considering... Hi Jenn,
This blog was very insightful and made my process of deciding to teach in Korea a little bit easier. I was wondering which company or recruiter you had. I have been getting a lot of e-mails from recruiters that post on my college job postings like travel and teach and asiaservices but I just am not sure who to trust. I am looking for a reputable and reliable recruiter/company. Also too, I was adopted from Korea when I was 18 months; what do you think the response would be from the prospective students?
Thanks! This was VERY informative thanks a lot for posting. I feel like most of the things you wrote I have been thinking and Ive only been here for 2 months
Boca Brava is nice but definitely not the place for high maintenance tourists. As mentioned earlier, there's no clubs, restaurants, bars, kayaking, windsurfing, etc. etc. BUT, if you're the tourist who can slow yourself down, this is a fine place to do it. Read, go hiking - the island is something like 30 km long. Yes, there's a fairly steady trickle of tourists through the place, but the party-ability factor varies quite a lot.
I've been there for a week a couple of times and have a hard time slowing down to really enjoy it - it's VACATION damn it! It has to enjoyed to the utmost! :)
That said, yes, Christina is very nice too.
Teaching in Korea I am seriously thinking about going down this summer, taking my chances with a school, and trying to find another school while there. Thanks so much for this info. I understand that all of this will be a challenge, since I happen to be black with teaching experience.
Handmade molas from the San Blas Islands I normally travel to the San Blas Islands and meet with some of my Kuna suppliers, San Blas is truly a Paradise, the Kunas are so simple and friendly people, live is so peaceful out there I wouldn't mind living there if I had enough food and good water every day.
check out my website for more beautiful molas www.molaartandcraft.com
Public vs Private I have been reading that public schools are more reliable to work for. Is this true? I also know they dont pay as much, but i am less concerned with making as much money as possible than reliability and not getting screwed when I get there.
Also, do know anything of the SMOE positions?
re: gary / think before you go! I have to agree with a lot of the negatives Gary presents here in his reasons for disliking Korea. it is definitely unlike any other country I've been in as well. i wouldn't go there expecting to be blown away by cultural and aesthetic beauty, and there are many aspects of Korean culture that surface in the people that will probably piss you off and make you enraged. however, i have to say that traveling is not the same as immersing yourself in a country long-term and that you are definitely bound to experience culture shock if you are teaching there, to a degree that you don't generally experience when you are travelling independently. Even if you are totally enamored with a place, if you immerse yourself in the culture and stay for a year, you will hit periods of depression and just want out. (See charts for 'culture shock.') Every time we've been there we wanted to get out by the end, but we kept going back.
On a different topic, I wouldn't let it scare you too much. Know your rights; withholding your passport is illegal. There are resources available to you to help you if your employer is trying to pull one over on you. Also, if you don't like it, just leave! I don't understand anyone saying they got into so much trouble with the police; it's really none of their business if you don't show up to work some day. Just leave the country if you don't like it.....I did! No problems, no questions asked.
re:amy -- 4 year degree sorry amy, that was my american background coming out. what i should have said was a 'bachelor's degree' instead. i had just said 4 yr to distinguish it from american college options of 2-yr. associate degrees. you should be fine.
Hello, i have stumbled across your fantastic blog, while searching for info on work in Korea. My boyfriend has just been offered a teaching job and has asked me to come too. I am English but I don't yet have a degree or any teaching qualifications. I can live with him but i would obviously need to make a little money to get by on. Also while he plans to stay a year I'd only be there about 3 months. Do you think that there is any kind of work I could get? and do you advise i just turn up and look? hope you can help! thanks
Have a serious think before you do it! I went to Korea, to Seoul to be exact, with little expectation. I wanted to go away and I wanted to teach. Getting paid was a bonus so off I went! I really had no idea what i was in for. I have travelled before but Korea is a different place all together. I wasn't warned or prepared what so ever. I didn't realise i would be living on my own in an apartment in the middle of a huge city (sounds great - wasn't), teaching in a strange school where no one talked to me and miserable in general. I also started smoking, lost a lot of weight because i couldn't eat the food to begin etc etc.........and no there is no happy ending, I absolutely hated the place, I was spat on on the street (people thought I was an american soilder), found the people to bo so rude, the pollution is awful and i could go on and on.....yeah i know loads a people go and love it stay 2 years, never want to go home yada yada......well I wasn't one of those people. I left and went to Cambodia to teach English - much more rewarding......so if your thinking ' oh I might do that'......you might want to do some serious before you find your self trapped into a year contract and you have to go to huge trouble to escape the country with out getting caught by your school / police! One place I will never go back to
School to AVOID Do not go to Korea and Teach at The Big Apple Academy of English. They treat foreign teachers badly, withhold pay, and will try to get your passport and then not give it back so you are trapped and teaching for free because you have no place to go. In order to get your passport they will try to entice you with offering to get you your permanent card do not fall for it!!! Avoid this school !!!
