WanderingSalsero

This is what 'real change' looks like!

Click here to see what unemployment has done in the last couple of years. 

Yeah, since uhhhh, Mr. Deceiver-in-Chief has been in charge.

A skydiving instructor was giving a class to a group of beginners and he took a few moments to their first-timer questions.

One fellow raised his hand and said, "Sir.....if our chute doesn't open, and the reserve doesn't open, how long do we have until we hit the ground?"

The instructor looked at him, and in perfect deadpan, answered, "The rest of your life."

I was thinking that's sorta like the answer to the question, 'When are you going to look into the opportunity to come to Korea to teach English?' 

Fact is, there's still a huge demand for native English speakers over here.  With the bad economy back in the US and Canada, lots more teachers are staying an extra year, but all the good jobs are not gone.  Perhaps it's time for you to give it some consideration.

Is it a perfect job?

Well, that depends on what you're looking for.  But I'll bet that, for a lot of people, it's better than what you're doing right now. 

You won't make a gazillion bucks but, really, what's life all about anyway?  Life is about more than making money isnt' it?.  Everybody, especially in America, gives that phrase lip service but you'd never guess it from looking at the drudgery that most of their jobs wind up being. 

What about your situation right now? 

• Are you really getting anywhere? 
• Are you really doing anything that 'can't wait' a year or two while you see an exciting part of the world and take some time to enjoy yourself in a job with good benefits, guaranteed pay, and great 'off-the-clock' opportunities for fun?
•   Are you really having much fun doing what you're doing now? 
• Does your job own you or do you own your job?

Teaching English in Korea isn't hard work.  The biggest challenge is one of some slight but important adjustments in your own attitude.  It's a big world we live in and the US is, although still an important part, it's certainly not the only part, of it.  If you'll come over here and just make up your mind to do the best you can and let the chips fall where they may... then everything will be fine.

If you salsa dance, you'll absolutely love it.  There's lots of opportunity in and around Seoul.  Seoul is one of the top salsa towns in the world.  In Seoul you'll find over 11 great salsa clubs.  Do you know of any other cities like that? 

For dancing styles you'll find 'on1' and 'on2' and even (lately) some casino rueda.  In general, most Koreans are friendly to foreign salsa dancers.  Especially if you're good.  There's clubs all over the city (i.e. South, Central, Western Midtown and Southeast) and at least 11 of them are within easy walking distance from a subway station. (there's a few clubs that arent' but taxis are cheap).

And I'll tell ya too......if you're really good, you could possibly wind up making some good money giving lessons.  You're not actually supposed to have any kind of employment other than your job but.....it is done both in teaching and in other areas.

Remember.......you've got the rest of your life to have all the adventure you want.  How much do you want and.......how long is the rest of your life?  If you'd like some free and comprehensive information about the opportunity to teach English in S.Korea, you can get it here.

Korean Tacos??!!

Yeah....apparently so.  I gotta give the Koreans credit.  They're not bashful about adopting anything from other cultures that'll make'em money.  From reading this article, the idea (of Korean tacos) has proven very popular and successful for these entrepreneurs.

I found this curious article, about Korean taco trucks, on a Vox blog.

Vox, as you probably don't recall me mentioning previously, is one of the free blogging platforms owned by SixApart.com, the same people who own Typepad.com (that what this blog is on). 

I've got a Vox blog but honestly I don't even recall the name.  But I do remember that it's a good blogging platform.  Very similar to Typepad and .......perhaps most importantly to some people/budgets.....totally free.

And BTW......I'm hearing that there's an increased number of applications coming in from the US from people who are interested in teaching over here in Korea.  Depending on your job situation back in the US(or Canada), it might be something for you to consider.  All the good jobs (which is most of them actually) aren't gone yet.

Teaching English in Korea can be a fun and interesting experience as long as you come over with realistic expectations.  If your the kind of person who isn't frightened by the word 'different', then you'd enjoy it.  If you're the kind of person who thinks that the American way is the only way then, don't come.

Korean kids are just like kids anywhere....sometimes it's like herding cats.  But at least you don't have to worry about any of them bringing a gun to school and shooting you.  And generally they're nice kids.  If you're a nice and reasonably good looking guy, the girls will love you.  And if you're a 'jock', the guys will worship you.....expecially if you're into soccer or basketball or baseball.  If you're a girl....pretty much the same thing applies except in reverse except that you might have to develop a firmer 'hand' with the boys.

