People better start getting in line, the offers are flooding in!
Well OK not really, but I did get one offer and its still very very early. I woke up this morning to see an email from my British Recruiting Agency, Flying Cows Consulting, outlining a job offer and a contract. By the end of this post I'll have made my decision.
If I could post up word documents, I probably would, but here are some of the basics from the 5 page contract:
Location: Daegu
Salary: 2 million won per month (~$2000 USD) w/ overtime of 20,000 KRW per hour (~$20USD)
Vacation: 10 Vacation Days (4 fixed in summer/winter)
Student Level: Kindergarten to Middle School
Class Size: 7-12
Schedule: 10am-8pm
Classes per day: 5-7
Length of Classes: 40-50min
Teaching hours per week: 30
Housing: 2 bedroom/single
Furnishing: Fully Furnished
Distance from Work: 5-10 min
Airfare: Round trip Return Offered
Completion Bonus: One Month's Pay
Health Insurance: Offered
Training Program: Offered
Materials: Provided
Number of Foreign Teachers: 4
Number of Teachers: 1
The positives include that there seems to be more Foreign teachers, the late 10am hour is nice, the class size, round trip airfare, and the training program included. On the flip side - very young children (kindergarten), the late 8pm end time (think about traveling somewhere on a Friday night... 8pm isn't conducive), and the 4 fixed vacation days are not something I like either.
According to Wikipedia, Daegu sits in a basin in the center of South Korea, and collects a lot of humid hot air during the summer, and its drier throughout the year than the rest of the peninsula. I am not looking for that. Although, Daegu IS home to the Samsung Lions in Korean Baseball, which I hear to be a pretty decent team.
Today, after telling a friend about my good news and my trepidation, he said to me, "It might be better than Seoul, because I'd rather go to Denver than New York City." Which is a valid point (especially after having lived in NYC for a few years), but as we all know, there's nothing in the world quite like New York, so there can't be a comparison positively or negatively. Initially one of my main reasons for shying away from Daegu WAS the fact that it doesn't have an airport. BUT after some research I did learn that it does in fact have an airport. I guess being the 4th largest city in a country there would be one, but it mainly only flies to China from what I can tell, and I'm looking for a broader range of flying options.
Basically what it all boils down to, is if I'm going to be moving across the world to live on a peninsula, then I want to make damn sure I see water. I also believe that I can get more from an offer either in Seoul or Busan.
The verdict? Sorry Daegu, but you're out!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Vvrrooomm!
According to the U.S. Department of State website, international drivers licenses get handed out like candy even though "1.17 million deaths occur each year worldwide" due to vehicular accidents (primarily in other countries), or b/c of morons who can't drive, or for innocent bystanders who just happen to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, with my stellar driving record (I've successfully managed to weasle my way out of getting 3 speeding tickets in my lifetime even if they were deserved or not), I will be in possession of one of these international permits after going through the necessary steps.
What are these steps? Well it is apparently very quick and simple. Most countries do not believe the US drivers license to be adequate, so they have decided an extra piece of paper called an International Drivers Permit (IDP), which is to be kept with your actual license at all times, suggests you are an OK driver and is accepted almost anywhere. It doesn't replace your driver's license, it just supplements it. The IDP can be requested through AAA (American Autombile Association) by filling out this handy little form, and paying $15. You could also go through the AATA (American Automobile Touring Alliance), but who has ever really heard of them before? At least AAA gives you a discount at various places if you have one of their nifty little cards. Anyway, jump through those simple hoops, and within no time you'll have an IDP and be ready for some foreign cruising.
Do I really expect to be driving over there? In short, no. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, Seoul has more than 3 million registered vehicles for its 605 sq. kilometers which is smaller than New York City - so traffic congestion is a pretty common problem over there. My purpose for having an IDP is two fold - 1) I want to add another license to my list just for fun (car, boat, soon to be motorcycle), - and 2) I have read in multiple places that people will rent cars while visiting the island of Jeju, an island off the southern coast of Korea that's a very popular vacation spot full of beaches and subtropical weather.
