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Four months in

OK, so i'm not going to bitch on about being skint and not working enough (not too much anyway) as while it may still be true it's certainly not getting any more interesting. Work, to their credit have come up with a few more hours for me which is going to help us and I'm working on getting some extra part time work with just about anyone who'll have me. Our financial situation means that we've not really ventured far or done anything particularly interesting over the past few weeks so I thought I might try and do a comparison of Taiwan and Korea which might be of help to someone considering teaching abroad in Asia or switching from one to the other. I have to say it's actually quite a difficult thing to do as I was based in a fairly remote part of Korea and here in Taiwan I'm in the capital Taipei so a like for like comparison isn't always possible but here goes.

In no particular order the categories i've chosen are; Earning potential, food, climate, accommodation, people, language, transportation, healthcare, communication, social life, work, and visas.

Earning potential.

The keyword here is potential.

Korea: Let's talk cold hard cash. In Korea you have your job lined up before you arrive (finding a job is an absolute doddle involving a three minute telephone interview) and you start work pretty much straight away. In fact you are most likely shoved into a classroom and told to start teaching before you've even registered the fact that you're jet-lagged and have unpacked your suitcases. So you start earning money from the word go. You are likely to be earning a little over 2 million KRW a month which allows you to have a good time and put a chunk away in your savings. Your school will also pay for your flights there and back. Tax is low (I didn't even have it deducted when I was there) and if you're a North American you get your pension refunded when you leave. If you're a Brit you can kiss it goodbye***Correction: My friend Andy is pretty sure he will get a pension refund when he leaves. From what I can work out though he'll be waiting until he's 65 before he gets to enjoy it: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Korean_pension_plan. On top of that you have free accommodation and a severance bonus assuming your Hagwon doesn't screw you. The flip side is you will most likely be working full time. That's not to say you'll be teaching full time, you will simply be required to sit there refreshing your emails and going insane. At my job I taught 25 hours a week but was actually at school for around forty hours. People who work at public schools have it even worse. I called this time dead time and if you factor it into your hourly rate it's depressing. You'll also only be allowed to work one job and if you are caught teaching privately then your feet won't touch the ground on the way to Incheon airport. Remember too that the currency is a load of crap. The Korean Won goes up and down like a tart's knickers so hold onto it until you get a decent rate.


Taiwan: If you choose to work in Taiwan you'll find it very difficult to organise work before you get here as the buxibans like to make you do a teaching-demo before hiring you. (Unless you work for one of the chain schools like Hess or Kojen who are fairly demanding employers and low-payers.) Right now you'll probably find it difficult to find work even when you do arrive. What attracted me about working in Taiwan is that you can avoid the dead time. Most part time jobs will simply pay you for the work you do and not expect you to desk-warm. You are also able to take additional jobs up to a maximum of three. So if you can find 2 part time jobs giving you a total of let's say 25 hours/week @ an hourly rate of $650NT your pre-tax earnings are going to be getting on for 70 000 NT which is more than you'd get in Korea for less time. If you can then supplement that with some private classes (not strictly legal here either) then you're doing well. In short, if you want to earn money there are more options available to you in Taiwan than in Korea, but this doesn't mean things will pan out the way you want them too. Look at me still struggling after four months and nothing concrete on the horizon either. It really depends on the state of the market. The best times to get a job are in August and after Chinese New Year. You will also have to pay your flights to and from as well as paying your own rent and a lumpy deposit. In Taipei, the rents are much higher than the rest of the country but are manageable unless you rent one of Martin's places (see earlier posts).

Verdict. For earning potential Taiwan wins. Realistically though you'll probably save a fair bit more in Korea as well as hardly needing anything in the way of start up capital.

Food.

