Feeling the pressure of adulthood
Korean life April 19th. 2007, 10:19pmAn incident at work yesterday with one of my Korean coworkers has sparked a lot of soul searching and thoughts about my future career. Some pressure cooker in her head boiled over when I asked to use a book. It resulted in her yelling in a hallway in Korean about me to the head teacher. All I asked was to borrow a book for five minutes. Honest. My job is secure and was never in question, but it’s sparked a listlessness in me. I don’t know what else is lurking underneath. Now I’m just thinking about my career path, my future, and my family.
Everything about being a single guy willing to come over and teaching English on a lark after college has gotten so much more complicated since I’ve been here longer. I’m still only operating as a teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management of Information Systems. I’ve just got more experience, a reputation in the city as a good teacher, and lots of experience.
I haven’t gotten back to getting more education or gotten specialized. The master’s degree course in ESL at my previous employer seemed like a joke, and I don’t really want to throw money away on another paper degree if I can’t use it practically. I’m planning to get more teaching certifications online for ESL, but I haven’t gotten around to signing up. I’ll probably do this sometime after May if I can keep myself focused. I’ve said this before, of course, but I’m planning on a job hunt this year, so this would be the best time to actually see it through to completion.
I’m trying to future proof myself. Eventually there will be a time when I will be the sole bread winner for this family for a dedicated yearly time frame. I need to make sure I’ll be able to provide for my family and also allow us to live comfortably. I’m going to be responsible for paying all the bills, and earning all the money we save without the cushion of my wife’s salary.
Then there is always the question of what I want to be doing in two, five, or ten years. Who knows what I’ll be up to? Anyone want to drop me an offer? Book deal? Freelance writing position for a magazine? I’m open. Contact me.
We’re thinking about moving apartments, again, to use our savings to pay for a chunsae funded apartment. This is why we’ve been saving money like crazy the entire year. Thank goodness for that. We’d pay a hefty down payment first, then live rent free. We’d save a lot more, if we can find an apartment in our price range to rent in the area. It’s all a big “if” right there.
Then there is always the inevitable “Move to the USA” that sometimes it feels like a terminus to everything we decide. Suddenly I’ll approach a dark precipice and need to take a leap into that unknown, if it ever ends up happening. I’d have to figure out what, where, why, and how of all that as well.
You know what they say, Mo’ money, mo’ problems, and all that. Damn adulthood getting in the way of all our fun.
3 Responses to “Feeling the pressure of adulthood”
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April 20th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Be careful with online certification/degree programs. Make sure they’re reputable and hopefully accredited (though I’m not sure who, if anyone, accredits ESL programs). In terms of future proofing, advanced education can be helpful in this area. With some more experience and the right credentials you could look at moving into ESL teacher training. You’d probably need more formal language study, though.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
“An incident at work yesterday with one of my Korean coworkers has sparked a lot of soul searching and thoughts about my future career.”
* I have been in Korea for 4 years and have had about one of those kind of incidents a year. Either I lost my cool and yelled at someone or they did something way out of line. It happens. As I’m sure you know, it’s part of handling the cultural differences. Don’t beat yourself up about it too much, is what I’m trying to say.
“Everything about being a single guy willing to come over and teaching English on a lark after college has gotten so much more complicated since I’ve been here longer.”
* Well said.
“I haven’t gotten back to getting more education or gotten specialized. The master’s degree course in ESL at my previous employer seemed like a joke, and I don’t really want to throw money away on another paper degree if I can’t use it practically.”
* I had the same thoughts a few years ago. Going to graduate school seemed like the only way to improve my career, yet it also was no guarantee — and I couldn’t see spending that much money on something that didn’t have a guaranteed result. So, I kept working with an eye on finding better jobs through people I met, and it’s worked out for me.
My advice to you, if you don’t mind my giving it, is to get yourself a small class or two at a company and start teaching business people. Then you’ll be mixing with a crowd that can lead to good contacts and better things. Your students will be a source of help in your career.
When I first came here, the idea of teaching Business English was anathema to me — I didn’t have the training and it sounded boring. It didn’t take me long, though, to find out that Business English is not much different than free talking or conversational English, just that your students are talking about their jobs. You can create the course however you want.
I can tell that you are an imaginative guy. Start branching out from teaching kids and I think you will do well.
April 21st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I went through the same thing when I was thinking about coming back to Korea. I decided I needed to move on to a career that involved a ladder of some kind. Teaching in Korea was great fun, but there’s no-where to go from it, and you don’t get pay-raises. I also didn’t want to be at the whim of hagwon directors when I had kids to feed.