Some clips of Flight of the Conchords. "Business Time" and "Jenny" are partcularly great. Two very talented and funny Kiwis!

Saturday, January 06, 2007

ASTA Kids Club in Incheon, Korea

Another place for the wolves. This place seems to have caused countless teachers a miserable time and to be run by sadists.
Seems to be a place to avoid. Now's your chance to put the boot in.

I've received a posting asking me WHY it's so bad.

It took me two minutes to trawl this from the web. Each paragraph delineates a different quote. The Inspector is McKnackered!

The crap western "management" tried to put me on probation because I was seen talking to other teachers outside of school, and had been seen with a guy who did a runner (he was braver than me).

In the end I wasn't allowed to walk the streets with other westerners - how can they dictate friggin BS like that.

If that miserable MF Marc comes back to Korea, I would pay someone to do him over - wouldn't lower myself to touch scum like that.

WORST school in Korea, on the upside I think I am now at the best school!

Marc learned well from Rick. That guy had one heck of a mean streak.

As for the small gu thing, when I arrived, Kid's Club was the only hogwon in the district, and we the only teachers (12 at the time). Two years later, hogwons had sprouted like weeds within a 1 km radius.

Yeah, Greg got here in 2000. A pervert if ever there was one.

Did I mention the cameras in the classrooms?! Sheer intimidation. I suppose they waned to document that we were being "cruel and unusual" to the poor kids.
Mr Jong is one of the most evil persons Ii have ever encountered. Mr Park is a Lackey, and therefore to be pitied, but he is on the level of a concentration camp guard - guilty as h*ll.
What an evil place LCI/ASTA Kids Club is.
Funny thing is, what with lectures about "you are in Korea, you must follow Korean customs," I hate Korea and Koreans. Good PR for you Korean patriots... You are all lying, deceitful pieces of s*it, judging by your actions.
Totally despicable...

"You're in Korea, you must follow Korean customs." and "You need to speak more American English."

I just nodded my head. "Whatever," I thought, and did my own thing. Teaching, ignoring Rick, and only using the American accent to teach phonics. (I found it easier using the US accent to teach these kids phonics/reading than the Aussie/Brit one)

One of the funny things is that they use mostly Aus/NZ books, which introduce all sorts of contextualized/limited vocabulary.
Oh, my Lord, I love slagging this "school."
I still have dreams sometimes... When I wake up, it is hard to describe the euphoria I feel when I remember I'm no longer in Korea, slaving away for those b*stards.
I wish I were a believer, so I could picture Jongie and Parkie in hell...
This hagwon WILL go down, I swear.

When I got there in 1999 I was asked to teach in an American accent (i'm an Aussie). It wasn't too bad of a place when I started, but when I left in 2001 I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

"Sit nicely!"
Once, when I was teaching Kindly, I was told to show "extra attention and love" to a little girl who was new in class. Nice.
They're still telling Ozers to do an American accent - pathetic.


Why didn't/don't one of you make a helpful call to the Incheon police about Rick and his habits.

The crap western "management" tried to put me on probation because I was seen talking to other teachers outside of school, and had been seen with a guy who did a runner (he was braver than me).

In the end I wasn't allowed to walk the streets with other westerners - how can they dictate friggin BS like that.

If that miserable MF Marc comes back to Korea, I would pay someone to do him over - wouldn't lower myself to touch scum like that.

WORST school in Korea, on the upside I think I am now at the best school!


Jung was absolutely livid when one of the female teachers got married (this was back in the 90's)- made her life hell after that (she got married to a Korean, too, so you'd think he'd be more likely to back off). He has very serious control issues.

Was that Janelle?


Yeah- I saw her in 2001. She was pregnant with her second baby by then.

Tracy should be leaving soon, or is already gone, if she sticks to her plans. Now that Marky is gone, the school will be hard up for "management." My bet is on Betti staying on to be head *****.

Here's even more reasons to avoid the arsehole of Korea, ASTA LCI Kid's Club in Dongchoon Dong, Incheon.

Everything written about this atrocious hagwon is true. It really is the rectum of Korea, headed by two sly directors and a bunch of incompetent western twits on a power trip.

