So tonight was the last time I was gonna going to get to see Lydon and and my old boss Charlie (the nice guy) so we decided to go out for dinner. After a nice dinner of Korean ribs, we decided to head towards the bar. As kind of a last going away present, Lydon asked Charlie to drive to the Jeonju Red Light district. This has been kind of a long running joke between us where me and Spencer (mostly me) try to get Lydon to escort us to the Red Light District to translate for us. Every time he would get embarrassed and say no. He would only go so far as to tell us where it was...but as for actually going with he us he would never go. I doubt Spencer and I would ever actually utilize the services provided (not that I am against prostitution) because not only is there a pride issue, but I just don't think it is worth it for the price.
Either way, the RLD was more than I ever could have imagined it to be. Keep in mind that prostitution IS illegal in Korea, however the police definitely turn a very blind eye. The Red Light District is exactly that...a whole district. I'm talking multiple small side roads. It't pretty obvious what they are too because...get this. It's lined with long glass windows that go on forever, and sitting in chairs by the window are the hottest Korean women you have ever seen. Spencer and I couldn't believe it. I kept proclaiming "Ohl mai oh! Ohl mai oh!" (how much?!) to which Lydon responded with jumping out of the car and running to the door to find out the price. We watched as he did this and after a few seconds we saw the girls doing the big "X" signal with their arms. When he got back we asked what they said.
Lydon: "For me, 70,000 won ($62)"
Me: "And for us?"
Lydon: "They won't do it"
Spencer and I: "Why not?!?!"
Lydon: "They said your things are too big"
Spencer and I: *High Five*
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
My First Trip to Seoul
So I was having a terrible week last week, so Spencer came up with the great idea of us going to Seoul for the weekend. I wasn’t too sure on the idea because I was unemployed and broke, but he was persistent and I ended up agreeing with him to go. We were planning on leaving early that Saturday morning, so the Friday before I had a student show me which subway terminal was Itaewon and which was the Bus Terminal so I could navigate my way around the subway system. We decided the trip would be an overnight trip, so I packed my roller bag with 3 changes of clothes and we set out the next morning on the 8am bus ride to Seoul. The bus was 2.5 hours, so we got there about 10:30.
So we get off the bus and head in to the terminal. I decided to inspect my bags and pack away my ipod so I had less things in my pocket. Unfortunately as it turned out, somehow my brand new, less than 30 day old Amazon Kindle turned out to be cracked. I have no idea how the hell that even happened because the heaviest thing in my roller bag was a damn shirt. So right away this put me in a foul mood. Either way, Spencer and I started looking for signs to the number 3 subway line, and eventually made our way to the terminal. To get in to the Subway we had to go down about 4-5 stories underground, but first we needed to buy a ticket. We waited in line for one of the ticket terminals and were relieved to find out that English was an option. Unfortunately for us, this being our first time and also having the pressure of a long line of Koreans waiting behind us, I got a little gun shy on the terminal and couldn’t figure out how to buy a ticket to Itaewon. I regrettably had to have someone help us out.
Let me step aside for a second and tell you that the Subway system in Seoul is everything people say it is. It is incredible. It is unbelievably huge (there is almost 350 miles worth of track and you can even take a subway to Incheon which is about 30 minutes away by car) and dirt cheap. Most trips are only 1000 won (less than $1) and there are tons of maps to help you get where you are going.
Ok, so back to what I was saying. So we rode the subway for about 25 minutes making one line change to arrive in Itaewon. Itaewon is basically THE PLACE for foreigners to go in Korea. I had set up some really high expectation based on some raving by my friend Maya, and at first I was a little disappointed. It was a bit smaller than I anticipated. And I definitely didn’t feel like I had left Korea like she had sad I would. Spencer and I wanted to try and find a hotel to drop our stuff off at. We had heard you could find cheap “love motels” everywhere that were really cheap and could be rented out by the hour if you wanted, but didn’t immediately see one, so we thought we would check out the Hamilton Hotel first. This place was NIIICE. It had a huge lobby where a man greeted you at the door and carried your bags for you. We went in to find out how much a room cost, but it turned out to be booked solid for the night. By this time it was already 11am and I wanted to catch the Red Wings at Coyotes game two, so I set about trying to find a sports bar that would have the game. The first bar we went to didn’t have it, but they told us the general location of a bar that might, so we went exploring. Luckily I found the place, and it was all Americans! Even the bartender was American. I was pretty stoked about that. Luckily they had the game on, so Spencer and I sat down and ordered a beer. We both had skipped breakfast that morning so we decided to eat at the bar. Spencer ordered a hamburger and I ordered nachos. Both of these meals are pretty uncommon in Korea so we ended up paying a bit more than we would have liked to for the