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Question from a reader: fly to Korea to find a job?

A reader we'll call 'I' writes in:

I have questions to ask you. I just completed a Celta and an internship in South Africa. I am tempted to get on a flight to Seoul and start looking for a job when I get there. I have a degree and all my stuff in order. the only issue I have is my Background check is 7 month old and that is causing issues with recruiter. Will I be able to get a gig pretty fast when I get there? Is this this too much of a risk? Thanks for your help.

A few questions to look at individually.

I just completed a Celta and an internship in South Africa. I am tempted to get on a flight to Seoul and start looking for a job when I get there. I have a degree and all my stuff in order.

Congrats on earning the CELTA - in many cases it will definitely be a factor in your favor. Thanks to the current economic conditions, however, even experienced teachers in Korea with all their paperwork in order are having difficulty finding the sort of jobs they're qualified for. Although fewer schools are paying for your flight over to Korea, most are still reimbursing the plane ticket as part of your contractual agreement with them. Since some schools only do that if you fly in specifically to work for them, ask about getting your plane ticket reimbursed before signing a contract.

Bear in mind that if you come to Korea without a job / visa in your passport, your status as 'tourist' means you can't legally start working until the working visa is taken care of. That means a visa run to Japan - fly to Fukuoka, Japan, visit the Korean embassy there, pick up your visa, and fly back to Korea with the new shiny addendum to your passport. One point I feel obligated to make: If the school or recruiter insists you can work on a tourist visa, walk away. It's illegal and can cause far more problems than you want.

the only issue I have is my Background check is 7 month old and that is causing issues with recruiter.

At some point earlier this year, Immigration began getting a lot pickier with documents submitted as part of your visa application. The anecdotal evidence, backed up by a couple recruiters, is that your background check and transcript need to be less than 90 days old. That means you'll either to get new ones when you change jobs unless you're able to transfer from job 1 to job 2 (allowed if there are less than 3 months left on your contract with job 1 - it's a lot simpler that way). So much for the advice of 'get more than one'. Get a new background check before you leave your home country - and learn the process for procuring one while out-of-country. You shouldn't need a background check if you haven't left Korea - but Immigration can be weird sometimes.

Will I be able to get a gig pretty fast when I get there? Is this this too much of a risk?

Between the growing fear of swine flu, schools closing temporarily for health reasons, and the economy, Korea can no longer easily be called the great destination it once was. With that said, virtually every country is facing the same challenges as Korea. Your reason for coming to Korea definitely shouldn't be 'because it's safer / less risky than staying in my home country'. Finding a gig is a bit easier since you can combine in-face interviews with the online environment you'd also have elsewhere in the world.

You'll need a place to stay, though - hotels can get expensive, and apartments aren't usually available for short-term use. If I were in your shoes I'd hit up the local craigslist and see if another teacher has an extra room you can use for a week or three.

On a philosophical level, living in a foreign country is a risk - but thankfully it can managed for the most part. If you're the kind that tends to cross the street only at the crosswalk when the green man is out, you may want to ask yourself how much uncertainty you can handle.

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Oneweirdglobe.com

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At this point in time I'd like to turn your valued attention to a little banner on the right hand side of this blog, underneath the LKB fish pond.
KoreanClass101.com have been nice enough to pay for advertising on this humble little blog site. Not any great windfall mind you, but it will go towards keeping the photos on this blog permanently. Blogger is a great host, but photos are limited to 1 GB per account, after which you have to pay for the extra. I'm currently at 65% of capacity and will be looking to upgrade the account soon.
So please click through to their website and have a browse around. And if you want to learn Korean online with video lessons, www.koreanclass101.com is the place to go.

The only reason this site has attracted advertising in the first place is because you, the readers, keep coming back and maintaining a steady hit count. So I would like to thank both you and KoreanClass101.com for your support.

Here's hoping that I can return the favour and keep this blog interesting...

Learn English with an Indian accent?

I have nothing against the Indian people. Seriously - they work incredibly hard for a fraction of what the rest of the world gets paid. They study harder than virtually anyone on the planet (that includes the Koreans) and have a vibrant history I would love to learn more about. I have had few difficulties conversing with the far-too-few Indians I've had the pleasure of meeting.

But this is a flat world (see Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat for reference), and that means competition. A LOT more competition. That's great if you're a business or a customer - who doesn't like having many different stores to shop at and choices to choose from?

