TEACHING IN KOREA

I want to start this page off by explaining how I got myself into teaching, and my experiences with it. Honestly speaking I am somewhat distant when it comes to teaching, considering that I have done it for the past 10 years. It helped me kick start my journey into life in Korea, and it gave me the opportunity to travel and make art. There is a lot that I have to thank for it, but where there is light there is always a shadow. With this said, there were far more positives than negatives.

After graduating from college, in Chicago, I was struggling to find a job. I did a few side gigs from making political cartoons for clients, painting interiors of houses, and doing freelance illustration. None of these jobs really lead me anywhere, so I went back to Hong Kong where my parents were.

Even back in Hong Kong I was struggling to find a job. I was clueless in terms of navigating myself in the job market, and I didn't know how to properly utilize my skills or degree. I felt like my parents investment in me were a waste. 

I was able to catch a break with an old high school friend who is a lawyer now, but back then we were aimless young adults, struggling to find a direction in life. What kept us together was basketball. It allowed us to keep in contact, and it kept us positive. My friend is now married, living abroad in England. He seems to be doing well and I am happy for him. I myself am not a lawyer, or a successful professional but I'm hanging on. So what was that break for the both of us? It was teaching. 

My friend and I used to attend Saturday school. Saturday school was basically a term that we used to describe foreigner Korean kids who attended school on Saturday's for half a day. We never really thought much about it being kids, but looking back on it now there are a lot of people we need to thank. My friends mom used to work in this school as an office admin. She hinted at an opportunity for us to teach English as summer school assistants. Being dumb basketball boys looking for money, we obliged. After one summer of assistant work, we were suddenly getting approached by Korean parents to teach English privately. We found these opportunities difficult to reject, and eventually this became our source of income. Him and I would stay in contact, play basketball, and teach English. It was a freelance job, and it was doable, but it was not something that we could do long term. He eventually invested in his law studies and became a lawyer. I decided to go back to school.

The images below were drawn by my first students. They were two boys, and I was teaching them English. When we had time to spare I would draw pictures with them. These were also some of my first blogs. The images are super blurry. 

This was the phone that I was most probably using at the time. The Galaxy Ace, which was also a hand me down from my dad. 

  School was expensive. It was a masters course, and I was financing it myself. It made me realize how much I should thank my parents for putting up with my schooling of 20 years, and more. 3 month in I decided to quit. The course didn't make sense to me. Most of the money that I saved up from tutoring was spent, but I had no regrets. I wasn't proud, but at the least I wasn't disappointed. 

After quitting school, I thought this was a good opportunity to really do something different. I decided to go to Korea. For Korean men, they are required to do mandatory military service for a year and a half, but I was lucky, and I was exempted to this rule while I was there. The law has changed now so this is no longer possible, but I technically took advantage of this opportunity.

I went to Korea thinking that I could start afresh. I was staying at my grandma's place. My father's mother. Back then she was still a raging bull of a lady. Maybe not now, but there is a lot that I have to thank from her. She took me in and I tried my best to take advantage of the situation. I got a job at and animation company. A job that I was dreaming to get, only to be devastated by the quality of  work life that animators in Korea receive. 

Three month into moving into Korea, I was jobless and drunk. I had no leads, I had no friends, and I was clueless on my options. Being Korean by birth did not make you Korean at heart. I was a foreigner. I had to think like a foreigner as well. The best option that I had was to teach ESL. (English as a Second Language.) Every other job was out of the picture, but teaching ESL was a good lead. Just putting my resume on a website would lead to a bombardment of messages, phone calls, and emails. I felt needed.     

I took on an opportunity located an hour and half away from my place. It was a long commute back and forth, but it was a start. My first paycheck was a highlight. I've always been paid through envelopes and hard cash, but here I was in front of an ATM machine checking my first official paycheck. It felt good. 

The English academy that I was at was doing well. They were branching out and eventually opened up near my neighborhood. After six month commuting to my previous branch, I was able to start working at the newer and closer branch.

I think these pictures were taken during Halloween.

A bonus. A sleeping student during class. The way that our company worked had kids working independently. It came with it's pros and cons. Here is a con.😂
(I came across many more sleeping students after her. She was a great student none the less. She worked hard, and she was very outgoing. Very cheeky, but also thoughtful.  I wish I could remember her name...)

