Looking For A Job?

I can't believe it but Shinjin is actually looking for someone to fill my position for next year already. It totally doesn't seem like it's been a whole year, and I know it's cliche' but time really does fly. I thought that putting the classified add up on my blog would be interesting for everyone to see. Here is what they're looking for...

Shinjin Science Technology Academy is currently looking for English teaching instructors. We want sincere and experienced native speakers. If you are interested, please send a copy of your resume, diploma, teaching credentials, TESOL certificate, and a recent picture of yourself to the address below. Job description is as follows.

-Preferred Qualifications
1. M.A. or B.A. (if possible, Education or English major is preferred)
2. TESOL / TEFL certificate and ESL / EFL teaching experience
3. An enthusiastic and good cross-cultural personality preferred

-Contacts
Kim, Joong- KI
Email: jjooongkim@hanmail.net Phone: 02-355-6709
Mobile: 010-3708-6844

-Address
Shinjin Science Technology Academy
114-1, Eungam1-dong, Eunpyeong-gu
Seoul, Korea. Postcode 122-010

© Conditions & Benefits

-Employment
a. Contract Length: 1-year minimum (Renewable, if needed)
b. Initial Employment date starts: March 1st, 2008 – Feb, 28th ,2009

1. Monthly Salary: 2.4 million won (some 2,500 U.S. dollars)
2. Class hours: approx. 20 hrs/week
3. Work days: Monday to Friday (8a.m to 4:30 p.m)
4. Work Place: Eungam1-dong, Eunpyeong- gu, Seoul
5. Holidays: approx. 5 weeks of paid vacation will be given : two weeks during summer vacation and three weeks during winter vacation.

-Transportation
Airfare (economy class) will be paid from your location to Seoul upon your acceptance to our school.
ø Contract Completion Bonus: Paid Flight Home

-Accommodation
School offers private spacious housing close to school
(furnished, two bedroom, living room, kitchen and washroom)

-Others
School will pay 50% of Medical insurance.
School will pay 50% of the compulsory payment to the national pension fund.
School will pay one-time settlement allowance of 300,000 won.
Part of everyday luncheon expenses will be met.

-Application Deadline

Jan. 18, 2008

I've actually done a bunch of interviews for the school already and there are some really good candidates. I just hope the people who replace Rachel and I like the job as much as I did.

Alright, I'm off to go pick up my parents at the airport. Yup, Mr. and Mrs. Kroll are on their way to Asia as we speak. I have 2 weeks of quality family time ahead of me, one week as a tour guide of Seoul and the next as a tourist in China. Can't wait, and I am looking forward to blogging about it all as soon as I can. I'm sure there will be plenty tell.

Out In the Cold with Hot Carl

I don't know if there are too many slide shows up but if you think so please tell me and I'll try to cut back on them. As for now, I'm only getting good comments about them, so here's another.

This is Karl and I at all of the memorable sites around Seoul:


It was great to have you Karl, thanks for coming, and I'm already looking forward to our next trip together.

No Soup For YOU!

Recently my blogging privileges at school were suspended. The iron fist has apparently dropped. I don't know what the deal is. No one said anything to me, Rachel or Sueem (the only teachers I know with blogs), but maybe there is a huge underground of Shinjin teachers blogging and they're trying to crack down. Maybe since we all have an over abundance of free time at school we spend too much time blogging? Maybe we blog about our bad students, or our shortcomings as teachers? Or maybe, and more likely, it's just a coincidence. Either way, I hope to get into the habit of blogging at home, and giving you some insight into what I'm up to.
I'm totally into this Picasa slide show thing though too. Do you like it as much as I do, or is it something I should get rid of? Check out my recent trip to Sky Park around World Cup Stadium. I think they are some of my prettier pictures that I've taken in Korea. Should I keep the slide show theme going in future blogs?

Chusak

After a 5 day weekend you are inevitably left with a two day week, and that two day week rolls smoothly into the next weekend. So today kind of feels like the end of a 10 day weekend. That's sad to think about, but I had a really good break. Since Rachel was out of town, back home in the US for her friends wedding, I got to hang out with some other people, meet new people, and do some new things. Take a look at some of the pictures of the fun, even though much of it happened while I didn't have my camera around. I'm sorry, maybe next time.

But I'll have more pictures of my new friends soon and of course more of Rachel who is nice to have back in town. She came baring gifts too!

Chusak Pictures

Field Trip Friday

This past Friday our school had its first field trip of the year. Rachel, myself, Mr. Jong, and Miss Son were all put on the same bus. We had about an hour and a half ride to where we were going, but of course we got stuck with Rachel's worst class. We left Seoul and entered Incheon, which is directly west of Seoul. We were destined for an island in Incheon. To be completely honest it was another one of those times where we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. Some people told me there were temples on the island, some said there was a fortress, some said there was mud, and others said there was absolutely nothing of interest, and we got shafted. But the bus ride wasn't so bad, I sat next to Miss Son, who I thought didn't speak much English. Well, it turns out she's just quiet because we talked almost the entire ride there. But where were we going? Some teachers told me they were going to Han River, some to mountains, and others to see Spiderman 3, but I hadn't gotten a clear answer as to what was on our island. Ironically enough, our first stop was at an army fortress memorial from a war between America and Korea. I walked around hundreds of Koreans in a place sacred because America attacked it, or as the memorial put it "America instigated the war". I don't know why we ever thought we should be fighting this far from home, but it almost seemed surreal. The good thing was that "ironic", usually a hard word to grasp, was able to be understood by almost every teacher there within moments. Yup, I'm always working.

We did not spend too much time at the fortress though; our second stop was not too far away, at some Buddhist temples. It's always neat to see these types of things but it was nothing too special. What I liked about it most was that there were high school kids everywhere, drawing. I just thought that was kind of cool. Not my high school kids or course, but others, from an art school. That was nice, oh yeah, and our awesome lunch, that was pretty sweet too. We just found a nice spot in the woods and all the students carried the food to it.

Our third stop of the day was by far the best, and most eventful. We went to the beach, but not just any beach, the "Mud Flats". Yeah, I didn't know what to think of it either, but it was really pretty cool. In this area of the shoreline, during low tide ,the water retreats, but instead of leaving sand behind, it leaves mud. I'm not too sure as to why that is, but it's pretty cool. It's pretty amazing how far the water retreats, some teachers told me that it can be dangerous when the high tide starts coming in; if your out in the mud too far you can drowned. When you're not drownding though, the mud is supposed to be very good for your skin. And our students made sure to test out that theory.

After an interesting game on the shore, that I'm sure would not be legal in America (that you can see above), our students started getting interested in the mud. And when I say interested I mean, they started throwing kids in it, or throwing it at each other. None of the teachers seem to care at all. It was as if we were all just watching it on TV. There were kids being dragged into the mud kicking and screaming, but we just watched and laughed. We definitely did a lot of laughing. Mud throwing, mud wrestling, mud sliding, and whatever other things you can imagine you could do with mud, our students were doing it.

A quality field trip, I hope you enjoyed it too...more pics in my picasa photo album (as always).