If you're an employee, though, that flat world is probably more threatening to your current job / lifestyle than almost anything out there. Think about it - why would an employer keep someone if they can get the same thing from someone else for cheaper?

The story was first reported in the Joongang Daily, and has been blogged about by Brian in Jeollanam-do and Stafford of the Chosun Bimbo. A few quotes from the Joongang article:

The [Education] ministry will recruit around 100 Indians early next year and if the trial is successful, it could raise the number to 300. The source said there is a high chance that those teachers will be dispatched to regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area where there is a shortage of native English teachers.

So only 300 Indian teachers among 20,000 or so native English teachers already here? The NETs don't have too much to worry about... right?

Korean schools introduced the so-called English Program in Korea project in 1995 for “globalized education” and set the goal of allocating one native English teacher for conversation with students for every class. Currently, there are 7,088 assistant native English teachers employed but they are from seven English-speaking countries - the United States, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Their monthly salary ranges between 2 million won ($1,700) and 2.5 million won.

Bear in mind that it's 7,088 teachers just in the public school system. Include native teachers in hagwon or universities and you're easily over 20,000.

On the low end, $1,700 x 12 = $20,400 / year; not precisely the stellar wage one might expect for a teacher. Even including the 'free' apartment (which is often being replaced by a housing allowance that may or may not cover the actual cost of housing), a certified / 'qualified' teacher may do better / have a better standard of living in their home country.

The ministry has spent more than 300 million won a year on hiring and training those teachers but experienced difficulty gaining sufficient “qualified” teachers, given that only 13 percent of them have official teaching certificates.

Finally - a partial definition on what being a 'qualified' teacher actually means - a freakin' piece of paper. This continues to beg the question - if you want teachers with a piece of paper, why haven't you made it part of the job requirement? Then, pay them what they're worth - if we can make the same amount in our home country, there's little reason to pay for a flight over (reimbursement doesn't count if you leave within 6 months and they take it out of your last paycheck), learn a new culture, prove our cleanliness / certifications / qualifications, and otherwise put up with live in a foreign culture.

Another thought: Korea is not hurting for applications anymore - Footprints Recruiting recently sent out an e-mail saying SMOE has already received enough applications for jobs starting in Spring 2010. It's November 2009. You do the math.

Park Jun-eon, a professor of English language and literature at Soongsil University, said competition for jobs will intensify if the Korean government brings in native speakers of English from Asian countries such as India and the Philippines who might better understand Asian cultures.

Hmm - this might be a valid point. The caste system of India would seem similar to the Confucian way in Korea. They would be more used to the food and lifestyle, being from a relatively similar country.

I seriously doubt a majority of native English teachers in Korea will be replaced anytime soon. It continues to look good if a school has a white face in the classroom, and it makes parents happy. But there is a lot more competition than there used to be. The solution? Be the best teacher you can be. Avoid just showing up on time, and just doing your job - there are far more ways of getting involved around a school. When's the last time you made a worksheet or got out of the textbook (assuming you're allowed to do that?) Make it - show it - let your other teachers use it if they like. Act like you care about being there and doing a great job - no matter what your fellow NET's are doing. Be a professional about the job. Be thankful for the job - and if it's a crappy job, get out. No one's holding a gun to your head saying you have to stay here.

If competition has gone up and the bar has been raised, there's only so much we can do about it. We can, however, become indispensable or helpful to the point that no Indian (or any other nationality) can take our job.

On taking the suneung, getting into university, and a modest proposal

Few things in life seem to scare Koreans more than tests. The teenager that can play any number of ultra-violent first-person shooter computer games (complete with 'Headshot!' often coming from the computers' speakers) gets nervous when it comes to a test. But it's far more than just a test.

Although colloquially known as the suneung, it's officially called the Daehak suhak neungnyeok siheom; despite its importance, it's only offered once a year - the third Thursday of November. It's only taken by high school seniors, but other grades may take a 'practice' test on the same day - for those lucky teachers, it might mean a half or full day off. Today is also the high school placement test for third grade middle schoolers (9th grade in the US) to get into high school. As a result, middle school teachers get today off as well in many cases.

