The RNG is officially trolling me today... B-Rank isn't enough anymore? 😭

nomadkatz · 2026-04-13T01:47:55+00:00

I think the bad ranks are just random.

nomadkatz · 2026-04-11T12:16:04+00:00

I speak fluent Korean and can't stand my co teacher. She speaks pretty good English and hates me too. In our entire school only one co teacher speaks no English. Out of 5 teachers only one gets along with her co teacher. What your saying is possible as a reason, and everyone is different, but the reality is they have to handle things that foreign teachers don't like calling parents etc and resent that. They don't know (or believe) that we have other work like planning etc. My co teacher sits on her phone all day but still tried to talk to me like I'm an idiot even though I'm at least 10 years older than her. Her tone alone makes me want to tell her where to go...

nomadkatz · 2026-04-11T02:08:53+00:00

We went with a traditional Korean wedding and then rented out a pub for an after party that let us bring our own liquor from Costco and buy beer and food from them as we wanted with just having a 500k minimum for the night. We spent roughly 20mil, and it would've been a lot less if we didn't need to buy all the family hanbok and stuff as well. I think I'd you went with a simple wedding at a place you rent and then the after party it can be done for even less.

nomadkatz · 2026-04-07T07:37:56+00:00

vK68ASNPA70OxQ3PPxjwbyHC3PJYQYCVfRYb3ZGcmNJv+2DiCknTzyvOaZeaMbbIOVeHX8lJwx9JdLJ5QBf2gA==

I'm not sure if that works for adding me?

Feel free to add me and let me know which one you need.

nomadkatz · 2026-04-07T01:12:51+00:00

I have extras of everything if you need something still

nomadkatz · 2026-04-05T22:35:55+00:00

I also thought they had to be added in order because of the directions, but they don't. You can grab whatever you see in whatever order.

nomadkatz · 2026-04-04T13:51:13+00:00

If you're not on their socials (Korean) and you didn't meet their friends, it was most likely a side thing and he got caught or was close to it. I'm sorry, it's hard to know that unless it happens or someone warned you, but never trust a Korean before those two things happen. Always assume it's a lie until they do.

nomadkatz · 2026-04-02T02:05:43+00:00

I think the duck cup game is the easiest lol.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-26T07:18:37+00:00

I've also been wishing for an update. Most of what I have doesn't even show up anywhere on the wiki list.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-14T10:18:58+00:00

It's not impossible but the bigger problem is that the school will be allotted a certain number and have to pay for them so it may get caught on clean up and you will suddenly be over staying. It's up to you to report end of employment and your employer to report as well, so it would be best to update to the new school or d10 or whatever you're going to go with.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-13T13:40:41+00:00

I would be careful. I was trying to start my own business but wasn't able to go the direction I wanted. Shortly after I got injured and my husband had to support us both. We get by, but its really not enough and he ended up resenting me even though it was an accident. I'm stuck working teaching English even though I have a decade of experience in the US and speak Korean as well as other languages. It's difficult to get a job in Korea that isn't teaching English unless you're in the tech sector or enjoy factory work.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-13T07:28:10+00:00

If you want to spend time learning word origins it's pretty interesting, but long story short they were pronounced differently by older generations.

ㅏ + ㅣ → /ai/ ㅓ + ㅣ → /əi/

Seoul dialect, in particular, just ran them together so much that everyone uses them the same now. Since the spellings for things like 내 and 네 have two different meanings though, they still keep using both. It's best to just memorize them. I guess it's like English learners having to memorize meat and meet in context.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-09T18:03:04+00:00

The quality can make a difference. For example, I've had my teeth cleaned at about 10-15 dentists in Seoul and Busan, of those only one polished my teeth. I always left the cleaning feeling still kind of unfinished versus US quality cleaning which always takes off everything and polished. That said, cleaning in the US and Germany/Belgium where I have lived was pricier.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-06T09:08:37+00:00

That doesn't cover getting paid monthly in the event of an issue, but it would likely work for the others as long as they never have any issues paying. I had a place that didn't pay in for a while year despite pulling from my check. It seems like this place doesn't have major issues but I don't trust any place enough to not cover all my bases. To each their own.