Korea: This is an easy one for me. I found about four dishes in Korea that I enjoyed. In fact I can list them. Gamjatang, galbi, ddalkgalbi, and bulgogi. At a push I could include bibimbap but certainly wouldn't shout about it. Kimchi is something I grew to love but is an accompaniment rather than a dish on its own. The rest of it I found pretty awful. Everything smothered in the same red pepper paste and tasting of fish. If you're looking for an instant emetic why not try some peanut butter dried squid or some silkworm larvae? If you're particularly hungry you can have some dried octopus or unspeakably bland rice cake. That doesn't do it for you why not eat a dog? Seriously, while Korean barbecue is tasty and really novel when you first arrive, you may go insane after a few months at the lack of variety.


Taiwan: Taiwan kicks butt on the food front. I have eaten so much good stuff since I came here. Unfortunately I don't know the names of half of it. Dumplings have become a staple part of my diet and the noodle dishes are great. In my book, if your starting ingredients consist of ginger, coriander, chili and garlic you won't go far wrong. Yes they have a few iffy things here and I for one avoid tripe at all costs but on the whole it's tasty and varied. We wandered around Shilin Night Market last weekend sampling different stuff. The toffee strawberries, Roti, Shanghai buns and the massive pieces of fried chicken there are all winners. I could also tell you half a dozen places you can get a great burger if you are feeling a little homesick.

Verdict. Taiwan wins hands down.

Taiwan has Peking duck and therefore wins all food contests

Climate:

Korea: Unbelievably hot and humid in the summer. Bitterly bitterly cold in the Winter which may last four months. So cold the sea freezes and you feel like you're going to die. Unless that is you're a Canadian, in which case you might put on a jumper and regale your friends with stories of taking a snow mobile to school in your childhood. The air becomes so dry that you get static electric shocks every time you touch something metallic and your skin starts to crack. On the positive side, your apartment, no matter how small will have underfloor heating which will warm your cockles and become your best friend. Standby for a killer heating bill though, especially if your girlfriend moves in and her name is Melissa.


Taiwan: Even more unbelievably hot and humid in the summer, which lasts until well into October. In Winter the temperature drops to a low of around 9C but because of the humidity it will feel many degrees colder. Right now it's about 13C outside but you want to be well wrapped up if you are venturing out. All in all though I'd rather be here in Mid-December despite the lack of heating in the partment. If we're talking natural disasters Taiwan is vulnerable to Typhoons, particularly in the south. Korea has impressive storms but doesn't have a sub-tropical climate like Taiwan does. Oh, and thought I'd better mention that last night there was an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale.

Verdict. What do you like better? I'd rather be too hot than too cold so earthquakes aside Taiwan wins.

Accommodation.

Korea: So, in Korea, assuming you aren't taking the housing allowance offered to public school teachers you get what you're given. This will most likely be a studio with separate bathroom and a basic kitchen. The size of the studio depends on where you are. In Seoul it's likely to be pretty snug. You won't have to buy any furniture or appliances. I was pretty lucky and ended up with a decent sized bedroom, kitchen and study but I was the exception rather than the norm. My school genuinely cared about my well-being, yours probably won't. You'll also discover the pleasure of under floor heating and should have an air conditioner for the sweltering summer months. The best thing about all of this of course is that it won't cost you a dime.


Taiwan: In Taiwan you get to choose where you live which is more in keeping with real life. We initially tried living in the city but chose to escape to the relative tranquility of the nearby mountains. If saving money is your main aim you can rent a single room with shared bathroom for a few thousand $NT a month. Most people eschew cooking and eat out in this city so it's possible to rent a place without a kitchen for less than you would pay for a normal apartment. Rents vary enormously and foreigners are vulnerable to predatory landlords. (see posts on our experience with Martin). You may well need to put down a two month deposit. We negotiated it down to one but two seems to be the norm so bring enough cash. Most places are unfurnished but you can furnish a place relatively cheaply either using Ikea or second hand stores. Additionally, at any one time there is a steady stream of foreigners heading home and flogging their possession on tealit and taiwanted. We have managed to kit out our apartment with the essentials for about 500 GBP. If you're on your own in Taipei it's going to really sting if you want to rent an apartment on your own so you are probably best off in a share.