Because the suneung plays such an important role in one's adult life, it's prone to the sort to anxiety one might expect from, say, the American SAT, times 50. Parents go out to pray for their kids. The military stops exercises and drills for the day. Companies tell people to come in to work later to reduce traffic jams. 1st and 2nd grade high-schoolers cheer on their seniors in high school. This blogger did an excellent photo essay on the suneung - a sample photo:

We can learn a little through Wikipedia's page on the College Scholastic Ability Test. A high school senior is tested on Korean, Math, English, Social Studies, Science, other Foreign Languages, and 'Vocational Education' - a category that may test you on anything from 'Introduction to Fisheries to Programming'. This thing lasts five periods, and you know it's going to a long day.

There's an interesting Korean belief - what university you attend, what job you get, and where you are at 60 years old is based on this test. While it may not be as accurate anymore, it still plays a huge part in how your life will progress. To attempt a Western analogy, you may have a great life even if you don't go to Harvard or Stanford, but you'd better go to college. While Koreans naturally aim for the SKY schools - Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, much like the 'Ivy Leagues' of the USA - their scores may either assist them in earning a spot or force them to choose a different major.

If you've lived in Korea for any length of time, you're already familiar with the test-taking / cramming culture that provides the predominate mindset. This video gives some more information, but even this 12-minute video can't tell the full story when it comes to getting into university. There's another test to look forward to.

It's called the nonsul - a writing test that the individual university offers. These tests are supposedly neither standard, multiple choice, nor easy to study for. Wikipedia seems to think "no more than 20 high-class universities at most because huge efforts and time are needed to look into the answer sheets and fairly evaluate it." As a result, there's little that can be said about them in general - and since it's much more an unknown, one is typically more insecure about such a test.

That such a system places far too much emphasis on tests has been pointed out for decades - and thus far little has been done to change it. It is, of course, those that were most successful on these tests that are mainly now in positions of power - after having gone to the best universities, which were prepared for by going to the best hagwon and finding the best tutors. The next time you wander by Daechi-dong, take a look at how many ads for hagwons and private tutors you see.

It's almost heart-breaking as a teacher to work in this system. It's not because I don't want to see them lose years of their life to a test, but because the system both discourages creativity and encourages the rote memorization / regurgitation that such a test requires. There's no creativity needed to circle 'B', and too much creativity may even be seen as a bad thing on such writing tests as the nonsul. Seriously - what's the point in taking a 'creative writing' class, music lessons, figure skating lessons, dance lessons, or any other artistic venture when the 'only' things you have to know for university are your native language, English, math, and perhaps a few other minor things?

There are the occasional stories of universities being more holistic in their admission requirements. KAIST and POSTECH began the new trend from a story back in March 2009, while admission officers are supposedly going to accept 10,000 students from another story in March 2009. I haven't seen any stories like these more recently, but my eye is definitely tuned towards them.

Here's my modest proposal: Consider the whole person. Yes, test scores can be an indicator of better brains, but more often than not that indicator doesn't - and can't - tell the whole story. Just because someone is a genius on a test doesn't mean he knows how to work with a group, have a creative idea, or express themselves clearly to someone else. Paper doesn't talk back, after all.

The undergraduate college application - even at an American one - needs little more than the following:

How would you improve yourself as a person at our school - academically, socially, spiritually, etc.
After having consulted our college's catalog, what programs, fields, or careers interest you the most?
What opportunities have you had thus far in your life? How have you used them?
What are your goals in life?
How can our university assist you in reaching those goals?

Test scores, teacher recommendations, and so on may play a small role, but their emphasis should be downplayed to the point where such numbers are trumped by the real person.

Korea may produce 'results', but it's time to see how much those results cost and begin the painful process of change.

Gapo Dong

10 Oct 2009, With no big plans for the weekend, I wander out into rural South Masan

Honeymoon: Hong Kong Harbour

It seems the British did good things with Hong Kong during their extended leasing of the estate. The deep natural harbour and central shipping location have also contributed to its rise as one of the more impressive financial centres of the world.

On the top floor of every skyscraper, I like to imagine a millionaire businessman sipping coffee and staring contentedly at the concrete empire below. Then I like to imagine that one day I'll be someone rich and powerful like that. Then I imagine that I would buy a speedboat and zoom across this harbour, drinking Moet & Chandon straight from the bottle while gloomy office workers stare from their office windows.

But then I wake up and realise that we can't all be at the apex of the capitalist pyramid.

They say it's lonely at the top anyway.

Although Heather and I were pretty keen to buy these 'I love HK' shirts, we haven't worn them since. They seem a little irrelevant elsewhere, and I'm trying to think of other things that HK could mean.

Happy Kids? Heptagonal Kangaroos?

