Katie: Good morning.
Um, from Seoul, South Korea, my name is Katie Claire and I
will be doing today's takeover.
Yes.
Okay.
So my plan this morning is, um, to take you to the gym that I go
to show you a little bit around the neighborhood on the way there.
Um, come back, stop at a cafe to kind of show you some coffee options.
And, uh, take you to work and show a little bit about what I do there.
Uh, there has been a lot of rain and flooding in Korea the last few days, so
I don't know about my after work plans.
I might just come home to answer questions, but if possible I
wanna take you guys outside and, uh, take you to dinner.
Yes, we'll see how much I can do of this, but, uh, I will leave a little
description about in depth some of the things that I do so you guys can start
asking questions about that and um, yes.
Very excited.
All right.
Okay.
Um, this is my gym.
It's pretty nice.
Um, locker rooms.
This,
what kind of job do I have?
How did I find this job and how long did the paperwork take to complete?
Uh, I work in a Hagwon . I work in the private sector, so I have, um, the
pay's a little bit more competitive.
I have mostly after school students, along with kindergarten students.
Um, what else?
My friend helped me find this job from university.
Uh, I did not use a recruiter, but I know that recruiters, um, there are
a lot of great recruiting sites and most of my coworkers used recruiters.
Um, what else?
The paperwork was pre-corona and I wanna say it took about three months
to get the apostolizations done.
Notary, um, background check, and, uh, getting the stamp from the embassy
and, um, sending the documents to my employer back in Korea from the States.
All of that took about three months to complete.
This is the convenience store.
They have these like almost every corner in Seoul and for breakfast,
I usually get one of these.
Lunch looks like this.
Not every contract has lunchtime with students, so you should check yours
and negotiate that if you'd like.
Another reason to, um, learn Korean is to read the allergy information
in case someone has an allergy.
Did you wash your hands?
Okay.
I made it to the coffee shop.
Got a coffee.
Uh, this costs 4,500 in this neighborhood, but honestly, um, coffee
can range from 2,500 for an Americano.
Six.
Six, uh, 6,000, yeah, 6,000 or honestly, sometimes a little bit more depending on.
Where you go.
Um, I'm gonna make an infographic later about the neighborhoods and
like different prices because I think that, um, make a, a good decision
about where you'd like to be placed.
You should kind of have a lifestyle in mind because each
district is very different.
And so I'm gonna do that and I'm gonna get back to work.
On another task we have is writing the progress reports.
Um, this can be monthly or bimonthly, depending on the course.
And, uh, it's divided into different parts depending on the course as well.
So in this one I have comments about the material that was taught and then
the students progress underneath.
One of the things we do, we have a lunch song that the students will
sing before they go to go to, um, wash their Hands and eat lunch,
good morning songs, lineup, chance.
And all of this just really helps, um, our students learn the routines.
Name list.
We decorate the windows.
Um, the students have sticker boards that they can collect points to get gifts.
So, um, this is where the student management really helps.
We have different books and some of the things that we teach, phonics,
uh, basic English phrases, punctuation skills, uh, We have fun art projects.
Like this week we learned about jellyfish and got to make a craft.
We have writing, so this one is like a temp writing book.
We have a topic and then we fill out some graphic organizers.
The kids have a section that they read.
Okay, we got dinner after all.
Here's my friend Fii.
Hello.
Fii.
Hello.
She's been here for seven years.
If you have any questions, she'll answer them too.
We're getting Mexican food in Korea.
One of the best spots.
Okay, everyone, that's the end of my takeover.
Um, I hope you enjoyed.
There were a few questions about my living arrangements.
Um, my school provided them, uh, I did not have to put the deposit down.
Deposits here for when I have a one room villa can be, um, from 10.
Million won to 15,000,00 won, uh, roughly 10,000 USD, 15,000 USD.
Uh, I didn't have to do that, but if you find a contract that doesn't provide
housing and you're looking for other options, you should prepare for that.
But as a first year teacher, there really shouldn't be.
Um, there's really no reason to go for a school that doesn't offer you housing.
You should just pick one that has housing.
It's much, much easier to, um, come in and settle here.
But, um, yes, I pay utilities.
I don't pay the rent.
Uh, utilities cost about 58,000 at its cheapest.
And then during the hottest months and coldest months, depending on
heating and AC 120,000, um, at the max.
And let's see.
Um, to show you, I have a tv, the school gave me a bed.
I have some luggages here.
They usually go in that storage area, but it rained and there's no space.
And um, that's it.
I'm connected.
I have a kitchen, I have fridge, I have my desk bathroom mirror.
Yeah, it's not the biggest room, but honestly, um, for what I need is perfect.
So, yeah.
Uh, I hope that that helps you guys with.
Um, envisioning your life here and if you were on the fence about
coming, convincing you to try.
It's a great country.
There's a lot of things you can do.
There's never really a boring, dull moment.
Um, yes, I will do my best to upload those infographics next and, um,
answer any questions that I can before, um, calling in tonight.
But yes, hope you guys come and if you have any questions,
feel free to message me.
And I will try to answer.
Take care, and if you do, come see soon.