Kid's Club parades as a professional "school" to lure teachers into a contract, lying and misleading them on work hours among other things.
We're an Australian couple that just finished our stint in hell.
Here's common practice at Kid's Club:

1. Big Brother: two cameras scrutinise teachers' every move in the classroom to find something pathetic to blast them about.
Kid's Club operates on fear and control. The directors choose their "whipping boy" (or couple) to pick on, hauling them over the coals for anything and everything, as well as serving them the worst possible schedule each month.
On two ridiculous occasions they threatened to fire us - one was for being sick. As evil Jung told teachers, "It is selfish to be sick".

2. Rosters: while the contract says 120 hours a month, in reality teachers work more than 34 hours a week because of how the calendar dates fall in line with their pay day. Also, public holidays free up more hours to work, as 120 hours can be squeezed into 19 days, not 20 days, for example.

3. Suck it up: there is no avenue for legitimate complaints. As we discovered, it's simply fodder for them to pick on you more. We were foolish enough to believe The Witch, (name removed), when she told us we'd finish at 6pm if we worked morning kindergarten. After approaching The Twits (western mgt) about it, we were basically told to suck it up, "that's the way things work in Korea" and "it's all about team work". What crap.
From then on (a fortnight into our contract) we were the naughty ones for complaining and treated accordingly.

4.Western managers: what a joke. The Koreans like to bestow the honour of being a manager on any power-hungry idiot in need of a quick confidence boost.
{name removed), now departed, are/were the Head Twits, bending over daily for the directors. Tracy is a hard-nosed lying tramp and Marc is some kind of schizophrenic with shrivelled balls.
(name removed)(only loser Aussies try to sound American, and in the process mis-pronounce their own name) are hypocritical lackeys. At first they enjoyed dobbing others in for not towing the Kid's Club line, now they're shouting "poor me!"
(name removed) should go back to being a taxi driver in Canada. (name removed) has some serious issues, most notably intelligence ("Why is the snow on the road black?"). She quite enjoys shovelling *beep* on others - even her own friends - if it boosts her pathetic flailing self-esteem just a tiny bit.
Suck it up girls. May you forever extend your contracts and rot in the Kid's Club prison.


If you're offered a contract at this disgraceful attempt at an educational institution, run for the hills! Staff are treated like excrement on the directors' well-polished shoes and once you're trapped it's difficult to escape.

Working there sounds like fun. The only reason they can push you around is that they control your visa and your apartment. I wonder what it would be like to just go work there out of simple challenge on an F2 or F5 with your own place. What could they do to control you? Fire you? Smile Approaching this as a challenge that would be something id expect to happen anyway, so no skin off my nose.

Sit Nicely!
I struggle to find words to describe "Mr" Jong/Jung"
Except for EVIL EVIL EVIL
This pathetic excuse for a school WILL go down, if not the 1/3 MES will take care of it... Don't ask.why
When I left, I left my apartment in an absolutely fetid state - it was the only payback I could get at the time...

For the record. I would like to state that most of the guys on the Incheon Iceholes are a great bunch of lads. I just received a PM from one of the goalies on the team and I realise that I worded things in a way that. That may have offended many of the players that read this board.
When I was referring to the "useless goalies" I actually meant a "Dummy Goalie" which is a peice of foam rubber in place of an absent goalie.

I was actually referring to the lack of cohesion on the team. Many guys with a lot of skill refuse to pass the puck in practice and in games that do not matter so they can score goals. They are still nice guys. Skill wise, I am not in a position to criticise, as I said before, I am nothing special as a hockey player.
Personally, I on;y have serious issues with two players on the team. I am sure we all know by now who one of them is.

So, if any of you Iceholes(with two notable exceptions), are reading. Sorry boys! And keep your stick on the ice!

Riverboy- good story. I know some other guys that used to play hockey with him. They said he was an asshat and everyone laughed at him, but they never told me any stories- I was a bit disappointed about that^^. Amazing he made captain, being the jerk that he was (is). Anyway, consider yourself lucky you didn't work there!!

Didn't know he cruised at Gecko's. Good thing I don't hang out there in the evening, then.

