Winter Camp

Our street, after a little snow

According to Wikipedia:

"In South Korea, the school year is divided into two terms. The first term runs from early March to late August with the summer vacation from mid-July to mid-August. The second term usually resumes in late August and runs until mid-February. In the second term, there is a long winter break from mid-December to early February."

My last day of classes for the semester was December 23rd, 2009. The next three weeks (Dec. 28 - Jan. 15) would consist of "Winter Camp." Winter camp differs for every teacher in Korea. For me, it was three weeks long (14 actual teaching days). The contract asks for four hours of teaching per day, but my school asked me to teach six hours per day, resulting in overtime $$ for me! I taught three classes per day. I made up my own curriculum, and was asked to turn in lesson plans at my leisure. I had a great time with the kids. I tried to make it fun for them, since this technically was vacation time for them. January 15th was my last day of "teaching" winter camp. I popped in a movie and my co-teacher ordered Dominoes Pizza for us. (Side note-- Dominoes, and most pizza here, is super expensive! A large pizza is about $30 USD!)

The next week, we were on vacation! I requested 10 days off (which, with weekends turned out to me a 14 day vacation). We decided to go to Thailand and have a long layover in Hong Kong on the way back. It was wonderful to get out of the freezing cold here. Fun stuff!

Now we're back. My school is currently on what they call, "Spring Break." The 6th graders have graduated and I haven't taught since January 15th. I have been sitting in my office waiting for the new semester to start on March 2nd. I will try to write a little about our vacation, stay tuned!

The clothes my students wear

Some are funny, some are cute, some are racist. But they all have one thing in common: my Korean students are wearing them. This will post will be updated every time I find a noteworthy sweater or shirt. Here they are:

My School

Front View of the school I work at:


Side View:

My desk in my office:

The rest of my office:

Inside the classroom:







The kids wear interesting shirts... they have no idea what it says!

Our Apartment

The 100,000 won challenge

Yesterday was great overall. Around 9:30am my co-teacher came to our house and we all walked to my school. I am amazed at how close it is. We were walking leisurely and it took less than ten minutes. So the first thing I saw at Song-Il elementary was the playground and modern infrastructure. We go in to meet the School Director (Korean version of the principal) and he seems like a nice guy. A girl came in and served us all green tea. After a short translated conversation, we headed up to meet the Vice School Director, who made us coffee and told Steve and I we were an attractive couple. We waited for a bit until my co-teacher found us a ride to get our mandatory health check-up. Soon, we were in a car with the P.E. teacher driving to "Good Morning Hospital." When we arrived we were sent to a series of rooms to check our height, weight, hearing, sight, teeth, blood pressure, get a chest x-ray, urine test, and blood test. The results come back next week so until then we can't get our Alien Registration Card which allows us to get a Korean cellphone, open a Korean bank account, and set up internet and cable at our apartment.

After the hospital we headed for a speedy trip (seemed like the P.E. teacher was in a rush) to E-Mart (like a Korean Walmart, but more expensive). They had everything there, so we quickly got some necessities and left. One thing that was a little different was that we had to box (not bag) our own groceries.

The P.E. teacher dropped us off at home, we put our groceries away, and rested for a bit. Steve's co-teacher was supposed to come by and show him his school but she never showed up so we decided to explore and look for dinner. We found streets filled with bright neon and flashing lights. After walking a few blocks we stopped in a place and asked, "menu?" A woman pointed to the wall at a list of items and prices, all in Korean. So we point to a dish that a group of people had that looked good and sat down. She brought us soup and asked, "Soju?" to which we nodded enthusiastically (hey, it was our first Saturday night in Korea!). About 5 minutes later she brought out a steaming pot of whatever it is that we ordered and served us. Everything from the soup, to the kimchi, to the main dish was incredibly spicy. We started eating and notice that the dish was full of whole shrimp (or crawfish?) with antennae and eyes lookng at me. I lost my appetite. We noticed a guy who seemed to know a few words of English so we asked him, "How much?" pointing to our food. He looks at us and says, "One-hundred thousand won" (roughly $100 U.S. dollars). Steve and I said thank you and tried to hide our disbelief. We looked at each other like, what the heck do we do? This meal was not worth $100! We checked our wallets and found that we only had 60, 000 won. We sat there and waited a long time, scared to ask for the bill. Finally the woman comes by and Steve takes out his wallet. He starts pulling out money and she takes 13, 000 from him ($13 bucks!). We realized we had been sitting there for a good 30 minutes freaking out about the bill when a guy had just played a joke on us. Wow. Good times.

