I still have like over 4 months left but I'm already wondering what I have gained from staying here.
I remember it very clearly when my desire to learn another language was greater than my laziness. I just came home from teaching, I was tired, upset, lonely, and absolutely bored out of my mind. I laid down to rest and started wondering why the hell I came here. I knew coming to a small town was a stupid idea, but the desire to travel again was so great I convinced myself to go anyway. I was trying to find anything positive about my decision. Was I making more money? Not even close, less than 1/3 of what I was making in Korea. Did I have more things to do? Not even close. Was this place more interesting? Nope. Were my students more interested in learning? Nope. And then I realized I was just wasting my time here and I really needed to find something fast so this wouldn't end up a total waste. And that's when I made the decision to study Chinese.
I actually went through this process a couple times since then, realizing this is pointless and I'd better make lemonade out of my situation. I did the opposite in Korea. I retreated away from everything Korean which is impossibly difficult when you live in the country.
I just noticed something, I always seem to make the comparison between the two countries. But I wonder if it's not that the countries are that different, it's just that I've been living overseas for 2 years now and I think about things differently then when I first moved overseas.
Anyway, this is more of a end of the journey post but I figure I'd do it now while it was still fresh in my mind...
Only one more semester...only one more semester...only one more semester...
...then...freedom and a brand new land to explore.
Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
One more left...
I have one more term left before I leave. I'm leaning towards Taiwan as my next stop but not before taking a semester or two of Chinese at the community college in my hometown.
The problem with where I live now is that the development of the place is pretty bad, there just isn't much to do here. Local entertainment includes, mahjong (májiàng), xiàngqí, sports, and shopping. Only places to take walks without fear of being run over are the two small parks. No expat bars, cafes, or hangouts (there are only a handful of expats here at any point in time). Without a deep knowledge of the Chinese language this place is pretty rough.
The problem with Korea (when I lived there) were the expats (but they now require drug and criminal background checks to work there) and the passive-aggressive attitude towards foreigners. The development was fantastic however, you can watch Hollywood movies in English in the movie theaters. Plenty of expat hangouts, even in the smaller cities, full of western style bars, cafes, all kinds of international restaurants etc. Too much crap to do basically. But, I never really felt comfortable there like I do in China.
Enter Taiwan. You've got the fantastic Chinese culture and language, plus a very pro-western society, plus well developed like Korea.
So, I think I'll go to Taiwan next.
The problem with where I live now is that the development of the place is pretty bad, there just isn't much to do here. Local entertainment includes, mahjong (májiàng), xiàngqí, sports, and shopping. Only places to take walks without fear of being run over are the two small parks. No expat bars, cafes, or hangouts (there are only a handful of expats here at any point in time). Without a deep knowledge of the Chinese language this place is pretty rough.
The problem with Korea (when I lived there) were the expats (but they now require drug and criminal background checks to work there) and the passive-aggressive attitude towards foreigners. The development was fantastic however, you can watch Hollywood movies in English in the movie theaters. Plenty of expat hangouts, even in the smaller cities, full of western style bars, cafes, all kinds of international restaurants etc. Too much crap to do basically. But, I never really felt comfortable there like I do in China.
Enter Taiwan. You've got the fantastic Chinese culture and language, plus a very pro-western society, plus well developed like Korea.
So, I think I'll go to Taiwan next.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Job comparisons
My job in Korea:
Location: Suwon. It's about an hour from downtown Seoul by subway and half-hour by bus. Not much to do in Suwon. But there were a few nice places to take a walk.
Expat community: The expat community was small, but at least once a week you would see a foreign face on the streets. It was however, full of very strange characters.
The stares: A few here and there, not too bad.
Days per week: 6 M-Sa
Classes per day: 5
Teaching hours per week: 30
Work hours: 2:30-9:30 with a 1 hour lunch
Class length: 45 minutes
Student ages: 8 to 16
Class size: 10 to 25 students
Vacation: 10 days plus national holidays.
Health insurance: None
Pay: Not bad.
Food: Cheap and outstanding.
Housing: One room, with a kitchen and bathroom. Small, but livable, very clean and modern.
Internet: Unbelievably fast.
Weather: Not bad, except for winter.
Korean co-workers: So-so. Most were very friendly and helpful, a few were almost bursting with dislike for the foreign teachers.
Foreign co-workers: Nice on the outside, but not people I wanted to spend time with.
Students: They were forced to learn English by their parents so it wasn't very fun to teach them. Only a few were truly interested.
My job in China
Location: Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. It's about an hour away from Xiamen on the coast. Not a single thing to do here. This is a very small Chinese city that is in the process of developing. The old city is currently being torn to pieces and high rises are being put in its place. There is no place to take a nice walk and it's a high stress place to live.
Expat community: There is no expat community. I know of 7 other foreigners who live here. None of us ever get together and do anything. I've only met 4 of them.
The stares: Everywhere I go I'm the center of attention. On good days it's great, on bad days it sucks.
