Looking Back at Christmas : Your Mileage May Vary
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Living in Korea
The Christmas and New Year period is always a time both of looking back and looking forward, of reflection and contemplation; of both anticipation and uncertainty. This is true for the foreign teacher, because of the short contracts and the requirement to be planning ahead; but this state of affairs cannot be recommended as an ongoing way of life.
Each year, as everywhere, the Christmas/New Year festivities swing around and here in Korea, as elsewhere, in our minds and conversations we review how things have been and what is to come in the near future. Not only is the year changing, so often are the personal circumstances of the foreigners here, and therefore also the composition of the greater foreigner group.
This collection of different nationalities is forever changing for a number of reasons; contracts begin and end at different times; people therefore arrive and depart all year round; and rather than actually leaving the country, people may simply relocate as a result of changing posts, as I myself did in March 2009. Also, of course, at this time of year many foreigners have vacations and may go home temporarily. For businesses like the foreigner bars here, the depths of winter can therefore be lean times, and they will stay closed for the interim, leaving even less entertainment for those of us who stay behind.
This particular winter is set to be a period of great compositional change for the foreigners here, as a number of engineers are going back home now that their tasks are completed, and the place will seem really empty without them; the sad farewells have already begun. Others are being relocated by their companies because they are required in other countries; and of course, there are those who have simply had enough of the place and want to change location or just go home. And something happened to me this week which has made me start to think in a similar vein.
As it happens, I went into work this Tuesday morning and the school was about to close for the winter vacation, at which time they have a closing ceremony, which I am not required to attend, although it had the additional benefit of meaning that I could go home early. I had planned to get some materials preparation and apartment cleaning out of the way in the two days immediately before Christmas (this being an annual excuse to Be At The IP And Meet People) and throw out some more trash before hitting the local train station. I would have effectively two weeks of cooling down and preparing for the forthcoming winter camp, including a couple of stints in Changwon involving friends, food and booze. And dart throwing. Probably.
However, the euphoria of not actually having to stay all day until 4:30 p.m., as normally required under the terms of the contract, soon turned sour as my co-teacher sent me a message via the CoolMessenger network client: the school would not renew my contract when it expires in March. What perfect timing! Just in time for Christmas . . . naturally, I was a bit upset, but I had made the point to my co-teacher previously that I resented the very long summer and winter camps, because it was precisely because the state schools have long vacations that I applied for the job in the first place! I had been shocked when she came to me after I arrived and told me how much work I had to do in the vacations!!!
Despite my previous declaration, I still felt that I had a right to feel that way; after all, before arriving here I had been working at the hagwon continuously for five and a half years and had not had to contemplate moving (to where I am now) with any sense of personal insecurity or doubt, and upon arrival here had set about upgrading and enhancing all of the equipment I had to improve the total quality of what I do with a similar idea in mind – after all, this was a state school job, these are supposed to be secure, for goodness' sake! Why, only about three weeks before writing this, I had completely rebuilt my desktop PC, which had lasted over five years before the motherboard gave out – not bad, considering the guarantee was only for three – at much more expense than expected (and jolly damned good it now is, too), for precisely this reason. Now I wasn't sure whether I should have delayed this.
Whatever my feelings were, I felt, I should use the free time to put tentacles out and gauge opinion from recruiters – including the ones who got me the post in the first place – and last night, at the IP (of course!), I checked my e-mail and found six or seven responses, which were positive. And I only need one! But in the meantime, I just had the overwhelming urge to get out of the apartment and depart for Changwon, and let the cleaning hang until I got back. The weather had been very cold for weeks in Miryang, and yet another inordinately large gas bill had just plopped into my meagre mailbox, which also Pleased Me Not At All. I needed to get out for a while and just . . . think about things generally.
Because it's just so deeply disappointing to devote a large and irreplaceable chunk of your life to something like this and not have that devotion rewarded by continuation; that, let's be honest about this, is what brings you there in the first place! So as an individual, you then find self-motivation more difficult. The realisation slowly slips into your mind that the foreigner is regarded as entirely disposable – indeed, recently my co-worker started to refer to me as a "temporary worker" – yet paradoxically, is somehow supposed not to find it all discouraging. We could add to this that the fetish for recruiting younger staff at the expense of those with greater age and experience, people who more often than not are using the work as a means to finance long-term travel around the world and may not, therefore, care much about the quality of what they are paid to do, cannot create a reliable system which provides a good encounter with foreign cultures. That's my opinion, anyway.
