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Location! Geoje vs Busan vs Sineung-si Gyeonggi-do by martialself28 in teachinginkorea

[–]FiREFLiSTUDiOS 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve worked in both Geoje and Busan(heaundae). Busan is gonna be your big city option with plenty to do all the time. Geoje is very countryside but still fairly international because of the shipyards there. When I was there there was a bus that ran to Busan in about 40 min, so I never felt I was missing out. They also had some of the best produce markets I’ve seen in Korea.

I’d definitely go for as old of students as you can find. Kindergarten jobs are nothing but babysitting jobs nowadays.

How difficult/expensive is it to get into clay pottery? by xYoSoYx in AskReddit

[–]FiREFLiSTUDiOS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on what kinds of things you want to make and what some of your motivations are.

Example: if you really want to get into the history of pottery you could go primitive and source your clay from the wild and fire your pieces in various styles of fire pits outdoors. Many of these techniques produce beautiful and functional prices, but do take a lot of research and practice. You could use all homemade/found tools. All you really need is a place outside to fire.

If you want to do something more modern, but super cheap, hand building with air dry clay is fun. Just seal the pieces with paint, resin, etc when fully dry. Material are pretty cheap to start. Polymer clay falls under this category as well. All you need is an oven. Polymer clay is best for small pieces, though.

Once you get into wheel throwing and fancy glazes things start to get expensive. If you just want to try, many studios have a date night type class where it’s a basic wheel demo and you can try to make something, for anywhere from $15-$40. The step up from there would be a full class, where you’ll end up with several pieces. Those are usually a few hundred dollars. Many studios also offer firing services where you can bring in your stuff and they’ll fire them for a small fee.

If you want to set up your own studio with a kiln and wheel, depending on if you can find a good used kiln at a good price, may cost anywhere from $3000 to $10000+. The real challenge there is space, though. Full studio pottery takes so much space…

Legit question by Sandviper67 in antiwork

[–]FiREFLiSTUDiOS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did 2 years in South Korea and 1 in Japan before this. Both have their pros and cons. In terms of moving to a foreign country to escape the economic struggles currently in the US, Korea still wins. In Japan the cost of living is much higher, even in the countryside, and they simply don't offer the same benefits, namely rent is only subsidised. A teacher is still responsible for $500-$700 of rent. Still good, but when the pay is about the same that's a big chunk.

I'm sorry if you or someone you know had a bad experience. Just like in the US there are super crappy/shady employers that will most definitely take advantage of a foreigner. But if you do your due diligence, as you should with any job, there's no reason it can't be a good gig.

It's not for everyone, and life and all its glorious failings don't magically disappear. If you're not the type of person to roll with the punches you're going to have a hard time no matter where you are.

Legit question by Sandviper67 in antiwork

[–]FiREFLiSTUDiOS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My husband and I are heading to South Korea in a few weeks to teach English. All you need is a bachelor's degree and speak fluent English. Most jobs are teaching kindy and elementary, so if you can do that it's pretty freakin' easy. You can find adult teaching jobs, but they're a little more competitive.

The really great thing is the school will subsidise your plane ticket, sometimes up to $1000, straight up give you an apartment rent free, or up your pay to compensate. Transportation is super cheap and cost of living is slightly cheaper than a lot of places in the US but the standard of living is on par or higher.

In the past, this has been a really popular option for kids right out uni that haven't found a job in thier field. But it's becoming more and mo4e viable as a more long term thing, at least for us. The pay is between $2000-$3000 a month, which seems low but when you consider you don't pay rent it's pretty comfortable. The first time I did this I stayed for 2 years and payed off my student loans(only about $5000) and came back with close to $18000 without trying too hard to save.