Wally In K-Life

Thank you so much. You all are so kind to me!

To answer your first question, I first encountered Korean my senior year in university when my Korean friend taught me Hangul after I found out that I was accepted to work in Korea. That was in 2009, late spring. I spent a week learning the characters and then learned “안녕하세요” and “—주세요” and that’s it. Then I came to Korea and sort of faffed about a bit, not studying much but learning lots of vocabulary and basic conjugation in a once a week free class with poor teaching. Then I totally stopped studying for a year. In that year, I met my current boyfriend and his family and realized, oh my god, I have GOT to study Korean. So, in 2011 I attended Sogang University’s Korean Language Program for six months. After that I returned to teaching and stopped studying again for a full year. As of this week, I started classes at Yonsei KLI’s evening program to further my depth of Korean ability. So from first exposure to the Korean alphabet to today it’s been not quite four years. Total actual study time: about a year and a half. Life in Korea has a way of helping you improve your Korean skills if you simply try to talk to people and understand what they are saying.

And your second question, I can cognitively process some thoughts in Korean. Things like self-introductions and talking about my day are generally processed in Korean. I don’t think in English unless I get stuck mid sentence and can’t figure out a word. Grammar issues are dealt with only in Korean for me and usually listening is processed mostly in Korean. If I have to talk about something more complex there is a lot more processing in English.

Thank you so much for the compliment! I want to post more videos, but I just don’t have much time these days. Anyways, as for your questions:

1. How did you get to know about Korea(or the Korean language) before you moved to Korea? When I was in university I worked at an English Language Institute affiliated with my uni. I worked as a teaching assistant for speaking classes and taught students from around the world. There were lots of Koreans and I got close to many of them so I became interested in Korea. Also, I had a conversation partner through the Institute and she is the person who first taught me hangul.

2. What made you to decide to actually go there? When I was working at the English Language Institute (ELI) I discovered that I really loved teaching English and wanted to do it as a job. At first I had planned to apply to JET, the main English teaching program in Japan, but due to strange circumstances with a now ex-boyfriend I missed the deadline for application and end up applying for Korea instead. Korea was my second choice and I had planned on apply to both, but man am I ever glad I ended up in Korea. It’s perhaps the one thing I can look back and thank that ex-boyfriend for.

3. do you see yourself marrying a Korean man and live there or are you planning on moving back? I am not planning on moving back permanently in the near future. I can’t speak for the rest of my life, but certainly the next five to ten years will be in Korea. I hope to marry my boyfriend Hoon (a Korean) but that won’t happen right away. If we do end up having kids (5+ years from now) I’d like to go to the States with them when they are in elementary or middle school for a few years so they can experience America, which would be half of their cultural background. But I don’t think I’ll be living in the States permanently for a long long time.

1. It would be difficult for a Filipino to get a public school position in Seoul because they are pretty strict about hiring only “native” English speakers (ie American, Canadian, Australian, British, South African). However, there are plenty of opportunities in private academies and hagwons, but you’ll have to look in different places. As I am from the States, the sites I frequent for job opportunities are largely for people of native English backgrounds. So yeah. Your Elementary Education background will definitely be a plus.

2. There are tons of programs and options for learning Korean. You can even come here to learn Korean for a semester while looking for the perfect job for you.

3. Pay is usually a lot lower (unfortunately) for hagwon teachers from the Philippines (or Singapore) because they are considered non-native English speakers. With no previous teaching experience, I would guess something in the ball park of 1300-1500 usd per month, but this is pretty much just a guess since I am not familiar with those kinds of salaries and job positions.

4. Yes, there are lots of Filipino teachers here in Korea.

There are guys of every nationality around the world who are interested in women who are not stick thin. There are men in Korea who like shinny girls, and men who like thick girls, and men who like tall girls, and men who like short girls, and men who like white girls, and men who like black girls, and men who like brown girls. The most important thing, however, is to love who you are. Korean society can be shallow and care a lot about looks, but there are hundreds of thousands of men who care more about you than about your appearance, so don’t worry and be confident in Korea, and wherever else you may end up.

Most music companies hire freelance designers. They often also use world-renowned designers for album designs. However, to get assistanceships or such would be feasible, but you would have to study a LOT of Korean, and probably live and work in Korea for a while building up a Korean portfolio before you have a real shot at that…

www.harukorean.com

It’s run by an awesome and interesting group of people. They have a youtube channel with lots of helpful videos as well. AWESOME stuff.

They are still considered Idols, for sure, although they are considered more creative and free on the idol spectrum. But they are (and always will be) idols.

They are just a different version of the typical idols of the past (and present?)

I’m 25, will turn 26 this April!

Thanks!! I had a wonderful wonderful wonderful time in the Philippines. I CANNOT wait to go back. Next time I’m gonna get to Cebu or Boracay and get my party on. Manila was fun with my Filipino friends, but they promised even more fun in Cebu! haha

I went, but was on the third floor, but it was amazing. It was almost the same as the one they held last year, where I was on the floor, so I didn’t miss much.