You know, I bet the director's seen this thread and is just livid (I was forbidden to access this website while I was at work- no prob, cuz I just went down the street one of the many PC Bangs!). Har har~

Yeah, I have a personal grudge against the guy. I really shouldn't have acted like that, but I don't like being talked down to by anyone, and the way they suspended me.... two freaking months for a two minute penalty!!!
The Gyopo President of the hockey team is your classic little man who will do anything to make himself feel important. He was the guy behind the suspension, but he used the individual we are talking about to do his dirty work. He was all to glad, but he did it on the phone and I was guilty without being allowed to explain myself. It really was a black eye for the team as lots of guys lost a lot of respect for those guys and a few don't even go anymore.
I hate to stay so bitter, but I would like to meet the president and the former supervisor, square off with both of them and give them both a good old fashioned a$$ whoopin. That would make me feel better!
Man do I ever have issues lol

At the infamous LCI/ASTA Kids' Club in Dongchoon-Dong, Incheon, I had 3 (count 'em) THREE different apartments, all of which sucked. I'd forgotten about this. When I first arrived, I spent I think 2 days in one apartment, because they didn't want the departing teacher, into whose 3 bdrm I was supposed to live, to infect me with his "bad" attitude. Should have known right then and there, but that's another story. Then I had a decent bedroom with an en suite bathroom for a month, but pretty much had to move into the infamous closet room, which had been abandoned by a runner and was filthy... This room had a bed and a wardrobe, because that was all that would fit in it... And this was in August... OMG it was miserable. Then I got a single, which was a hole. Bathroom opened onto the hallway and was freezing cold all Winter...
Ugh, another Kids Club memory... make it go away!

Beware the old Canadian "head teacher" is back at LCI Kids Club, Yeonsu-Gu, not sure what his aim is this time - to torment the other teachers, or fire a few of them.

If you wanna last 12 months working 125 hours a month for 2.0 million, start kissing his arse or bald head!

I met some newbies who work there the other day, very nice girls, who were already having reservations (I didn't find out till later where they worked) - I wish them good luck and smooth sailing.

Which one? The tall one starting with M, the pregnant one starting with G or the Dalek who was in the hockey team, starting with R?

I met some newbies who work there the other day, very nice girls, who were already having reservations (I didn't find out till later where they worked) - I wish them good luck and smooth sailing.


My school is in the next building over. Considering that we're looking for a teacher, maybe I should go over there and start recruiting them.

This is the Veterans of ASTA Clubhouse, this thread. And it's kinda fun to peek in and hear you guys telling your war stories and comparing battle scars. Though I'm just eavesdropping here, I have to say it's depressing that these rotten outfits just never seem to go belly up, implode, get busted for something... They just carry on as nasty as they wanna be, racking up more veterans as the years go on. How can businesses this vile survive for so long?


Well, well, well... It's been about one year to the DAY that I set off on a plane to Korea. Who knew three months later, I'd be starting a thread that would carry on for almost a year? Gotta say I'm pretty happy about the success of this thread, although it's not my preferred method of keeping in touch with old friends. And I realize that I'm going off topic here, but I don't post a lot, so I hope you'll excuse the "breach in protocol".

Since this is about the one year anniversary of my departing (and subsequent return three months later) to Korea, I thought I'd I'd mark the occasion with another warning to any noobs out there who are thinking of working overseas. If you are contacted IN ANY WAY by ANYBODY about working at this school, please, please, PLEASE keep looking. There are a lot of great places to work in Korea, and LCI/ASTA Kids Club is NOT one of them.

That being said, it was a good lot of fun to read how people feel about this school and the people who work there. I am, of course, referring to the "administration". Was it a horrific, trying, life-defining, grueling, "forced-labour" experience? Indeed it was. How did I make it through those three months, you ask? Great friends, trips into Seoul with my good friend, travelx, Friday night poker (W and C, you still got my chips?), and coffee and the PC Bang every night with my good friend, BadPegge.

Was it the worst experience of my life? Quite possibly, and yet it's strange how the best memories sometimes come out of the worst experiences. So, in the spirit of the festive season, there are many things I would like to raise a glass to.

