Job interview

I went on a job interview today.

Off in the big city of Seoul, rode the subway alone (even had to make a train transfer), and interviewed for a English teacher position for a Korean elementary school.

To me, this was a Big Deal.

A few weeks ago, I applied with a Korean recruiting company. If you want a job as an English teacher in Korea, you go thru a recruiting company. (I am sure there are other ways, but this is an established way to get a job). These recruiters (paid by the school) work hard to pair the right person with the right school.

There are public schools and private schools, all ages, schools run like prison camps and schools run like summer camps. A good recruiter guides you to the right school.

I dont want to spend this time in Korea just sitting in my highrise apartment, watching the city go by but never venturing outside of the protective bubble of the Army base. I want to experience Korea.

So, I applied to be an English teacher.

(No English teaching skills necessary if you were curious.)

And my recruiter, a very nice Korean gentleman who speaks near perfect English, found an opening (actually, there are 1.5 gabillion English teacher openings in Korea) at a great fantastic amazing dream come true elementary school that is about a 25 minute walk and subway ride from our apartment.

He met me at the school and accompianed me inside for an interview with the school director. Actually, I didnt even say much, I just sat there, smiled a lot and tried to ooze great English teacher vibes. The interview was mainly between the recruiter and the director. They spoke fast and furious Korean, and he referred a lot to my resume and introduction letter.

I think I managed to mumble a sentence or two about my music background but there wasnt much for me to say. They introduced me to the team of foreign (native ENglish speakers like myself) teachers and their Korean co-teachers and I got to sit down and ask them a bunch of questions.

This school, this teaching environment, the staff, amazing. I really wanted to be a part of their school.

I was offered a job, 9:30-5:30pm Monday thur Friday. The mornings would be prep-time and the afternoons would be teaching time. They provide a teacher's book that leads you thru each class step by step. You can vary slightly if you want, but with the aid of the book and the Korean co-teacher, it seemed entirely possible to teach English to a bunch of Korean speaking children.

I turned the job down via phone this evening.

If my life revolved around me, I would have taken it. I wanted to take it. What better way to experience Korea? What an amazing year (one year contract terms) it would have been to teach in a foreign school. However, I have two young children at home and a husband in the military. There will be times (many) that Jason has to go away on trips-some a day or two- some a couple weeks. Daycare on post closes at 6pm, and it would be an impossible task to get from my school (my! ha!) to the daycare before closing time during those times that Jason is away on a trip. What would I do? And what if the kids got sick? It's not like back in SC where the inlaws or church friends could help me out. I'm in KOREA. Yes, I have made a few friends, but I can not take a full time job that will definetly cause some child-care related complications and expect things to just work out. In a foreign country, you need to assume your immediate family is all you can depend on, because friends move, schedules change and it just aint like the USA.