privilege, but you find out you are willing to spend more than you think you are when the comforts from home are rare. Unfortunately for me the Coyotes lost and that put damper number two on my day…so I was pretty bummed. At this point I was really sick of lugging around my roller bag and looking like some tourist asshole (which is kind of ironic considering almost everyone in Itaewon could be considered a tourist…even if you had been living there for 5 years) so we set out to find a hotel. The second hotel we found was a place called IP Boutique Hotel (http://www.activehotels.com/1/1/3548689-ip-boutique-hotel-itaewon.html). It was this nice ass 4 star hotel. We checked out the price and it turned out to be 165000won a night ($148). We decided to splurge since it was our first time and all, so we got a nice room on the top floor with half a zebra painted on the wall. It was niiice. Everything was really classy. The bathroom was all glass (which was a little weird because if you were standing there was NO privacy what so ever). Heck, the toilet was even this super high-tech number with heated seats and a button I accidentally found out shot a jet of water up your…undercarriage. We threw our stuff in the corner, picked a bed and turned on the tv. Spencer got a phone call from this girl Stacy I had met the night before. By sheer chance she had planned to come to Seoul that weekend as well, but through some miscommunication she ended up missing her friends. We convinced her to still come anyway, so we waited in the hotel room until Stacy arrived. When she did, we sat around the hotel room a bit chatting (as we do a LOT now that we are all such good friends), but after a while we decided we wanted to go explore. Stacy had really wanted to see Namdemun which is this huge market area. As it turned out, the place friggen burned down a few weeks prior, but the open air market was still intact. Once we got there, I noticed the place looked familiar. I am a big fan of a show called “Three Sheets” which is a show about drinking cultures around the world. This guy, Zane Lamprey, literally gets paid to fly around the world and get drunk. Best. Job. Ever. Well anyway, in season 2 he visited South Korea, and I was sure this was one of the places he visited. Sure shit, no more than 5 minutes into exploring the street I saw the same street vendor featured in the show!! He goes by the English name “Kevin” and you could tell he gets asked for pictures a lot because as soon I noticed who he was the other street vendors started laughing. I had Stacy take a picture for me and she filmed the whole interaction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJDhQPMafnM . So after exploring Namdemun for a while (I bought some delicious dumplings, 5 for 2000won and a remote control helicopter for 25000won) my friend Allie Wenzel from high school called. She lives in Seoul and since I was in the area (finally…after 4 months) we decided to get together for some drinks. Stacy wanted to meet up with this guy Jose she had met on her plane to Korea so he gave us a general area he was in and we decided to take a taxi to find him. We ended up meeting Jose and a friend of his at a place called Wa Bar.
So we went in to Wa Bar and sat down. Jose’s friend as it turns out was from Racine, so Allie and I chatted with him for a bit about how great Wisconsin is. Eventually he went back over to the other side of the table where Stacy, Spencer, and Jose were playing drinking games. Allie, Allie’s friend who’s name is escaping me at the moment (which makes me an asshole because he bought me a beer), and I got in to a pretty heavy discussion about life, and high school, and how far things have come since Allie and I first met In Middle School. It was really cool getting to see Allie again since I don’t believe we have seen each other since high school. It was kinda nuts to think that it had been almost 10 years and we were meeting up in Seoul, which is over 5000 miles away from West Bend. Many beers were drunk, many jaeger bombs (at least the Korean version since energy drinks are non-existent in Korea) were downed, and eventually we changed bars. When we got back to Itaewon everyone was hungry and Allie offered to buy me a swarma (sort of like a gyro but somehow different). While we were eating I was approached by a moderately attractive Korean woman who kept staring at me. Eventually she leans in and whispered something I didn’t understand. I asked her to repeat herself and she said “Sex?” I, being quite drunk at the point responded with a “hellllll yes! Ole my oh?” (Korean for how much). She said $100 to which I said “nice!” and then went running back to the group to inform them I had just been propositioned. Despite visiting Las Vegas at least 10 times and living in Korea for 4 months I had never actually seen a real prostitute before, and even though I had no intentions on utilizing the services she offered I was quite stoked to be propositioned. She hung around a minute but then left once she realized I was talking about her to my friends.
So after a few drinks at the next bar, Spencer, Stacy, and Jose decided to go back to the hotel room. I told them I would meet up with them in a bit, so they left. Allie and I spent the next 20 minutes chatting about random things I won’t specifically name here and eventually we too decided to call it a night.
So by now many of you might be bored, and several of you might have even stopped reading by this point. Well, for those of you who made it this far, you are in for a treat. This is the part of the story where things get a little…fucked up.
