Yay! Astrill is semi-working on Apple again! And it actually seems a little better than before. 🙂 It started about 2-3 days ago and has been going on so far. It drops every so often, but then it picks up again. I haven’t tried visiting any blocked sites (I know some people who said those still threw them off), but it is helping keep my computer safe while I visit the allowed ones like my Outlook email again. I’m happy!
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So, reports have been out recently that the VPNs in Asia aren’t working as well as normal. The reports are definitely true. Actually the internet in general isn’t working that strongly right now, but that could just be my specific place.
China Pollution :(
5 FebChina pollution :(. My window sill after two weeks. I missed last weeks cleaning and this what it looked like. [Scowl][Cry][Speechless]😱😱😱
6 Scams ESL Teachers Play on Employers
4 Feb
I’ve read a lot of articles recently warning ESL teachers about picking the right schools. In fact for 10-15 years there have been all sorts of posts on the American web telling potential teachers about scams and wannabe thieves that are trolling the ESL sites waiting for potential prey. And it is definitely true that foreigners are at risk when they go to teach abroad. Missing pay, illegal work ethics, refused vacation time, sucky housing, NO housing, horrible students, or -the worst- evil watching parents waiting for you to fail.
Life can be tough as a foreign teacher, but I thought maybe it was time to mention the other side. After sitting in several schools and making many online ESL Teaching friends, listening to the teachers talk and gossip, I thought someone should post a warning for the schools instead. To those ESL teachers that are going to get all huffy, cool it! You have your chance to air your grievances on other posts, and I’m certainly not saying that you don’t have grievances to share. Heck, I’ve got grievances to share! Late pay/NO pay, skimpy travel reimbursements, the list goes on. But schools deserve to get the warnings too, it’s not all sun and roses on their side in many cases either.
Without further adieu, here are 6 scams that ESL teachers often play on their employers.
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1. Abusing Benefits
Many people talk about how schools/agencies in some foreign countries will tend to short-change you your well-earned, usually required benefits. But they aren’t the only ones abusing this confusing system, ESL Teachers sometimes do so as well. I’ve heard of at least two teachers who abused the “medical payout” benefit offered at nearby schools, and I know there are more. Since the medical/reimbursement/receipt systems are a little more rustic in many foreign countries, it is very easy to either bribe or re-arrange everything to come out on top.
Some raise very unnecessary doctor’s costs and charge it to the school as an emergency medical fee. They pay a doctor to write the prescription or explanation in English. When the school secretary girl doesn’t know what it says, they tell her it’s for something serious (one is simply getting a weekly massage and calling it “therapy”- he freely admits he doesn’t need it, but it’s convenient. Costs the school 80rmb a week).
Others overcharge the school. The way it works is that you bring your receipt to the school to ask for money. The teacher’ll either pay the doctor’s office/hospital person to charge a higher fee or erase/white it out and write a higher one anyway. They then pocket the difference.
2. Double Charging the School
This one is really, really cheeky. Some schools in foreign countries prefer to pay their teachers in cash. Sometimes this is because it isn’t all on the up-and-up. They either hire a teacher from a different school for 1-2 hours of work a week or they just don’t want to pay the taxes. Other times, they are in a more rural place and that is just how things work. Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t take the time to get a receipt. You just get handed an envelope of money.
This has caused several schools a big problem when teacher’s pull the “Double-Trouble” scam. The teacher will charge them and get the envelope of money. They then go to the police and claim that they weren’t paid anything. The school usually doesn’t have a witness beyond the person who handed over the cash, and there isn’t a receipt. So the school is sometimes forced to pay the teacher twice. This may also result in them losing their license to hire foreign teachers or put them under investigation. Such an investigation can destroy the school’s reputation and ruin them. One nearby school was forced to shut down after they ran into this scam, and other’s are starting to demand a signed receipt in the transaction.
3. Selling Tests/Grades/Quizzes
This is a kind of obvious scam, but it happens constantly. Teachers complain all the time about how their students in foreign countries cheat on the exams. It is actually a really, really big problem, even here at my institution (I had to report 3 last semester alone from my class). But they don’t often want to admit that teachers themselves are often a HUGE part of the problem. Continue reading
Strolling Through Seoul Itinerary
31 JanStrolling Thorugh Seoul ~ Recommended Itinerary
**Housing:
- Hostel ~ The one I chose was $15 a night for a place to stay. If interested, you can message me for more details. But check out AirBnb!
- Hotel Cinema~ I picked a love hotel for a week that cost me 60,000Won (~ $60) for a two bed room. The beds were nice and soft, the bathroom was huge, the room itself was really nice and upscale. Love Hotels in Korea are more for Husbands and Wive who need time away from the kids and parents than for men and their mistresses. So despite the name, they are more respectable than you think. And as nice as any normal hotel, but usually cheaper. My mom was recovering from the hospital so we didn’t do anything in the city; we spent all our time in this hotel and I really liked it.
