Posts Tagged ‘Teaching English’
Quick Notes on Korea
Health Insurance
Just like the Japanese, Koreans enjoy two types of insurance and pension plans: the national plan, which covers all citizens by default, and the employee plan, which is only available for companies that employ five or more workers. As an employee of a small hagwon (학원), I only qualify for the national plan. Unfortunately, since December 2008, foreigners are now required to be residents for at least three months before qualifying for health insurance. This means I’m not covered until mid-November. Not good. If you’d like more information, there’s an English language help line: 02-390-2000.
Seat Belts
Apparently only the front seat passengers are legally obligated to fasten their seat belts. Those in the rear, including young children who should be in car seats, are free to bounce around all they like.
Tap Water
I’ve been curious about this for a while. The teacher I replaced just filled up a few water jugs from the water purifier at the school to cut down costs. A 1-liter bottle only costs about 1USD here, but what about the tap water? I’m on the east coast, after all; shouldn’t that make a difference in the purification process? Everyone really raves about just how clean the water is here, from the transparency of the ocean to the water in the pipes.
Lonely Planet and Moon Handbooks suggest that travelers buy bottled water. Even though I’m in the countryside and nothing will probably ever come from drinking tap water, I’m going to play on the safe side. Just a personal decision. I’ve talked with other residents, including my boss, and it’s a sizable splint; many are afraid of the bacteria in tap water, but they admit they drink it occasionally.
Uljin
Uljin is famous for four things: the snow crab festival, its unique mushrooms, the Energy Farm (otherwise known as the nuclear power plant), and Deokgu hot springs. Good news! If you’re a resident of Uljin, you get a discount at the springs; those suckers can go ahead and pay 6000 Won/soak, I’m going to stick with 4500.
On Teaching English
I’ll report on the particulars here later. My boss is a ping-pong fiend, and proud of it, spending about 300,000 Won (~300USD) on a paddle imported from Japan.
The People of Uljin
They’re a good group. Certainly no racists, as far as I can see. I did have a bit of a confrontation the other day that left me confused. Turns out, I was taking the last bus south for the day, and the ticket taker and store attendant both tried to warn me I wouldn’t be able to get back to Bugu that night. I know they were just trying to help, but they doubted my abilities, and made us all uncomfortable.
Ordering Online
I haven’t had any problems getting Amazon.com packages delivered. Do people in Seoul rely a lot on online purchases as well? Because from where I stand, it seems that is the major form of shopping in Korea. Check these sites out:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr
http://weagookinmall.com
http://
www.ezshopkorea.com
http://www.expatexpress.com
http://www.auction.co.kr
The Pressure to Hear English
I take being surrounded by English speakers for granted. I imagine I’d feel completely liberated in one way if I were to return to Japan and begin my life with the Japanese people, but, in a far more accurate way, I’m slowly forgetting what it’s like to be in the language minority (never mind my white face; that’s a talk for another time).
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Of course I had outings with Americans, Kiwis, English, Aussies, Canadians, even the occasional Jamaican… but 90% of the time, the Japanese language was my sole source of communication with others. I can just imagine my typical evening after AEON hours:
1. Finish my office paperwork and bid coworkers farewell with the customary “otsu kare sama deshita“. Emerge from the building on a cold winter’s night, just opposite a gas station.
2. I might pass a student, a kid, or a random passerby. Perhaps a friendly “konbanwa“.
3. Lawson convenience store for my usual turkey and pasta bento, with a heated bottle of green tea. Do I want it heated? Hai, shite kudasai. Any chopsticks with that? Hai, ippun o kudasai. Arigatou gozaimasu.
4. Finish the walk to my apartment building. I’ll probably catch another tenant in the elevator:
“Ahhh… Kimura-san. Ogenki desu ka?”
(I’m fine, Turner-san. How are you?)
“Genki des yo. Oyasumi nasai.”
Only when I’m back in my cramped 6-tatami mat quarters do I truly relax. After all, the internet is language neutral, though I’m sure most would agree English dominates. And this is a light, carefree evening. Imagine a full day of all Japanese. Now imagine a week. A month. A year. Five years…
There’s more to living abroad than embracing a different culture and being comfortable with your changing environment; the pressure of communicating in a foreign language builds up inside your brain without any realization. After all, you’re in Japan! An amazing, exciting experience! Who wouldn’t trade places with you?
I love Japan and I love traveling, but I get tired. There are long stretches when I wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else on the planet, but there are also plenty of times when I would give my heart and soul to be surrounded by countrymen who understand my words, my upbringing, my way of thinking. How did I combat this in Japan, once I had learned to live well?
GetHiroshima Classifieds and Events
Hiroshima doesn’t exactly have the largest population of foreign residents in Japan, but there is a sizable number… enough to warrant the publication of a online resource for expats: GetHiroshima. Culture salons, 10Ks, Japanese wanting friends… I even got replies for a Texas Hold ‘Em group; we were soon meeting once a month for a nice cash game.
Nightclubs and Bars
I admit it, I went downtown many Saturday nights in effort not to hook up with random Japanese girls, but just to sit at the bar of an Irish pub and listen to background conversations… in English. Call me a language whore.
Blog Searches
By using Google Blogsearch, I was able to find many expats in my general area, and learn a great deal about them and their travel experience. You never know who’s reading.
I followed these same techniques in Kagoshima, and found the prefecture’s JET participants had a decent Facebook page; without that, I never would have ended up volunteering at an orphanage in Aira or cycling all the way around Sakurajima for the first time.
Everyone has their own ways of coping with this pressure of feeling like you’re the only one on the planet. Lost in Translation was such a success for showing this through film. Sometimes you do have to travel halfway around the planet… to come full circle.