So I made my way back to our nice ass hotel, and walked in to the room. Spencer, Stacy, and Jose were all drinking soju, and apparently somewhere between the bar and the hotel had picked up two more people. I sat down on my bed and started drinking with everyone as we listened to music (loudly) and talked. All of a sudden the new girl went running in to the bathroom. About a minute later her friend followed her in there. We could hear them talking. Now remember that the bathroom has walls made of glass, so we can see their feet and heads in the mirror opposite the bathroom. Eventually the talking stops and I notice that they are kissing. I point this out to Spencer who looks over and nods his head at me. Suddenly, I see pants falling to the floor and a half naked woman drop to her knees. My eyes go wide as I point this out to the rest of the group who are shocked by what they see. At this point I can’t tell if they are just so drunk they don’t realize the walls are made of glass…but over the next hour or so we are treated to what is essentially a live action porno in the bathroom. Without going in to graphic detail, they used every square inch of that bathroom, including pausing for a moment to hop in the shower. Eventually they came out of the bathroom to a loud applause from those of us in the room and they tried to play it off like they were “talking” I pointed out the glass walls and they didn’t seem to care. Everyone got in their respective beds (and the two randoms on the floor) and we decided to go to bed finally around 6am. To make things just a little weirder, the two random people decided to continue their little sexcapade on the floor in the full view of everyone. I was extremely tired at this point (and still quite drunk) so I went to bed…waking up only about 4 hours later. The two randoms were lying naked and uncovered on the floor. I decided to hop in the shower and get ready for the day. Eventually everyone woke up and we checked out of the hotel around 1pm.
We bid farewell to the two randoms, and Stacy, Jose, Spencer, and I decided to explore Itaewon a bit. We found this really nice Mexican restaurant (the best one in all of Korea we were told) and I had a chimichanga for lunch. It was glorious. Mexican food is unavailable in Korea save for Itaewon, so it had been a while. I was not disappointed. We made our way around the foreign shops where I picked up a bag of Cheetos (for about $5), a giant container of Utz’s cheezeballs (for $13), and a 12-pack of A&W root beer (for $15). I realize how expensive all this stuff was, but it’s really hard to explain what it’s like when EVERYTHING is different where you are. You find yourself much more willing to pay for just a few simple creature comforts. Actually…this feeling alone can explain the immense level of excitement and buzz you could feel in Itaewon around the giant banner that was advertising the first Taco Bell to be opened in Korea. For those of you back in the States, I am sure you are disgusted, but trust me when I tell you this…ANYTHING that reminds you of home out here is exciting…especially the little things. I’ve been making Root Beer floats all week with my A&W and it has been a nice comfort on these nights as I sit home and watch downloaded American TV.
So after we finished our shopping, we headed back to the bus terminal leaving at around 7pm Sunday night. Stacy and I chatted the whole way back, and it was a nice ending to an incredible weekend in Seoul. It was a nice escape from the bullshit drama of looking for work out here…even it was only for a day.
So we get off the bus and head in to the terminal. I decided to inspect my bags and pack away my ipod so I had less things in my pocket. Unfortunately as it turned out, somehow my brand new, less than 30 day old Amazon Kindle turned out to be cracked. I have no idea how the hell that even happened because the heaviest thing in my roller bag was a damn shirt. So right away this put me in a foul mood. Either way, Spencer and I started looking for signs to the number 3 subway line, and eventually made our way to the terminal. To get in to the Subway we had to go down about 4-5 stories underground, but first we needed to buy a ticket. We waited in line for one of the ticket terminals and were relieved to find out that English was an option. Unfortunately for us, this being our first time and also having the pressure of a long line of Koreans waiting behind us, I got a little gun shy on the terminal and couldn’t figure out how to buy a ticket to Itaewon. I regrettably had to have someone help us out.
Let me step aside for a second and tell you that the Subway system in Seoul is everything people say it is. It is incredible. It is unbelievably huge (there is almost 350 miles worth of track and you can even take a subway to Incheon which is about 30 minutes away by car) and dirt cheap. Most trips are only 1000 won (less than $1) and there are tons of maps to help you get where you are going.
Ok, so back to what I was saying. So we rode the subway for about 25 minutes making one line change to arrive in Itaewon. Itaewon is basically THE PLACE for foreigners to go in Korea. I had set up some really high expectation based on some raving by my friend Maya, and at first I was a little disappointed. It was a bit smaller than I anticipated. And I definitely didn’t feel like I had left Korea like she had sad I would. Spencer and I wanted to try and find a hotel to drop our stuff off at. We had heard you could find cheap “love motels” everywhere that were really cheap and could be rented out by the hour if you wanted, but didn’t immediately see one, so we thought we would check out the Hamilton Hotel first. This place was NIIICE. It had a huge lobby where a man greeted you at the door and carried your bags for you. We went in to find out how much a room cost, but it turned out to be booked solid for the night. By this time it was already 11am and I wanted to catch the Red Wings at Coyotes game two, so I set about trying to find a sports bar that would have the game. The first bar we went to didn’t have it, but they told us