I thought I was retired from blogging but moving back to Korea resurrected my career. I need to solve this problem of mine that my current blog name is tied to the city that I lived in last year. I'm no longer in Ansan, so soloANSANble, no matter how clever it is, just won't cut it any more. And it would be easy to create another title for me relating to Seoul, but I've learned my lesson and I won't have the title bound to any specific thing other than me. I like to thoroughly think these things through so I'll keep posting under this name until I think of the new one.
Now I'm going to have a battle, between the beginning of my 1st year in Korea, and the beginning of my second year in Korea. It's actually my third time entering Korea but the second time was just for a month in Seoul and I wasn't working. So I'll leave that out. I'll try to think of as many specific things as possible and give a point to either the first start or second start depending on which was better. And I won't use the bias that I have for the first year because I know that the whole year was great and my time this year is mostly still to be determined. Note: I am with a different company and in a different location this year.
First year beginning(FYB) Second year beginning(SYB)
Location: Goes to SYB, FYB 0 - SYB 1: Last year, I think I lucked up in living in Ansan, it was pretty big, had some busy parts, interesting places and could find almost anything I wanted. But still, every time I would go into Seoul it would still feel a lot better, and I would have more of an exciting experience than a lot of the time in Ansan. I don't live in a very popular part of Seoul, it still takes me anywhere from 20-30, 40 minutes at the most to get to my favorite places but 30 minutes is a lot better than the hour plus change it took to get to Seoul from Ansan.
Apartment: Goes to FYB, FYB 1 - SYB 1: I figured that living in Seoul would most likely mean living in a smaller apartment because of how crowded it is, but wow. The total area of this apartment is about the size of only the bedroom part of my place from last year. Even though I was in my bedroom 95% of the time last year it's still psychologically hard to have it as the total area of your home, but in reality it won't be that bad. I just think of the many get-togethers we were able to have last year with so many people that just aren't going to be able to happen. And I have to get used to my shower being integrated into the rest of the bathroom. There's no separate wall or curtain keeping the shower away from the sink or toilet, it's just all in the same little area. And I didn't have a view from my apartment window last year, but it was quiet. Now I have a view to simply look outside and see people and cars and the area, but there's constant traffic even through the night which might make it hard to sleep sometimes.
Salary: Goes to FYB, FYB 2 - SYB 1: When I started my job search this time, I thought it would be very easy to at the least make the same amount as last year if not more. That turned out to not be the case at all. If I could have went with the same company I would have made more but not one single job offered me within 100,000w/month($100) of last year's salary. I guess I was pretty lucky last year. I'm making around $300 less than last year per month, along with no pension which turns out to missing out on about an extra thousand at the end of my contract.
It could be argued that I might make up for the loss in salary, in travel expenses because of how often I would go into Seoul last year. During my crazy casino adventures I would often take a taxi back home for about $40-$50, along with cabbing back from some nights out in Seoul, and even the subway fares add up, but there's no real way to tell.
Working hours: Goes to SYB, FYB 2 - SYB 2: Last year I worked 4p-10p and there was a strong love hate relationship with it. I loved sleeping in every day, but didn't love having days wasted away as I would often wake at 2/3pm and then not do much after work either. And each class was 3 hours long and that was quite dreadful when I had a bad or quiet class. This year's schedule is a bit complicated. M, W, and F I start at 11:20, teach for 40 minutes, then a 40 minute lunch, then another 40 minute class, then another break from 1:20 to 3:05, then teach 40 minute classes until 6:45, some weeks 7:30. T and Th, I start at 9:50, teach until 11:15 then have about a 4 hr break until 3:05! And I have another 40 minute break at 4:30, and finish at 6. Fantastic.
Vacation: Goes to SYB, FYB 2 - SYB 3: Last year vacation was scarce. 1 week for the whole year and we even worked just about every holiday, no actually we did, and if we got a day off, we either had to double up another day or work a Saturday. This year I get 1 week in summer and 1 in winter, and also holidays off.
Curriculum: Goes to SYB, FYB 2 - SYB 4: I'm with younger students this year, so prep time is minimal and having any troubles teaching them is minimal. I did enjoy having deep conversations with some of my students last year, but it was the same exact stuff every week that I was teaching them. This year we have things like field trips and birthday parties and even some classes have science experiments and it's a relief to escape the mundane teaching that I had last year.
Distance from home to school: Goes to FYB, FYB 3 - SYB 4: Last year I lived a 2 minute walk from the school and words can't express how lovely that was especially in the winter. Now I live about a 15 minute walk from the school, and about a 5 minute bus ride including the time it takes to walk to the bus stop.
Boss: Goes to SYB, FYB 3 - SYB 5: Last year I had an ok relationship with my boss, but he was quite awkward to talk to at times and I've heard of him being not so nice to other teachers. This year I think I may have the coolest boss in the world. She talks to me almost like a friend and isn't too strict about things as long as you do what you're supposed to.
CCTV: Goes to SYB, FYB 3 - SYB 6: I wasn't strongly opposed to being monitored and videotaped each minute of each class but still, it takes a while to get used to. There's no CCTV whatsoever this year.
Coworkers: I don't think either year was bad so I'll keep this one neutral. Although I had 9 other foreign coworkers last year and only 3 this year, I guess they both have ups and downs. *EDIT, after thinking about it more, especially at the beginning it was very good to have 9 other coworkers to break the ice with, almost any and every night there was somebody looking to do something or go somewhere interesting, so FYB gets a point. FYB 4 - SYB 6.
Lunch: Goes to SYB, FYB 4 - SYB 7: Lunch was technically dinner last year because it was around 7pm, but they gave us lunch off and on, depending on how many students we had and we only had 10 minutes. This year we have lunch no matter what, and we have a legitimate cook who makes different meals every day and we have 40 minutes.
Fridge: FYB, FYB 5 - SYB 7: This ties into having a small apartment but being the fat boy that I am, having a mini fridge cripples my fat tendencies to spend 100 buck every time I go to the grocery store. While this could be a good thing, as I'll probably waste less food and not pig out much, I still would like to have the comfort of a regular sized fridge!
There may be more to compare but I've been working on this for over a week and I'll end it at that. On paper the second year beginning edged out the first but I don't think there was a very big difference other than me knowing a lot more about Korea this time. Hopefully I won't re-enter retirement and I'll be able to give a full year to year comparison when this year is over.