In case you didn't know, the new hip thing to do in now is to take a photo of yourself when you jump. The aim is to create a non-digitally altered special effect, whereby it looks as if you're floating in the air. The most logical way to approach this task is for the camera operator to count to three and synchronise the timing with the jumpee.

(Jumpee (n): One who jumps).

Easier said than done. Canon cameras autofocus as you press the shutter down, which means that the timing of the image to the split second is a little difficult.

It took a while for Heather to get airborne, but in the end it was well worth the effort. If you use your imagination extensively, you might look at the picture above and think that Heather is actually floating around on her anti-gravity knees. As our friend Anthony likes to say "Nothing is impossible."

And then I like to add "But some things are infinitely unlikely."

Yuen Wo Ping is a kung fu choreographer who has worked on some of the classic Hong Kong movies. He also directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Incidentally, him and I seem to have almost exactly the same sized hands. I wonder if that means anything.

Well, for a start I guess it means that I could borrow his gloves and they would fit quite well.

Here's Heather doing a bit of role playing.

And here's Heather doing a bit of shopping. We'll have to change the name of this blog soon to Lee's Heather Blog.

The Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong has one of the best lobby views in the world. They've really made the most of it too, with large glass panels and an elevated seating area.

One would expect hotel lobby food to be overpriced, but it's still fun to look at the menu and proclaim daylight robbery anyway.

You do need to divide by seven to get US dollars. But still, that is a bit steep for a bottle of wine.

Heather and I ordered a cocktail each. Whenever I find myself drinking cocktails before midday, I always think of our friend Jef in Busan. Not because we used to drink cocktails together before midday, but because he taught me never to feel guilty about being a daytime alcoholic.

I like the composition of this photo.

It takes a while to get a westernised tongue around the pronunciation of Tsim Sha Tsui.

On our first day in Hong Kong, we found a foot massage place. Heather really wanted to go back to the same place on the third day, but we couldn't quite remember where it was. We finally found it after walking up and down the streets in 30 degree heat. In the photo above, Heather is displaying how pleased she is at recognising the poster in the lift.

For about US$13, they will massage your feet while you watch TV for 45 minutes.

The funny thing was that Heather really likes strong massages, while I like soft ones. But I ended up getting some dude who really got stuck into me, and Heather got a little lady who barely touched her. Contrary to our appearances, Heather is actually the big tough one in our relationship, while I'm fragile and delicate.

Then our three nights in Hong Kong were up and we left on the ferry to Macau. The photo above is from the HK-Macau ferry terminal. In a nutshell, Hong Kong is a place worth visiting. The locals are friendly and the city is geared toward tourism. The good points are that the food and shopping are excellent. The bad points would be that it is a little congested at times, and the humidity can limit your outdoor options. All in all though, I'd definitely go back again. Hong Kong reminds me of Kuala Lumpur, but with more British flavour.

And in the next post, we're off to Macau.

See you soon!

Korean Sociological Image #23: Male Objectification

Acutely aware of the role my heterosexual male gaze can play in my choice of subjects and images for this blog sometimes, ironically I spend more time looking for those involving men these days, hoping to find something of note with which to achieve a balance.

In itself, this new commercial with boy-band 2PM hardly qualifies. But not only is male objectification an increasingly common theme in Korean advertising in recent months (see here and here for two examples featuring Lee Byung-hun {이병헌} and JYP {박진영} respectively), this would easily be one of the most audacious examples I’m aware of.

And coming so soon after this one for Cob Chicken (Cob 구어조은닭) too, then perhaps, like kissing, male objectification will be yet another advertising taboo discarded in 2009?

Granted, this may sound like exaggeration to readers based outside of Korea: all of the above examples are rather tame compared to their Western counterparts (NSFW) for instance, and the frequency of male objectification in the Korean media is easily paled by that of women, whom are also subject to excessive objectification and commodification in daily life here.

Nichkhun's Abs Real Brownie Commercial But that media imbalance is hardly confined to Korea, and the speed of change is particularly remarkable. After all, however unbelievable it may sound today, recall that social norms prohibited Korean women from publicly admiring men’s bodies until as recently as 2002!

Meanwhile, apologies for not providing a translation for the commercial, but given the product’s name then I think you’ll quickly get the idea!^^ And I would very much appreciate it if readers could tell me of any more examples like it that I may have missed.