Our First Day in Pyeongtaek

I woke up around 6am because we went to sleep around 10pm. Excited for the day. Steve's co-teacher met us at our apartment last night to give us the keys. She also told us that my co-teacher will be meeting us at 9am to take us to the market and help us get necessities and groceries from the store. Then we have to go to the doctor to get a health check up. When we are finished with that, Steve's co-worker is going to pick him up and take him to his school to meet the school director (on a Saturday?! Looks like we'll be starting work on Monday!).

So far I don't feel too much culture shock. I feel like living in LA prepares on for a place like this. It's sort of a cross between LA's Koreatown, Vegas, and the stores in downtown Buenos Aires. So far, Steve and I love what we've seen of our neightborhood. Can't wait to explore!

Interviewing for South Korea

Ok, so I've only had two real interviews with schools in Korea so far, and two with recruiters. But nonetheless, I think my experiences might help someone out there. Maybe. Someday.

I've figured out that occasionally (although not typically) recruiters will want to conduct a "pre-interview" over the phone before offering you a position. I think this is to ensure that when they are sending out your resumes to schools, they know that you are a native English speaker with a decent personality. My first interview with a recruiter lasted about 10 minutes and went something like this:

Don: Hello Melinda?
Me: Yes.
Don: How are you?
Me: Very good, thank you. How are you?
Don: Good. What time is it over there? (As if he doesn't know)
Me: It's 7 o'clock!
Don: WOW! It's morning here in Korea! So my name is ______ and I went to University at ______ and graduated in ______ with a degree in _____. When I graduated I decided to go into advertising with _______ until the year _______. I have been a recruiter for 7 years and my company______ (You get the point) I am a resident of the United States as well as Korea and I travel back and forth often. (etc., etc...) Have you been offered any other jobs yet?
Me: Yes, actually. I just got offered a position but declined it because it was a split-shift schedule.
Don: Oh, yes, who would want to work such a terrible schedule? How much did they offer you?
Me: 2.1 million Korean Won
Don: That is a standard amount. I think you have a great personality and have a very good character. I will have no trouble finding you a position.
Me: Oh, thank you!
Don: I'm not just saying that to flatter you. Ok, well I will email you when I have a position to offer you.
Me: Perfect! Talk soon!
Don: Bye!

My 2nd interview with a recruiter lasted less than a minute and went like this:
John: Hello, Melinda?
Me: Yes, this is Melinda. How are you?
John: Good.
John: Ok you have your paperwork?
Me: Yes, I have everything.
John: And you are available to teach starting the 26th of September?
Me: Yes, that's right!
John: Cool, I will call you Monday or Tuesday night.
Me: Ok! Bye!
John: Bye!

So now for the important interviews. My first interview was for a couples position in Daegu, the 3rd largest city in South Korea. This is the top choice for me so far. The interview lasted about 15 minutes and she asked me if I had seen pictures of the apartment and I said that I had and that I loved them. She asked me about the TESOL certification that I have, and asked why I wanted to teach in South Korea. And then she asked me if I had any questions. I proceeded to ask her things like:

-How far away is the school from the apartment?
-Does the school provide training or orientation?
-What would a typical day of teaching be like?
-When would our start day be?

So she answered the questions, we talked for a bit and said good-bye. The Vice-Director interviewed three people yesterday and will be making a final decision in 2 hours. (I hope I get it!)

The second interview I had with an actual school was a lot different. It was for a school about an hour south of Seoul. I am not really interested in the position but I thought I could use the interview practice. The "conversation" lasted 8 minutes and consisted of a woman sounding like she was reading a script, (robotic, broken english):

-Do you like children?
-Have you ever worked with children before?
-Is culture shock scary to you?
-What are your strengths and weaknesses?
-You went to a University in Santa Barbara, so you must be really smart!
-Why do you want to teach in South Korea?

She then proceeded to tell me that they only had one position available at the school, so only I could be hired and Steve would have to find a job somewhere else. She was concerned that if Steve got a job nearby there would be competition between the schools, or communication between us that could put their companies at risk. So she basically told me: "If he gets a job close to you, please don't let it be too close... you understand." It was an interesting experience. She kept telling me that she really liked me and thought I was very sweet. When she was asking the questions, it didn't even seem like she was internalizing or even understanding my answers. I think she just wanted to see if I was friendly or not, and if I could speak English. She complimented me a lot and said she was going to talk to the recruiter and hung up.

So there you have it.