Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Startling job offer

Being a native speaker of english, I caught some attention from a man here in Korea who wants me to teach students proper english. It is an amazing job offer for several reasons- I get a free off-campus apartment, it pays around $2500 per month for 25 hours per week, or $25/hour- also with an opportunity to work extra for "high management"people who need to speak proper english(supposedly $$$). However, it has drawbacks: I have to live off-campus. I was/am rather looking forward to living on campus- meeting lots of new people, living in a community with people from all over the world, fellowship with the people I live with, etc. I would have to commute. I am told that the apartment is easy to get to from the Handong bus, and that the apartment is 3 minutes by cab to the place I'll be working. I'd walk anyway and save the cab fare. I'd have to get up early- the first teaching session starts at 6:40 in the morning, meaning I'd have to be up at least by 6:00, then two hours of teaching before I go to the bus stop and off to school. I'd stay at school until whenever the bus schedule would require that I leave for my next teaching session starting at 6:40, lasting until 9:40. I'd have to be in bed by 10:00 to get 8 hours of sleep. So I'd only be at school from around 9AM to 6PM. Plenty of time for classes, but I am going to need to study hard with Joe Carroll for Statics, and if I took this, I would have to ask him to work around my schedule else do it alone(e.g. fail). I am very tempted by this offer, but I know so little about it. What if it turns out that teaching english is terrible? $2500 per month is nothing to be turned down hastily. The guy really wants me, he wants me even to push back my departing flight so that I could stay longer(not likely). He even told me he'd have someone drive me to the airport (5 hours) for free if I'd change my flight. I would really like to take this, but I'm just not sure. I need to see how it fits into my schedule, as the job's schedule is completely unchangable(apparently). My earliest class is at 10:00AM and my last ends at 6:00. I think I could do it- I'm just not sure if I want to. I get the feeling that it will add stress to what I was counting on to be a relaxing, no-worries learning experience. On the other hand, the dorms here just aren't the same(not as nice as LETU, and 4 people to a fairly small room). Living off-campus would be nice. My friend here in Korea who I trust a bit recommended me to the job guy and suggests that I do it, so I'm confident that it's a legitimate offer- it's just a bit demanding.

I'm just not sure. I will give it to God and let him decide.

Edit Nov 12, 2007: See update. Wasn't so legit after all.

For reference, my schedule:
Monday, Thursday - American and Brit Lit from 10:00-11:15. Statics from 1:45-3:00. Marriage and Enrichment from 4:45-6:00.
Tuesday, Friday - Intercultural Communication from 11:30-12:45.
That's it.

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