Around 2 years into working for this company, I wanted a change. I wanted to try moving into the main city of Seoul. I wanted to be independent in terms of lifestyle, and to support this I needed a higher paying job. I was able to find a good English teaching job that almost paid double of what I used to make. The environment was different, the stakes were higher, and there were more staff.
I was also located in Seoul, the melting pot of Korea. (I wanted to say heart of Korea, but cities are quite heartless.😥)

It was actually really refreshing being able to live in downtown Seoul, and I was pretty much able to access all of the hippest locations via metro within minutes. I also brought my bike with me, so I was able to bike across the Han river and bike around the Gangnam and Jamsil district within 30 minutes. I really enjoyed the independence, and the rent was pretty fair. I felt like I was living the life of a modern Korean Seoulite.

My 13 x 13 meter one room apartment that I lived in for 2 years. One year of rent was alright cause I had work. The last year sucked cause I had no work, and had to pay with my savings.

This was a park that I frequented. I lived near the Han river area on the northern side of Seoul. It was called Seoul Forest and I would bike here quite often.

 

My fresh new kicks back in 2015 or March. The grass is still kind of brown because the winter season was not over yet, but as you can see I'm just chilling along the riverside park, because the weather was starting to warm up. I also wanted to show off my then new kicks. I wanted to be hip and follow the crowd, but now I'm still wearing them in 2020 with holes that were stitched up. 😂

 Back when the Lotte Sky Tower was still being built.

Jamsil was also a great way to get up and close with the cherry blossoms during the cherry blossom festival, during mid April.

Seoul Olympic Park was very close to Jamsil, and one could spend up to 2 hours just walking around while taking some nice photos. 

I really miss the weekend bike rides along the Han river, just when the day was about to end.



In this image you can see the Seoul Tower in the distance.

Unfortunately I was fired after a year.😝 I guess I wasn't good enough.

The work was very stressful, and the company was really pushing us to get them results. We were their sister company, and they were one of the top English institutions on the block. A lot of wealthy parents were the main applicants, and the kids were really well off. You could see Mercede Benz's and Porche's parked outside our building. These parents really wanted results, and the higher ups of the institution really wanted to prove them with the results, so us teachers had to really push ourselves to get them results. I really liked the kids, and the money was good, but what they were expecting was much too high from me. After a year of working there I was released, along with two other teachers, and it made me really wonder about life ahead of me. 

Looking back at these old photos really does bring back some memories, regardless of the stresses that I felt back then.

Being jobless again, I decided to try and commit myself fully to my art practices. I was able to make some progress only until I ran out of money. My housing contract expired, and I had to go back to living with my grandma.

Back when I was trying to hustle to get involved in the art market.

I went back to my old job, and stayed there for a good 3 years or so. I wanted another attempt at my art endeavors and applied for a part time job at a super market. Out of nowhere, the country decided that I was no longer eligible to stay in Korea due to my lack of military service. Apparently the law had changed. 

My part time job at the super market became somewhat of a full time job, and it sucked. It was hard work, and it was hopeless. I felt a lot of regret giving up on my teaching job, but I felt like I learned a lot from the experience. I didn't make a lot of art during this time, which made me feel pretty sad. Another sad moment was when I saw one of my previous students, and for some reason I felt embarrassed. I don't think working for a living is embarrassing at all today, but back then I felt like I was going downwards in life. 

I used to work in the bakery section of the supermarket. I would be responsible for packaging the break, and sticking the correct labels on them. I would also need to check the expiry date on all of the items, and keep a check on items that were low on stock. I was also a semi-expert egg cracking laborer. 

I came back to Hong Kong hoping to find a job outside of teaching. During that period, I worked as an intern at a gallery, cashier at a Korean fast food stall, hotel butler intern, and part time art tutor.

I recently quit my part time art tutor job because I was unable to fully commit to it while I was working on my full time job, and art projects on the side. I am now almost fully invested in my job as an art technician at an international school. It's my first corporate job, and I am still trying to grasp the basics. It's certainly not a creative job, but it helps me get around. It's somewhat related to the teaching industry, at the least I am assisting it, but I am not teaching anymore. 

I don't know how relevant this story would be to someone who is looking to teach, but I do want to say that the education market is always in demand no matter where you go. If you can speak English at a native level, you can almost guarantee to teach English abroad. Of course having the necessary certificates would be helpful, but the option of teaching is always out there. It's certainly not for everyone. After doing it for 10 year I feel like I am trying to distance myself from it. One more certificate away, and maybe I could become a proper Art teacher, but I feel hesitant. However, teaching is one way to make a living. There is nothing shameful in it. You will not only be teaching a subject, but your own philosophy in life. It will most probably change the way you live, and it will also be a great opportunity to travel the world.