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I'd like to give you an idea of what you should expect if you come to Korea. The following is a description of what your life here will be like and what you can experience. In a typical week, you would work less than thirty hours teaching koreans to speak english. Most academies are one to three floors located in modern office buildings. As you enter your building, you may give a slight bow to your co-workers as you greet them. Koreans don't do a full bow as they do in other countries. Bowing is an ancient greeting which began as a sign of trust. By bowing, someone made themself vunerable to the other person, which established trust towards the other person. Now it is a simple greeting. The actual teaching is pretty straight foreward. Class sizes are between 1 - 12 students. The students have a text book and you go through the text book. If it is a forty minute class, some academies might want you to play a game for the last ten minutes or so. It could be a game such as bingo or hangman. Compared to other parts of the world, the students are more docile and disciplined. The atmosphere in academies is quite relaxed. Most allow you to wear jeans and a t-shirt. Before you ever start teaching, the academy will show you exactly what it is they expect from you. I was worried about the teaching when I first came to Korea, but after a few days, I got into the swing of things. Koreans are very social people. Eating is a very social event. Koreans love to order foods in groups and often share many foods. There are so many cheap and nutritious food delivery places, that you may get to deliver to your academy. Maybe you will want to join in with the other teachers. The delivery person will bring the food on a motorcycle and the food will be served on plates and bowls. When you are finished with your meal, you put the dishes outside and the delivery person will come back to get them later. It's kind of like ordering room service at a hotel, except in Korea, people don't usually tip. The food is tasty, cheap, delivery is free, and you don't tip! After work, you may want to go to a bar-b-que style restaurant. This is a great way to eat with your friends. It is much more social eating than western style. In these popular restaurants, there is a grill in the middle of the table. The waiter will bring many small dishes filled with various food. These are shared amongst everyone. The waiter will then bring the meat which you cook as a group on the grill in the middle. This is such a more interactive and social way of eating than you are used too. I love it. But make sure you don't leave your chopsticks in the rice bowl! This is only done after someone has died. It is a sign of remorse. If you are in the mood for western style foods, they have lots of choices here. Every city has McDonalads, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Outback Steak House, Bennigans, Baskin Robbins, T.G.I Fridays ... all the big names. During your freetime, you might want to call home. There are cheap calling cards you can get here. Or maybe you just want to e-mail. Korea has the fastest internet speed in the world. I think this might becasue on-line computer games are so popular here. You can go to a "PC Room" and use one of the computers there. Usually the cost to use the internet is between 50 cents an hour to $1.50 an hour. Remember, when you pay for something (or hand anything to a korean) pass with two hands. This is a sign of respect. Respect is an important part of korean culture, especially respect towards elders. When the weekend comes, there are lots of options. It's time to take your cell phone out and start calling your friends (It seems that 99% of everyone over 18 has a cell phone). Your academy will probably supply you with a cell phone. Before I came to Korea I never sang karaoke. They do have a few of those here, but 1000 times more popular are "singing rooms". It is basically karaoke, but in your own private room. The rooms serve alcohol and you can get rooms for 2 - 20 people. Lots of fun. As far as clubs go, there are quite a few that play western style dance music. These are very popular with the westerners. If you like the korean pop music you can go to one of those style clubs. In Korean style clubs, you must always order food if you are going to order alcohol. There are lots of pubs that have a relaxed sit down atmosphere with open-mic nights. Cafes are very popular here, so you might want a relaxing night at a cafe to chat with friends. While in Korea you will be under a working visa and you are only aloud to teach for the academy that you work for. However, many foriengers teach home-schooling. Although illegal it seems that most forienger teachers have some part-time work on the side. Koreans are very eager to learn English and are willing to pay for it. Those who do this fairly low risk teaching, can make about $30 - $50 per hour. Some people use their private teaching money as their spending money. And since their home is paid for by the academy, they can save 100% of their salary. Crime rates in Korea are low. Vandalism barely exists. I never feel nervous about walking anywhere at any time in Korea. The honor system is everywhere here. Sometimes in bars, you drink your bottles of beer and when you are leaving, bring up the empty bottles to pay for what you drank. There are donation boxes in stores and restaurants sitting loosely on the counters. I've even seen electronics stores leave new shipments of supplies in front of the store and out of view of the workers. All of these things can happen becasue of the sense of trust that koreans have. It is refreshing. Koreans' attitudes towards westerners is usually welcoming. I have meet many very kind people here. Of course with every group there are always some bad apples. Some westerns have faced some hostility, but koreans are usually pretty reserved, and any altercations are minor incidents. Some people don't like the fast pace of korean culture. Many koreans seem to rush a lot. The traffic is also a bit hectic at times. But if you need to get around, the public transportation systems are very cheap and efficient. In and around the city there are parks and tourist attractions. This might be how you want to spend your weekend. In the summer you can go to the beaches and in the winter you can go to the ski slopes. If you want to use up your vacation time, you can travel to some of the nearby countries. Popular choices are Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Loas, Guam and Indonesia. Some people that come to Korea like to only hang out with other westerners and not learn much about the culture or language. If this is what you choose to do, it is easy to do. There are english signs everywhere and usually someone that can speak english is around. Other people that come to Korea like to really immerse themselves into the culture, make friends with many koreans, and learn the language and culture. The experience is really what you make of it.
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