(32) Left Behind and Common Courtesy

Ask any Korean how hard it is to speak English. It's not an easy language for them to learn.Many of the rules and mechanics of the language are confounding to them,only making sense after years of study and practice.

I can't help but feel sorry for them sometimes. Since English is a major business language, it means that pretty much any major job requires you have some form of mastery of English to go anywhere in life and succeed at your job.

However, I am under the firm belief that courtesy and consideration transcends any language barrier and allows us to display our humanity and show our compassion and understanding of each others needs. This, to me, is the beauty of the human race.

However, we can not always be receptive to each others needs and wants. Sometimes we are too focused, too intent on fulfilling our own agendas and needs to notice the other person in the room. Sometimes, our lives become so involving, we develop these life blinders. blocking out everything and keeping us focused on our goals with laser accuracy. We are, after all, only human.

I'm probably not the first person to experience this while working in Korea and just based on some of the stories I have heard, I'm sure some people have it much worse than I do. We all have our bad work days and work experiences. I usually let them roll of my shoulder and just go on with my life. I realize that people at work our focused so its a understandable when a lapse of judgement or lack of time to help others occurs.

Today was the last day of the 2013 school year before the winter break. It was a day to wrap up classes and finish up what we needed to do before the new year began. This however would be my last year working at the school as only a few months before I found out that I wouldn't be able to renew my contract at my school, as the Korean government had recently made new changes which would end up eliminating foreign teachers from high schools. It was a little upsetting that this would happen and during the last part of the school year, but, that is a story for another day.

Apparently, this morning was a breakfast to celebrate the last days of teaching and close the old year to begin the new one fresh. I don't know what the breakfast was like, what there was to eat, or even where it took place because unlike the other teacher's I wasn't invited.

To clarify, every single staff in the school was invited to attend. This includes teachers, secretaries, office staff, grounds keepers  even some parents who were at the school, except me. I was the only one left out.

Why? I have no idea. I've been invited to school meals and gatherings before. It was common assumption for teachers to tell one another about an event and ask them to come along. even if they didn't intend on sitting next to them or talking to them.

I'm not to complain and whine when I'm not invited to parties. I don't throw a fit when I'm not invited to group outings. It's ok. I'm an adult. the world doesn't revolve around and me and no one owes me anything. I get that. Adult stuff. It's cool.

However, when every single person in the school minus the students is invited and you're not, it makes you think. It makes you wonder. Why would this happen?

Was it something I did? Is my personality? Did they just forget? Am I difficult to talk to? No one said anything about and of these before, why the sudden change of tone at the end of the year? Stuff like this makes your mind wander, makes you think what could have possibly gone wrong, all over a stupid breakfast.

As I said in the beginning, I understand and respect the difficulty of learning English. I understand and respect the cultural differences and have given the strongest effort to represent the best of my culture as well as understanding and participating in Korean culture.

However, simply asking someone to come has nothing to do with culture. Taking five seconds out of your day to simply ask someone to come with you or go with you has nothing to do with culture, nor your quality as a teacher, or even a person. It's just common courtesy. I've been her long enough to know that it exists in Korea just we much as it does in the states.

I'm not going to sit here and complain about how life in Korea sucks and how life is unfair. I will say that I hope anyone who reads this remembers their manners and courtesy. It only takes a second of your time and in many cases, can make a huge difference in someone's day and in many cases, prove to them that there is humanity left in the world.

Be good to one another. Represent your culture, represent your society and represent yourself well. That is all.

(15) 90 in 90: Job Applications in Korea aka The Bizarro Applications

Filling out job applications in Korea is a challenge in ways that I never thought possible. This isn't a challenge in the normal sense of finding a job and having to slog through an endless parade of applications, at least not yet. It's the challenge of not only filling in a job application, but understanding it as well. Even when in English, Korea job applications are an entirely new beast to tame and a new puzzle for me to wrap my head around.

I'm recently in the process of applying for a new job. To apply for any job, one needs to fill out an application before going to the next step. Seems simple enough. The website is in English and the place of employment is full of English speakers and English speaking job opportunities. It should be simple.

It's not, not even in the slightest.

The application itself is very unusual, with some of the questions ranging from odd to blatant invasion of privacy. Sure, you have some sections to fill out that all applications share such as address, previous place of employment and where you went to school. those questions are fine, and I filled them out with no effort.

Take everything you know about job applications and THROW THEM OUT THE WINDOW. Welcome to Korea.  

It's the more unusual ones that threw me for a loop. Questions that I cautiously filled out, knowing full well that someone asked these types of questions back in the US, someone, somewhere would throw a fit.

The application asked me what my religion was, and among other things, members of my family. While personally, I didn't mind answering these questions, I know many people who would be bothered by these questions and question the level of privacy and being threatened by asking these questions. It seems ridiculous that these would even be included on a job application. Does my religious affiliation have any difference when it comes to lecturing about grammar mechanics? Do my parents make a difference in determining my job?

These questions are considered relatively tame and standard to some of the questions my girlfriend had to answer. One application even going as far as to ask the income of both of her parents. Why did they ask? Even she doesn't know. She kept referring back to the Korean way, telling me that applications like this are normal. As a foreigner it looks like a way to criticize someone while not taking a look at their experience or qualifications., but rather a way to judge someone and their family before even considering them for the job. It seems so childish to me, I feel there has to be more that I'm not picking up on.

If that wasn't strange enough, I found that the rest of the application was in Korean, with one section in English and the rest in Korea. Some of the simpler questions and sections I could answer. However some of the more complex sections I could not even begin to answer.

Which one are you? This is totally relevant to your job. 

A lot of credit goes to my wonderful girlfriend, who has helped me along in the process to conquering this beast of a job application. She's had the patience of a saint through all of this so, much credit goes to her and if by some stroke of luck I actually get this job, it will become my solemn duty to repay her back as thanks for her time and patience and all those times I asked her what "bachelor degree" was in Korean.

I still have a few days before the deadline so I'm going to be spending the next few days hammering away at this and trying to finish it. I'm not bitter or even annoyed, its been an interesting experience learning about the Korean job application process and experiencing all the differences from small to Oh My God, that would so be a lawsuit in America.

This is just the start of my journey to apply for a new job next year. Wish me luck everyone. Hope for a bright future. Hope that my girlfriend doesn't want to kill me by the time its all over from my annoying questions.