It all seems to stand in stark contrast with my hagwon experience. Now, a hagwon is a privately-run business; backsides on seats and cash flow are the order of the day. And anyone can do a quick search on the Internet and find any number of disgruntled former employees complaining about how badly they were treated, how the former hagwon boss owes them money, and so on; but the fact remains that thousands of foreigners come and go each year and they have few or no problems in Korea at all, and always have someone there to help them from the day they arrive until the day they leave. And it would also be true to say that a state school is much more likely to adhere to every detail of the contract whereas a hagwon might constantly be "trying it on" with the foreigner; but by having a flexible attitude and always making the Boss feel that he really is the Boss and that I work for him and his business, irritations proved few and far between.
This is why I would always say to people that on balance, and based upon my own experience here, they would probably find hagwon work more rewarding, despite the fact that they may have much more to do than in a public school; it's just a question of planning and organisation. One remarkable observation is that the hagwon appears to have been more organised than the state school – or, more accurately, there was less likelihood there that plans which had been agreed upon previously would suddenly have to be revised at very short notice. I could plan for two months' work for each class at the hagwon; but at the start of this last semester, I had plans laid down for the first six weeks and these were forever having to be edited. Paradoxically, therefore, the hagwon seems to have had fewer organisational problems than the school, where there were more staff – and generated less work for me!
They should also bear in mind that they will be closer to the action in a hagwon and be called upon to do things like speech contest preparatory work, which feels wonderful when your favourite student gets the first prize! ^_^ The hagwon will probably have "open days" or just days when the coupons the kids have so scrupulously hoarded for the last few months are suddenly squandered on food, toys, stationery or the opportunity to just sit and watch something in the big multimedia room. The foreign teacher will be involved in all of these to a greater or lesser extent, and the effect seems to make the whole thing more stressful but often more engaging and more likely to stimulate and inspire – as well as bringing valuable insight into the communication and teaching processes.
In conclusion, then, if you were to ask me for an honest opinion of how the one institution stacks up against the other, I could only make the above points for each of them and say: "Your mileage may vary."
Whichever way the foreigner chooses, however, one fact remains – their tenure is intentionally short-term. Contracts are not open-ended, as they might be at home, but strictly limited to twelve months, although also renewable by mutual consent. One can understand the logic of this, as a new employee who proves to be unsuitable can reasonably be allowed to leave without recourse to appeal under the law because of the stated conditions. But being able to look back now at many of these years does not give me an overwhelming impression of being appreciated; far from it. Korea differs from a place like (for example) Japan in that, firstly, visas are for only one year, whereas in Japan they can be for three years or more; the individual does not take ownership of the visa in Korea, whereas this is the case in Japan, provided they can demonstrate that they can support themselves financially while the visa is in force; and it is even easier to set up your own business in Japan, whereas there seem to be greater restrictions upon foreign ownership here. This implies that it would be much easier in Japan to transition from employed to self-employed status – as long as the person concerned can stump up the minimal capitalisation requirements laid down in company law. It probably also explains why virtually all long-term foreigners here are male, and married to a Korean woman!
The foreigner in Korea, therefore, is always in a "dependent" rather than an "independent" situation. Realising this, of course, I have wanted to plan for a change for some years but have still to get around to it. Increasingly, one feels another career change coming on – whether I want it or not. I find it hard to understand why it should be difficult to be self-employed rather than just an "employee" here – if one criticism of having so many foreigners here is that they drain the economy partially because they take money out of the country (we all have bills to pay, after all), why not give them the opportunity to bring money into the country instead?
Whatever the long-term future brings, today and tomorrow are relatively busy, as I have a request to visit a friend and his family (and bring a bottle of wine), plus the customary Christmas nosh-up at the IP afterwards, followed by the usual "activities" of Christmas (and the usual "recovery" of Christmas, too!). So I will simply wish my readers a Merry Christmas – and the hope that if 2009 was not so rosy as many of us might have liked, things will be better in 2010.
Andrew. ^_^
Tags: career, change, Christmas, education, elementary, English, hagwon, Korea, mileage, school, South Korea, teacher, teaching, ymmv