the general location of a bar that might, so we went exploring. Luckily I found the place, and it was all Americans! Even the bartender was American. I was pretty stoked about that. Luckily they had the game on, so Spencer and I sat down and ordered a beer. We both had skipped breakfast that morning so we decided to eat at the bar. Spencer ordered a hamburger and I ordered nachos. Both of these meals are pretty uncommon in Korea so we ended up paying a bit more than we would have liked to for the privilege, but you find out you are willing to spend more than you think you are when the comforts from home are rare. Unfortunately for me the Coyotes lost and that put damper number two on my day…so I was pretty bummed. At this point I was really sick of lugging around my roller bag and looking like some tourist asshole (which is kind of ironic considering almost everyone in Itaewon could be considered a tourist…even if you had been living there for 5 years) so we set out to find a hotel. The second hotel we found was a place called IP Boutique Hotel (http://www.activehotels.com/1/1/3548689-ip-boutique-hotel-itaewon.html). It was this nice ass 4 star hotel. We checked out the price and it turned out to be 165000won a night ($148). We decided to splurge since it was our first time and all, so we got a nice room on the top floor with half a zebra painted on the wall. It was niiice. Everything was really classy. The bathroom was all glass (which was a little weird because if you were standing there was NO privacy what so ever). Heck, the toilet was even this super high-tech number with heated seats and a button I accidentally found out shot a jet of water up your…undercarriage. We threw our stuff in the corner, picked a bed and turned on the tv. Spencer got a phone call from this girl Stacy I had met the night before. By sheer chance she had planned to come to Seoul that weekend as well, but through some miscommunication she ended up missing her friends. We convinced her to still come anyway, so we waited in the hotel room until Stacy arrived. When she did, we sat around the hotel room a bit chatting (as we do a LOT now that we are all such good friends), but after a while we decided we wanted to go explore. Stacy had really wanted to see Namdemun which is this huge market area. As it turned out, the place friggen burned down a few weeks prior, but the open air market was still intact. Once we got there, I noticed the place looked familiar. I am a big fan of a show called “Three Sheets” which is a show about drinking cultures around the world. This guy, Zane Lamprey, literally gets paid to fly around the world and get drunk. Best. Job. Ever. Well anyway, in season 2 he visited South Korea, and I was sure this was one of the places he visited. Sure shit, no more than 5 minutes into exploring the street I saw the same street vendor featured in the show!! He goes by the English name “Kevin” and you could tell he gets asked for pictures a lot because as soon I noticed who he was the other street vendors started laughing. I had Stacy take a picture for me and she filmed the whole interaction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJDhQPMafnM . So after exploring Namdemun for a while (I bought some delicious dumplings, 5 for 2000won and a remote control helicopter for 25000won) my friend Allie Wenzel from high school called. She lives in Seoul and since I was in the area (finally…after 4 months) we decided to get together for some drinks. Stacy wanted to meet up with this guy Jose she had met on her plane to Korea so he gave us a general area he was in and we decided to take a taxi to find him. We ended up meeting Jose and a friend of his at a place called Wa Bar.
So we went in to Wa Bar and sat down. Jose’s friend as it turns out was from Racine, so Allie and I chatted with him for a bit about how great Wisconsin is. Eventually he went back over to the other side of the table where Stacy, Spencer, and Jose were playing drinking games. Allie, Allie’s friend who’s name is escaping me at the moment (which makes me an asshole because he bought me a beer), and I got in to a pretty heavy discussion about life, and high school, and how far things have come since Allie and I first met In Middle School. It was really cool getting to see Allie again since I don’t believe we have seen each other since high school. It was kinda nuts to think that it had been almost 10 years and we were meeting up in Seoul, which is over 5000 miles away from West Bend. Many beers were drunk, many jaeger bombs (at least the Korean version since energy drinks are non-existent in Korea) were downed, and eventually we changed bars. When we got back to Itaewon everyone was hungry and Allie offered to buy me a swarma (sort of like a gyro but somehow different). While we were eating I was approached by a moderately attractive Korean woman who kept staring at me. Eventually she leans in and whispered something I didn’t understand. I asked her to repeat herself and she said “Sex?” I, being quite drunk at the point responded with a “hellllll yes! Ole my oh?” (Korean for how much). She said $100 to which I said “nice!” and then went running back to the group to inform them I had just been propositioned. Despite visiting Las Vegas at least 10 times and living in Korea for 4 months I had never actually seen a real prostitute before, and even though I had no intentions on utilizing the services she offered I was quite stoked to be propositioned. She hung around a minute but then left once she realized I was talking about her to my friends.
So after a few drinks at the next bar, Spencer, Stacy, and Jose decided to go back to the hotel room. I told them I would meet up with them in a bit, so they left. Allie and I spent the next 20 minutes chatting about random things I won’t specifically name here and eventually we too decided to call it a night.
So by now many of you might be bored, and several of you might have even stopped reading by this point. Well, for those of you who made it this far, you are in for a treat. This is the part of the story where things get a little…fucked up.