Korea is a very pretty country and you don't have to go very far to see it.  It's all around you.  The number of parks over here is incredible.  It's nothing like in the US.  Koreans are very, very much into the outdoors and communing with nature.  They wouldn't have it any other way.  If you like taking pictures you'll find endless opportunities for creative shutterbugging.  Take a look at my two sites... flickr and dropshots. 

You won't need a car....or the associated bullshit of car payments and insurance and safety inspections and worries about cops giving you a ticket....because the public transportation is excellent.

There's lots of clubs.  Koreans love to drink.  If you're into salsa dancing and can get a job in or near Seoul, it's the best salsa dancing town on the planet.  I mean, where else would you find 12+ clubs open almost every night of the week?  Other than Cali or Bogota or Medellin, Colombia I mean :-)

Another nice thing about it is the cops don't bother anybody.  Not foreigners anyway.  And in fact the times I've seen'em dealing with Koreans, they strike me as very patient.  They don't seem to 'have something to prove' like some American cops do.

I could go on with the pro's and con's of teaching English in Korea but, needless to say, I like it.  I've been over here 2.5 years already and I'm probably going to extend for another year (in December). 

The job isn't hard, by any definition.  And if you happen to be one of those smart people who understands that the internet is where the opportunities of the future are, then Korea will give you plenty of time to work on whatever internet direction you want to go.  That actually was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come over here.

So, if you'd like more information about coming to Korea to teach English, check out this very informative website, www.asknow.ca/teach.  These are the folks who got me my job and start in Korea.

Grading papers is fun!

It's a beautiful day here in Happy Suwon, just a 30 minute bus trip down the road from sassy, sizzling Seoul, S.Korea, the salsa capital of not only Korea and Asia but very possibly the entire free world. 

I'm sitting here grading writing papers for (I think) 8th graders (in Korean 'middle school') while I listen to Cesara Evora (world class 'morna' singing sensation from Cape Verde Islands).

Yeah, it's a tough life.  But somebody's gotta do it.

Grading papers isn't actually within the job description (far as I know) of what we 'native English speakers/teachers' are supposed to do but for some reason I didn't mind.  And it's turing out to be sorta fun to see what these kids are writing.  It's sad but true that a decent percentage of them actually have more than enough intelligence to learn to speak OK English. 

Their only problem is that they don't get enough conversational practice and their Korean teachers are somewhat constrained in their ability to advise the kids because of (1) the necessity to complete that frigging 'textbook' and (2) sad but true, some of the Korean teachers just don't have the cultural familiarity with English that we (i.e. somebody from Dallas, Jacksonville, etc.) does.

But it a beautiful day and I'm getting  paid for it.

I understand that a greater percentage of the teachers here, like me, are renewing their contracts because they're aware of the reality of the bad job situation back home.  So it's fast approaching a 'buyer's market' over here. 

That's not to say that jobs can't be had though and I'd advice anybody who's looking for some decently compensated adventure (i.e. pay, benefits, adventure, etc.) to get in touch with my friends at Asknow, click here.  They got me my first job and are a first class group of very experienced teachers and recruiters.

Major update to Typepad

I discovered today that I had the option, as a member of the Typepad Beta team, to try the new design they've come out with.  I really like it. 

Two things stand out right away.  For some reason that I don't know but it's undeniable, I'm able to type much faster with this new user interface.  On the old interface I never understood why but there was always a slight but noticable lag in the time it took my text to actually appear as I type.  Now it's virtually instantaneous.

Also, I haven't done it yet but......you remember yesterday I mentioned the new MP3 upload feature?  And I tried it but it didn't work, right?

Well, I haven't actually put it on this post yet but I was just successful in uploading a file, an MP3 file of music that Benjamin Nande gave me (the one I mentioned yesterday).  So I'm hoping that I'll be able to successfully get it in this post.  I know I uploaded it to somewhere!!

I don't know if or how much of a file limit there might be but........if there is, I'll find out.

Anyway, it looks really good to me so far.

Another comment I can make right now is that today I only have two classes.  I've already done one and I've got one to go.  Yesterday I only had one class.  I've always said this isn't a hard job, right?  But you might wonder how I can get by with only one or two classes a day.

The fact is that I actually have 19 classes a week.....i.e. 3 or 4 a day.  Yesterday and today however, the first level students (you'd call'em 7th graders) are on some kind of field trip.  It's called a 'mind and body training trip' but of course that's bullshit.  They're gonna be raising hell like they always do.

Later this year the other two classes have trips too.  I heard that I'm getting to go on one of them.  I guess that'll be fun.  I still say, even though the exchange rate and currency fluctuations have really hurt the value of my pay relative to the US dollar, teaching English is Korea is still a pretty good gig. 

