Okay, it has been over 7 months since I blogged and a lot has happened since then! I think I'll divide this up by location!
Jersey (May 2010-July 2010)
So, as I said in my last post, I went back home with my dad. I stopped having my own address in the UK for pretty much the first time in 5 years. I was a little down about this! I couldn't help but think that if only I'd been able to get a job, I could have maintained my freedom. However, the goods outweighed the bads in the end. In Jersey I ate for free (definitely a good) and I got to spend some quality time with my friends. It also helped that it was summer, which is definitely the best time of year to be at a loose end. I made a little money selling books on my wall and I managed to even go out for a drink and take part in a pub quiz once a week, which was awesome! The only downside of this summer time was that I was unable to see a close friend, who came back just after I left!
Hong Kong (July-August 2010)
I left for Hong Kong! Which was awesome, although less so than the first time, purely for scheduling reasons. I managed to persuade a friend from uni to come with me this time, and we shared a room. It was great, but I worked a lot. I ended up doing 6 weeks worth of hours in 5 weeks, which was probably fair enough, but meant I was pretty tired. I was also a little low on cash, and HK isn't an inexpensive place to be! I had a great time though, and the kids were cute!
I ended up teaching English Camp, which was a 6 week summer school for 4-8 year olds (I am still not sure if this is Chinese age or Western age). There was an English part to it, but it was also definitely meant to be fun! It involved lots of games (including a game that involved me chasing the kids, roaring and when I caught them they had to say an English word from the topic, which one of my kids referred to as "the game where you touch us" :S) The work was made far easier, and far more awesome by the assistants, who were wonderful. There was one in particular that I worked with who was full of good ideas, friendly and worked super hard!
Anyways, I finished in Hong Kong, saw some of the sights and ate in quite a few awesome restaurants, but I had a week left in which I traveled...
China (August 2010)
China was amazing! It is a truly beautiful country and I think we chose a beautiful place to visit! We went to Gui Lin, which is near the Yangtze river, and a particularly beautiful part of it. It is actually near a sight featured on one of the notes. In addition, it was cheap!! Really cheap!! To stay in a twin room in a hostel with my friend from uni cost less than my rent (which was cheap) did at home. Everything was really inexpensive, especially when compared with Hong Kong. I am really glad we made the decision to go outside the Special Economic Zone (which includes Guangdong and Shenzhen). It was a 10 hour bus journey in a really comfy sleeper bus (traveled over night, and even I managed to get some sleep!). I would definitely recommend visiting Gui Lin and Yang Zhou if you are in Hong Kong and looking for a week or two away. Anyways, all good things must come to an end, so it was back to....
Jersey (September 2010-November 2010)
I decided to do a TEFL course in Jersey a little while ago. I applied to the college and they accepted me quite a time before the course started, and the timing was excellent. I had a week to get adjusted to being back in the west, and then I started my course. I also had my birthday in that week, which was pretty cool!
The TEFL course I chose to do was a Trinity TESOL. It was brilliant! I learnt so much! I was amazed at how intense the course was (I was in school 9-6 every day and then I did at least a couple of hours of work at home every night). I learnt a little Russian (looking at how different teaching methods can be used in a language learning classroom), I profiled a student in depth (my student was an awesome Japanese woman who happens to be getting married to someone I knew in my secondary school. Jersey is not a big place!), I did a fair bit of observed teaching practice (about 8 hours, which was very useful! Lots of feedback!) and I learnt more about English grammar and pronunciation than I ever knew there was to know! The teachers were wonderful, and if by any chance someone reads this who is thinking of going there, I would definitely recommend it.
After this incredibly intense 4 weeks, things slowed down considerably! I spent October and November teaching a woman I met on my TEFL course a few hours a week. She was a wonderful student and she seemed to enjoy my lessons and learn some English which was nice! It also meant I had a slightly larger budget than I did in the summer. However, there is a lot less free stuff to do in October and November on Jersey! I spent a lot of time with my family and friends and trying, desperately, to sort out documents. I also cooked a lot, which was nice :D
Eventually, I got everything sorted and headed off to...
South Korea (November 2010-Present)
So! I finally made it out to Korea! I have been here for about 5 weeks and am really enjoying it! I am situated in a city called Cheongju, which is known by the Koreans as "almost countryside", but is actually huge! There are 600,000 people living here, and it is a big city. I have explored less than I would like to have, but I feel like I am just about used to the fact that I am out here.