So I made my way back to our nice ass hotel, and walked in to the room. Spencer, Stacy, and Jose were all drinking soju, and apparently somewhere between the bar and the hotel had picked up two more people. I sat down on my bed and started drinking with everyone as we listened to music (loudly) and talked. All of a sudden the new girl went running in to the bathroom. About a minute later her friend followed her in there. We could hear them talking. Now remember that the bathroom has walls made of glass, so we can see their feet and heads in the mirror opposite the bathroom. Eventually the talking stops and I notice that they are kissing. I point this out to Spencer who looks over and nods his head at me. Suddenly, I see pants falling to the floor and a half naked woman drop to her knees. My eyes go wide as I point this out to the rest of the group who are shocked by what they see. At this point I can’t tell if they are just so drunk they don’t realize the walls are made of glass…but over the next hour or so we are treated to what is essentially a live action porno in the bathroom. Without going in to graphic detail, they used every square inch of that bathroom, including pausing for a moment to hop in the shower. Eventually they came out of the bathroom to a loud applause from those of us in the room and they tried to play it off like they were “talking” I pointed out the glass walls and they didn’t seem to care. Everyone got in their respective beds (and the two randoms on the floor) and we decided to go to bed finally around 6am. To make things just a little weirder, the two random people decided to continue their little sexcapade on the floor in the full view of everyone. I was extremely tired at this point (and still quite drunk) so I went to bed…waking up only about 4 hours later. The two randoms were lying naked and uncovered on the floor. I decided to hop in the shower and get ready for the day. Eventually everyone woke up and we checked out of the hotel around 1pm.
We bid farewell to the two randoms, and Stacy, Jose, Spencer, and I decided to explore Itaewon a bit. We found this really nice Mexican restaurant (the best one in all of Korea we were told) and I had a chimichanga for lunch. It was glorious. Mexican food is unavailable in Korea save for Itaewon, so it had been a while. I was not disappointed. We made our way around the foreign shops where I picked up a bag of Cheetos (for about $5), a giant container of Utz’s cheezeballs (for $13), and a 12-pack of A&W root beer (for $15). I realize how expensive all this stuff was, but it’s really hard to explain what it’s like when EVERYTHING is different where you are. You find yourself much more willing to pay for just a few simple creature comforts. Actually…this feeling alone can explain the immense level of excitement and buzz you could feel in Itaewon around the giant banner that was advertising the first Taco Bell to be opened in Korea. For those of you back in the States, I am sure you are disgusted, but trust me when I tell you this…ANYTHING that reminds you of home out here is exciting…especially the little things. I’ve been making Root Beer floats all week with my A&W and it has been a nice comfort on these nights as I sit home and watch downloaded American TV.
So after we finished our shopping, we headed back to the bus terminal leaving at around 7pm Sunday night. Stacy and I chatted the whole way back, and it was a nice ending to an incredible weekend in Seoul. It was a nice escape from the bullshit drama of looking for work out here…even it was only for a day.
Friday, April 23, 2010
An Update
Ok. So the last time I updated this, I had recently been laid off from my hagwon because the school was going bankrupt. Since then, I have been applying for jobs like crazy. I’ve even been working with a bunch of recruiters. What I love about this, is that I have worked with over 9 recruiters at this point and have interviewed for about 8 positions. I received offers from 2 of them, one of which I have declined, and the other I have been stalling on trying to find a position closer to Seoul. I think I can get them to wait until next Tuesday (4/27) but that is it. The job sounds fine and all, but it is so damn far away from Seoul and Jeonju, it almost doesn’t seem worth it to me. Of those 9 recruiters, only one of them is still working for me. Mostly what it has been is that I fill out an application, they put me up for a job, I get rejected, and then I never hear from them again and my emails/calls are never returned. The only recruiter I still have working for me is a guy who goes by the English name Kevin, who really is a Saint. He has stuck with me so far through several jobs. He seems confident he can help me find a job, but you can tell he is getting frustrated. The kicker though, is that he isn’t getting frustrated with me…but with the schools.
So this is how a typical scenario goes. Kevin gets a school that needs a native English speaker ASAP, so he tells them my story, about how I am already in country and would only need a visa run to Japan, which costs almost nothing compared to flying someone over from the States. They usually request to speak to my former boss, so they call Charlie…who gives me an EXCELLENT reference every time. They are usually impressed at this point and would like to speak to me, so Kevin sets up an interview. They call and ask me a bunch of questions and I kill in the interview. You can tell you have done a good job because they start asking how quickly you can start and ask about Visa documents. Then they contact Kevin to start the visa paperwork, of which one of the required documents is a picture. This is where it all falls apart. I shit you not, but I have been rejected from 5 positions so far because I am “too fat” and that I will “scare the children”. So I can already hear those of you in the background laughing…especially about the scaring children line…but screw you. I swear to God, it’s like Korea is actively trying to get me to hate the Korean people. It’s hard to not start hating every Korean I see where I get stared at everywhere I go, pointed at, laughed at, and now I get rejected from jobs all because of my size. Korea liked to talk about how they are striving to become a “Most Developed Country” and surpass Japan, but you know what Korea? Step one…cutting down on the discrimination would be a huge step towards that goal. My good friend Maya has been rejected from positions because she is black. The only positive part of this, is that at least in Korea you know you aren’t getting hired because of discrimination…they are at least nice enough to tell you. It’s ridiculous to me to think that I could be hired right now, and that most of the schools I have been interviewing with have loved me…except they changed their mind for something as arbitrary as my size (of course my mature response to this has been depressed eating, so I am sure I have put back on a few of the 70+ pounds I have lost since coming here).
