Apartment Photos
As promised, here are some photos of the apartment. There’s an entire room I don’t show, because it’s currently empty (except for recycling). As soon as we find a use for it, I’ll take a picture.
Enjoy!
Teaching in Korea — a Typical Day
This is a typical day of teaching in Korea:
- 8:20am: Arrive at school.
- 8:30-9:55am: Free time. First period is 9:00-9:45, but I only teach that on Tuesdays. Usually I’m preparing a lesson in the mornings (printing worksheets, etc).
- 9:55-10:40am: Second period. Teach second grade (8th grade in US) for 45 minutes.
- 10:50-11:35am: Third period. Teach first grade (7th) for 45 minutes.
- 11:35am-1:35pm: Free time. Work on lesson plans, write blog posts, eat lunch, etc.
- 1:35-2:20pm: Fifth period. Teach first grade for 45 minutes.
- 2:20-3:45pm: Free time. The internet is a good time-waster.
- 3:45-4:30pm: Seventh period. Teach “English Club”. Today we’re watching an episode of the Simpsons, because I can’t think of a better lesson plan.
- 4:40-5:25pm: Eighth period. Teach the “Teacher’s Class”. This is a conversation class with 7 or 8 Korean teachers. I find this quite stressful, but I only do it on Thursdays.
I’ll be home and drinking a beer by 5:40pm. Actually, this is one of my longer/busier days; most days I’m actually home by 4:40. Unfortunately, Korean beer is officially The Worst Beer in the World®. I’m working on a brewing operation, but it will take time.
A Change of Plans
The national EPIK orientation ended last Friday, and we boarded a bus for Gangwon province. When we got there, we learned that our city placement had changed. Instead of Donghae, we were placed in Gangneung, a larger city 30-40 minutes north (but still on the coast). We sat through another graduation ceremony, and were immediately whisked away by our Korean co-teachers, Mr. Kim and Mrs. Lee. We learned that we will both be teaching at Gangneung middle school, an all-boys school.
We spent two nights in a hotel while the current EPIK teacher vacated the apartment. We moved in on Sunday, and the place was still trashed. The former teacher, Paul, was gross. We managed to get things cleaned up a bit, and we got (mostly) moved in. The apartment is pretty nice. 3 bedrooms, with a screened-in balcony. More than enough space for us.
We started teaching on Monday. We were supposed to observe for a day, but both Erin and I just got thrown into the mix. I’ll write more about teaching later. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think I can manage.
The immigration requirements are still a hassle. We went to the hospital for HIV and drug testing today. They’ll be ready on Friday, but we’re supposed to leave early Friday morning and go to the immigration office in another city. Except the immigration office needs the medical test results. Pain in the ass. Once we get to the immigration office, we’ll have to apply for an Alien Registration Card (ARC), which will tie up our passports for 1-2 weeks. We can’t open a bank account until will the get the ARC. And we can’t get paid until we open a bank account.
Also frustrating: We learned today that the cost of the hotel will be deducted from the $300 settlement allowance coming to each of us. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive. They asked if we wanted to stay by the beach or in the city. I sure wouldn’t have said by the beach if I knew I was paying for it.
On a more positive note, we’re going on a class hiking trip tomorrow. I would have done it for nothing, but we actually get paid extra for it. I’m also getting paid extra for teaching at the elementary school once a week, and for an extra credit class that I’m teaching by myself.
Heading Out
Today we wrap up the EPIK orientation and head out to our province, Gangwon-do. I’m glad to be done with training, but there was a lot of useful info presented. Still a bit nervous about the placement. Evidently the placements we were told on Monday are not set in stone. The coordinator with whom we interviewed is not really the boss, and nothing is certain. We were told that couples would “almost certainly” get placed where they were told, as there are not many couples placements in Gangwon-do.
I won’t breathe easy until Erin and I arrive at the same apartment, however. Some couples (in other provinces) have been finding out that they are housed separately. That one would be a deal-breaker for me.
Anyways, I won’t have internet atmy apartment until I can obtain my Alien Registration Card (ARC), which will take a week or two. I’ll be checking in from school or internet cafes, but there may be fewer updates in the next couple weeks.
Wish us luck!
A Post About Money
It might be rather rude to write about my finances in Korea, but I’m sure people are curious. I know I would have liked to have more information when planning.
Keep in mind that I’m still at orientation and haven’t actually received or spent any real money. I have learned a few things from talking to returning teachers, however.
The lowest level salary for provincial EPIK teachers is 2.0 million won/month, or about $2000. Doesn’t sound like much, but included with the contract is airfare both ways and housing. Depending on where you live and how frugally you spend, I’ve heard that you can spend all of that, or save half of it. Maybe even more if you’re really tight. Erin and I are housed as a couple, and one of the EPIK coordinators said that should save us a lot of money.
