The experience of Teaching and living in Korea is a rewarding one for those who have a drive for adventure, taste for a different culture and a strong personality to deal with the crap found in hagwons. And if you are coming to Korea to learn something about how to conduct a business, you should go somewhere else.

Although there are dishonest, foolish, unfair and unreasonable business men everywhere, Korea seems to have a lot of them. I don’t know if Korean business schools are just really bad or if the people who start business are just really dumb. The lack of business knowledge in a culture that has been around for 5 thousand years plus is brain shattering. The lack of judgment and honest dealing in business relationships and dumb witted business decisions are eye popping. Now it all makes sense why Korea has been in isolation in the global market with the exception of a few companies. One of the things that irks me the most when it comes to dealing with these business men is when you do them a favor and the favor is seen or taken as part of your duties. This may work with the Koreans who bend over willingly and do the bidden of these less than impressive business men but for foreigners, this is an insult of not just ones intelligence but of ones importance.

Foreign Teachers and Korean Teachers who come to their sense after several ill-treatments quit left and right. But the management and those who carelessly cause this injuries do not bother to learn from their mistakes. They walk about the institution looking for pity for what they cause upon themselves from the same Teachers their blunders affect. Is this foolishness at its best or foolishness at its best? There was a teacher who worked with us for two weeks because she was promised housing as all Teachers are guaranteed, when she arrived for employment she was told there was no housing for her and she was forced to live with another Teacher for the two weeks she worked. And then when she quit she was not paid for the time she worked.

There was another Teacher who worked for nearly three months and she was not paid for the entire time. She was told to continue to work and that she would be paid the next pay period and so forth and so forth and in the end she wasn’t paid at all. Obviously this would never happen in U.S and many other countries because of laws set in place for this sort of ill-treatment but in Korea I am not sure if there are such laws or the people being mistreated just refuse to use them. As a result, the cycle continues.

Not only that, when pay day arrives, less than honest mistakes are made so that you have to go and ask for the rest of your money. Once or twice you can categorize and dismiss such an act as an honest mistake but continually and just not to one Teacher, your suspicion is bound to be aroused.

If you want to work for a hagwon in Korea, choose wisely. If you can avoid working for a franchise and work for the main company, do that instead, perhaps the situation might be better there. I have seen a lot of things happen at the franchise I work for and heard stories about others. My particular franchise at the same time has become so concerned with petty matters such as Teachers sitting arrangement that clorox bleach cannot take out the bad taste in my mouth.

These are just a few incidents from a multitude of others and they continue to pile up day in and day out. Your experience could be better. What have you experienced?

As I have mentioned in other posts, Korea has one of the best cuisines in the world. The food culture is magnificent and keeps you in trance and forgetful of all other injustices that might be done to you while you are here. I just cannot get enough of the food and no one is more aware of this fact than the students in my adult class. I wrote about them in a previous post, A birthday gift from my students. Knowing that my hunger for Korean food cannot be filled, they often show their generosity in making sure this vice is fulfilled whether in a snack during class or a high class meal that makes my mouth water.

I forget all the stares, the glares, the references to a great film because of my long and graceful dreads that have moved beyond the “chajamion”(delicious Korean noodles; well, their true origins are Chines but most Koreans don’t like to hear that) reference and graduated to the movie Avatar. And I forget the firing of a Teacher due to lack of training. I forget the firing of a Teacher due to a fall and broken arm. I forget the references to gorillas and baboons every time my hand nears the top of my head or a facial expression beyond that of my normal appearance. I forget the belittlement by a superior simply because the students have a liking to you rather than another. Yes it is petty but pettiness comes out of a need to feel important. But these students and many others who have embraced the quirky, outgoing and a bit eccentric persona that nevertheless improves their language acquisition shines bright and brings delight like the site of a city upon a hill. They lavish you with gifts and adoration I am not sure I deserve. Today was no exception.

I gazed upon the table once again and had a nostalgic moment about when I first arrived in this old yet new country. New to the invasion of foreigners and old in its values, Korea is a country with a future that leaks into a past. Those old values are found in the wrinkled skin and cigarettes of drunken men yelling at you for speaking English. Values that have kept Korea hidden from the rest of the world. You cannot hide any longer oh sweet Korea. This inevitable progress hated by some is the future of this country. Beautiful in its ways and dark in others. One of the beauties lies in what goes in your mouth. Served with calbi and countless side dishes that included fried mushrooms with sweet and sour sauce, salad smeared with light mayonnaise dressing, fried Korean style kimchi pancake with vegetables and other dainties that keep your jaws exercising. How can you refuse to share your beauty with the world Korea? How can you refuse to share your ugliness with the world Korea? Welcome to globalization!

Personally
I find Korea to be a melting pot that is ready to explode with more growth. Although the moral compass when it comes to business and perhaps in other areas is that of the American 1700s except with modern technology, I think Korea will emerge even faster in global affiliations. With all that I have outlined above aside, Korea is a wonderful place that I have grown to adore. Why? No matter where you go and even in your own country, there is crap to deal with. Not that you should accept the unacceptable but at the end of the day, you decide how you feel about yourself. It’s not what someone says to you or does to you that makes you who you are, it’s your reaction that defines you. I agree with Shakespeare a hundred percent, “nothing is inherently good or bad”, it’s your thinking that places that judgment on things. Love everything; the good, the bad, the sad, the happiness, the hate, the love and all the things you place your personal judgment on because none of them would exist without their opposites. In other words, without one you cannot know the other.

Then again I could be wrong; I often am. But what do you have to say?

The number one reason couples split is because of money. Money can empower or destroy a relationship. If a couple can manage to work together and communicate well when it comes to money matters, it can empower their relationship. On the other hand, if the couple has different ideas about money, it can be the reason why a relationship dissipates.

But there are a few things you can do to help your relationship and your money matters. These tips can save you from becoming financially handicapped in your relationship and even better, save your relationship.

• Talk about your money habits.

Are you a spender and he is a saver?

• Align your money habits.

Decide and agree on what to spend on and so forth.

• Compromise.

See what your partner wants too not just what you want.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate

I hope I don’t have to repeat this one.

• There are more important things than money.

Love. I would rather be rich in love and broke than be broke in love and rich with money. I could be a hopeless romantic, but that doesn’t stop me.

• Keep separate bank accounts early on in your relationship.

This is very important because it allows you to study your partners money habits before he or she drags you down with them. You will identify who is the spender and who is the saver.

• Write your money goals down and talk about them.

If you both want the same thing and are clear about what you need to do to achieve it, it’s more difficult to get sidetracked.

• Stop thinking that having money is a bad thing.

Money is not the root of all evil. Stupid people with money are the root of evil. But I could be wrong, I frequently am.

You deserve to have money. You deserve to have it abundantly. But it all depends on you. If you think you are worthy, go after and work hard to have money, then you will. And if you think you are undeserving, unworthy and as a result don’t try to make money, you will not have it. Your thoughts about money and anything else for that matter are proven in your actions. In short, you live your thoughts. The power is yours, whether as a couple or as an individual.

I sat at Ttukseom resort staring at the frozen river and these words came to mind.