Verdict: Taiwan wins. Being able to choose not just your apartment but also its location more than compensates for actually having to pay your own rent.

People

Korea: This is where I have trouble making a like for like comparison. Back on Geoje in Korea attitudes were probably a few years behind the major cities. Despite the fact there were several thousand western workers on the island we were still regarded as novelties. Having kids run up to you in the street pointing and laughing is quite funny at first but quickly becomes really old. I never understood it. Korea is a modern country. There were thousands of foreigners on the island, pictured in textbooks and working at the schools yet they still persisted in pointing and shouting as if they'd never seen a white face before. There was a prevalent xenophobia in the most literal sense of the word. Many Koreans were genuinely afraid of westerners. On a more positive note people would go out of their way to help you even if they spoke no English. Having seen attitudes in London towards foreigners struggling with the language barrier it was actually quite humbling. If you do decide to go to Korea just be prepared to encounter some crazy nationalism and be aware of the fact that some people will genuinely resent your presence in the country.


Taiwan: So far so good. I've not ventured into the more rural parts of the country but the people I have encountered here are incredibly warm and friendly. I know about four words of Chinese but most people here can speak at least a smattering of English and are sympathetic to my ignorance. Even Martin was a nice guy despite the fact he was an absolute shark. That said I've heard a few horror stories about bosses in buxibans but I've had no problems with the ones I've dealt with. One thing that has irritated me is that when you have an interview, you are often led to believe the job is in the bag when they have no intention of calling you again. I recently had one lady go as far as to say she'd draw up a contract for me. When I became concerned that she hadn't been in touch I telephoned her only to have her first deny that she'd ever met me and then claim I had the wrong number. Fair enough if she didn't rate my demo but seriously is there any need for the dishonesty?


Verdict - Have found Taiwan a lot easier to assimilate into than Korea.

Language.

Korea: With 14 consonants and 10 vowels the Korean alphabet can be learned in a couple of hours. With the characters under your belt you can learn as much or as little as the language as you want. In theory if you have mastered the pronunciation of the different sounds it should bealmost impossible to make a spelling mistake when writing Hangul. The reality however is a different matter. Although I never got good enough to converse in the language I did learn something in the region of five hundred words of vocabulary without too much effort that helped me a great deal. If you are crap at drawing like me it really helps knowing some basic stuff like fruit and veg when you teach the kids. Korea rather confusingly has two numbering systems although neither of them are particularly complicated. If you do want to get to grips with the language you'l find a host of free stuff in the internet as well as cheap language classes when you arrive.

Taiwan: In Taiwan the official language is Mandarin. Not too sure where to start on this one but with over 10000 characters, all of which are completely alien to a westerner it's going to take some serious time and commitment to make any sort of headway with the written part. I have a course on my laptop which helps with the spoken side and I've found this pretty good. It won't help me read a menu though and the idea of only learning the spoken part of a language is not particularly appealing. That said, being able to neither speak nor write is a pretty sorry state of affairs too. Mandarin classes are pretty cheap and I'm hoping to start some in the new year if work picks up a little.

Verdict - Korean is far easier but unlikely to be useful to you ever again once you leave.

Transportation.

Taiwan and Korea are pretty small countries and getting around both on public transport, whether intercity bus or train is pretty straightforward and inexpensive. Both Seoul & Taipei have excellent subway systems although neither run into the early hours which makes getting home after a night out that little bit more costly. In Korea, both Daegu and Busan have modern subways too. Outside of Taipei however you are going to be reliant on buses unless you invest in a scooter or car. I've contemplated getting a scooter but think I'd end up under the wheels of one of the ubiquitous blue trucks inside a week. Both countries also have a high speed rail network although if you've ever taken the KTX between Seoul and Busan you can't help but have been disappointed that the thing only really lets fly between Dajeon and Daegu. One thing you can bear in mind is that cabs are much cheaper than back home and are a great fall-back option if you can't face a packed out bus.

Verdict - Score draw.