Also, in rural provinces, you may end up teaching at multiple schools, in which case you are paid slightly more.
US citizens get a better deal than most. All teachers are exempt from Korean taxes for the first 2 years of their employment. Most other teachers have to pay taxes in their home country (or may opt to pay Korean taxes). US citizens, provided they make less than some large figure (I think 75K/year) are also exempt from US taxes.
Total annual payment (including severance pay, settlement allowance, and rural bonuses) should be between $26,000 and $28,000. Doesn’t sound like much, but with the tax benefits, provided housing, and a (seemingly) lower cost of living than the US, this isn’t a bad financial move for me.
This ends my discussion of money. Enjoy some photos:
Jet Lag sucks
Well, it’s 3:45 in the morning, and I’m wide awake. I managed to get a fair bit of sleep, but I expect I’ll be tired tomorrow. Probably shouldn’t have started reading. Finished Ender’s Game, which was a lot of fun. I should know better than to pick up a tacky sci-fi novel in the middle of the night.
Yesterday Erin and I (and a couple other friends) met a Korean businessman in the hall at the University. He was finishing some business course here, and asked about our pink t-shirts. He was really friendly. He spent 6 months in Texas on business, and drove around half the country. Gave us his card and said we could contact him if we were ever in Busan. Erin e-mailed him, and he responded. He seems like a good guy. People have been really friendly, which makes things easier.
We picked the right province when we chose Gangwon. Not only is the vacation time amazing, but we also get to interview with the regional office of education to express preferences for our placement. Other locations get placed more or less at random. The other teachers going to Gangwon seem like a good bunch as well.
I’ve met a few returning teachers, who have been helpful. I’ve been able to get some questions answered about paperwork and money. All-in-all, things are going well.
General Updates
So I’ve done very little writing on here lately, and lots has happened. There have been plenty of important events in international relations in the past month, from the collapse of the Doha round to the Russian intervention in Georgia. My (few) readers can expect more posts on topics like these in the future.
In personal news, my girlfriend and I are getting ready to move to Korea for a year. We’ve signed a contract with EPIK, and will be teaching English in Korean public schools for the next year. Expect updates and photos about this adventure.
I’m looking forward to a sweet Korean internet connection; the last few weeks at home (and on dial-up) have been frustrating. I think we’ll be pretty grateful for the internet over there. Given that we don’t speak a word of Korean, and we’ll likely be in a small town somewhere in Gangwon-do, I expect we’ll be spending lots of time with our computers. I’ll be using it as an opportunity to make this blog a higher priority. I miss writing, and even this informal BS is enjoyable.
Check back soon for more info, and if you’re privileged enough to have my Skype info, please give me a call now and then.
Asus Eee PC 901 (Linux)
I just got this sweet little machine the yesterday. I’ll do a longer write-up later, but here are some pics.
Flowchart master
The title of this post refers to me. That’s right, I am the flowchart master.
Maybe I’ll back up a bit. I’ve mentioned that I’m developing a training program for new tech support consultants at my new job. Last week (my first week on the job), I made flowcharts. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? A number of people said that new consultants were struggling with some of the troubleshooting required by the job. It often requires following a process through several steps, and some issues can be a bit confusing. Here’s an example:
A user calls in because they have no network connection. First you have to verify that they have a working network adapter on the computer. Then (hopefully) you can check the IP address. If they get a 192.x.x.x IP, they either have a static IP set, or they’re connected to a router, or some asshat on the network hooked up his router wrong and it’s causing a rogue DHCP server. If they get a 35.15.x.x, they haven’t registered with MSU’s DHCP server yet. It can be confusing to keep track of all this, especially over the phone.
So in week one, I made a few flowcharts in M$ Visio for these types of issues. Pretty boring.
The job is starting to shape up, though. Today I made a couple sample screencasts — videos of the computer screen in action, with me narrating. I think these will be the easiest way to train new hires on some of our software. We use a handful of tools to look up user info, modem status, etc,; timesheets and work schedules are done through web apps as well. My screencasts should get the newbies up and running more quickly.
I think I’ll have a lot of latitude with this training program. It seems like I’ll be making a lot of decisions (or at least contributing), and hopefully I’ll get to actually finish this project. Sorry for the long post, but I figure my many readers deserve to know what I’m doing, right?
Mail today
The mail just got here, and check out what came:
There you have it…proof that I have an honest-to-god liberal arts BA. Wouldn’t want people to think I was exaggerating.