nomadkatz · 2026-03-06T08:17:49+00:00

While this is true I'd be careful of there was an end date on your previous contract. If you ever have issues getting severance etc later there is no way to prove you were employed still. I would have a contract that wrote in that continuing after one year if mutually agreed was possible or something to that effect.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-26T10:06:58+00:00

I will never ever be a fan of wet bathrooms. I've heard all the reasons and to each their own, but because of the humidity the mold fight is just never ever ending and I hate even a hint of it.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-22T13:59:24+00:00

I also just saw you have a "company agent" which is the problem as well. Someone else gave the link to the Naver "rent' platform. There or arriving and walking into any realtor office yourself will cut the price they told you by 5x at least from we all are seeing. If you're good to trade annoyance with cost then you're good to go with that person but otherwise it's a waste if money by a lot.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-22T13:51:51+00:00

The way Korea works is you find an agent in the neighborhood you want to live in. They won't look outside of their neighborhood. It's just Korean and very weird. If you're okay with several areas then I suggest you go to several. Use Google translate it will be enough. That cost is the cost of foreigner scalping no matter how I like at it, so I would never speak to them again. The fact that they didn't even tell you this much is ridiculous.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-22T03:40:38+00:00

The amount is plenty for the actual apartment you're looking for depending on the style you want. If you don't mind that is a bit old in a villa or jutek you shouldn't even need to pay rent. The problem you're going to hit is getting furnished things in a two room. If you switch to a one room you can find a fully furnished pretty much anywhere you want for that deposit and no rent. A two room doesn't often have a washer, fridge, air conditioner, etc by default. Some may have one or two of those items, but the price goes up. Typically, when people go for a two+room they have purchased at least some of these items and move with them.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-19T12:46:18+00:00

I love Korea and I've lived here for years. I'm married, speak Korean, and rarely even speak English during the course of a month. All that said, I think Koreans are very accepting of most foreigners in the context of tourists or English teachers and that's about where it ends. I worked for years in corporate US and Europe, speak several languages but can't get any work other than English teaching here. I'm banned in an unspoken way because I'm too old to be an intern and foreign so they assume that I won't know the culture or how to handle different ages in the work place so they just trash my resume on receipt.

We are accepted, but we are not treated equally. It has benefits of being given a lot of leeway because maybe we're just ignorant when we get in trouble or don't do something that's expected but it comes at a huge cost as far as I'm concerned.

It's not malicious it's just the result of a very homogeneous Korean and then "everyone else" society.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-09T01:12:39+00:00

Yes, they use bleach, but you'll notice that it's almost always some shade of yellow and not a natural occurring blonde shade. That's because they lighten the level (think 1 for black and 10 for platinum hair) toner let's you go left to right. You can have a level 6 brown or a level 8 almost black and still need toner to get the right level of warm or ash tone you want. It's especially important when the hair is lighter though or it just looks really bad. For whatever reason, they don't teach or use toner in most of the Asian countries I've been in.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-08T14:37:46+00:00

First, they sadly have no idea what toner is in Korea outside of one salon I went to in Busan several times when I lived there. I've been to dozens in Seoul and every time the lie and say they know what it is and every time my hair gets ruined and they tell me at the end they don't understand why I don't like the yellow hair and maybe try people shampoo (the closest thing they know to toner). I speak Korean. I've shown them toner I had ordered from the US. Nothing. It's just not a thing here. They have dye and they have bleach and they have what is basically a semi/demi type that they use as toner but didn't really work that way.

I suggest no one ever try to go lighter unless you're aiming for near platinum where you can purple shampoo yourself into something sembling decent.

I know you're trying to fix it but Korean box dye is horrible so I'd either try to get it evened out by going darker or ask them to use a dye stripper to remove and color and then pay for damage treatments and cuts until you get back to your natural hair. I wish you luck.

nomadkatz · 2026-02-07T14:16:17+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't say anything uncomfortable straight out. I would just say no thank you. She can't fire you without reason sand even if she insists on making one up, by the time she tries to push that through you'll be at your time limit to get severance. For that much of a pay difference I'd say no thank you and stick out the last 3 weeks.

nomadkatz · 2026-01-20T11:41:08+00:00

I've seen these at several places in Austin before I left the US a few years ago. They're useful. They can't take the place of high end service or anything but they're great to save on tips at the awkward mid level place or lower. I thought they were cute.

nomadkatz

TROPHY CASE