Standard for expats. Previous teacher left bills for me also. In my case, I got the school to cover them.

Not sure if debt collectors are in Korea.

lol wow

How much is their part of the heating bill?

My girlfriend and I are highly considering teaching English in S. Korea for a year. I have read a lot in this thread about the crazy nightlife to be had from a male perspective. How is it for the American women living over there? What could she expect? How do the Koreans treat American women? Is she going to be hit on, and harassed left and right? Any input is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

-Rich

^i highly highly doubt it.

as to teaching life etc, i honestly have no idea, superuberbob would be best to answer there.

i can really only speak about seoul, but theres lots of foreigners, i wouldnt really worry about having any problems

I served/hung out with with many women single and taken during the two years I was over there and I don't once remember any of them running into a situation where they were hit on mercilessly. In fact, a lot of the single expat women I knew were frustrated that they were getting so little attention... the Korean men weren't interested and the expat men were all interested in Korean women. It was actually really fun to watch them go insane.

That said, I hope you really love this girl. Going abroad to Korea with a girlfriend is kinda like going scuba diving with water wings on. You're going to want to ditch them fairly early to experience what the erm... experience has to offer.

Since you're a couple going there, I assume you will be teaching at a hagwon.

Please PM me with any questions you may have regarding teaching. I can help with nightlife questions outside of Seoul, but really Rekrul is best to answer those type of questions.

Just remembered this:

My teaching FAQ

That'll help you with some of the basic teaching FAQs. If you have any other questions about teaching here, please PM me.

Any other questions regarding the culture can directed towards multiple members in this thread.

Haha, I realize Ill miss out on what S. Korea has to offer sexually, but we both like to party quite a bit, so Id be looking forward to the whole experience. Thanks Bob, I read through your teaching FAQ and it reinforced a lot of other things I've read online so far. If possible, I think I would be interested in hopefully teaching at a public school in Seoul or Busan. From what Ive read, I would enjoy the steady normal schedule M-F 9-5 type, as well as the reliability and consistency of it. I haven't made the plunge to apply yet, since I'm considering a few options, but teaching in Korea is weighing heavily.

DO NOT TEACH IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN A LARGE CITY THAT IS NOT SEOUL!!!!

They pay **** compared to Jeju and the smaller cities. Entry level teachers in Busan and Incheon get 1.8 million won/month. I am entry level in Masan and I get 2.1M. Talking a 3.6M won difference over one year. That's quite a pretty penny if you're looking to save some money and get out of debt.

Public school teachers in the smaller cities and outer provinces get paid more because they want to encourage people to work there. Nearly everybody who would want to come here would work in a large city if the pay was equal.

If you want to be near Busan and teach in a public school, live in one of the outer cities like Yansang. Yansang is connected directly to Busan by subway and gives you the higher salary for public schools. Be careful. If you have in Yansang but commute to Busan to teach in a public school, you get paid **** AND live in a small city.

Or you can teach in a hagwon and not be restricted by the public school salary structure at all.

If you want to teach public school in Seoul, you have to go through SMOE (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education) to get a job. But the competition to get there is EXTREMELY high. It is nearly impossible to get a job unless you have taught in South Korea beforehand.

Your other option is GEPIK, which is the English program for the rest of Gyeonggi-do. In all likelihood, that is the route I will probably go.

Bundang is really nice and connected to Seoul on the yellow line. How hard is it to get work there? I dated a girl who got her first teaching job there.

Shouldn't be too hard. Gotta go through GEPIK for that.

If by nice, you mean small, generic, boring, expensive(less cheap selections for food) and inconvenient (over 20 mins by bus/metro) to Seoul. If you dont mind this for less crowd, then go for it. Otherwise, better to stay more central to Seoul. I lived there for a year, and would've even taken a bigger secondary city if not Seoul, for the convenience.

I was more referencing that it could be a good compromise with $$ and convenience. If you think 30 minutes is a long commute how would you enjoy Seoul anyway? Hongdae to Apgu is 30 minutes alone.

lol you know korea well. What's your story man? Are you a gyopo too?

nope. just an average miguk that wasn't afraid to spend his time in korea actually, you know, meeting and learning about Koreans. I was particularly fond of grabbing one of my Korean friends and just getting on the subway and getting off at a random stop and spending a few hours there.

Guys that spend their entire time in Korea only hanging out with their expat groups doing expat things and venturing out only once in awhile are doing it wrong imo. But that's just my opinion.

yeah^, lol @ thinking 30mins is a long commute. thats not even factoring in how redic crowded the subways can get (if thats ur preferred choice of transportation)

Agree. I can't imagine traveling to a foreign country and spending a whole year doing expat things rather than trying to learn about the culture. If you're going to do expat things, why even go to Korea in the first place?