A few days ago my former boss called me down to the school because we “needed to have a talk”. He asked me if I had been looking for a job, which really pissed me off because how could I not be? He then felt he needed to remind me that I would have to vacate the apartment before the end of the month. I told him that I had been doing everything in my power to find another job, but that if I were unable to find another job before then, under no circumstance would I be leaving the apartment. He then told me I should buy a place ticket back to the United States immediately since because he “was nice enough to let me work an extra week” that I should have enough to buy a plane ticket. I informed him that he should be buying me a plane ticket since he was the one who hired me, and that I had done nothing to break the contract, and rather he was breaking contract by letting me go since my contract only allows him to fire me if I break contract. He told me that since the school was going bankrupt that he could get away with not flying me back to the US and that it was my gamble to take. I asked him what he meant and he said that staying in Korea was a gamble. He said that he was going to pay for my last check that week and that I had enough to fly home. If I chose to stay in Korea and try to find another job, it was my gamble to make because it wasn’t any of concern what happened to me after that night. This really pissed me off and I told him that he was a pathetic little man who had no common decency to bring me over to this country and then leave me stranded. He felt the need to remind me that this same scenario could easily happen in the US, and that point I exploded. I told him that what he said was “horseshit because if I was let go in the US I could file for unemployment, I could move back in with family, and I would have a support network to ensure I wasn’t homeless”. That instead, I was in Korea…a “piece of shit country where I have no rights”. He said that there was nothing he could do, that the school was going bankrupt, and had been for over a year. To this I screamed at him, “Then you shouldn’t have brought me over here, you fucking moron!”. I then reminded him that I had done nothing to break contract that he was contractually obligated to keep paying me or at least send me home. I reminded him that “this is how business works, I, as the employee accept a guaranteed paycheck in exchange for stability. You, as the owner, accept the risk that your business might fail in exchange for much larger profit…this is something you should have learned before earning your MBA from Boston College.” He told me that there was nothing I could do about it and that the way I was speaking to him was “very rude”. I then told him that what he was doing to me was really rude, and that if the way I was speaking to him before was rude that he could “go fuck himself you stupid piece of shit”.
All in all, he was completely unwilling to budge on paying for my place ticket back home (which he is legally obligated to do according to Korean labor law) and completely unsympathetic. To be honest though, even though I didn’t get what I want…I do take quite a bit of satisfaction in telling him exactly what I thought of him. I just feel bad for Spencer who still has to work for the idiot…at least until his next school closes…which it will.
So this is how a typical scenario goes. Kevin gets a school that needs a native English speaker ASAP, so he tells them my story, about how I am already in country and would only need a visa run to Japan, which costs almost nothing compared to flying someone over from the States. They usually request to speak to my former boss, so they call Charlie…who gives me an EXCELLENT reference every time. They are usually impressed at this point and would like to speak to me, so Kevin sets up an interview. They call and ask me a bunch of questions and I kill in the interview. You can tell you have done a good job because they start asking how quickly you can start and ask about Visa documents. Then they contact Kevin to start the visa paperwork, of which one of the required documents is a picture. This is where it all falls apart. I shit you not, but I have been rejected from 5 positions so far because I am “too fat” and that I will “scare the children”. So I can already hear those of you in the background laughing…especially about the scaring children line…but screw you. I swear to God, it’s like Korea is actively trying to get me to hate the Korean people. It’s hard to not start hating every Korean I see where I get stared at everywhere I go, pointed at, laughed at, and now I get rejected from jobs all because of my size. Korea liked to talk about how they are striving to become a “Most Developed Country” and surpass Japan, but you know what Korea? Step one…cutting down on the discrimination would be a huge step towards that goal. My good friend Maya has been rejected from positions because she is black. The only positive part of this, is that at least in Korea you know you aren’t getting hired because of discrimination…they are at least nice enough to tell you. It’s ridiculous to me to think that I could be hired right now, and that most of the schools I have been interviewing with have loved me…except they changed their mind for something as arbitrary as my size (of course my mature response to this has been depressed eating, so I am sure I have put back on a few of the 70+ pounds I have lost since coming here).