1) Leaving town with 400 bucks from my last paycheque, only to pass through Japan to go riding in Nozawa Onsen. If there's anybody from that school (and again, I'm refering to the "administrators"), that's where I went, and I gotta say, after putting up with your crap for three months, I don't think I would have ever fully appreciated the FANTASTIC Japanese hospitality.

2) W and C, who put up with you for a full YEAR, and are now reaping their benefits traveling around Southeastern Asia. You put up with a lot of crap, and if you ask me, you're living proof that Karma exists. And just so you know, W and C, I am GREEN with envy. GREEN.

3) My good friend, and fellow Canadian D McD, who I've spent many a bus ride back from Seoul, coming back from the Rocky Mountain Tavern. May your new baby be blessed. You're currently tied for 4th in our hockey pool, and I'm stuck near the basement...

4) My two good, good friends, travelex and Bad Pegge. They may sound a little bitter, but for good cause. What I put up with for 3 months, they put up with for 3-4 times as long. Without the two of you, I wouldn't even have made it as long as I did.

It's been a long hard road, but we're all in better places, now. And what's better, none of us will ever, ever have to deal with the mofos that run that place. To LCI/ASTA Kids Club, and it's Korean administration, I hope the earth opens up and swallows you up. Parky, if you're reading this, you have a couple of great kids, please don't subject them to that crap curriculum. To the Canadian cockroach, you don't control anybody or anything. You're not even a man. Sit down, shut up, and let the rest of the adults do the talking. To the Canadian cow, and the Australian dumbass, you're both ugly, fat, mean-spirited people who are as dirty on the inside as you are on the outside. You'll never get married, and you'll die miserable and alone. To D McD, haven't talked to you in a bit, but I'll drop you a line soon. Oil are going all the way this year, with or without Prongs. To travelex, miss you HEAPS. David Gray makes me nostalgic. To Bad Pegge, it's called EMAIL. Use it. Miss you, buddy. To W and C, I know you're having a blast in Asia. I know I've had a blast reading about it. Travel safe and happy.

In the spirit of the season, let's raise a glass. Cheers to good friends, good times, and good memories. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas, including all those people in the room I don't know, but excluding, of course, all the aforementioned people. In fact, you LCI/ASTA folk can disregard all the good feelings altogether. Your coal will be arriving post-haste. Better get your stockings out, lest Santa have no other place to stick it except up your POOPER.




Inspector McHammered of the Lard
FOR THE MOST RECENT POSTING CLICK HERE
FOR BLACKLIST NOMINATIONS CLICK HERE

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why exactly is this school bad?Could you please give details

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

I could go on as the list of complaints about this hell hole are too numerous to bother listing. I will however if you really really need to know.....
Taken from the "two dumplings" blog:

"A BRIEF interlude from this food blog for something distinctly unfoodie and downright distasteful.

In fact, if I were to describe it in food terms I would say bitter, sour, rotten even.

If you've googled upon this post and are thinking of taking an ESL job in Korea, I hope you find what we have to say helpful. Or even better, if you're considering a contract at ASTA LCI Kid's Club, Dongchoon Dong, Incheon, that you may read this post, change your mind and run for the hills. That would be very wise.
If you felt compelled to email Kid's Club and tell them that from what you've read, they sound like the worst "hagwon" (after-hours academy) in Korea and you wouldn't work for them if your life depended on it, well that would be even better.

But perhaps that's being a bit optimistic on my behalf.
Let's start with our story.

Last month Wes and I completed a one-year contract at LCI Kid's Club.

While the kids are fantastic, the "school" (and I use that term loosely) is not. Its treatment and management of staff is atrocious, based on lies, manipulation and threats in the hope that employees will be so fearful they will put up with the vast piles of shit shovelled on top of them every day.

Everything written about Kid's Club is true.
It really is the arsehole of Korea, headed by two sly directors and a bunch of incompetent western twits on a power trip.
Kid's Club parades as a professional "school" to lure teachers into a contract, lying and misleading them on work hours among other things.

Here's some of the things we dealt with daily, and the reason why we're so happy to be free at last!