Eventually, I got bored with going to a foreigner bar, getting wasted and stumbling home in a stupor. Don't know how people can do it every weekend for a year or more. I certainly made sure to go to enjoy some of the cultural elements this country has to offer. Obviously, I didn't do it all but at least I got out there. Some of my friends barely venture out into outlying cities and if they do, it's to do the same stuff they'd do at home: get drunk, pass out on the street and wake up hungover. Lame. Go on a temple stay, visit a fortress or take a ferry to the many small islands off the coast of Korea.

Gotta come back for another year. There's still more for me to do here and since I know my way around a bit better, I can do more exploring on my own. It'll be nice to see the family in the states, but it won't be long before I become bored out of my mind and start counting the days until I go back to Korea.

True on the commute part. But, if you lived in a relatively central area in Seoul, then at least almost all points within the city would be only 30 mins max, with less Metro transfers on average. Bundang, being outside the city, is only convenient to the part of Seoul to which it abuts. Every other part is a true chore to commute to. Maybe I wouldn't have felt different in Seoul when it came down to the practical reality of living there, but I just felt a little more limited in Bundang. Also, despite it being a wealthy area, I wouldn't have ever attempted privates there, or tried to work a second job (was offered at a 50/50 split at a hagwon), as it was just too small to be anonymous. Everyone would likely know, and it only takes one person with an ax to grind.

Just my perspective on Bundang...

And a fair perspective certainly. I didn't teach in Korea so I really don't understand the politics behind what you're referencing. You're saying that because folks know you're working more than one job or tutoring on the side that they're apt to be angry about it? I find that surprising to say the least.

Also I realize we're being relative here, but doesn't Bundang have like 300,000 people in it?

Also, you're right. From Bundang door to door anywhere you want to go in Seoul proper it's going to take an hour-90 minutes. I made it to a stop near Myeongdong I think it was in 45 minutes via express bus one Sunday night... but there was zero traffic. Also I was in a post-sex haze (legit barg imo) so I may be underestimating.

I would offer that you definitely need to be liberal (meaning estimate high) in your estimation of how many Koreans, that you come into regular contact with, that don't care for you or outright don't like you, for one reason or another. You may never know who this is, as communicative ability will be limited, and most Koreans wouldn't be forward enough to tell you anyway. They will often continue being as polite as possible to your face. Although, some can be obviously cold/rude. You will likely make lots of friends, if you are a decent and outgoing person, and likely some secret/ not-so-secret enemies.

This may or may not be justified, depending on you, as Koreans are somewhat known for their xenophobia. If they had one perceived bad experience with a foreigner in the past, which is likely, then you may have to unjustifiably shoulder their continued bias.

If this is the case, then lots of Koreans wouldn't hesitate to turn you in for something that they perceived you to be doing that was illegal or otherwise amoral in their eyes. You can get into a lot of trouble for teaching privates, and the more anonymous that you are in doing so, the less likely it is that something would lead to your being found out. In Bundang, where native teachers are in high demand, and likely talked about amongst the relatively small community of rich parents putting their kids through private high schools and the limited number of Hogwans in the area, then it wouldnt take much for everyone to know who was teaching extracurricular of their main job and who wasn't. Of course, I didnt teach privates there and I may stand corrected from someone who has.

I'm not sure how many people live in Bundang-gu, which is the larger area that encompasses the smaller "city" commercial area where you would likely live and work. However, I doubt that you would perceive the relatively small area where you would venture in Bundang as having anywhere near that amount of people.

good thread and couple Q's:

so where do all the Kyopo/Korean Americans hang out in Kangnam/Apgujong/cheongdam? I've randomly met a couple here and there at places like Eden and Club Answer this past week but I would like to meet a more consistent group of people to hang out with. Where does the mid twenties to early 30s crowd go.

What are nightlife options from Sunday to Thursday? Everything seems to be pretty much dead after Friday/Sat.

What's with all the club name changes and closes?

What are the best booking clubs in Seoul? The ones I heard are Club I, Boss and someother place Im blanking on. Ive heard of Juliana's but I get that place is no more.


From going out this past week, nightlife seems centered around getting a group of guys and splitting the cost of a table. If youre alone it seems like you're pretty hosed although I did manage to get a fair number of digits just being a Korean American that can speak conversational Korean and a doctor. i think the latter had more juice than anything I said in particular.

If yo'ure alone anywhere it's always going to be tough. People seem to have this idea that if you go to Asia you're going to be getting a guarantee lay. It's a nice dream but not really reality :P You're a doctor? Btw, where are you located atm?

Hi Syous!

I found SuperUberBob's thread first and posted this there:

Again, your thread is great too, thanks!
So as you are living in Seoul this is probably a better place to ask.

Do you know something about Seoul National University? Any friends studying there? Really excited about the possibility of going to Seoul, it would definitely be a mind-changing experience for a Finnish guy like me.