Healthcare

As a Brit it doesn't take a lot to impress me in terms of healthcare. In Taipei I've only had cause to visit a doctor once, with a stomach complaint, but I didn't have to wait more than few minutes to be seen and my health insurance kept the cost down. I've heard that the doctors here tend to over-medicate but they have nothing on the Koreans who won't let you leave their hospitals without an enormous bag of pills which will always include at least two painkillers and a decongestant regardless of your symptoms. The hospital I went to in Korea was modern and spotless which was a refreshing change from home. You could also turn up without an appointment and be seen within an hour. Both countries operate a compulsory healthcare insurance scheme which I wish we had back in England. If you're in Taipei it is worth reading the expat forums though as it appears that the standard of care varies from hospital to hospital.

Verdict - score draw

Communication

In terms of high speed internet access Korea is one of the top three countries in the world. Seoul has more wireless networks than sub-saharan Africa (Lonely Planet) and even on slightly-backwards Geoje I had a 75 megabit connection. Taiwan is pretty internet friendly too although not in the same leagues as Korea. We have a 10 megabit connection in our apartment which I would be delighted with were it not for the fact that I was totally spoilt by my experience in Korea. Now I grumble that it takes me a couple of hours to download a movie as opposed to ten minutes. Back in England, broadband internet is advertised as being "up to 8MB" whereas the reality is drastically slower. In both countries you can order the internet on a Tuesday and have an engineer install it either the same day or the next one. You'd be waiting weeks back home for the equivalent.

Another thing that has impressed me here is the postal service. While in England the Royal Mail is fast becoming a joke and is constantly on strike, the Taiwanese have the pleasure of three mail deliveries a day which is outstanding. My aunt recently posted me a package on a Thursday that I received the following Tuesday. Without wanting to sound like a post-bore that is damn impressive.

One quick note on mobile phones. Don't think you can bring your phone from home to Korea and put a Korean sim card in it. They have a completely different phone system there that doesn't use sim cards so you'll need to get that sorted on arrival. If you're coming to Taiwan you're ok.

Verdict - It may not have quite as rapid a postal service but 75 MB internet means Korea wins this one comfortably.

Night Life

Korea: Korea has a drinking culture that surpasses anything I have seen in England, Eastern Europe or just about anywhere for that matter. On Geoje it was quite common to have to step over drunken shipyard workers who had passed out on the pavement at the heady time of 8 pm. With the national drink soju retailing at about 40p a bottle combined with a hideously long working day it's little wonder they take their drinking so seriously. Every restaurant served soju and beer and if you didn't fancy paying bar prices you could always sit at a table outside Family Mart until the wee small hours getting nicely sloshed. In addition to this Korea is also the home of Screen Golf, possibly the finest "sport" known to man. In your own living room-sized booth complete with comfy sofas you could play 18 holes at St Andrews or Wentworth just a stone's throw from your apartment. Throw in a few mates and a load of soju and you could pass a very happy evening indeed there for just over 10 000 KRW. I have yet to find Screen Golf in Taipei which is a tragedy.

screen golf - legendary game






















Taiwan: One thing Taiwan does take seriously is its Karaoke or KTV as it's know here. Rather like the Norae Bangs in Korea you can hire your own booth with your mates and belt out embarrassingly cheesy music until 5 a.m if that takes your fancy. The drinking culture here however doesn't seem a patch on Korea. Many "bars" are full of locals drinking nothing stronger than tea even at midnight. I rather partied myself out in Korea, such were the opportunities to do it and have decided to take a back seat this year so this actually suits me fine. I am after all an old man now. I do however miss screen golf terribly. One advantage of Geoje was that it was extremely easy to meet people and I was privileged to make some great friends there. It being such a small place you would stop and chat to other foreigners in the street or at the supermarket. Now we're in a city there is no longer that sense of community that we had before.


Not technically night life but both Taiwan and Korea are fantastic if you like outdoor pursuits. The mountainous terrain of both countries lends itself to cycling and hiking and there are opportunities to scuba-dive along the coast.

Verdict - Korea wins.

Work.