Whenever I get it in the mail, I'll make sure to scan a copy to show you all here.
***Added after this was posted***
A recent article on CNN about the statistics of Americans involved in Foreign Car Crashes
What are these steps? Well it is apparently very quick and simple. Most countries do not believe the US drivers license to be adequate, so they have decided an extra piece of paper called an International Drivers Permit (IDP), which is to be kept with your actual license at all times, suggests you are an OK driver and is accepted almost anywhere. It doesn't replace your driver's license, it just supplements it. The IDP can be requested through AAA (American Autombile Association) by filling out this handy little form, and paying $15. You could also go through the AATA (American Automobile Touring Alliance), but who has ever really heard of them before? At least AAA gives you a discount at various places if you have one of their nifty little cards. Anyway, jump through those simple hoops, and within no time you'll have an IDP and be ready for some foreign cruising.
Do I really expect to be driving over there? In short, no. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, Seoul has more than 3 million registered vehicles for its 605 sq. kilometers which is smaller than New York City - so traffic congestion is a pretty common problem over there. My purpose for having an IDP is two fold - 1) I want to add another license to my list just for fun (car, boat, soon to be motorcycle), - and 2) I have read in multiple places that people will rent cars while visiting the island of Jeju, an island off the southern coast of Korea that's a very popular vacation spot full of beaches and subtropical weather.
Whenever I get it in the mail, I'll make sure to scan a copy to show you all here.
***Added after this was posted***
A recent article on CNN about the statistics of Americans involved in Foreign Car Crashes
Friday, April 20, 2007
The State of Things
I've done a bit of tweaking to the site to jazz it up a bit recently - streamlined it, added in some color, moved some stuff around, and added You Tube videos (that yours truly has taken). Granted, the videos are primarily of concerts (I do still work in Music), but it is only a matter of time before they become very focused on Asian matters. Oh, and yea, I sold out to the man and added Google AdSense so we'll see if I ever actually generate some money with this (that's not my purpose or anything ;).
The next month or two will be pretty slow as far as my Korea updates. I have decided to work with Ask Now Inc. to secure a position primarily, but I'm still keeping Flying Cows Consulting (based out the UK) as a backup just in case. I probably could go through any of the number of recruiters that email me daily, but they don't seem 100% legit. I'm entertaining their information, but I believe the safest bet is with Ask Now, plus they just seem like a fun tight knit group. I get a few emails a week from them with various information about moving to Korea, and I really do look forward to getting to know everyone involved. They have guaranteed me that I will have a job by August as long as I don't forget how to speak English and as long as I'm patient... so here's hoping.
Stuff that I will be looking into in the upcoming weeks will be getting an international driver's license (couldn't hurt right?), storage units for stuff here, packing info (stuff to bring, what not to forget, luggage tips, etc,), learning the language, actually teaching EFL, my lists of things to visit, etc etc. Basically, I'm so incredibly bored and this is all I've got to focus on. ;)
The next month or two will be pretty slow as far as my Korea updates. I have decided to work with Ask Now Inc. to secure a position primarily, but I'm still keeping Flying Cows Consulting (based out the UK) as a backup just in case. I probably could go through any of the number of recruiters that email me daily, but they don't seem 100% legit. I'm entertaining their information, but I believe the safest bet is with Ask Now, plus they just seem like a fun tight knit group. I get a few emails a week from them with various information about moving to Korea, and I really do look forward to getting to know everyone involved. They have guaranteed me that I will have a job by August as long as I don't forget how to speak English and as long as I'm patient... so here's hoping.
Stuff that I will be looking into in the upcoming weeks will be getting an international driver's license (couldn't hurt right?), storage units for stuff here, packing info (stuff to bring, what not to forget, luggage tips, etc,), learning the language, actually teaching EFL, my lists of things to visit, etc etc. Basically, I'm so incredibly bored and this is all I've got to focus on. ;)
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