Day 1
- Deoksugung Palace
- Namsangol Hanok Village
- Myeongdong
Day 2
- Cheongyecheon
- Tapgol Park
- Chungmuro
Day 3
- Gyeongbokgung Palace
Day 4
- Namdaemun
- N Seoul Tower
Day 5
- Naksan Park
- Ihwa Mural Village
Day 6
- Building 63
- Gangnam
Day 7
- Insa-Dong
- Korean Wars Museum
Strolling through Seoul
27 Jan
Ihwa Mural Village
Our China University was specially blessed this year with an entire 2.5-month long winter vacation before classes start up again, and the foreign teachers here make the most of their free time. Many of us have headed off to such exotic locations as Bali, New Zealand, Australia, Heinan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India, Tibet – even the stunning ice scultures of Harbin here in China!
Personally, I decided to return to the charming city of Seoul, South Korea. Have you ever watched the old Harrison Ford movie, “Sabrina”? I always remember that quote: “America is my country, but Paris is my home.” That kind of reminds me of Seoul, America is my country, but Seoul is my home. The part modern/ part ancient artistic buildings centered around the lovely Han River and filled with lovely, kind-hearted people always brings out the calm, secure feeling that soothe my soul and rest my spirit. I could spend months just wandering from shop to cafe to palace to park, listening to the sweet locals and getting in touch with the looser, more contented me.
This time, I was able to bring along my mother, who had never seen the city before but wanted to get a glimpse of the place that has captured my heart. We were initially planning to stay for 2 weeks, but plans changed and we only spent 1 went out and about the town. Although Spring is definitely a prettier time to visit, having the tourist sites mostly to yourself and looking at all the winter products up for sale was pretty sweet. If you do visit in the winter, I highly advise that you visit the many, many, many unique cafes scattered around the buroughs. Try out their “Peppermint White Chocolate” and a Blueberry BelgiumWaffle while watching the world go by outside the windows and tell me you don’t fall in love with the city too. ❤
Seoul is a place to have fun and take your time, you simply shouldn’t try to rush through everything. I know there is a lot to see, and you feel like you need to get ahold of all of it, but you run the risk of loosing the real feel of Seoul in the process. I wouldn’t say Seoulites are a slow-paced as the Spanish or some of the the Latin Americans, but they definitely like to wander thorugh life to the beat of a slower drum. You get up a little later, and grab breakfast at a hidden coffee shop. Then you meander through the winding shopping streets to visit one of the many palaces, stopping for ice cream and a hot chocolate for an afternoon snack. Sit there for a while, chatting and looking at all the sparky fashions walking past you, then slowly wander home via a different path. Maybe stop at a small park on the way home? Someone once said Seoul was like a Southern Drawl – you talk slowly, throwing in a few “dahlings” and “sweethahts” to create a classy charming feeling. Don’t miss out on that feeling or you’ll miss the spirit of Seoul. It’s indescribable.
Tips:
- Take Your Time! If you have limited time, just visit one of the palaces or history museums. Pick up either Building 63 or Namsan Tower – don’t try to do both. It’s much better to move at your own pace and enjoy the sites you do see than to feel harried and rushed to see it all. I say this because there is a LOT to see, and you just can’t make it everywhere in a week.
- Test Out New Taste Buds! ~ Belgian Waffles, Italian Pasta, Chinese Peking Duck, Mexican Tacos, and Korean BBQ – Seoul has it all. Don’t be too picky about the foods you try – be adveturous! I admit I’m just not the greatest fan of street food or trying new dishes, but in Seoul you really should make the effort. Their Ox Bone soup is delicious and the Chicken Galbi is to die for. Some of the foods will look stranger than they taste. Korea actually uses a lot of the same ingredients as Americans (carrots, celery, green pepper, chicken, pork, fish, noodles, garlic, lettuce, ginseng, etc), they just put them together in unique ways. And I msut say, the end result is often pretty yummy.
- Watch your $$$ ~ Seoul has gotten a lot more expensive in the last two years, even since I was there last summer. Taxis now run a minimum fee of 3,000 Won (~ $3), and other items have copied the higher priced trend. Coffee shops easily cost as much as US stores, as do many shopping locations. It’s a lot easier now to find yourself spending a ton of money unexpectedly. I recommend taking out a set amount of money each day (Woori bank doesn’t usually charge an ATM fee and we took out about 200,000 Won per day and split it between the two of us), and forcing yourself to stick to that.