Korea: When I arrived on Geoje back in the Spring of 2008 I was told by one of the Korean teachers at my school that the island's kids were much more difficult to teach than those elsewhere in the country. This was mainly because they led a more sheltered existence than those on the mainland and were therefor more prone to shyness. It certainly was a little tough at first and I must have made half a dozen cultural faux pas just during my first fortnight. These ranged from writing their names in red (in Korea this means they are dead) to patting them on the head (very insulting) but once we got used to each other we got on pretty well. I have to say though, they had an extremely low level of English and explaining even the most basic game was an arduous process. In Korean schools many of the Korean English teachers have only the most rudimentary grasp of the language so a lot of your time in your Hagwon is spent helping the kids to "unlearn" all the stuff they've learned at school. This is an immensely frustrating process. Furthermore, due to the private nature of the hagwons the kids are technically customers and you may find that you are unable to discipline or exclude even the foulest of students. I once ejected a kid from my class for rolling up his socks and throwing them in my face only to have him returned to me two minutes later by my boss. The hagwon industry is pretty cutthroat and students will leave at the drop of a hat if they think their mates are having more fun at a competitor. Your main job role may therefore be as an entertainer rather than a teacher, and keeping the little treasures enrolled at your school as opposed to the one next door will be your top priority. One more thing, the chances are that your hagwon's toilets will be shared with the rest of the building making them a place not for the faint-hearted.

Korean kids- nice bunch really!





















Taiwan: Here in Taiwan I've worked in a number of different buxibans as a substitute teacher and found it a lot easier and more enjoyable than Korea. The behaviour of the students has been better, probably because they have a far higher level of English than their Korean equivalents and therefore can understand what teacher is yabbering on about. Also if you want to take a day or two unpaid vacation your boss will probably not have a problem with it if you can find them a substitute teacher to cover your hours. In the current climate this is exceptionally easy to do. From my limited experience there also appears to be a genuine wish to improve the kids' English although i'm sure there are many places that just want to keep them enrolled as paying customers. As a side note I'd just like to mention that the buxibans I've taught at have all had excellent toilets and hygiene here seems to be a priority!


Verdict- Taiwan wins.

Visas.

Korea: If you're in a rush to get to Korea getting your E2 visa sorted can be a pain. I was one of the first to encounter the relatively new regulations stipulating the requirement for an apostillised Criminal record check. Getting the apostille just takes a bit of queuing at the Foreign Office in London. Getting the CRC check can take up to (and probably will) 40 days. Make sure you get the correct one from the Met Police. On top of this you'll need sealed transcripts from your university and your original degree. Then you have to send all this stuff off to Korea, wait for them to give you a visa number, visit the Korean embassy with your passport, wait another week and Bob's your uncle, you can finally leave. When you arrive your school will take you for a health check and after that you'll get your Alien Card.

Taiwan: Here's how I did it. Book return flight to Taiwan (returning within 90 days (not sure how necessary the return flight was)). Pack your original degree certificate. Enter country on 90 day visa-free stamp. Cancel return flight if it's refundable. If it's not, suck it. Get your health check done. Get job willing to sponsor ARC. Get work permit. Visit the Bureau of Consular affairs and buy a visitor visa. Take visitor visa to immigration and convert it to an ARC. If you aren't from the UK you'll probably want to enter the country on a visitor visa as that will give you 60 days to find a job and get your ARC sorted. If you are from the UK they won't let you get a visitor visa before you arrive because you have 90 days visa free. Don't even bother trying.

Verdict - Taiwan is marginally easier to sort out but both are a bit of a pain.


Overall verdict: Have to say I'm going to bottle out of calling this one. In all honesty if I had my Korean salary here in Taiwan I'd have a perfect scenario. However I don't, so find it impossible to make a decision as I'm not living life to its full capacity. I would say though that if you're only looking at being away for a year and want to party hard then Korea is probably a better option as you don't need much in the way of capital. Both countries will provide you with an unforgettable, entirely original experience that you can only get from living in Asia.

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