Weird People in Korea

I've been reminded that there is no lack of weird foreingers in Korea. While I would say the majority of people who teach English in Korea are pretty normal, there is a fairly high number of weirdos.

It has been my experience that these are the folks who create the negative image you sometimes come across about teaching in Korea. Whereas they can speak English with great fluency, their social skills are, errr...lacking.

Korea seems to be a great place not only for recent grads looking for an opportunity to explore the world, but it also attracts those who were, dare I say, outcasts back home.

Yes, Korea does offer a great place to run away. When you think about it, the qualifications are not that hard to obtain. Plus, when you can sneak in without a face to face interview, you're just asking for trouble.

I was reminded of this when over the weekend I was at a certain meeting for teachers. There was a presenter who did a great job. However, a few of the participants were...well...just plain weird.

So, what do I mean? Have you ever been to a presentation or a class where someone consistently asks questions or makes comments that no one else understands? Everyone else just sits there and kind of cringes, feeling bad for the presenter.

The presenter acts nice and tries to answer the question or comment, and get back on with the presentation. This happens several times throughout the presentation. You know the kind of person I'm talking about.

Well, like I was saying, I forgot these people were around. But...they are! So, I guess our goal at ASK Now is to reduce the amount of people we send who would fall into the category of "about to be fired." Not only do these people get themselves fired, they also tend to be the ones that are most outspoken.

But, their written English is good...so they come across as rational people (for the most part). But, if you were to sit down and have a conversation with one of these chaps, you would realize that listening to their opinion is the last thing you want to do.

Well, I guess that's it...I don't want it to seem like I'm complaining or making fun of people. I just want people to understand that you may work with some strange cats, and that some strange cats may be posting not so positive remarks about decent places.

So...watch out for weirdos!

Jason