A few days ago my former boss called me down to the school because we “needed to have a talk”. He asked me if I had been looking for a job, which really pissed me off because how could I not be? He then felt he needed to remind me that I would have to vacate the apartment before the end of the month. I told him that I had been doing everything in my power to find another job, but that if I were unable to find another job before then, under no circumstance would I be leaving the apartment. He then told me I should buy a place ticket back to the United States immediately since because he “was nice enough to let me work an extra week” that I should have enough to buy a plane ticket. I informed him that he should be buying me a plane ticket since he was the one who hired me, and that I had done nothing to break the contract, and rather he was breaking contract by letting me go since my contract only allows him to fire me if I break contract. He told me that since the school was going bankrupt that he could get away with not flying me back to the US and that it was my gamble to take. I asked him what he meant and he said that staying in Korea was a gamble. He said that he was going to pay for my last check that week and that I had enough to fly home. If I chose to stay in Korea and try to find another job, it was my gamble to make because it wasn’t any of concern what happened to me after that night. This really pissed me off and I told him that he was a pathetic little man who had no common decency to bring me over to this country and then leave me stranded. He felt the need to remind me that this same scenario could easily happen in the US, and that point I exploded. I told him that what he said was “horseshit because if I was let go in the US I could file for unemployment, I could move back in with family, and I would have a support network to ensure I wasn’t homeless”. That instead, I was in Korea…a “piece of shit country where I have no rights”. He said that there was nothing he could do, that the school was going bankrupt, and had been for over a year. To this I screamed at him, “Then you shouldn’t have brought me over here, you fucking moron!”. I then reminded him that I had done nothing to break contract that he was contractually obligated to keep paying me or at least send me home. I reminded him that “this is how business works, I, as the employee accept a guaranteed paycheck in exchange for stability. You, as the owner, accept the risk that your business might fail in exchange for much larger profit…this is something you should have learned before earning your MBA from Boston College.” He told me that there was nothing I could do about it and that the way I was speaking to him was “very rude”. I then told him that what he was doing to me was really rude, and that if the way I was speaking to him before was rude that he could “go fuck himself you stupid piece of shit”.
All in all, he was completely unwilling to budge on paying for my place ticket back home (which he is legally obligated to do according to Korean labor law) and completely unsympathetic. To be honest though, even though I didn’t get what I want…I do take quite a bit of satisfaction in telling him exactly what I thought of him. I just feel bad for Spencer who still has to work for the idiot…at least until his next school closes…which it will.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Details of my Demise
Ok. So as many of you have been piecing together from my random facebook status updates…things at my hagwon didn’t go well….and I am currently unemployed. The positive note…in no way was this my fault. I had known as early as my 6th week here that things at the hagwon were grim. The manager abruptly quit, followed by an almost immediate disappearance by his replacement thus leaving me with my 3rd manager in 8 weeks. It wasn’t until Lydon, a highly Americanized Korean I am proud to call my friend finally started working at the hagwon that he confirmed to me and Spencer what we had already kind of knew from looking at our attendance sheets and doing the basic math….our school wasn’t making any money. Even though I was gaining new students every few days, the basic turnover at our hagwon wasn’t enough to actually GROW enrollment. Spencer’s classes however, remained fairly sizeable…partly attributable (in my opinion) to him having all upper level classes and the majority of mine being beginner. See, the way it works is like this. If a student takes a beginner class, they work from a textbook called “American Headway 2”. This book is easily completed in about 2 months. Usually at this point the students will go to an upper level course, re-do the book, or go to another hagwon. The hagwon owner expects the students to want to re-do the text book which is ludicrous. Imagine taking Spanish 101 over and over again. This meant inevitably the students would either leave, or go to Spencer’s class. The hagwon owner, whom I have met once, must have taken this to mean I was a terrible teacher…and at first I might have been inclined to agree with him. However…let me pose you this question. If I were a terrible teacher, would students complain to the management on my behalf, bring me gifts, and in a few cases CRY when I told them the news? Luckily my students love me, and that has given me confidence.
By firing me…the hagwon is saving $300/mo. Yup. You read that. $300. What is funny about that…if I brought in 2 more students I would break even, any more than that…profit. Instead, the school will have to refund all the money my current students have paid including the girl who just last week pre-paid 6 MONTHS in advance for my classes.
What this all means for me…is that technically I have to start over. My visa will not transfer to the new school. I will need to fly to Japan for what is called a “visa run” where I stay in Japan for 2-3 days as my new visa is processed. This pisses me off on so many levels. First off, the owner of the hagwon held my documents for 4 months because he said he no longer had a job for me AFTER I signed my first contract. I had to pass on several jobs because he would not send me MY documents back or forward them to another school. When he did finally come back at me to tell me he had a job offer I was so excited to be going to Korea I didn’t stop to think that this dickface had already proven himself to be a snake. Even though it might sound simple to just stay the extra 3 months of my new contract…I can’t do that. I have plans to go to grad school after Korea, and I will have a LOT to do including interviews and visits before I begin. I can’t do that in Korea. I do not want to delay grad school another year…so this means I must break my contract early. Unfortunately for me…this will cost me about $3000. I would be forced to buy my own plane ticket home and I would be forfeiting the $2.2M+ won severance pay I would be entitled to had I worked the full contract. I met with my hagwon owner tonight, and he informed me that the school will be closing May 1st, so this means Spencer is out of a job as well…he just gets to keep working a few more weeks. As a sign of solidarity, and strong desire to get off a sinking ship, my fellow teachers have decided that my last day will also be there last day, so tomorrow we will be directing our students to get refunds. Since we are no longer under contract, for the time being I am going to try and convince my students to meet me at a café or something and let me teach them independently…and instead of paying the hagon…paying me, a least until I find a new job. I tried to strong arm the manager about going to the labor board for contract violations, but he wouldn’t budge. I wanted a plane ticket back to the states, my severance pay, or at least to get paid to the end of the month. No dice. I am however, exploring legal options…but I am not hopeful.
