(in foreign language)
- Hello everyone, my name is Patrick Slattery,
and I am an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea.
The south one.
So today I was actually planning
to bring you guys to some cool parts around Seoul,
since I don't really start work until 12:30,
but I actually have to go to the doctor today,
so instead unfortunately we have to do that.
But I'm gonna put the ask questions bar up right here,
and then you can ask me anything
and I'll try to answer as much as I can.
Just a couple things about me,
I've lived in Seoul for about six months.
I graduated university in December at,
in St. Paul, Minnesota,
with a degree in English education.
And I got my TEFL certificate from the online course
last summer,
which was kind of easy I think,
wasn't too hard.
Just a quick tour of my apartment,
here is my table that I use for,
eating food and studying.
Here is a futon.
Here is my bed, Kant film festival summer 2018 represent.
Here a drying rack and my closet,
right next to my fridge,
and my stove, and right underneath,
a washing machine.
I've got everything I need.
So we're going to be taking the subway.
Subway in Seoul is definitely one of the best in the world.
It is super super convenient,
everything is in English,
and just, it's really really amazing. I.
One fun fact about Seoul is that,
when people run into you,
or accidentally elbow you,
they're not going to say sorry or anything,
because it's so common.
SO right now I'm at Yonsei University,
severance hospital,
which is one of the big clinics in Seoul,
and they even have a volunteers who help foreigners,
this is my volunteer, she's helping me.
Running me around, and translating to the doctor for me.
It's really nice.
One piece of advice that I'd like to give
about living in Seoul,
is to try not to keep yourself in a foreigner bubble.
I think it's good to try and experience new things,
and meet Korean friends, meet Korean people.
And try to learn the language,
even though English is super super common here,
I think it's good to at least learn some of the language,
just to invest yourself more to living in Korea.
All right everyone say hello to America.
- Hi America!
(yelling)
- One thing that is also worth mentioning is that,
in Seoul there are,
a few cults that try to trick foreigners
into joining their cult by saying
that it is actually not a cult,
but traditional Korean culture.
This happened to me when I first moved here,
and I actually didn't even find out it was a cult
until like three months later,
we did a ceremony and everything,
I had no idea.
Do you guys think I'm a good teacher?
- [Student] No no.
- [Patrick] Why? Why?
- Because you are Patrick.
- [Patrick] Because I'm Patrick.
Do you guys think I'm a good teacher?
- [Student] You like me. You like me. You're you.
- [Patrick] I'm me. Because I'm me.
- Yes.
- [Patrick] What does that mean?
- That means that.
- [Patrick] That means that. Rachel am I a good teacher?
- A good teacher?
- [Patrick] Am I a good teacher?
Cool.
- And you're godtrick.
- [Patrick] And I'm godtrick that's right
- I can't see anything. I can't see anything.
(laughing)
- [Woman] Oh yeah got to get the cheese in there,
and then I'll have a story.
- [Patrick] Yeah, sure.
Um, some people like to debate
on whether it's better to live in Seoul
or maybe a smaller city or countryside in Korea.
I think it is worth mentioning
you'll probably be able to save a lot.
So I'm just at the subway station
waiting to go back home now,
and I just wanted to talk to you about a couple of things.
One thing is that Seoul is really a fantastic city.
There's really so much to do here
in terms of night life,
in terms of exercise and nature and relaxing.
It's very very spread out, which is nice.
It's not like Tokyo or New York or anything,
there's nature and there's buildings,
but it's all spread out you know.
You never feel like stuffed up,
which is so so nice.
The thing worth mentioning about Seoul
is the fashion standards are really high here.
People dress as though they're going
to a business event or that they're at a wedding,
or they're like a model or something.
So when you do come here,
be sure to bring some nice clothes.
I know when I first came here,
I threw away a lot of my clothes,
just cause I didn't want to look homeless.
Some people like to debate on whether it's better
to live in Seoul or maybe a smaller city
or countryside in Korea.
I think it is worth mentioning
that you're probably going to be able to save a lot
more money if you are living in the countryside,
just because there's less things to do.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing
if you want to live your life to the fullest
and do all these great things,
Seoul is a fantastic place to do those things.
I know that some people do debate
on whether or not to teach in Korea or to teach in Japan.
I think the main difference is that Koreans
are pretty outgoing and they like to drink,
they like to be social, they're extroverts.
Where as more in Japan, they're more reserved,
they're more to themselves, they're more polite.
They're more friendly but maybe not you're friend.
Or something like that.
So I think it's easier to live in Korea
as an expat and especially given the higher
English level.
And you know people are pretty friendly here I would say.
All right guys that's it for me,
I'm going to head to bed soon.
One last thing I want to mention
is that if you're thinking about living in Seoul,
personally I think it is a very comforting,
and easy place to live,
especially as an American given the high English level,
and the sense of westernization in some parts of the city.
Even if I'm ordering something
and the person that I'm ordering from doesn't speak English,
there's always somebody nearby
that can easily translate and help out,
and fix the situation.
It's been an incredible six months so far,
and I honestly can't wait to see
what the next six months will bring.
All right guys,
it was an incredible day spending time with you,
good morning.