2 days 1 night - Company Workshop Part 3

2 days 1 night - Company Workshop Part 3: 

My new name, The Cryptic, The baseball star, Crayon Pop, and This is a normal working day you must drink all night!

I have decided to blog about my first company workshop / trip in several posts - here is part 3

After Beating the queue at the urinals after burst at the seams on the bus, it was time to hear what the managers had to say... Being over an hour late I was pretty hungry amplified by the fact that I had little understanding about what was being said, but the company ambition and current slogans were hammered into us by a succession of company CEO's.  Our company appears to have more managers than staff - about 5 men hold the position of CEO, the number of managers became more apparent towards the end of the evening..

Oh, by the way I have a new name, thanks to the HR department and I appear to have been demoted from senior engineer to just worker.

Roberto Kuli

 Here is my workshop name tag showing my name written as 로버트오 - Roberto  클리 - kuli.

After the managers speeches it was time for lunch (Finally) then a presentation from a guest star.  He is a baseball player and apparently quite famous, although I have no idea who he is (sorry).

He spoke for 1hr 30 mins - there were a few laughs from the crowd but I got the impression it was a long 1hr 30 mins for even the biggest rounders fan, sorry I meant baseball. - Korean people can't get to grips with the fact that we don't have baseball in the UK and that I know absolutely nothing about it. although I do want to go to a game, to see what the fuss is all about.

It was then time for the cryptic challenge, a kind of treasure hunt, where we had to complete some tasks to get a letter to put in to a code locked tube, so that we could reveal the secret locked inside. 

Here are some pictures of some of the activities

In part 3 I will blog about the evenings entertainment...

2 days 1 night - Company Workshop Part 2

2 days 1 night - Company Workshop Part 2: The Bus trip!

I have decided to blog about first company workshop / trip in several posts - here is part 2

I  arrived at work at around 8:30 to make sure I had enough time to find the right bus and be ready for the highlight (repeatedly) departure time of 8:50am.

As we waited for the bus I soon realised that this was 8:50am Korean time which means anytime after 8:50... as 9:40 came and went I wondered what was going on - I later found out that a total of 5 people had not shown up for the buses, of which there were a total of 9.  As the trip was mandatory I think some people were either close to death or had decided to drive...

The bus was definitely Korean style, complete with a quiz, Bingo, self introductions and Karaoke, No I didn't sing - although I did win a prize for my 자기 소개 (self introduction). Which went like this:

내 이름은 로버트 오클리입니다
나는 GPC 팀입니다    [sic]*
만나서 반가워요

Not grammatically correct and hardly eloquent - but I guess as a foreigner, you get points for trying!

The translation is:

My name is Robert Oakley
I am GPC Team [sic]*
Nice to meet you
 -  ( I am!!! - I work in the.. (>_;) Oh well there is always next time to make a first impression!)

- Everyone was apparently touched by the fact that I spoke in Korean The person who followed me made some comment about me speaking Korean but I couldn't quite catch what he said - The prize was a child sized mirror and comb!!! - My daughter definitely appreciated it more than me.

An hour late departing and saw us arrive very late for the senior management presentation and opening ceremony (Which then resulted in a later than planned lunch, at the delightful Oak Valley resort  (오크밸리 리조트).

Our late arrival at the resort and the result of several cups of coffee before departure I found myself DESPERATE to use the men's room and as the bus pulled into the car park I an one of my colleagues were off the bus despite the bus leader and MC trying to give some arrival instructions - he must of seen the desperation in my face and allowed me to pass.  I rushed to the resort facilities and while taking care of my business a queue formed behind me of 9 bus loads of men (Ok there are a lot of women at the company too, but you get the point)!


I will post part 3 shortly.

This Summer Camp will be my last...

Wow - It seemed to come around quickly but it is already the end of summer camp and equally quick and unexpected is the fact that it will be my last Summer English Camp.


Firstly, I am staying in Korea...  but not as a teacher...   whether this is the right decision will be told after the passing of time but I have accepted a job outside of teaching, but related to my degree and related to English Language.

after a bit of the usual beating around the proverbial bush and a lot of Korean not really giving a straight answer  I read the words" "Of course, you've got accepted by my team."  in a tone that read like it had always been so obvious  I then resigned from my position as NET at Seongsu Elementary School.

I think it was a complete shock to my Co-teacher / Manager and to the vice Principal and Principal when I went in front of them holding my hastily written letter of resignation with my co-teacher doing the talking and me standing there trying not to look too happy and at the same time trying not too look miserable... while the news sank in and they spoke about me and the impending lack of an English Teacher at their precious school and who can blame them.  I thought that they would just get another teacher and it would be fun for the kids to get to meet another foreigner...  However, it turns out that they can't get the budget for a new teacher.  On one hand it seems a little bit odd, as they won't be paying me so they have that money and I am sure they could find a teacher in Korea and with their own housing (there are lot's of us!) But they have been told by GEPIK that they should wait...  this suggests to me that maybe GEPIK really will end next year... !

I will write again as things get finalised, I was pressured to tell my school before I even knew the exact details of the new salary and benefits package - in fact I still don't know those details concretely and have nothing in writing.  But I know enough that the basic package is substantially more than what I get now and I just need to negotiate the final package....


I never posted this so I can fill in the blanks.  I had an interview with the HR manager and an interpreter - I am happy with the result, the salary is close to what I really wanted and certainly comparable to UK wages, so better than now, obviously.
It was unusual to negotiate with the HR manager.  In England I can just about tell if I am being 'played' or the negotiation is genuine.  about this time it left me confused.  The fact that he asked me - what do you ideally want as a salary indicated that the negotiation was 'on' so I started and pitched my top figure.  he just about fell out of his seat we then played the game for about 40 mins, while I dragged him close to my figure, or he pulled me down to his...I may never know if the interpreter said exactly what I said or what he thought I should say... he seemed uncomfortable with the situation, but I really really thank him for his efforts on my behalf

My emotions are mixed... leaving a relatively easy job for the unknown longer hours, pressure, work/life complications and no longer having rockstar like attention everywhere I go... There are students I won't give a second thought to, but there are some that I will miss a lot. The 3rd and 4th grade camp was mostly spend controlling students and breaking up fights and was, for the most part, pretty awful. There were some students who were great, though and this makes a difference. The 5th & 6th grade camp was pretty awesome allround. Lots of teaching, lots of fun, lots of creativity and no fights... I really enjoyed it. I made a video to show them (I will post a link later) on the last day (today) and Harvey is coming with me... So this is it ~ 18 months as a teacher in Korea is over, for now. I don't know if I will teach again. I learnt a lot about myself and looking back there were a lot of positive experiences. But I wasn't happy and I wanted to do something else, to work for a company, to have a different set of experiences in Korea... and this part of the adventure starts on 20th August... I have 13 days of holiday to enjoy first...