So since I found out the news…I have been looking for a new job. At the time of writing…I have 5 recruiters working for me. I am essentially quick and easy money to them (about $1000) because not only do I have a valid visa…I am already in country, which makes me VERY attractive to the schools. I have directed the recruiters to 2 areas…Seoul and Jeonju. Two recruiters set me up with interviews at schools in the rural area of Korea, and I have received offers from both of those schools, but there is one recruiter in particular who seems convinced she will have me working in Seoul…so I am putting my hope on her. Seoul would allow me to fulfill my dream of living in a HUGE city, plus I already have a friend in Allie who lives there…and to top it all off, it’s only 3 hours from Jeonju which means I can either visit my friends…or they can come visit me in Seoul.
The hagwon I work at in Jeonju is a shit hole. It’s old, run down, literally smells like urine, and is not at all attractive. The only reason I liked working there was the people. Lydon and Charlie…my managers and friends, as well as my very good friend Walter, who has translated for me so many times and helped make me feel welcome. Then of course, there is Spencer. My brother. It was him inviting me out for dinner with Walter my second week here that helped me begin to get over my culture shock and homesickness. As the only American I knew for the first 2 months here, we literally spent every day together and at least 1 meal…many days 2. I definitely feel like with him I have a lifelong friend and someone I will be able to call back in the states to reminisce about the crazy nights my first few months in Jeonju. Even if I do end up in Seoul…we will still get to hang out…just not as much. It’s like saying goodbye to your best college friend. You know it’s not forever…but it will never be the way it was.
By firing me…the hagwon is saving $300/mo. Yup. You read that. $300. What is funny about that…if I brought in 2 more students I would break even, any more than that…profit. Instead, the school will have to refund all the money my current students have paid including the girl who just last week pre-paid 6 MONTHS in advance for my classes.
What this all means for me…is that technically I have to start over. My visa will not transfer to the new school. I will need to fly to Japan for what is called a “visa run” where I stay in Japan for 2-3 days as my new visa is processed. This pisses me off on so many levels. First off, the owner of the hagwon held my documents for 4 months because he said he no longer had a job for me AFTER I signed my first contract. I had to pass on several jobs because he would not send me MY documents back or forward them to another school. When he did finally come back at me to tell me he had a job offer I was so excited to be going to Korea I didn’t stop to think that this dickface had already proven himself to be a snake. Even though it might sound simple to just stay the extra 3 months of my new contract…I can’t do that. I have plans to go to grad school after Korea, and I will have a LOT to do including interviews and visits before I begin. I can’t do that in Korea. I do not want to delay grad school another year…so this means I must break my contract early. Unfortunately for me…this will cost me about $3000. I would be forced to buy my own plane ticket home and I would be forfeiting the $2.2M+ won severance pay I would be entitled to had I worked the full contract. I met with my hagwon owner tonight, and he informed me that the school will be closing May 1st, so this means Spencer is out of a job as well…he just gets to keep working a few more weeks. As a sign of solidarity, and strong desire to get off a sinking ship, my fellow teachers have decided that my last day will also be there last day, so tomorrow we will be directing our students to get refunds. Since we are no longer under contract, for the time being I am going to try and convince my students to meet me at a café or something and let me teach them independently…and instead of paying the hagon…paying me, a least until I find a new job. I tried to strong arm the manager about going to the labor board for contract violations, but he wouldn’t budge. I wanted a plane ticket back to the states, my severance pay, or at least to get paid to the end of the month. No dice. I am however, exploring legal options…but I am not hopeful.
So since I found out the news…I have been looking for a new job. At the time of writing…I have 5 recruiters working for me. I am essentially quick and easy money to them (about $1000) because not only do I have a valid visa…I am already in country, which makes me VERY attractive to the schools. I have directed the recruiters to 2 areas…Seoul and Jeonju. Two recruiters set me up with interviews at schools in the rural area of Korea, and I have received offers from both of those schools, but there is one recruiter in particular who seems convinced she will have me working in Seoul…so I am putting my hope on her. Seoul would allow me to fulfill my dream of living in a HUGE city, plus I already have a friend in Allie who lives there…and to top it all off, it’s only 3 hours from Jeonju which means I can either visit my friends…or they can come visit me in Seoul.
The hagwon I work at in Jeonju is a shit hole. It’s old, run down, literally smells like urine, and is not at all attractive. The only reason I liked working there was the people. Lydon and Charlie…my managers and friends, as well as my very good friend Walter, who has translated for me so many times and helped make me feel welcome. Then of course, there is Spencer. My brother. It was him inviting me out for dinner with Walter my second week here that helped me begin to get over my culture shock and homesickness. As the only American I knew for the first 2 months here, we literally spent every day together and at least 1 meal…many days 2. I definitely feel like with him I have a lifelong friend and someone I will be able to call back in the states to reminisce about the crazy nights my first few months in Jeonju. Even if I do end up in Seoul…we will still get to hang out…just not as much. It’s like saying goodbye to your best college friend. You know it’s not forever…but it will never be the way it was.
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