Baby's First Contractual Agreement

Well, I have a job and a work permit in Korea. Hooray!

I signed my first contract yesterday to teach at Camp Eng-Land for five weeks in January. I'll be one of 20 English speakers, 4 of whom I know from Yonsei, living, eating, and working at the biggest English camp in Korea. Basically there are five one week sessions during the school break where the rich Korean parents send there elementary and middle schoolers to be exposed to English, learn basic phrases and songs, and be off their hands for 7 days.

I have to say I'm pretty excited now. The camp is going to be pretty sweet. Sure, it's teaching elementary school kids, but because of their age the program isn't really academic. They do role play, story time, English karaoke, skits, sports, and other fun activities that I basically lead in English. On top of that, I get the assistance of two Korean natives who basically do all the grunt work for me (round up the kids, take them to their respective classes, lunch, and activities, get 'em to shut up). The camp feeds and houses me for 5 weeks, all while paying me enough money to go chill in Japan for the rest of my break (YEAH!).

My boss is a nice guy, and best of all not Korean. The camp is, of course, run by Koreans, but they have a middle man between the teachers and themselves. His name is Fatih, a Turkish guy who speaks great English and even better Korean. He's really young (probably 25), and thankfully understands Western culture well. Turkey is practically a European country, and so he's a boss that understands us. Having worked under Koreans before, I have to say that I was leery about this job. Cultural differences are so strong that misunderstandings happen often, and the way situations are handled can be frustrating. With Fatih in between I feel much better about taking this position.

I don't have to lose my private students either. Though the camp is outside of Seoul, Camp Eng-Land provides a bus back into the city every weekend. I'll be able to bus back on Saturday, make more cash, crash at my home in ShinChon, then bus to the camp again on Sunday afternoon. It's a dream job. There was nothing dissatisfactory about the contract to any of us (we all interviewed together), and the opportunity to do something useful with or snowy January is unequaled. Go Being White!!