Tefl in South Korea

Any EPIK people know anything about this pre-orientation task that I've seen mentioned? My recruiter said they don't deal with it.

I have arrived - after 29 hours without sleep:( Geoje is really nice - not starting work now until Monday so have to find things to do with myself for the next few days. My apartment is a little crap but sure at least its a place to stay!!

net86 wrote: »

I have arrived - after 29 hours without sleep:( Geoje is really nice - not starting work now until Monday so have to find things to do with myself for the next few days. My apartment is a little crap but sure at least its a place to stay!!

Its holiday week right now in Geoje so things will be a little quiet. Not sure where your apartment is but if you can get towards the water and go to the big cube shaped building theres a homeplus (tesco) there. You can get yourself sorted with alot of stuff there. With your back to the water walk into the main town area and have a look around. Try get yourself orientated and scope out the main areas!

Don't be afraid to ask your bosses for help or advice if you need to

cassi wrote: »

Its holiday week right now in Geoje so things will be a little quiet. Not sure where your apartment is but if you can get towards the water and go to the big cube shaped building theres a homeplus (tesco) there. You can get yourself sorted with alot of stuff there. With your back to the water walk into the main town area and have a look around. Try get yourself orientated and scope out the main areas!

Don't be afraid to ask your bosses for help or advice if you need to

Hi Cassi - I wont be seeing my boss now until Monday morning,Yeah I kinda just want to meet some new people around here really - beginning to feel the shock of what I have actually done:eek::) (think it deserves both faces). Not being able to sleep doesnt help either - how did everyone deal with this when they first came over??
I actually live around the corner from the homeplus store - went and got some supplies last night

cassi wrote: »

It is a shock at first but believe me you'll love it! The jetlag could possibly last a week, try your best to stay awake during the day and sleep at night (I know its easier said than done but its the best way) Are you close to the small homeplus express of the large one under the department store? There are a few bars that people mostly go to. Theres a german bar in the main area of the town, Js bar, seven bar etc. Try connect with some people on the facebook page, someone will help out! If you need more info or help you can private mail me.

Think she's close to the big one, cos that's where sean and willow used to live. Your school is a bit of a jaunt from there. My advice would be to go on the teachers group on facebook, add paddy cooper and ask him what he's doing.

Tell him I sent you, I will send him a message too. He is staying around geoje for this week as he is leavin at the end of sept. If you play sport, there is a group of ppl that play ultimate frisbee on a sunday, they play in the school to the side of homeplus. As you come out of homeplus, turn left, and go straight to the main road, you will see a small laneway across from you (you'll have to use the foot bridge to get there) they play in the school furthest from you (there are 2 schools) it's the one that lottle invens aprtments overlooks. They usually play at 1-2 o clock. They have a facebook group too, if you apply to join it, then I will add you.

Hey guys,

I have a bit of a stupid question- can I go to somewhere like Mail Boxes Etc and get them to send my documents by courier instead of directly contacting DHL or FedEx?

Cheers!

hey guys, anyone here gone through the application process with EPIK? I'm just wondering how long the turnaround might be from when they receive your documents (from your recruiter) to the when they offer/assign positions?

SpatialPlanning wrote: »

Well, if you fancy a jaunt slightly farther afield tomorrow night, the new GAA club in Busan is having a party in the Wolfhound pub in Haeundae. There should be a good crowd there!

Ah thank you for the invite but that is a tad bit too far for me right now - totally jetlagged

Anyone in Korea travel by moped at all?

just wondering if it would be worthwhile getting an international driving license?

cloneslad wrote: »

I used to have one, you actually don't need a license for a scooter less than 125cc.

I also brought an international license with me too, it's needed for when you want to hire a car for a while, they actually diregarded my Irish license and only copied the international one, I think they hadn't a notion what this pink piece of paper was for.

haha, the irish license is a bit of a joke.

any idea how to go about getting an international one, and how long it takes?

I'm in a bit of a situation at the moment about taking a certain job offer, and I would appreciate any advice on what I should do. Basically, I've been sitting on an offer for about a week, emailing one of the teachers from the school who has been filling me in about the place. But, as it stands, it's a school that I'm not sure I can trust, and it's also situated in an area of the country that I never really wanted to go to - situated on the west side of Daegu, close to Keimyung University (the area is known as Seongseo). So, right now, I'm faced with a dilemma to either take the position and hope to make the most of the year's contract, or either wait until a more preferable position comes along (if one does). If I do the latter, I could run myself into waiting until September at the very least, which would thus get in the way of my plans of wanting to return to third level education in September 2012.

It really doesn't seem like an attractive position to me: the school seems downtrodden, the teacher didn't sound very enthused on the phone, the accommodation is even more cramped than usual with a lack of amenities, the area in general doesn't sound too appealing, and the recruiter just seems rushed to hire me to any old job. But, at this point, I feel like I should just go for it, and I've told a couple of friends who have told me the very same thing. I'm already going to miss my graduation which is heart-wrenching, but the thoughts of waiting in the bid of getting a better position which could hinder my plans to do an MA next year really isn't a chance I want to take. I've been looking into the possibility of finding a shorter contract other than one year but such a thing doesn't exist (at least to my knowledge).

Has anyone any tips?

col89 wrote: »

I'm in a bit of a situation at the moment about taking a certain job offer, and I would appreciate any advice on what I should do. Basically, I've been sitting on an offer for about a week, emailing one of the teachers from the school who has been filling me in about the place. But, as it stands, it's a school that I'm not sure I can trust, and it's also situated in an area of the country that I never really wanted to go to - situated on the west side of Daegu, close to Keimyung University (the area is known as Seongseo). So, right now, I'm faced with a dilemma to either take the position and hope to make the most of the year's contract, or either wait until a more preferable position comes along (if one does). If I do the latter, I could run myself into waiting until September at the very least, which would thus get in the way of my plans of wanting to return to third level education in September 2012.

It really doesn't seem like an attractive position to me: the school seems downtrodden, the teacher didn't sound very enthused on the phone, the accommodation is even more cramped than usual with a lack of amenities, the area in general doesn't sound too appealing, and the recruiter just seems rushed to hire me to any old job. But, at this point, I feel like I should just go for it, and I've told a couple of friends who have told me the very same thing. I'm already going to miss my graduation which is heart-wrenching, but the thoughts of waiting in the bid of getting a better position which could hinder my plans to do an MA next year really isn't a chance I want to take. I've been looking into the possibility of finding a shorter contract other than one year but such a thing doesn't exist (at least to my knowledge).

Has anyone any tips?

Are you sure ou want to take a position with all of those negative aspects that you have listed? You are going to spend most of your time at the school and you want it to be an enjoyable experience. I understand what you mean though about time constraints and Im not familiar with the area so I cannot comment on that. Just think really hard about it

mangaroosh wrote: »

is that with a private or public school?

It's a hagwon (private institute). It's one of the Wonderland schools, and I've heard nothing but divided opinions about the chain, so that makes matters about deciding even worse.

any recommendations about what to do with regard to a laptop?

presumably they can be picked up cheap enough over, but is it easy to get ones with an english keyboard and an OS in english?