Blogs of international school teachers: “Farleys Far Away” (An American teaching couple at Korea International School Seoul)
Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad?
Our 40th blog that we would like to highlight is called “Farleys Far Away” Check out the blog entries of these international school educators who work at Korea International School (Seoul) in South Korea.
A few entries that we would like to highlight:
“A very, very long time ago, Jim decided to teach in Taipei, Taiwan. He lived there for 2 years and met me when he got back. That was 12 long awesome years ago. This entire time he’s told me how he would like to move back to East Asia. For 11 years I said, “No. Way. Jose.
Then, at the beginning of this school year, there were rumblings of change at my school. Our state assessment scores left something to be desired (something being, native English speakers from the middle or upper class) and there are a couple of ways the district “fixes” this problem. One of those ways is by letting all the teachers go. If you have tenure, like me, they’ll place you for one year, then after that year, you’re on your own. It’s pretty bleak and I was sad to leave a staff of extremely talented, caring teachers, but what can you do? I know what you can do-you can leave the country!
We signed up for the Overseas Recruitment Fair at the University of Northern Iowa. That was an intense weekend. On the flight to Cedar Rapids we were sitting next to the middle school principal at Korea International School. Korea hadn’t really been on the radar, but after a brief interview on Sunday, and then several Skype interviews, and a little bit of research into life in Korea we were on our way.
That’s how it happened. 11 years of convincing and one quick weekend of deciding…”
Many times you need to wait until the right moment in time to start your career in international school teaching. Some teachers wait one year while others wait 12!
Want to learn more about what it is like to go to an international school recruitment fair? Check out our popular blog category called “9 Lessons Learned Regarding International School Hiring Fairs.”
“Let me start by saying, everyone is fine. But we’re experiencing the health care system here in Korea. On Sunday, about 15 minutes before Jim left for his trip to Singapore, I had him check out August’s *ahem* you know. Well, things weren’t looking so good down there (it turns out August has a hernia). I called the director of KIS‘ wife, who is a nurse. She was very reassuring over the phone, so I allowed Jim to go to Singapore.
My boss recommended I get him checked out at the Baylor Clinic in Jeongja, which is very close to us. We found the building with no problem and made it to the clinic-on the 2nd floor. There are 2 floors to the clinic. Both say “Baylor Clinic” in English, but the rest is in Korean. The 2nd floor clinic had people in the waiting room, but no receptionist. We sat and as I looked around, I saw at least 2 signs that said “Audiology” so we decided to go to the 3rd floor clinic.
When we got there, I called Raina, our bilingual school nurse, and had her talk to the receptionist. It turns out the Baylor Clinic is an ENT. Good for a sore throat but probably not so good below the waist. However, Raina found out that there is a pediatrician on the 6th floor of the same building. Awesome.
As we waited for the elevator in front of a bank, a teller ran out and handed August a handful of candy, so he was in good spirits about the trip. He seriously had like 8 pieces of candy in his hands.
Ah yes, this is more like it…”
It is hard to know what going to the hospital will be like when living in a foreign country. You sure have some great memorable moments and not so great moments.
Want to learn more about what international school teachers think of the local hospitals in their host countries? Luckily, we have a comment topic on our school profile pages related to this theme called “Health insurance and medical benefits. Describe your experiences using these benefits and going to the local hospitals.” Here are a few examples of comments from this topic:
‘We have insurance with Metlife valid throughout the world. We also have a supplemental emergency medical evacuation insurance with AMREF. There is basic local care, but for serious or more difficult cases, evacuation to either South Africa or Nairobi is necessary.’ – International School of Tanganyika (Dar es salaam, Tanzania) – 140 Comments
‘Health insurance is okay, not great, but not awful. Co-pays range from 10-20% at some more expensive hospitals and international medical centres. Dental coverage included but again 0-30% copay depending on the procedure (cavities are covered 100%, root canals are not, for example). Local hospitals are a mixed bag. Some great, some very “Chinese” in their approach to medicine. Would recommend that you ask coworkers for referrals and get prior approval from insurance company whenever possible. In Shanghai, you will be able to find a competent, western-educated specialist in any & every medical field, although you may have to search a bit.’ – Yew Chung International School (Shanghai) (Shanghai, China) – 50 Comments
Want to work for an international school in South Korea like this blogger? Currently, we have 28 international schools listed in this country. Here are a few that have had comments submitted on them:
• Daegu International School (Daegu, South Korea) – 15 Comments
• International School of Koje (Geoje, South Korea) – 51 Comments
•Dwight School Seoul (Seoul, South Korea) – 35 Comments
• Seoul Foreign School (Seoul, South Korea) – 45 Comments
• Seoul International School (Seoul, South Korea) – 82 Comments
• Colegio Granadino Manizales (Manizales, Colombia) – 43 Comments
• Yongsan International School of Seoul (Seoul, South Korea) – 57 Comments
Additionally, there are 63 International School Community members who currently live in South Korea. Check out which ones and where they work here. Feel free to go ahead and contact them with any questions that you might have as well; nice to get first hand information about what it is like to live and work there!
If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.
In February, it isn’t so hot in the morning. Still though, you might still be wearing shorts as you walk to work.
