Here’s my situation:

I’ve only been working at this school for two months and so many bad things have happened I can barely keep the details straight, but I’ll give it a shot.

I arrived in GwangMyeong on a Saturday and was dropped off at my apartment by a taxi driver. No one from the school was there to greet me or introduce me to the school/surrounding area–it was a very nice welcome. Luckily upon exploring my neighborhood I ran into one of the foreign teachers who just quit the school and graciously showed me around. My apartment, or dwelling I should call it, had basically no windows to speak of–just a small window set high above my door. Every morning at sunrise a small shaft of light came through this window creating a space that more resembled a prison than a proper living space. Every time i cooked my house would smell of small food all day due to having absolutely no ventilation. Also, there was no table or chair to sit at to eat so I had to either sit on the floor or eat on my bed. I told my school I could not live there, so they offered to have me move in with one of the new co workers into a two bedroom apartment. This seemed like a great solution, I didnt mind living with a guy. This apartment is a lot better than my first, has more space and many windows. Of course my new place still had/has many pitfalls. First, the only furniture we had upon moving in was a bed in each room and a small table to eat at. We had no refrigerator, stove, washing machine, cookwear, aircon, dresser, hot water and im sure other common household necessities. At this time we have received all of these items with the exception of aircon and hot water. Again I repeat NO HOT WATER. I have been taking ice cold showers for the last two months.

Now lets get to the actual school. Unorganized, financially strapped, liars, and crooked. The teachers working there from day one explained all that had been happening at the school. Everyone was being payed late and experiencing different levels of the hagwon corruption. I decided to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. My director called me into the office on my first working day to introduce himself. However, his true intention of my introductory meeting was very evident. He asked me what the other foreign teacher who recently quit told me about the school. I told him what I was told and he quickly and defensively told me not to worry, the school has no problems, and not to believe them. Imagine how uncomfortable that would make you feel. I can tell you I was not reassured and in the ensuing months I have often been told not to worry.

Korean teachers at my school get paid on the 15th and foreign teachers get paid on the 5th. This arrangement of staggering pay was implemented in order for the school to have an easier time paying its staff, the Korean teachers graciously allowed themselves to be paid late to ease the schools financial burden. Even with the Korean teachers making this sacrifice I have not seen a single person working in this building paid in full or on time. We often get paid only in small pieces and often late and in some cases very late.
My school currently owes all the Koreans approx. 2 months worth of pay. After we were paid late the first month, the foreign teachers drafted an extra contract to protect ourselves from this late pay practice. We are to receive a letter of release from our employment contract of we are payed late. We told our director we needed to have a meeting with him regarding this contract and he conveniently dodged us for a week ( and keep in mind this is after they are already late with our pay) After a week of this, the foreign teacher got fed up and we decided to strike until we received our pay. The school made no effort to contact us until about 8 pm that same day. I cannot understand why they didnt contact us earlier, because the Korean teachers had to teach all of our classes. It was an extra burden they should not have had to endure considering our school must have had the means to pay us as they paid us later that day.
As for payment for the month of September, I inquired with the manager Kelly about my new pay date of the first. She seemed confused about the agreement we made around the first of the previous month. She asked if she could pay me on the 7th, 2 days later than the original pay date, of course I told her no. She told me dont worry, no problem. Of course that statement made me worry. On the first the manager only wanted to pay me 500,000 of my pay and told me she though I only wanted half. I couldn’t believe, first why would she think I only wanted half, and second 500,000 is very very short of half of my pay. They intended to take out more than a quarter of my
pay for various fees of which I could not read because it was written in Korean. I found they have been charging me for taxes, which they shouldnt be as they have been paying me off the books ( I only got my visa one week ago). Basically they have been stealing 3.3% of my paycheck. When I asked my director about this she told me she didnt realize they were doing this. How could she not realize it if they are paying me in cash? It is very unnerving and insulting to be lied to and stolen from by your employer. I also have not been receiving any pay towards my pension and have no medical insurance to speak of. I am also still waiting for my alien registration card. In addition to all of this, my utilities also seemed very high considering both my flatmate and I are barely ever home, and we have no hot water. hmmmmmm…..
The school itself is also very unorganized. I have a class that has had no books for a month, many materials are often missing, I am rarely informed of crucial information concerning schedule changes, curriculum, etc. I am on a purely need to know basis, and my school has seemed to determine that I dont need to know anything and even if I ask, I am usually directed to ask someone else who tells me to ask the person I originally inquired with.

Visa run:
The 17th of Sept was my last day to legally be in this country on my travelers visa. My school in its emerging typical fashion sent me to embark to Japan on the 17th. The day before, I was told my school could not find any accommodation for one of the days of my stay due to everything being sold out. How could they expect me to find anything if their travel agent could find nothing? I told the manager I didnt even have a credit card ( I dont trust them to reimburse me). She told me not to worry of course. I guess its easy for her not to worry because she’s not the one being sent to another country and facing the prospect of having no place to stay. Luckily I did find a place, a PC room. I was unclear of what I was supposed to be doing in Japan, because I hadnt even been issued a visa number at the time. When I emailed to ask the manager I never received a response. So there I spent enjoying my time in Japan of course, but still felt in the dark. Finally two days later I was emailed with the visa number, but once I got to the office I discovered it was closed for three days due to some Japanese holiday. I called my director to explain the situation and of course stressed over her ability to arrange for the rest of my stay. Because my school is so unorganized I spent a total of 9 days in Japan getting my visa. I know I am lucky to get that much time in Japan, but remember my school is financially strapped and it was certainly a waste of money and potential labor I could have provided had I been there to work. My school also said they provided me with 260,000 won for the trip and deducted that from my pay. They actually only provided me with 100,000 won and most of that was used for having to find my own hotel, oops I mean PC room for one of the days.

Oh yeah and I cannot believe I forgot this,
the foreign teachers and Korean teachers all had lunch together as a good bye meal for one of the foreign teacher who was quiting. One of the Korean teachers
started talking about the manager and how she told the Korean teachers she would literally kill herself if we all quit. Ummm talk about psychological manipulation!

Thanks, Andrea