Starting my new job

In my Getting Fired and Getting Hired post, I mentioned that I had a new job doing the same thing, teaching elementary and middle school kids, in a part of town called Haeundae, pretty much the nicest area of the city. While that was true then, some things happened and took me in a different direction.

At the time, I had applied for another job living in the area that I really wanted to be in, but hadn’t heard back from the second job. Things quickly changed. Turns out there was a miscommunication between the school and me for my interview time.

I ended up having an interview the day after I had initially accepted accepted the first offer.  The interview went really well and they tentatively offered me the job, but needed to see a teaching demo before they could make things official. The academy is an adult hagwon that teaches several languages, and me knowing Spanish was a big plus for them. I had my teaching demo a few days later and received top marks.

That same day I met with the owner of the school to negotiate my contract. It was really intimidating sitting in his corner office on the 12th floor of the building with him on one side of his desk and me on the other surrounded by four Koreans. They were all speaking in Korean and it was hard to tell what was going on, except that they seemed to like me because they kept smiling at me.

About 40 minutes later, we left the room with a preliminary contract and waited for them to draft the final. The pay is less, and the contract isn’t as good as my previous job, or as the other job offer I had, but I can say that after working here for two months now, I am happy.

Life has a way of equalling things out for us. It may be less money, but there is definitely a lot less stress. In my case (a very overused Konglish phrase), I think Biggie’s song said it best, I guess this was an example of “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

But in all seriousness, I’ve made two promises to myself — first, that I would never make a decision based on money, and second, that I would always follow my heart wherever it may lead me. I truly believe that the only advice worth following is to follow your heart. You may not end up where you originally intended to be, but I think you will always end up happy.

The reception area of my school. (The Obama t-shirt just randomly appeared one day.)

The working environment at my school is so positive. I actually enjoy coming to work every day. My co-workers are all so friendly and everyone get along quite well. I struggled at my old school with not having anyone to speak in English with because the only one who could speak English well, quit after I was there for one month. But here, all the English teachers actually know English, and the teachers of other languages know at least some.

The students are what I love most about my school though. Teaching adults is very different than teaching kids. The adults are all highly motivated to learn. They come to class each day prepared and with an open mind. They all know that being able to speak English is going to help them get a better job.

At my school in particular, the students come for the laid back atmosphere, they mostly just want to talk. All of my classes that I teach are conversation classes, so for the first part of every class my students tell me about what’s going on in their life and we chat like friends. I love being able to develop relationships with my students, being able to know more about them as people helps me cater my teaching to their interests.

We gossip, I teach them about Texas, they talk about their relationships, I teach them slang and idioms, sometime we watch sitcoms, sometimes we talk about real world problems like overpopulation or racism, but no matter what the subject is we always have a good time.

I’m in a very good place right now.

Peace and hugs from Busan.

Another one bites the dust

This year the world saw the death of two of the most hated people in the world. It’s strange to think that two people who are responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people no longer live today, one who killed thousands of people with weapons and another who starved his own country to death. It’s a good feeling. I mean I don’t wish death upon anyone, but people can breathe a sigh of relief.

The death of Kim Jong-Il did not come as a surprise to me. The country’s “Dear Leader” had been in poor health for a few years since his stroke in 2008. That combined with his age, meant his death was inevitable. What did come as a shock to me was how South Koreans reacted to this news. Or rather, didn’t react.

Getting fired and hired

It’s been a while since my last post and much has happened. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know the gist of it — I got fired from my first job. It was a quick 5 weeks, but alas there were what I would call “personal differences” between me and my boss. I’ll just say that he was less than friendly towards women.

I never thought that in the 21st Century I would have to deal with sexism in the work place, but in Korea I think it would be safe to say that it still exists.

Korean 101 classes commence…. err, uh, is this actually 201?

I’ve been a studious little traveler these past few weeks. Perhaps I have not been as diligent as I could have been, but I have been making the time to study some Korean most every day. That can be as much as sitting down with my textbook and working through some pages, while listening to the native speaker on the accompanying audio, or as little as quizzing myself with flashcards while riding the subway, but I make an effort to study often.

When I hear a new word I want to learn, I’ve gotten to the point that when I repeat it, I can now spell it out. This definitely helps in remembering words better and steadily building my vocabulary.

When you live in a country with no bathtubs…. Do as the Romans do!

With no definitive plans for the weekend, I thought I would do what I do best — get out and explore some more. I hit up “the Googles” up for some ideas, when I came across the perfect way to spend my Saturday morning after a long and somewhat stressful week. Nothing is more relaxing than a trip to the spa.

Hurshimchung is said the be “the largest hot springs in Asia.” While that might just be a self-proclaimed title, it certainly is large. Now, Korean spas are not what a typical Westerner probably thinks of when they hear the word. They probably think mani-pedis and facials and massages. Spas here are public bathhouses.

It’s so cute when you speak Korean!

I’ve started to learn some Korean and I think I probably have about 20 or so words down. My co-teachers always tell me “It’s so cute when you speak Korean! Say annyeong haseyo again!!!” They say I speak like a little kid. I suppose I am in a very child-like phase of learning a language. But hey, everyone starts at the beginning.

Even the kids I teach think it’s cute when I say something in Korean, which is usually “stop that,” “stop looking,” or “mogi! (when a mosquito gets into the classroom).” They say, “teecha, teecha, how you know?” I love it.

Exploring my new home

I’ve done some exploring in my neighborhood and on one of my walks discovered the Provincial Capital Memorial Hall. The grounds served as the former residence of the president for three years during the Korean War when Seoul was overtaken. Busan was one of two cities in Korea that was not captured during the war. Discovering that little trinket of history was a nice treat for my first exploratory walk. I’m glad I didn’t let a little rain stop me from enjoying my morning that day.

First Impressions

I’ve been in Korea a little less than two weeks now and haven’t been able to post yet. I have not had a way to charge my computer because my charger is a three prong and my converter is only two. After a week or so of searching for an adapter, I finally found one after wandering aimlessly through Gukje market for a few hours. Needless to say, I did a little happy dance and attracted some stares.

Leaving on a jet plane

All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go. My first flight of three on my 25 hour journey to Busan, South Korea will leave in just six short hours. And yes, I realize I should be sleeping, but thoughts of everything are flooding my mind.

I first started this journey in June, and the process was long and tedious. Although the process consisted mostly of waiting for paperwork to come through, it feels like everything has happened so quickly. It feels like yesterday I was talking to my friend Greg on Facebook when he told me “just send out some resumés, see what happens.” A week and a half later, I already had three job offers. I decided then to quit looking for jobs in the States and commit to moving to Korea. That was June and in three hours I’m walking out of the front door of my house for the last time in at least a year.