Speaking of Korea

[Asher]

You should definitely try Sum Yung Gai while in Korea. It's the #1 tourist attraction.

[Drake Tungsten]

Many tourists opt for Sum Dum Gal instead, which is a huge mistake. Listen to Asher...

[Bosh]

You're probably thinking of sam gyeob sal, although that is pig belly rather than unsmoked bacon. Its not bad.

You might also want to look into getting some kind of TEFL certification (TESOL or CELTA) if you've got the time, most places will give you $100/month more if you have one and they won't hurt when it comes to looking for jobs.

But basically just look at those three sites and stuff will come up, there's no reason to wait for the next big hiring push when jobs open up randomly all the time. Of course its a bit harder for you since you have to go through all the E-2 paperwork, but it doesn't hurt to look for something better than EPIK.

[Kitschum]

So what you're really saying is you would recommend sum fat sow instead?

[Q Classic]

This is very very untrue as long as you have an F-4 visa. Ever since they tightened up the E-2 visa restrictions, having an F-series visa has been pure gold. The bulk of the higher paying work (especially corporate classes) are largely staffed by gyopos.

Oh reeeeeallly?

Hrm. My relatives told me that about the English thing, perhaps because they kept wanting me to sign up with Samsung or whomever instead...

[Q Classic]

You should definitely try Sum Yung Gai while in Korea. It's the #1 tourist attraction.

The stuff I heard about Pride day in Seoul was disappointing.

[Asher]

Look at Q^3. He was a nice, normal, well-adjusted NASCAR fan until he went to Korea. He tasted Sum Yung Gai and now he's an artistic homosexual.

[Drake Tungsten]

That first taste of Sum Yung Gai does have a way of changing a man.

[Q Classic]

Look at Q^3. He was a nice, normal, well-adjusted NASCAR fan until he went to Korea. He tasted Sum Yung Gai and now he's an artistic homosexual.

No, no, no, no. You have it backwards.

I was a nice, normal, well-adjusted Korean-American immigrant who had been told that there were no homosexuals or serial killers in Korea by a very reliable source.

And then I moved to a den of iniquity, known as Chicago, and now I'm an artistic homosexual. And it was Americanized Sum Yung Gai, too.

[Asher]

Was it a white boy?

[Bosh]

Elok: also take a look at the Seoul Craig's List. A lot of crap gets posted there, but the volume is high.

Oh reeeeeallly?

Hrm. My relatives told me that about the English thing, perhaps because they kept wanting me to sign up with Samsung or whomever instead...

The run of the mill kiddie hagwons prefer white faces, but nobody sane wants to teach at those ANYWAY and a lot of the SAT test-prep places and adult places prefer gyopos. And then after some Canuck who had been teaching English in Korea got caught with his pants down with a kid in Thailand,they really tightened up the E-2 (standard English teacher visa) regulations, requiring criminal background checks and whatnot, which is really time consuming. And since in Korean businesses they generally want everything done yesterday, people with F-series visas (mostly F-4, which is the gyopo visa, and F-2, the spouse visa) became pure gold. There's lots and lots of good jobs that only hire people with F-visas, especially the part-time gigs.

To get an F-4 visa you need a copy of a cancelled Korean family registry form or other evidence of cancelled citizenship, either in your name or your parents' name(s) and you're golden.

What I'd recommend is either:

1. Get an afterschool gig at a Seoul public school (they advertize on worknplay periodically and are usually afternoon only and want F-visa people and that way you don't have to deal with the Seoul Ministery of Education directly) that provides housing and get some part-time jobs either before or after that job to make more money.

2. Get a regular public school job in a big/rich enough city to have lots of part-time around (Suwon, Bundang, Busan, etc.) and do part time work after hours.

3. Take care of your own housing and string together a few part time jobs into a sane schedule. With my current schedule, I'm making about 2.4 million/month at my morning and lunchtime jobs, finishing at 1 PM, not even counting my afternoon and evening stuff. This'd be harder to do as a newbie, but very possible especially if you have some way to get your hands on a few tutoring gigs (relative, etc.). For this to work you'd need to be within commuting distance of a place with lots of part-time jobs (such as southern Seoul).

F-4 visas are gold. If you can't get one (for example if your parents never surrendered their Korean citizenship and you never were a Korean citizen) you'd be screwed a bit, but you could still get a decent enough public school gig anywhere besides Seoul (the Seoul Ministry of Education has enough applicants that it doesn't usually hire people without experience/BEds/certification).

[Theben]

Look at Q^3. He was a nice, normal, well-adjusted NASCAR fan until he went to Korea. He tasted Sum Yung Gai and now he's an artistic homosexual.

So... Korea makes men gay.

And Korea has a large Christian population.

Logically we can conclude Christians make people gay. It is a fact.

[Q Classic]

Was it a white boy?

Well, I did enter one course of study simply because of the professor, which I suppose bridges the cultural gap between Korea and America.

[Bosh]

Well the other thing about Korea is that while hardly anyone is out of the closet in Korea, the closets here tend to be comfier from what I've seen. I've heard a story about two gay teachers teaching at a school and the school was overjoyed that they could save money by sticking them in one double bed in the same apartment and yet some of the teachers continued to try to set them up on dates with their female friends