3 Things Native English Teachers Should Not Bring To Korea With Them
3 Things Native English Teachers Should Not Bring To Korea With Them
Living in South Korea is different that Europe or North America. These tips were written by someone who came to Korea from North America and learned that the information he was reading online from forums wasn’t coming from reliable sources. Here is a reliable source of information.
If I only knew how useless most of the things I brought to Korea were, I would have packed only one suitcase instead of two. What did I bring with me? All the stuff I read about online. Unfortunately the articles I read were written by people Native Teachers who were planning on going to Korea or teachers who’d been living in Korea for so long they couldn’t be bothered advising others.
Here are some of the things you should not bring to Korea and why.
Pants:
Every year Native English teachers go to Korea to teach and bring a whole pile of stuff. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to Busan, Seoul, Suwon or Chuncheon. The fact is, food in South Korea is very healthy, full of vitamin rich vegetables. If you’re American or Canadian or from Europe, this food is likely healthier than what you’ve been eating which mean that eating it all the time will make you lose weight.
In my first 3 months in Korea I lost almost 20 pounds. Most of that fat was on my gut or around my thighs, which means a comfortable size 38 pair of jeans I bought in Canada was now rippling around my waste under the strain of an oversized belt. My belt was also too big. After 5 months I had to stop wearing all my coats because they didn’t fit anymore. I felt as though I was wearing grandpa’s clothing.
Be prepared to lose weight unless you eat at McDonald’s every day. Who does anyway?
Your Cell Phone:
Upon arriving in Korea you want to spend your free time getting your Alien Registration Card (ARC) so you can then get a cell phone in Korea (preferably an iPhone). There is no sense using your home phone, incurring heavy charges back home and then having to wire money and move it around in your home bank accounts from Korea.
Anyone living in Seoul, Suwon, Gyongju or anywhere else will need to get an ARC card anyway, so you might as well wait and connect a Korean cell phone with it so you pay your bills in won, not dollars.
A Suit:
I cannot stress this enough. Most English teachers think that they have to wear a suit to teach. This really isn’t the case. While Koreans appreciate someone who is trying to ‘look’ good and make a good outward impression, they also 9A0-092 frown upon a foreigner wearing a double-breasted Hugo Boss suit that teaching kids. Focus on making less “waves” at your workplace and worry less about what you look like and you’ll do well.
That doesn’t mean that you should come to school unshaven with messy hair. It just means that you should be known as the teacher who connects with the kids and is liked by the kids.
3 Things Native English Teachers Should Not Bring To Korea With Them
Living in South Korea is different that Europe or North America. These tips were written by someone who came to Korea from North America and learned that the information he was reading online from forums wasn’t coming from reliable sources. Here is a reliable source of information.
If I only knew how useless most of the things I brought to Korea were, I would have packed only one suitcase instead of two. What did I bring with me? All the stuff I read about online. Unfortunately the articles I read were written by people Native Teachers who were planning on going to Korea or teachers who’d been living in Korea for so long they couldn’t be bothered advising others.
Here are some of the things you should not bring to Korea and why.
Pants:
Every year Native English teachers go to Korea to teach and bring a whole pile of stuff. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to Busan, Seoul, Suwon or Chuncheon. The fact is, food in South Korea is very healthy, full of vitamin rich vegetables. If you’re American or Canadian or from Europe, this food is likely healthier than what you’ve been eating which mean that eating it all the time will make you lose weight.
In my first 3 months in Korea I lost almost 20 pounds. Most of that fat was on my gut or around my thighs, which means a comfortable size 38 pair of jeans I bought in Canada was now rippling around my waste under the strain of an oversized belt. My belt was also too big. After 5 months I had to stop wearing all my coats because they didn’t fit anymore. I felt as though I was wearing grandpa’s clothing.
Be prepared to lose weight unless you eat at McDonald’s every day. Who does anyway?
Your Cell Phone:
Upon arriving in Korea you want to spend your free time getting your Alien Registration Card (ARC) so you can then get a cell phone in Korea (preferably an iPhone). There is no sense using your home phone, incurring heavy charges back home and then having to wire money and move it around in your home bank accounts from Korea.
Anyone living in Seoul, Suwon, Gyongju or anywhere else will need to get an ARC card anyway, so you might as well wait and connect a Korean cell phone with it so you pay your bills in won, not dollars.
A Suit:
I cannot stress this enough. Most English teachers think that they have to wear a suit to teach. This really isn’t the case. While Koreans 9A0-152 appreciate someone who is trying to ‘look’ good and make a good outward impression, they also frown upon a foreigner wearing a double-breasted Hugo Boss suit that teaching kids. Focus on making less “waves” at your workplace and worry less about what you look like and you’ll do well.
That doesn’t mean that you should come to school unshaven with messy hair. It just means that you should be known as the teacher who connects with the kids and is liked by the kids.
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