Dog House W/ Patio

Its Midnight, Do You Know Where Your Waygukin Is?

There are a few ways to leave Korea. I shall tell you what they are along with their commonly reported side effects. By no means are these scientific and I do not speak for everyone when reporting them (but I'm going off what I've noticed and heard throughout my time here).

The first, and most common, way is to finish your contract and then get the hell out of Dodge. This usually is accompanied by a rude hand gesture and a thorough disdain for the country and its culture. The second is to tell your director that you are moving on (for whatever reason) within a month or more of your departure. A feeling of satisfaction and a hint of shame that slowly dissipates once you realize that you are leaving in a respectful manner usually accompany this method. The third is to pull “a runner.” An empty apartment and a pissed off Korean director is the only thing you leave in your wake.

This third way invokes a certain nostalgic smirk from me after working at Oakley. There is rarely a hint of warning before someone takes these actions unless they are thoroughly malicious about it. Case in point: I have met a few waygukins that claim they will leave after six months and never tell their director because, “What are they gonna do about it?”

I find this to be very disrespectful. I don't mean to sound high and mighty over my way of handling a short lived contract, but if you have to leave and you know it, why not get it out of the way? Of course I know the main reason for this is to not have to reimburse the hagwon the airfare for getting you here. But the residual effects of this action can be staggering.

If you were a director at a hagwon, and you spent a lot of money on an employee and then they just up and left you what would you do? It would take well over a month to get a fulltime replacement for that person during which time students may quit your school to study at another hagwon that has a waygukin. So you'd loose money, have to hire a part time waygukin (yes, they exist, though most of them not entirely legally), and then spend more money to get another waygukin out to Korea and possibly pay a hefty recruiter fee (usually the equivalent of a months salary of the recruitee).

Now think about the psychological damage that could occur. Would you trust another waygukin again? How is this going to affect the other hagwon directors? Will they trust their waygukins? Now other waygukins have to deal with a severe lack of trust in their hagwon because of some idiot who couldn't handle confrontation?

If you think I'm being overdramatic then you should know there's about one runner a month in this city alone.

That being said, I feel even more confident in my departure knowing that I am leaving on a high note with my hagwon and Korea in general.

On that note, here are some pictures I've been meaning to put up for you all:

This is a “security guard” outside Ulsan University. I apologize for the blurriness, but I was trying to be quick incase the flash woke him up… it didn't.

While walking through the University we encountered a group practicing a traditional dance. It was really cool to see the mix of tradition and Nike shoes at 2 am in the morning.

Ah, Carten Blausen… I was taught this game while in Germany and have now officially passed it on to Korea. The object is to blow only one card off at a time. Improvise on consequences…

After six months without playing the bass guitar, Dave Ayers emerges to sit in on a bands performance. This was one of the best things I've ever seen in my life.

Konglish shirts: its best to not ask why or what they mean. This is another American (we're rare here, no joke) Erin. Her shirt reads: “In a Quiet and Clam Atmosphere.”

Here is my contribution to the Konglish world: “Its Exciting! Jumping on the Air”
The small print says: “Comfort and Pleasure.” Still not sure why there's a picture of a car… My best guess is hydraulics, but I've yet to see that here.

What do you say?

Posted by Schaffer at September 27, 2005 01:50 AM