Days per week: 4
Classes per day: 4
Teaching hours per week: 16
Work hours: Varies, either 8 to 11:30 or 3 to 6:25
Class length: 45 minutes
Student ages: Young adults
Class size: 50 to 60 students
Vacation: 10 WEEKS, plus national holidays
Health insurance: Expat health insurance
Pay: Below poverty level by western standards, way higher than local wages.
Food: Cheap and so-so.
Housing: Rough around the edges. Big apartments though.
Internet: Unbelievably slow, with most ports blocked.
Weather: Not bad, except for summer.
Chinese co-workers: Outstanding.
Foreign co-worker: Normal, but hasn't adjusted AT ALL to life here after one and a half years. Very negative about his entire experience and life in general.
Students: Failed so miserably on their national college entrance exam that our program is their only hope. Half are completely uninterested, the other half at least make an effort to tie their own shoe laces.
The winner is:
Location: Suwon
Expat community: Tie
The stares: Suwon
Days per week: Zhangzhou
Classes per day: Zhangzhou
Teaching hours per week: Zhangzhou
Work hours: Zhangzhou
Class length: Tie
Student ages: Zhangzhou
Class size: Suwon
Vacation: HAHAHAHA, not even close. Zhangzhou.
Health insurance: Zhangzhou
Pay: HEHEHE, not even close. Suwon.
Food: Suwon
Housing: Tie
Internet: Suwon
Weather: Zhangzhou
Korea/Chinese co-workers: Zhangzhou
Foreign co-worker: Tie
Students: Tie
Korea job: 6
China job: 9
I will say this about Korea. It's much easier to adjust to life there. At the end of my year in Korea, I was calling it home. It FELT like home. I wonder if I will ever feel the same way about Zhangzhou? Learning Chinese is certainly helping me adjust, so maybe I will.
Location: Suwon. It's about an hour from downtown Seoul by subway and half-hour by bus. Not much to do in Suwon. But there were a few nice places to take a walk.
Expat community: The expat community was small, but at least once a week you would see a foreign face on the streets. It was however, full of very strange characters.
The stares: A few here and there, not too bad.
Days per week: 6 M-Sa
Classes per day: 5
Teaching hours per week: 30
Work hours: 2:30-9:30 with a 1 hour lunch
Class length: 45 minutes
Student ages: 8 to 16
Class size: 10 to 25 students
Vacation: 10 days plus national holidays.
Health insurance: None
Pay: Not bad.
Food: Cheap and outstanding.
Housing: One room, with a kitchen and bathroom. Small, but livable, very clean and modern.
Internet: Unbelievably fast.
Weather: Not bad, except for winter.
Korean co-workers: So-so. Most were very friendly and helpful, a few were almost bursting with dislike for the foreign teachers.
Foreign co-workers: Nice on the outside, but not people I wanted to spend time with.
Students: They were forced to learn English by their parents so it wasn't very fun to teach them. Only a few were truly interested.
My job in China
Location: Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. It's about an hour away from Xiamen on the coast. Not a single thing to do here. This is a very small Chinese city that is in the process of developing. The old city is currently being torn to pieces and high rises are being put in its place. There is no place to take a nice walk and it's a high stress place to live.
Expat community: There is no expat community. I know of 7 other foreigners who live here. None of us ever get together and do anything. I've only met 4 of them.
The stares: Everywhere I go I'm the center of attention. On good days it's great, on bad days it sucks.
Days per week: 4
Classes per day: 4
Teaching hours per week: 16
Work hours: Varies, either 8 to 11:30 or 3 to 6:25
Class length: 45 minutes
Student ages: Young adults
Class size: 50 to 60 students
Vacation: 10 WEEKS, plus national holidays
Health insurance: Expat health insurance
Pay: Below poverty level by western standards, way higher than local wages.
Food: Cheap and so-so.
Housing: Rough around the edges. Big apartments though.
Internet: Unbelievably slow, with most ports blocked.
Weather: Not bad, except for summer.
Chinese co-workers: Outstanding.
Foreign co-worker: Normal, but hasn't adjusted AT ALL to life here after one and a half years. Very negative about his entire experience and life in general.
Students: Failed so miserably on their national college entrance exam that our program is their only hope. Half are completely uninterested, the other half at least make an effort to tie their own shoe laces.
The winner is:
Location: Suwon
Expat community: Tie
The stares: Suwon
Days per week: Zhangzhou
Classes per day: Zhangzhou
Teaching hours per week: Zhangzhou
Work hours: Zhangzhou
Class length: Tie
Student ages: Zhangzhou
Class size: Suwon
Vacation: HAHAHAHA, not even close. Zhangzhou.
Health insurance: Zhangzhou
Pay: HEHEHE, not even close. Suwon.
Food: Suwon
Housing: Tie
Internet: Suwon
Weather: Zhangzhou
Korea/Chinese co-workers: Zhangzhou
Foreign co-worker: Tie
Students: Tie
Korea job: 6
China job: 9
I will say this about Korea. It's much easier to adjust to life there. At the end of my year in Korea, I was calling it home. It FELT like home. I wonder if I will ever feel the same way about Zhangzhou? Learning Chinese is certainly helping me adjust, so maybe I will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)