1. Big Brother: two cameras scrutinise teachers' every move in the classroom to find something pathetic to blast them about. Kid's Club operates on fear and control. The directors choose their "whipping boy" (or couple) to pick on, hauling them over the coals for anything and everything, as well as serving them the worst possible schedule each month.
This even extends outside of the classroom, where the directors try to control what teachers talk about and who they socialise with. Teachers must be guarded when discussing personal feelings with other teachers - even outside of school - as the directors ensure their lackeys (see below) report back to them.

2. Rosters: while the contract says 120 hours a month, in reality teachers work more than 34 hours a week because of how the calendar dates fall in line with their pay day. Also, public holidays free up more hours to work, as 120 hours can be squeezed into 19 days, not 20 days, for example.

3. Suck it up: there is no avenue for legitimate complaints. As we discovered, it's simply fodder for them to pick on you more. And you can be sure that if you have a brain and are not willing to put up with the bollocks they serve, you will get picked on.

4.Western managers: what a joke. The Koreans like to bestow the honour of being a manager on any power-hungry idiot in need of a quick confidence boost. They can smell them a mile away, and soon put together a group of western rejects with no management skills, willing to do anything to please the Koreans if it means they'll get a slimy slap-on-the-back from Jung and a fortnightly free lunch. Oh the warm fuzzies that must give them.

At the end of our contract - after numerous lies and on two occasions threatening to fire us - Kid's Club asked us to extend our contract for three weeks "to help them out".

Even more insulting was the fact they rang up the travel agent and checked on our plane tickets to China - which we personally booked and paid for - to see if we could change our flights.

Our story is just a drop in the Kid's Club ocean of mistreatment and abuse. During our contract one teacher was forced to do a "runner" after being unfairly treated, then two weeks later another was fired because she was friends with him and the Koreans had lost face.

If you get offered a contract at Kid's Club, run for the hills! There's far better ESL jobs in Korea with better pay and far better conditions."

Inspector McHammered of the Lard

Anonymous said...

I used to work in the same area as the school and had friends there and I really didn't hear anything that bad about the school. I think its all in the way each person looks at it. Perhaps you shouldn't have staied if it was that bad.

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

Perhaps you shouldn't have staied if it was that bad.
I think there's a typo somewhere, but the Inspector gets the drift.
I'll unearth some more evidence especially for you Mr or Miss Anonymous. There's so much out there. One of the owners is apparently a monster.

Anonymous said...

Can you refer me to any sites for this LCI Incheon? I have been offered a position and just want to make sure that I am making the right decision.

BTW, can anyone give me the physical address?

Thanks - Still contemplating in America

Anonymous said...

Want actual sound recordings from LCI Kids Club - Incheon ? Here you go:

I think this pretty much says it all:

http://asherblack.com/jung

Anonymous said...

If you still have to ask, go ahead and go work there. Some people can't learn from others, they have to experience.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't gonna bother with this but have decided it's the right thing to do. LCI is not a professional work place. You will be punished for personal problems with management. Pay is on time, but that's about the only thing legit. You will work "hidden hours" and if you quesion staff, you'll be given the worst schedule. Mr.Jung and Mr.Park will refuse to speak directly with you about any problems or concerns. You're fate there is in the hands of inexperienced management. LCI is micro-managed and meetings are scheduled, at the drop of a hat,for the most ridiculous things. You will not be made aware of your vacation days until two weeks before. This leaves no time to plan or get tickets.
Also,living situations are unfair and can be dangerous. One girl was made to stay in an apartment where a man, who ended up being her neighbor, tried to attack her. When she begged to be moved, she was told that there was nothing else available and she had to stay. When she finally was given an option, it was to stay in the "transitional" apartment, which is hideous and only meant for your first two weeks. Eventually, after a year of work, she was given a closet as an apartment.
Another girl was abruptly moved into a nasty closet apartment when she had a personal problem with mangement, who she was forced to live with.
Another person was threatened to be fired after voicing some legit concerns, 2months before her contract was up.
I could go on and on.
Basically, you get punished no matter what you do there. Oh wait,
if you're a little conniving informant,that makes things up to make yourself look better, then
you should be okay.
I won't use
any more nasty words to describe LCI but I have written the truth. There are plenty of better places to work!!!

Anonymous said...