I'm not saving as much money as I otherwise would if I didn't have some expenses denominated in US dollars.  If a person was over here and didn't have any, or many, US expenses they would save several hundred dollars a month.  Add that to the end-of-contract bonus of one month's pay and you'd be going home (or moving on) with a pretty good chunk of change in your pocket.

I've recently hired an outsource so some of my online planes are into a different gear now.  Hopefully more productive.  My goal has been to not have to do anything like this (i.e. teaching in Korea) but rather to be able to semi-retire someplace like the Philippines or Colombia or Argentina or Croatia or Spain or Thailand or Cambodia.  On the other hand, there's always the possibility of getting a super easy job that didn't pay very much but did give me a visa and a legal option of staying in the country while I continued to work on my internet empire dreams.

I'm not really trying to make a fortune.  Just enough to be able to live comfortably wherever I am.  Regardless, if you'll like some information on the opportunity of teaching in Korea, the salsa capital of Asia, visit http://www.asknow.ca/teach .

This had to be fun.......!

Here's three separate little pieces, not related really, that I thought I'd share with you tonight (er.....uhhh, this morning....it's 4:04 a.m. now....thursday).

First is a video of a guy feeding a koala bear.

We all know Koala Bears......those cute, pudgy little tree critters from 'down under'.  I'd always heard though that they can bite.  When I saw this video I kept waiting for the little fella to chomp down on this guy's hand.  But he didn't.  It had to be a lifetime experience, I'll bet.

I've always wanted to touch a dolphin or a seal.  Have any of you ever done anything like that?

Second is an interview Glen Beck did with former US Ambassador to the UN, (?) Bolton(did I spell that right?) and Carl Rove (Republican political strategist) talking about the problems on the Mexican border.  It's good too.

 

And I saved the best for last.  This is "50 Cent Interviews" that I think is really sweet.  This is the kind of thing I think would be so much fun to do.  This guy just sets up a table in a place where there's lots of people and then offers 50 cents to anybody who'll let him interview them. 

 

It's kinda like something you'd hear on NPR (e.g. This American Life).  Lots of insight into the stuff of real life of real people.  This particular interviewee just finished walking across the entire United States.....on $217.  It took him 5+ months.  That's all!!

 

 

That's it!  I think I'm going to bed now......dammit!  Pissed away another evening via my 'open mindset'.  Oh well....it's not a job...it's an adventure....teaching  English over here.  If you'd like some info on how you can get a great job teaching conversational English over here in Dynamic S.Korea, the Salsa Capital of the Free World, get some info first at www.asknow.ca/teach .

Socialism in the air

Bob Dylan had a song in which one of the lyrics said, ".......you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows".  And he was right.  It's very easy to see that a large part of American public has no problem with socialism.....although they might not call it such. "......a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of productionand distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarianmethod of compensation.^..."

^{Every time I look at the headlines on Drudge Report the socialist language and catch phrases just jump out at me.  Headlines like}

1. Choice between full or part takeover...
2. Roubini: 'Nationalize'...
3. THE 40% SOLUTION: FEDS EYE LARGE STAKE IN CITI

To me, it's pretty scary.  There's no doubt in my mind that we're headed the wrong way and a lot of people are going to be sorely disappointed in Obama and his crew.  They're going to be very angry to and when that happens they're going to be looking for somebody to blame.  At least I'll be able to say, "I wasn't there!"

For a lot of people, I think now would be a great time to consider coming over to Korea to teach English.  Here's a place to get started on doing your own research about the opportunity to teach (conversational) English over here.

 

Another cinematic masterpiece from....me!

Here's another video that'll give you some insight into teaching in Korea.

The demaind is huge over here for native English speakers to teach kids and adults. Good jobs exist in hagwons(private academeies), public schools and even universities and with companies (although the later two are harder to get). Pay averages around $2K a month. Maybe a little more if you have an advanced degree and/or some experience. They'll either fly you over or reimburse you when you get here. Plus they'll fly you back home when your contract is over and give you a month's pay bonus when you finish. Not only that, but they'll give you an apartment (although it might not be as big as what you have now) and lots of vacation time with plenty of exciting places to see both within Korea and in neighboring countries. If you're a salsa dancer you'll be amazed at the salsa dancer's paradise in Seoul where you'll find over a dozen top quality salsa clubs with friendly people who love to dance with everybody. There's lots of bachata too, of course. For more info, contact Jason Creswell and his ESL job agency ninja crew........here

What's new with your buddy.......(that would be me :-)

I'm paying more attention to my Facebook account lately.  In the past I've gotten invitations and, mostly because I wasn't that familiar with the interface, I've pretty much ignored them.  I'm paying more attention to it now.

