Archive for the 'Seoul' Category

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A Whirlwind of a Week!

Published on October 21, 2009 in Seoul. 0 Comments Tags: .

An AIM chat last Monday evening:

phrozted: “hey evan, sup?”

evankub: “hey ben, where you at man?”

phrozted: “well, i was going to beijing but i didn’t realize i needed a visa, so i may come to seoul.”

evankub: “word.  you can crash here if you need to.”

And with those words, the madness began.  Come Tuesday evening, Ben was in Seoul crashing on my apartment floor.  He’s an old high school buddy that’s currently on a world tour of sorts, and he crash landed here when his China plans derailed.  Since then my time has been consumed with squiring him around this fair town and inviting him to school events where my co-teachers get down with their bad selves:

Notice all the green bottles in the video?  Yeah, those are all empty soju (Korean liquor) bottles.  Immediately following this I sang a rousing rendition of the theme song for “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” since it was the only song I could remember completely off the top of my head when the teachers asked.  Ben sang with me, and it was magical.  Here’s a photo of us after our harrowing karaoke experience:

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We’ve had a lot of fun this week, and come Friday we’ll be heading our separate ways.  Ben to China, and myself to Seoraksan for a weekend hike.  It was good to see a friend from home though, and hopefully I’ll pick up some travel tips from him about the Philippines for my winter break.  But that’s a post for the future!

Gordon Gekko Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Me

Published on October 13, 2009 in Seoul. 1 Comment Tags: .

One of the primary factors behind people coming to Seoul to teach is the money.  There is massive potential to save or pay down debt here.

All public schools jobs (in Seoul at least) offer free furnished housing, reimbursed airfare (I made $350 USD on my flight over here!), bonuses such as paid vacation and a final bonus at the completion of the 1-year contract of a full month’s pay.  Some special situations may differ, but for the most part this is what all SMOE (Seoul Ministry of Education) teachers can look forward to.  Most reputable hagwons offer similar benefits and pay, though they generally have different work hours (more late nights) and less vacation.

If your spending habits are on the frugal side, you can bank at least 60-65% of your monthly paycheck without feeling the pinch.  For most teachers with a basic TEFL certificate salaries start at 2.0 million won.  At current exchange rates, that’s approximately $1700 USD.  Saving $1000 USD a month isn’t difficult at all.  These wages don’t even factor in private lessons, which range from 40k-50k won an hour.  Again, the potential to save or pay down debt here is amazing.

For me, the only temptations I currently have are some new gadgets such as a nice DSLR and a new iPod touch.  Beyond those two items, my only personal expenses consist of food, drink, and my small utilities fee I pay on my building each month.  Pension out of each paycheck is returned to most countries upon the completion of the contract, and my health insurance only costs 50k won a month.  I also have an income tax exemption both here and at home as an American.

Realistically, I think I’ll come out of my time here with at least 15k USD in pure savings when taking into account other projects like my writing.  That’s some serious bank for one year.

If you’re staring down educational debt or wanted to save a large amount of cash in a short time, I would seriously consider teaching English here.

I’m A Seoulite

Published on October 8, 2009 in Seoul. 5 Comments Tags: .

Or at least it feels like it.

I’ve been in South Korea for just over 6 weeks now, and I’m still waiting for culture shock to it.  Compared to Buenos Aires, this has been a pillow-soft landing.  Airfare, apartment, settling cash, it’s all handled.  For those of you that have lost track, let me catch you up on what I’m doing.

I am the native English teacher for the 1st year (freshmen) students at Dae Dong Taxation High School.  I teach the students (boys and girls) conversational English in classes of 25, segregated by sex.  The girls are sweet and give me lots of treats and love letters, while the boys are rowdy but respect me for my playground soccer skills.  All of them are very smart and keep me on my toes.

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Guest of honor at the ribbon cutting ceremony!

I work with a Korean co-teacher in the classroom with me at all times, and they are there to enforce discipline as well as explain any instructions in Korean that slip by the students when explained in English.  My head co-teacher Sam is my day-to-day supervisor and is a really great guy, he’s helped me with every problem that’s cropped up here.  The guy I teach with the most, Max, is a yoga practitioner and always chilled out.  He and I get along really well.

In addition to my normal student classes, I also teach after school classes, classes for the Korean English teachers, and classes for the Korean non-English teachers.  These are more informal and generally involve discussion about current events or aspects of American culture.

I’m all caught up on my photos from South America and Seoul now on Flickr, so feel free to check ‘em out and be on the look out for more updates soon!

Internet! ARC! Apartment! Seoul!

Published on September 22, 2009 in Seoul. 2 Comments Tags: .

It’s amazing how long it takes to get an internet connection here in Seoul, considering it’s one of the most connected places on the planet.  Without the fabled ARC (Alien Registration Card) it’s basically impossible to get anything.  Luckily, I have mine (complete with goofy grin plastered on my photo), and am now equipped with blazing fast 88mb per second ADSL.  Charter Cable this ain’t.

So updates have been sorely lacking, but I’ll try to sum up what’s been going on to get you guys back on track.  I’m teaching at a coed high school called Dae Dong Taxation High School, which is a vocational school.  The kids are all very smart, and their curriculum includes tax law, accounting, and internet commerce.  They can’t take social dance every year like I did back home!

My apartment is more than adequate; in fact it’s quite large.  I have no idea what to do with all the space considering I’ve been living out of a backpack for the last year.  This whole “personal space” thing is new and exciting for me.  It’s on the 12th floor of a modern building, with a nice bathroom, plenty of closet space, a washer/dryer combo, and a nice big window.  The only downside is the “Jesus Rocket” across the way, a giant white LED cross with strange fins on the side (hence the “Jesus Rocket”) that illuminates my studio apartment in a soft, holy light all throughout the night.

I’ve made some really good friends in the short time that I’ve been here, and I’ve gotten involved in some cool stuff as well.  I now play in an expat soccer league every weekend, I start yoga later this week, I’ve found some hiking groups that I’m going on trips with, I’ve got some language exchange partners off of Couchsurfing, and I’m slowly learning to read the Hangul alphabet.  I’m keeping busy!

Now that I’m online, look for some big uploads of photos and videos real soon.  I’ve got some cool ideas about putting together videos about the craziness that is Seoul, and I can’t wait to share them with you guys.

Stay tuned!