In Feb at LCI we have had, a teacher who was locked out of their flat after being legitimatly ill, a teacher who has no hot water - this doesn't seem to be an issue for the managent, and a teacher who was forced to pay bills for an appartment they weren't living in. Good times! Do not take a job here!!

Anonymous said...

HI, sorry your experience was so bad. My daughter is about to sign a contract with Gyeonoggi English Village (Paju Village) and wondered if you had come across any-one from there and had any comments.

Anonymous said...

I have no experience with the one in Seoul, but the one Gwangju is pretty shoddy as well. All in all, I'd say stay away from LCI. There are other openings out there don't fall for LCI.

Anonymous said...

This page is great- I just left (corection: forced out after being locked out of my apt) LCI Kid's Club in Gwangju- looks like it's an LCI thing. Our school sounds almost the same- bad apartments, terrible forein head teachers, ass kissing, cameras, micro-managing, weeding out anyone with a concern, etc. I should start a blog too, but for now, here is a more detailed explanation of what happened:
http://www.hagwonchecklist.com/hagwons/index.php?method=showdetails&list=advertisement&rollid=264&fromfromlist=classifiedscategory&fromfrommethod=showhtmllist&fromfromid=11

Unknown said...

Has anyone had an experience with the LCI Kids club in Seoul? They want me to sign a contract, and I came across this page... Now I'm concerned!

Inspector Mchammered of the Lard said...

I've heard too many bad things about them. They appear to be one of the worst. Count yourself lucky you found this page.
Send them The Inspector's compliments.

Anonymous said...

Also avoid "Bundang Kids Club" (a.k.a., "Kids Club Fun Languages") in Gumi-Dong (Ori Station), Bundang. I taught there in 2006. The director, Gina Song, was nice to me until the day I started teaching there. (I had just completed one year at another hagwon), after I had signed the contract, of course. She made a habit of having impromptu one-on-one meetings with teachers and shouting at them, telling them how bad they were, even though her observation of teachers was only superficial. Her academic director ("bu-jang" in Korean), spoke better English and maintained a better composure, but of course she was on the director's side. Bundang Kids Club is located in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood, but the peacefulness outside is a deceitful cover for the "hell" many teachers experience inside. Even the head teacher did not like the director, although the director was not mean to him (just most everyone else). Just avoid "Bundang Kids Club" and Gina Song. If you don't take my advice, you will regret it soon enough.

Anonymous said...

Uh Uh UH UH UH UH UH
I think I just signed a contract with these people. I deal with a woman who has misled me a lot, I overlooked a number of things, but she changed the city from the one I agreed upon. She said she is from USA. I signed a contract. She seems very controling. I am not even in Korea yet.
Is this the same Kids Club? What were the addresses of these schools, the names of the city would be sufficient.

Anonymous said...

Hi I just wanted to ask one question of dissatisfied employees. If the situation is not what was on your contract then why doesn't anyone call their Embassy and ask for a Korean Labor Lawyer, I am told many speak English fluently and they do not charge very much. I am told if complaints through the standard channels the bad employers will loose their business licenses. Also you can receive damages - FORCED TO LIVE WITH MANAGER - this is too much to believe. If the contract stated apartment that does not mean sharing a house with the manager. It means an apartment. WHy doesn't anyone get an attorney or complain to the Ministry of Education? THe cameras in class are standard in US schools. I think that is ok. You certainly can't be accused of hitting them. Has anyone ever responded to the tirades by saying, "Thank you for telling me. I'll see you tomorrow." Or "Let's make an appointment to talk about this, it is probably easier if you make a list and we discuss this once a week. I can't leave my students alone in the classroom."
Surely some of the same things you do anywhere can be done in Korea. If someone screams at me I usually stand up and say, "I will come back when you are calm." I would sincerely appreciate a response because what would stop someone from just saying, "You frighten me, I don't know what you are talking about I think I should cal the police, this isn't normal." For that matter go to the students parents. They pay money they might have some clout.

Anonymous said...