(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Images series, see here)

Posted in Korean Advertisements, Korean Men's Body Images, Korean Sociological Images Tagged: 2PM, 마켓오 브라우니, 박진영, 이병헌, JYP, Lee Byung-hun

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Two new community efforts worth your attention

The next time you find yourself in Seoul lamenting the lack of expat community, think again.

Exhibit A: 2S2 - organized by Rob over at Roboseyo, it's a community that focuses on doing something together with other expats in the real world. 2S2 is as much a reference to it's date (2S = 2nd Saturday of every month) and time (2pm) as it is a name. The next meet up will be this Saturday, 2pm, at the Twosome Place near Anguk station (line 3, exit 1). Turn right out of the gate, then look right just before the intersection. It's free, it's cool, and it's a great chance to meet up with some new people that you don't work with. This month, Rob and crew will be teaching / playing GoStop - you've seen the older women play it, now learn for yourself. Read up on the rules here, then come out to have some fun.

Exhibit B: Chatjip. Korean for 'teahouse', think of this as your one-stop news / commentary / online community resource while here in Korea. Beyond user-contributed stuff (full disclosure: this blog, among many others, is aggregated in multiple sections), there are opportunities to connect with other expats, a guaranteed troll-free message board, and a lot more that you can peruse for yourself. It's been in beta for awhile, and I'm happy Joe from ZenKimchi has done a great job at putting that together. A bit more about the new site, from ZenKimchi himself:

Find out what’s going on.

Events are a major deficit in the K-blogosphere. We have a constantly updated events calendar for any type of happening. Tours, DJs, concerts, festivals, art shows, classes, and more! If you have an event you wish to promote tell us, and we’ll add it.

Better information.

The posts from ZenKimchi Blogs & News have been moved to “The Big Blog” in Chatjip. Posts will be more informative, so you won’t have to search through multiple blogs and message boards for simple basic life info.

Enhance your leisure time on and off work.

Our Leisure, Travel and Food sections cover some of the most entertaining blogs out there that give suggestions on where to go, what to do and how to make the most of your time in Korea. Even if you’re at work, the Videos, Podcasts and Time Wasters can occupy any static break time.

OK, extended free advertisement over - both things are worth checking out. For more about 2S2, check out this post by Rob. For more about chatjip, type it in, add a '.com' at the end, and browse away.

Me Lost Mee Curry at the Disco.

In his classic song Me lost me cookie at the disco, the Cookie Monster sings not only about the physical loss of a cookie, but also about how his love of cookies actually drives him up the wall. He's bemoaning an obsession that has literally taken over his entire life, one he has to know is unhealthy, but is nevertheless powerless to stop. Although I can't claim to have the same level as expertise as the Cookie Monster, I think I understand him.

I've been feeling alot like the cookie monster ever since I arrived in Penang. This place is a food playground, and I've been averaging out at something like six meals a day. It can't go on, it's unsustainable, but I just can't help myself. I've lost my cookie big time.

Yesterday was a good day for street food. The day started at an almost antique alleyway shack off Chulia St with some roti butter (doorstop slices of toast with butter) and a cup of the local Joe. The coffee beans are fried with butter and sugar prior to grinding, making for a lovely, silky smooth texture and a unique taste.

Later, at Penang Hill, we packed in a chickpea special (or that's what he called it) from a stall selling an assortment of nuts and other goodies. What was so special about these chickpeas was that they had been combined with masala powder, lime juice, sliced red onions and bombay mix. These little beauts certainly were special, and had Sarah tooting all the way down the other side of the hill.

Later still, we took respite from the rain at a hawker centre with some chicken, lamb and beef skewers, dipped in a chuncky, spicy satay sauce. The meat was exceptionally tender, and I had to stop myself from scooping out the leftover sauce with my fingers.

Me number one dish of the day however, was at me "second breakfast." - Mee Curry. This affair involved two types of noodles - vermicillii and a thicker, round noodle - in a spicy, coconut milk broth. Heaped on top were acres of beansprouts, slices of bean curd, cubes of pigs blood, some cockles, and a few other veg and sea things. The broth was incredible - flavoursome, silky smooth, and just the right amount of oily. I also thought I detected a peanut flavour in there but can't be sure. The remaining ingredients mainly added some bite and texture to the broth, with the exception of the cockles - each one was a localised explosion of sea that went above and beyond the other flavours, yet nevertheless managed to maintain parity.

Do you see what I mean?

Koreabridge