- Housing ~ While I usually recommend that you stick with the hostel idea for cheaper housing, I know that for some people this isn’t feasible. My mother injured her back and couldn’t climb the stairs at our hostel and we had to find a place with a comfortable bed and a elevator for not a horrible price. One of the other places you can check out are the Love Motels. It sounds sketchy, but they aren’t as questionable as you might think. In a country where many couples still live in a home with both of their parents and their children, private time can be hard to come by. So there are a lot of “Love Motels” that rent by the night or hour for not a lot of money, and they are usually pretty nice. We found one that had 2 beds, a large flat screen tv, a in-room computer, free wifi, a huge bathroom and bath, lovely wooden heated floors, and sweet desk clerks for only 60,000 a night. It’s a little pricey, but better than the upper level hotels and just as nice to stay in.
- Buy a subway pass ~ Now that the taxi costs have gone up, it will save you a lot of money to pick up a subway pass, even if just there for a few days. The subways are brilliantly easy to use and most directions are based on coming out of the closest subway stop.
- Check out some of the stranger sights if you have time! ~ There is a trick-eye museum and lots of street art if you are interested. There are also some really artsy student shops near the university areas, and plenty of hiking expeditions to check out. Don’t just focus on getting from tourist site to tourist site. Walk around a bit at each stop, and don’t be afraid to check out a small alley. You never know what cool thing’s you’ll find!
VPN Update in Asia
26 Jan
So, reports have been out recently that the VPNs in Asia aren’t working as well as normal. The reports are definitely true. Actually the internet in general isn’t working that strongly right now, but that could just be my specific place. 
But in general, Astrill has been causing a lot of problems recently, as have ExpressVPN and VyprVPN. Astrill is completely uncommunicative on Apple products, which is a bite to a lot of people here at my institution. I’m not so sure about the others working on Apple, but I know that a lot of PCs and Androids are also having problems. So far, Astrill is working just fine on my PC, but not all the time on my Samsung DuoS phone and not at all on my IPad.
Astrill says it is attempting to update an app for use in Asia, but we’ll see how it goes. To be honest, I don’t know a lot of VPNS that work well on IOS systems at any time.
CAQ: Is China Safe?!? – The Size Issue
16 JanWell, small break in the vacation plans – mom fell yesterday and crashed her hip so I spent 13+ hours in the Korean hospital. Today she is zonked out on pain meds, so I have some time to do a little typing 🙂
I haven’t really had time to answer questions yet, but I wanted to start addressing some of the Commonly Asked Questions people give me about China. While it may not answer everything, I hope that it will clear up some big misconceptions people have about this beautiful country.
CAQ #1: Is China Safe?!?
When I began telling family and friends about my new adventure plans to teach in China,I found fear and worry was a bit more prevalent than excitement, and I had to do some serious selling of the idea before they would start to get behind me. The most common question I was asked was “well, do you think it’s safe?” After thinking about it, I’ve decided that this question stemmed from concerns of about three things (size/language, health, and security); I’ll address each in turn over the next few posts, but I want to start with the size/language concerns.
Concern: China is massively large and the language is foreign.
Just looking at a map will tell you that China is one of the worlds largest nations (technically #3, right after Russia and Canada). Then there is the fact that it is actually the #1 largest nation in terms of populations (1.3 billion in 2015, making up 19% of the worlds’ people!). Just, woah! There are 45 cities in China with more than 1,000,000 people, and the vast majority of them are closer to 3-4 million. Compare that to the US, where only 9 cities have more than 1,000,000 and only 4 of those are more than 1.5. It’s just kind of mind-boggling to think about how HUGE China really is. And I think this is one part of China that people actually kind of get – we’ve seen the movies about Shanghai and Beijing, watched the tiny little streets and billions of flashing lights in strange characters leading us into back alleys to be lost in the maze forever. China’s size is daunting, and I won’t say that this doesn’t scare me at times.
Unlike Korea and Japan, where subway signs, maps, and bus routes are more or less in English, most of the transportation aids in China are in Pinyin. In fact, there isn’t even a map at all of my home city of Xinzheng, and it has about 600,000 people. While this seems extremely big to a Missouri girl from a town of 12,000; to the locals, this is practically a backwoods country farming village. Even the nearby city of Zhengzhou, boasting 5,000,000 as early as 2010, is considered a small city. And that’s TWICE the size of Chicago! And still no good map! Continue reading
Coffe Shops Around the World: Cafe Travel
14 Jan
This sweet little out-of-the way, tucked in shop has the most stunning view of Seoul, and delicious drinks. Try their citron smoothie! To die for! They even offer wifi (password available on request) and it just begs for dreamy-eyed writers and coffee-clutch friends. Bet it had a great view of the sunrise too!
Just take exit 2 from Hyehwa station go left and follow the signs up the mountain to the Ihwa Mural Village. The cafe sits at the gate to Naksan Park.
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
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