EE BOO YOUNG Talking Kids Club

Hi You are naive to assume that a bad situation in Korea is easily rectified or mediated. This is a story I heard, I will quote: " I worked at a Talking Kids Club. The day I arrived the Director met me with an anti American diatribe and went into a rage which I found very unnerving. I was dropped off in the middle of a southern city from a bus. She took me to an apartment and said we would renegotiate my contract or I could earn money on my bed. The apartment had windows facing an alley where tires were burned in trash cans regularly this ultimately made me sick. My employer's English, the employer was a woman was what I would have expected from a prostitute. Every aspect of my contract was violated, no overtime, no matress on bed, pay was late and short of overtime, I did not receive an alien registration card, without which I could not open a bank account or apply for a drivers license, I had not medical insurance (the burning tires really made me sick, I am still sick) I went to a Korean doctor who gave me a prescription which I thought was for lung and sinus infection, I looked it up on the net and it was for a tranquilizer, my boss made continued references to selling my body. She brought a man to the school and told me he would take me to his house every weekend and return me to the school for adult English classes. I had an adult class at the school. This was an illegal request, the man was weird and spoke obscene English. When I refused she threatened to take away my company paid apartment. Previously she had entered my apartment on many ocassions and remarked on my wardrobe at school.Some of my clothing vanished. I received money from home via Western Union then traveled to Seoul where I went to my recruiter who said I needed an attorney (Without a paycheck and bills back home and an infection which made me feel very ill?) When I missed a Monday I called her she told me to "eat vomit" On Tuesday she called and was very nice. I turned in a resignation to comply with the letter of the law and my boss hit me. I went to the police and she followed me there and hit me in front of the police. They said I could leave Korea. I could not prove the things she said she did not say these things in front of other people and she denied them to the police but it was obvious she broke the contract. She had a bipolar personality, was probably on alcohol, and was the most artful of liars. The woman was a maniac. No one who worked for her liked her but the depend entirely on their job. The economy in Korea is such that jobs are hard to find. When I first read these postings before going to Korea I thought just malcontents and disgruntled unhappy people were writing. IT IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND YOU ARE CRAZY TO THINK THEY REALLY LIKE AMERICANS WE ARE A NECESSARY EVIL. They do not have the same labor standards and employment customs we do, think Industrial Revolution conditions but apply this to the academic world. Let me also add that children are beaten at school, I don't beat children. Once after the boss argued with her husband in the office she stormed into my phonics class and hit the children with a sharp stick, tiny children. They had done nothing wrong. And let me explain something else. These students go to a public school until the afternoon. At 2 or 3 or 4 they are sent to the private school where they remain until 7 or 8 or 9 p.m. They are only 7-14 years old. Many are both tired and hungry. the parents are often working class mothers work in a store until 10:30 fathers are truck drivers or mechanics and the children are sent to a school where they parents hope to improve their futures at the worst they just want the children to have a babysitter. The children realize either they cope or they go to someplace worse than the school.
My second day I was driven to the school that night students walked me home. The next day I started out very early to find the school that night I was lost for hours with no phone trying to find my apartment which I eventually located. The people I wrote to urged me to leave but I was threatened that if I left I would be placed in jail and charges could have been trumped up. Some of the people on my incoming flight to Korea had good experiences, mine was bad and I have taught overseas before.

I never had books to take home to prepare classes. She constantly threatened me stating "If you take these books to use for private classes I will have you raped." This employer was purely evil.

I feared for my life because she was
demented and evidently very paranoid.

Also leaving was not easy, she told me she had friends at the railroad ticket office and bus station.She had threatened to invent charges. I had huge suitcases. I left without many personal things I took with me to lighten my load. And guess what, if you are in a small town and you do make it to Seoul the subway doesn't have escalators or porters.
I found a ride with a man who by the grace of God knew about this woman from a previous employee who was also in a situation similar to me. He was a man and received a text message in English from the school threatening to set him up.
I prayed I could get home. I prayed and prayed. I pray more naive people do not go to Korea.

Remember this, if you complain what are you going to do between the time the complaint is made and a court date is scheduled. My boss might have been involved in something illegal. I don't know. But this woman was not a nice person.

I left Korea in the middle of the night because I was told the woman I worked for wanted me dead rather than loose face in the community. She was sinister. The Embassy will receive your remarks and provide you with a list of attorneys, you have to remember whatever is said to you in English or at the school can be denied by your employer unless you make a tape recording.