It is definitely interesting living somewhere where the majority of people don't speak my language, or any language I know! My students are all a relatively high level, but the every day person might understand a little English, but doesn't really speak it. This is especially true of the older generation (although it doesn't stop them from trying to hold a conversation with a totally baffeled looking me). Everyone is lovely, foreigners and Koreans alike. I have ended up at a super awesome church, which has provided a lot of friends, which is nice! I am also getting to know my students a bit more. I teach a mixture from Kindergarten to Adult (I actually teach every age bracket, but high schoolers and in with the adults). I love teaching the adults and the elementary school kids. The middle schoolers over here are a little difficult to motivate, but I feel I will learn to connect to them better as the year goes on. The kindergarten kids are, well, small... I am not keen on kindergarten, but it isn't terrible! My work schedule is a little difficult (split shift, this month it is 7:30am-1pm and 6pm-9pm, but with breaks where I can do what I want), but not unmanageable! I have been homesick a couple of times, but nothing too terrible :)
I have spent quite a lot of time learning Korean as well. My Korean is definitely improving, but then it isn't hard to improve on nothing!! I have a wonderful teacher, which is really helpful :D
Conclusion
Life is pretty good at the moment. I'll update you a bit more on Korea at a later date. I feel this is probably a long enough blog post without too much detail! Anyways, feel free to vote in my poll below and ask any questions you like about Korea, teaching, etc :D
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Total votes
6
Which part of my journey sounds the best
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|---|---|
| Vote Jersey | |
| Vote Hong Kong | |
| Vote China | |
| Vote South Korea | |
| You must vote to see the resuts. | |
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Oh, and just an aside, I send 1,000,000 W home a month, to pay for uni and debts etc. This has made things a little tight at the end of the last 2 months, but that is probably because I have needed to pay an appartment fee (200,000W) and to join the swimming pool (197,000 W for three months). I am also not the best at managing my money), so I am easily saving 1,000,000 W a month without any overtime hours.
I also LOVE my classes. Most people who teach adults work a split shift, and I love that I teach all ages. It is wonderful to work with kids, but the adults are so nice! We are definitely encouraged to get to know them as friends and stuff, and it all gets quite relaxed. Teaching from a text book might sound boring, but with adult classes, it is always interesting, due to the people in your class (although there are some cons as well, which you can message me if you are interested in hearing about).
I also live right next to my school. This is worth asking about, as if you have to get multiple busses, it is a pain. You aren't paid for travel time, so I super appreciate mine being 5 minutes on foot.
All Korean schools pay for accommodation. Any that doesn't isn't worth considering (and it normally comes with a bed, a stove (no oven), a fridge (most of the time a freezer and a washing machine) and some sort of storage. It is well worth asking what they provide, it is also worth asking the teacher before you if they'll leave you anything, as I was left pretty much everything I needed (bowls, plates, cutlery, bedding etc) by the teacher before me. They also pay for half your medical insurance and half your pension (which, unfortunately is mandatory, and only North Americans get back).
Lastly, as for cost of living, I'll link you to a blog by a friend of mine who breaks it down nicely here (http://cocoinkorea.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/pay-in-korea/). I will also say that this is in Cheongju, which although it isn't the cheapest place to live, is far from the most expensive. JeJu island, Seoul and Busan are all more expensive.
And lastly, I will leave you with the thought that Korea is awesome! The people are awesome, the culture is very different, but definitely interesting and the foreigners are also pretty fun (I know a lot of people on the internet down talk Korea, but I am loving it).
Hey itchyfeet!
Working hours here are pretty long, but the pay does make up for it. You tend to get paid about 2.1 million won a month for teaching in your first job, of which you pay about 84k in taxes (I'll let you change this into a currency you do). Out here, things aren't too expensive (although food is getting more so due to foot and mouth and the global food shortage that seems to be going on atm with the problems with wheat, coco, etc). It is possibly you could find a job which pays more (although generally that involves being in Seoul, Je Ju Island or working Saturdays) and public school jobs often pay slightly less.
What I do, is I am contracted for 30 hours a week. I teach from a text book, so prep time is minimal. It is possibly not the best way to teach, and I know some people hate it, but it is impossible to do anything else when teaching 30 hours. If I teach anything over this, I get paid overtime (although this is sometimes a little dodgy, for example, if it is a short month, which can happen with holiday etc, they sometimes won't pay you overtime unless you actually work over 120 hours. Also, due to the culture out here some (bad) school owners will expect you to work overtime for free. Mine is not one of these, and neither are a lot (they've realised that we expect to be paid for overtime and that we'll leave if we aren't). Overtime can take you up to quite significantly over the pay for the month, which is cool! I should get nearly another million for the overtime I'm working this month.
hey there mahalath! just read your blog on sth korea--it seems sth korea teaching are long hours read someone elses and they were on from 9am til 6pm gettting in their door at 7.30pm -- be interested to know what the salary range is over there and do they pay for accomadation and food etc and is it ample--how's the cost of living in sth korea also.
Hope you are enjoying your experience tho and where to next!
Great blog! Glad you're enjoying your time in South Korea. Keep us posted on how you're getting on!
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