Thanks to Simona (www.rumbanana.org) up there in lovely Corvalis, OR and also to the www.streetsalsa.com diva, Sandra for keeping me on their list.  And Sofia Jasso too.

Also........I've started another blog on another platform.  I'll not reveal the name of it yet as I still need to buy the domain name but.....this particular blogging platform is probably not one you're familiar with.  But I toyed with it in the past back when I wasn't quiet as competant at this stuff as I am now.  It's gotten a lot prettier, more versitile and a lot more powerful since then and I'm curious to see if it'll give me the flexibility I've not quiet had with Typepad.

Also.......I'm not sure I'll do it but I was thinking today about the idea of a website that would allow any of you who think you've got some teaching skills to upload any teaching videos you wanted to it.  It might be sorta like a YouTube but strictly for salsa, cha-cha, bachata and maybe kizomba and zouk-love....just for dancers.  There might even be a way to monetize it too.

Does that idea sound interesting to anybody?

And......I'm not sure what'll come of it but "Suki" is over here now.  You might remember I mentioned her before.  She's one of the casino salsa gals that I met, online, in my early blogging days back in Houston.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and she has recently come over here to teach English like I am.  Matter of fact, she's only about 30 minutes away....just a tad closer to Seoul than I am.

So there's no telling what we might be able to put together in the way of activity to liven up the salsa scene around here.  I don't even know what she looks like but I've chatted online with her several times.

Other than that...things are fine.  I've been attending Bachata Night regularly at Bahia Salsa Club in the Hongdae area of Seoul.  I'm telling ya......you guys wouldn't believe the salsa scene over here in  Seoul.  Imagine having not 3, not 4, not 5 , not 7, 8, or 9...but over 10 excellent salsa clubs to go to!! 

Seoul's really got it happening as far as salsa.  I'm really amazed that more of you salsa 'stars' don't come over here to tour.  Spring is coming up real quick and that would be a great time to come over if you could.

And the situation is still great for anybody wanting to come over here to work.  The demand is still huge.  You can get more info on that opportunity here.

If you do think you could make it over to here on a dancing tour, I've got a friend at the only American-Korean dance studio in Seoul (the same place Jorge Elizando did his workshop when he was here) who very probably would sponsor a workshop for you.  Jorge had upwards of 28+ people at his when he was here.

I can tell you that Korea would not be a market you'd come into and conquor overnight.  Koreans are kinda....I don't know the correct words.....they have a unique way of just ignoring you sometimes regardless of your objective merits. 

That is....until they really get to know you or until you've actually been introduced by someone they know and respect.  They're real big on 'community'.  That's the Oriental way too, I guess.....actually.

But I can guarantee you that if you've got something to offer.....like for example Troy and Jorjet or Claudia Vasquez or Salsa Eddy or the Rumbanana people......I think they could do well getting established here if they gave it some time (and of course....if they had some real products to sell it would help too :-)

Upcoming new features on WanderingSalsero

I've had time to relax lately and have found some new features that I think are 'do-able' for WanderingSalsero.  Here they are:

• I think I'll have a search feature pretty soon that'll access not only the content on WanderingSalsero but also my other blogs and my del.icio.us account (if I decide I want to go that far).  It's something I learned about on the newly expanded Typepad Resource site.

• Also it's come to my understanding that I can use feeds (specifically www.feedburner.com), in conjunction with Typepad settings to allow me to offer the content from WanderingSalsero as a newsletter.....i.e. you'll get it automatically.  I know that sounds somewhat like what RSS does already but supposedly it's somehow different and better.  I'll explore it further.

• Also I'm going to be adding my YouTube channels and/or favorites as something you can look at on purpose.  I figured some of you might like to keep tabs on what I'm looking at on YouTube.  My thinking on that is to also make specific comments, to which you'll also be able to respond, on each video.  I think we could all learn something that way.

• Next, I'm going to be hosting some live, VoIP conference room tutorials on various subjects mostly internet marketing related.  And I've got a tool I'll be using to announce those free trainings that I'm also going to be giving away for free.  I think you'll like it.

• Lastly, I've been adding pictures and videos to my DropShots account all day.  I have a lot of pics and vids that are on my computer but not uploaded anywhere yet.  I think you'll like some of them.  I also plan to add some of them to YouTube and us their caption feature to put in some advertising for www.asknow.ca/teach .  That's one of the things I think would be interesting to do a training on.

That's it.  Just thought I'd give you a heads up.  Let me know if you have any questions.