If you know you'll be working right away try to arrive on a Friday to give yourself at least two days to adjust to the time differences and a little breathing room to get settled. It is not common practice for foreign teacher to work on Saturday, though many Korean teachers do. (You may want to make sure which category you fall into & address this if it matters to you - though I would advise against working Saturdays... the weekends are short enough as it is!)
Some teachers have to stay in a hotel or some other temporary housing when they initially arrive. But here's some advice in the case that you are brought to your apartment & your jetlag / the whirlwind sensation that accompanies being dropped on the other side of the world & not having a clue what you're doing causes you to be unable to think of what you might want to know later:
-Ask how to operate your heating (heating typically also = your hot water). I spent my first night in June taking a freezing cold shower which wasn't pleasant. The heating control will most likely operate your floor heat as well. Probably good to know whats what whether you arrive in February or August.
-How to turn on the gas. It's better to know sooner than later & how to do it properly.
-If a washing machine is installed, ask how to operate it. (Does it have a dryer? When to add fabric softener? If you care.)
- If your apartment does not have a washing machine - when will you get one? Is there service in your building or area?
-Can you get a map of your new surroundings? (Possibly even sent with your information packet / online beforehand.)
-Where can you get things you might need in the first 24 hours? (We went with bowls, spoons, cereal, milk, water & toilet paper - it makes waking up on your first morning a little bit easier.)
-Your address. Sometimes this can be a bit tricky in Korea because the streets are labelled a bit oddly & some streets don't really even have names. The buildings are also given numbers as they are built (so building 1 could be next to building 5) rather than in sequence as we are used to. We have friends who still don't have their address 10 months into their contracts. Letters are fine to have sent to your home address, but..
Packages often cannot be sent to your apartment because of small mailboxes and no one to leave them with (aside from just leaving them in the hallway). Either pick up packages at the local post office or have them sent to your school - which is convenient & possibly more secure. (In which case you need at least your schools address.)
-Contacting home: Ask about setting up Internet in your apartment. You can probably get help making an appointment with someone from your school. In the meantime, ask about a PC room (pronounced pi-shi-bong) nearby. They are typically open 24 hours. If you don't have a method already, setting up a Skype account & adding some credit to cheaply call landlines/mobiles back home is really helpful (and easy to do!).
-Bank Account: Try to set up a bank account with the help of your school ASAP. You only need your passport for this & once you have sent away for your ARC (alien registration card) you won't have your passport for about a month - which can make receiving your first paycheck a bit difficult. We REALLY wish someone had given us this particular tip.
- We've used KB (Kookmin Bank) and have been fine with them. We were even able to set up our accounts to directly wire money to our home bank accounts through the ATM which is less stressful than the other lengthy option. (Helpful to set up immediately if you have someone who speaks Korean there - like a co-teacher.)
- Also, you should have the option of getting a debit card vs. an ATM card. (Debits can be used like credit cards at stores whereas ATM cards cannot.)
- Unfortunately there is a law in Korea which prevents you from being able to use your bank card outside of Korea (this only applies to foreigners). I thought including this might be helpful for later on, as in, don't plan to use it when you go on vacation to China!
-I would give the same advice for setting up your mobile phone. We're pretty sure you can do this ASAP before getting your ARC, though some help from a co-teacher may prove useful.
- We opted for pay-as-you-go phones. We bought used phones from Techno Mart (Seoul) and every 30 days you have to add 10,000 won credit. If you have credit left over and hit the 30 days you will still receive calls/texts but will not be able to make/send them. We usually go through just that amount.
- You can usually pick the last 4 digits of your phone number, making it easier to remember. They might also use your birthday (my birthday is December 30th, so the last 4 digits of my number would be 1230).
- Another friend suggested renting a phone from the airport for the first couple of weeks until you get one set up, which could make things easier. I don't personally know much about these rentals but I've seen them at Inch eon & I'm sure it's pretty easy to do with your passport. (The only downside would be if you have to go all the way back to the airport to return the phone!)
-There is a pretty specific system for garbage disposal in South Kore. Our manager briefly explained this to us when we arrived, but we know others who weren't so lucky. I will explain it here but I know this only to be true for Namyangju & it is possible that the bags are different colors in other areas.
- White bags are for anything non-recyclable and non-food. In Namyangju they have blue writing on them.
- Orange bags are for food garbage waste. (We keep ours in the freezer to prevent our apt. from smelling; many Koreans like to keep theirs in the hallway.)
- Plastics, paper, glass/metals/foil are all recyclable. It makes things pretty easy as we can recycle 90% of our waste, only using the white bags once a month or so. Our building has bins outside to collect them, as well as an area to put your food bags & one for other garbage. I'm sure yours will have their own setup but something similar.
- Both white and orange bags come in different sizes & should be available at any convenience store (GS25, 7-11, Family Mart).
-Don't let your school take you for granted. Be prepared to say 'No' to something if you feel it isn't right or goes beyond the agreements of your contract. We found out quickly that our school expected us to work as many hours as possible - teaching hours that is - without any time to prepare for our classes. Because we didn't protest immediately (we didn't know any better) they figured we were capable & refused to back down later on.
- Dr.'s visits are cheap. Once you have your insurance card (usually comes by mail to your school after a month or so) you can go see the Dr. / chiropractor / dentist for almost nothing here. I had an x-ray done + the visit to see the Dr. for 5,000 won (less than $5). My friends have had cleanings (and deep cleanings), whitening procedures and even their wisdom teeth removed here for a fraction of the cost in America. I suppose the trick for most of us is finding someone we feel comfortable with - someone who speaks at least some English. You don't really want to be examined by someone who can't tell you what's wrong do you? If it seems there is no English-speaking Dr. in your area you can always try to get a co-teacher to go along with you. I have a feeling that most doctors learn a decent amount of English as they go through their training, even if they are a bit shy about using it.