4 year degree? I have found your site to be very encouraging as I am planning on going to South Korea to teach next year. I have a bachelor degree, however, i noticed that you wrote that "job opportunities are endless, provided you have a four-year university degree." My degree was only of 3 years duration, do you think that this will make much difference? I noticed that alot of jobs just say they require a bachelors degree whilst only 'some' specify 4 years.
re:austincheri Hey! I wondered whatever happened to you and your planned travels. No explanations necessary -- you are a mom now and I know how little free time that leaves one with! Congratulations on your little one! We are on the road again with Kiva now and he is doing great with it; will hopefully have more stories blogged soon to add to the traveling with baby series (when I get a few spare minutes again between sightseeing and parenting and planning the next journeys, that is)!
Hello from Austincheri Jenny Jen - you are a fearless inspiration to me. About 3 years ago I started reading your journals and was inspired. At that time, much like yourself I was NOT a parent and I was still too chicken to ditch it all and travel. Now I am a very, very happy mom and have used that as a reason not to ditch it all and travel. Once again you are leading the way - thank you for sharing your beautiful boy, your perspective and your courage...I think it is starting to take affect!
working holiday visa theres this kind of visa you can ask more about at the k embassy.. a few countries can get it france canada us australia nz and others.. its not a teaching visa and you cant teach unless you have the teaching visa. BUT like jenni said, many people are willing to employ you.. can they? where is that? in academies private schools? anyway its a good thing to get that visa if u really wanna go there and dont have a degree. good luck :)
Inspiring! Thanks for visiting our country, this helps in many ways. I’m glad that you see potential in our 7000+ islands, and see the beauty in the simplistic way of life. I’m also an expecting dad. I’m inspired to know that travelling does not end as parenthood comes. Godspeed to your family!
re:travelling mum wow, that would be a challenge with 3 children, but lovely to get to spend so much time with them too. if you figure out how to do so, let me know....eventually we'd like to give him a sibling or two! :-D
re:kelvin the short answer is: no. visas are only to be had with a bachelor's degree and the immigration rules have changed such that you need to get legal visas before arrival in korea anyway. it's either illegal or not at all in your case, but you'll still find people very willing to employ you!
working illegally hey jen, first im going to have to agree with everyone else and say that i really enjoyed reading this blog and perhaps you are in the wrong career.....your photos are amazing. I cant tell you how much im interested in teaching english in korea, but i have one major problem, i dont have a uni degree and im not sure i want to do things illegally. I do have a TESOL professional diploma though and am travelling to korea to visit my girlfriend in december on a tourist visa. Is there anyway at all to work in korea without a uni degree, or is there a uni degree i can do really fast??! (being a 22yo male not seing his girlfriend for 2 months means im really, really impatient!!!!)
good inspiration for mums what a cute baby.. I was confused when I read your husbands blog.. it seemed he just said you were pregnant a few months ago and now here is the baby.. so the dates are out
thanks for making it seem travel with kids is possible.. It is probably true that travelling with a baby is easier than staying home.. now I got to get myself on a plane.. with 3 girls in tow... hmmmmm
English Apple I am looking into teaching in Korea and was thinking about going through a company called English Apple based out of Boston and LA. Have you heard of them? Either way, do you have any suggestions as to which placement agencies to go through?
Also, I have been doing an extensive amount of research on this and have been discouraged to find a lot of postings viewing their experiences horribly. I have read numerous postings saying they had to fight with their bosses to get paid or to get their promised vacation. Have you run into any of these problems?
Calming of the soul..... About to embark on a few months of backpacking ourselves, we were going through every raw emotion a first-timer could (and should) experience, but reading your stories has calmed our souls and made us hungry for adventures of a simple kind...keep writing...your an inspiration!
"As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.... If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -- Henry David Thoreau (Walden)
So I did it, escaped the conformity of the corporate ratrace while I still had my youth and sanity, to see the world with my own two eyes and embrace all its beauty and ugliness. Central America to Europe to Southeast Asia in 2005; 2006 will find me ex... full info
Julia
non-member comment
considering...
Hi Jenn, This blog was very insightful and made my process of deciding to teach in Korea a little bit easier. I was wondering which company or recruiter you had. I have been getting a lot of e-mails from recruiters that post on my college job postings like travel and teach and asiaservices but I just am not sure who to trust. I am looking for a reputable and reliable recruiter/company. Also too, I was adopted from Korea when I was 18 months; what do you think the response would be from the prospective students?