and partly because one of my parents passed away.

I've returned to Korea, with my Thai spouse.

The school is small, and it's a slow season, and business is terrible.  It has me a little nervous.  But, it seems like a superb job.  Very small classes, ajumas in the morning, then big monkeys and adults in the evening.  I like the couple who run the place.

It's not in Seoul.  It's a small city (a bicycle may be enough to get around on), though I hear we'll get a shitload of snow.  We're also near the beach.  Unless you're into night life, I think this is about as good as it will get. 

The apartment is small, and there's not even room for a washing machine in the bathroom.  Furnishings were rather spartan, but the fridge and TV were there and the shower gushes water, not the trickle shower I feared.

The bottom line is that where I used to work seven days a week (though not nights on the weekdays - I stopped doing that) to make a bit over 40,000 baht/USD 1,000 per month, I now work six hours a day four days a week (a 1/2 hour walk from school) to earn over double that, and housing is included.  I'm under contract hours this month, but still, this is a better deal than the Kingdom has.  Of course, heating oil isn't free and we'll be going through a bit of that.  My poor wife, who knows only the tropics, is going to freeze her tits off when the winter comes. 

It was all quite sudden.  Sept. 4 I was just testing the water on the net.  Oct. 7 we were having dinner with my new employers.  Very surreal.  It was almost as if I hadn't been away for almost six years.  I was sipping soju and munching on galbi and wearing a windbreaker.  Two days later, Kim Jong-mentally-Ill tested his nuke.  I hope this isn't an omen.

[Uncle Che]

Great to hear the positive story, I know there are more than a few teachers in Thailand testing the waters elsewhere. How difficult was it to take your Thai wife with you? What did you have to do?

[oldphart]

I can't really tell you what I had to do to get my wife here without talking about what I had to do.  So, get some coffee.  This will take awhile.

Item #0 was my E-2 visa.  You diploma is needed.  There are two routes to go:

a)  Your embassy needs to "notarize" your diploma and possibly transcripts.  The U.S. Embassy doesn't do this.  Americans need to have the university do its thing, then the state takes its turn, then the U.S. State Dept. finally gives its blessing.  Then the Thai Embassy in the U.S. gets into the act, and you are ready to go.  Allow a month for this.  (Very optimistic figure.)  The embassy's info is not really all that helpful, and if you don't have somebody helping you out in country, your chances of success aren't too good.)

b)  The school sponsors you.  You still need to provide the diploma and transcripts.  The transcripts cannot be more than three months old, as I learned.

This is in contrast to the procedure several years ago, when the diploma went to Seoul, and then back to the embassy/consulate where you were applying for the visa.  The rocket scientists in Cairo in 1997 took my application for a toruist visa along with my diploma.  Nothing I could say or do conveyed what an incredibly stupid thing they were doing.  Bangkok seemed to know what they were doing.  Still, if you're not applying in California or Canada, I'd be very diligent while applying.

On to my wife:

Korea and Thailand have a "no visa" protocol.  In practice, however, it's a bit more complicated (and a lot more expensive) than that.

First, we needed to be "really" married (i.e., have the marriage registration from Thailand).

Second, we had to have the Thai Foreign Ministry (inconveniently located on Chiang Wattna (pardon my crappy spelling) stamp it.  We needed two copies at 400 or 800 baht a pop, and it's double for "while you wait" service.

Third, the Korean Embassy needed to add their stickers.

Fourth, she needed a return ticket to enter Korea.  (A one-way ticket was okay for me.)

(I blundered.  I got a three-month return because it was cheaper than a one-year open return.  Unknown to me at the time was that the return leg on the one-year ticket can be refunded [minus a 2,000 baht fee] and the same leg on the three-month ticket cannot be refunded.)

She was then able to enter Korea along with me as my wife on the strength of my E-2 visa.  She got three months, my "until" date was left open.  My heart stopped as immigration brought her up on their computer terminal.  I got the hairy eyeball as she (the official) asked the relationship of "that woman" to me and seemed surprised to learn that she was my wife.  But, everything must have been in order because I was told that she had to extend her stay within three months and I was back (with wife!).

When I went to get my Korean Alien Registration Card, she also got hers.  At the time, her tourist visa was changed to an F-3 visa.  I paid 10,000 won for my card.  I had to supply the contact info for my university so that Korean immigration could verify my diploma again.

My wife's card was 60,000 won.  I assume that the extra 50,000 won was her F-3 visa fee.  Her visa is now tied to mine.  We need to extend our stay every year.  There is no 90-day check-in with Korean Immigration.

So far, everybody seems to like her and thinks that she's "cute."  I was extremely concerned how she'd be accepted, because she's 22 years my junior (and over one foot shorter) in a country where an age difference over five years is extreme.  She is also uneducated and speaks no Korean and very little English.  (She is helpless alone in an airport outside of Thailand.)  So far, this hasn't been a problem.  I'm amazed, because she's illiterate here in Korea, but has still been able to go out alone and find her way.  The streets where we live have names, but that is very unusual for Korea.  (And, she can't read the signs, anyway.  We live on "Soi" ["Gil"] 4 ["Sa"], and so far that's been enough.)

It may be premature to call this a success story.  Our problem is that it's the slow season, we're in a recession of sorts, and the school is losing money.  Her problem will be that the coldest she's ever known is Chiang Mai at Christmas.  Usually the snow is only a few inches deep, buy last year it got to be a few feet deep and people were snowed in for a few days.  Either way, that girl is going to have ice cream in her bra before June.

Unrelated, but worth mentioning:  everybody's favorite teacher (do the initials "P.R." ring any bells?) once told me that he was heading for Korea.  (Instead, he turned up at S'flower where he got fired and, just like at BFITS, made up a story about not being paid.)  Now that I'm in Korea, I rather enjoy sending him e-mails asking where he's teaching so we can visit.  No response so far.

[bcqcboy]

Does anybody have a positive story to tell about a school &/or recruiter?

My school's fantastic. I have no shortage of positive stories about my students and co-workers. However, I'm the only foreigner there and not leaving anytime soon. Unfortunately, whenever I discuss my school on the Net I'm usually accused of bragging and gloating.

Where are you working, oldphart?

[oldphart]

I'm working in Gangneung.  It's a small school, and I don't know if they'll survive until July (when things should pick up).

I work a split shift, M-Th (M-F during school break).  I have loads of free time.

[oldphart]

I left Gangneung in September.  I am in Thailand now, and will start work in Samcheok in a couple of days.  The new owner seems very friendly and helpful.  The room is nicer (we moved before making our visa run).  Yes, I'll be teaching monkeys, but I'll start in afternoon.  No more waking up pre-dawn and slipping on ice in the dark.

Geez, not many of us seem to have anything nice to say about Korea . . .

[tob55]

There are many good things to experience in Korea that make living here a wonderful place. It is the general attitude of some of the admins and co-teachers that have caused some to vent. I have lived here for about 4 years now. I am finishing my fourth contract and unless things change I will sign on for my fifth contract in February. I work in a rural public high school and have found the atmosphere to be delightful. The people are friendly, and the mountains are beautiful where I live. I have been married to a Korean woman for almost 2 1/2 years and we enjoy our life and lifestyle...I do get frustrated at some of the backwards ways of the Korean immigration officials and the miscommunication that generally takes place between educational agencies and the foreign instructors, but all in all, I have no complaints. My long term plans are to remain here and get my F5 permanent residency visa before this year is over.

People who have only complaints about the country would complain wherever they lived anyway, so I guess it is more a matter of personality than it is conditions (my opinion)...No complaints from this guy, at least right now...lol