- Depending on how far you are, I consider the worst-case scenario to be schlepping to the International Clinic in Itaewon (Seoul): http://www.internationalclinic.co.kr/
- Recently I've read some not so positive things about the international clinic. So here is a suggested alternative: http://schuh-internationalclinic.com/intro/intro01.asp
- And here's a link to another really helpful website. This particular page lists hospitals with English-speaking staff: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Hospitals_with_english-speaking_staff
- And for the ladies: I've heard rumors that gynos will not treat unmarried women (actually that would be cannot considering it's said to be a law). However, I have not yet heard a story about a woman who had a problem finding someone to treat her.
-Paying bills: Your accommodation should be paid by your school. (And if they have to put you up somewhere for a period of time before your new 'home' is available, they should be paying for that as well.)
- Heat, hot water (usually together), electricity, phone bills, Internet & cable are all paid by you.
- Usually your building/apt. owner will give you a month bill for certain utilities (heat & hot water/electricity). Things like your Internet will come separate. Gas is also paid separately (at least in Namyangju). It is possible that in the bigger sky rise apartments bills are set up a bit differently. Please let me know if this is true/how it differs.
- Bills are paid through direct transfers from your bank account to the account of the person / company. Ask your co-teacher / manager for advice the first time. Our bank has a machine just for paying bills. I'm not really sure what you do on it as there is always someone there to assist us. But we give that person the bill for say, our Internet & cable, they press a few buttons & the machine scans the bill. I give them my bank card which is inserted, punch in my pin & the machine does the rest. Sometimes we've had to go to the bank for which the company / person holds an account. Once you've gone through the motions once, you should be set for the rest of your year.
-Your contract should include a 'settlement allowance'. Under GEPIK contracts, this is only given the first teaching year. It is for 300,000 won (a little under $300) and is for buying anything you need for your apartment which wasn't included in the list of things in your contract.
- Typically your contract will include: A telephone, refrigerator, washing machine, television, vacuum cleaner, microwave, gas cooker, electric fan, iron, bed, sofa, kitchen table, wardrobe, desk, chair. It may have a stipulation that if space is limited you might not receive all of these items.
- So the settlement would be for things like: an electric kettle, dishes, utensils, pots & pans, lamps, a toaster oven (I would highly recommend a toaster oven if you do not have an actual oven in your apt. It becomes frustrating not to be able to cook anything over the course of a year).
- Our contract also stated that we should receive our settlement within 14 days of arrival in the country. You should check the wording in yours.
-$1000 US or the equivalent was the suggested amount to bring with you to get you through the first month / until you get paid. Looking back I feel like this was a reasonable amount. Be advised that you will probably spend what feels like a lot in your first two months as you set up. (That's why the settlement allowance comes in handy). But you will also be paying for things that you only have to buy once (unless you lose them) like your ARC. Don't be too hard on yourself if you've come with the objective to save money. And take into consideration that over the first few months you'll probably have some money coming out of your paycheck as a housing deposit (ours was 300,000 -each- over 3 months). The nice thing is that when you leave, unless you've done some damage, you have that money to look forward to.
- If you intend to save money while in Korea (many teachers come here with that purpose) try to give yourself a budget. But again, don't be too hard on yourself when you first arrive. Even if you have some trouble sticking to that budget, you will probably find that after a few months, Korea has made you cheaper. Things are less expensive here than most of us are used to. When I visited home it was shocking to compare the price of things in the U.S. to the price in Korea.
-Vacation Time: This will have to be agreed upon / approved by your school. If you want specific dates off, I would suggest discussing this ASAP. In our experience at least, Koreans tend to do things a little bit more last minute than we're used to. We found if we were given a verbal agreement on vacation time, and pushed for written permission, we were usually given it. That way, when we purchased our airfare and reserved our accommodation we knew we wouldn't be throwing our money away later.
- On that note: Airfare travel in Asia from Korea tends to be more expensive than if you were traveling from Japan or China. But if you give yourself time to search you can usually hunt down decent prices.
- Also, make sure you look at the visa regulations for your home country; our biggest problem arose when visiting China. We'd booked our flights & then discovered only a week before departing that we needed visas. We were able to get them through a travel agency without actually having to go to the embassy in person. (A one month - 30 day- visa for U.S. citizens to visit China = $150. For the U.K. = $50. I believe a 12 month multiple-entry visa for U.S. citizens was $240. If you think you may want to return to China it is probably more cost-effective to do it this way.)
- Always check embassy websites for the most up to date information as it does change over time & you're always better off getting it from them.
-Make an effort to learn Hangul (Korean language). It is simple and easy to read & will make your life here much easier. My friends might find it a bit interesting, me saying this as I made the attempt soon after arriving, got busy & then never attempted it again. My boyfriend did learn & although it doesn't mean he understands everything he reads, many phrases/words turn out to be Konglish. A combination of Korean & English and can be incredibly useful. Also, as you learn what different foods are called, this will be helpful on menus.
-Lastly, here are some helpful numbers/hot lines:
Foreigner Assistance / Translation:
- BBB 24-hr. Language Assistance: 1588-5644
- KTO Tourism 24-hr. hot line: 1330 (Seoul)
Hot lines:
- Emergency: 119
- Police: 112
- Directory Assistance: 114
- Medical Information Center (24-hr. / nationwide / English): 1339
I hope this has been at least somewhat helpful. Again, please feel free to comment, correct me, or give any additional information you think would be useful. My only goal is to provide the best information possible. I will try to update this from time to time & will make additional entries as necessary.xx
