Pagoda Institute

Thursday, December 28th

I woke up to a cool room and cold floor. I went to use the bathroom and Dr. Kim's son tries to tell me that I couldn't use the shower. I found out that the hot water heater on the second floor was not working. With the water heater not working, it also affected the 'ondol' heating, so it essentially meant no hot water, no heat. Mrs. Kim told me that I can shower on the first floor.

I received a call to have a meeting at Pagoda. I wasn't prepared to have a meeting since no date had been set from the previous day's email message from Ian. I dressed more casually for sitting at my desk in Dr. Kim's company office. I was not expecting to interview, but I did have a navy sportcoat and light purple button down shirt. To save time and look more professional, Dr. Kim takes off his tie and gives it to me. Today, he happened to change ties. He normally wears the same type of clothes everyday like a uniform with the same tie. Before today, I had only seen him wear a red tie, but today he wore a purple multi-striped tie, which coordinates close enough to my shirt. It will save time since I won't have to go home and then to Pagoda.

I met with Amy Yoon, Academic Education Director. She asked me a few questions and told me about a possible position near Sinchon. She thought that it was a fairly long distance from my house. The position would be for two months with an evaluation by me and the institute at the end. After, if I met their standards, I could sign a contract for another 2, 6, or 12 months. She informed me that I should prepare a sample lesson and meet with that location the following day.


Friday, December 29th

In the morning, I gave a teaching demonstration to Dr. Kim. Since he has more than 23 years of university teaching experience, he gave me some advice and he escorts me to Pagoda in Sinchon. It took about 50-60 minutes to arrive. I met with a person there and she listened to my practice lesson. She said ok and gave me some advice and asked a few questions. She told me that there will be orientation at the Pagoda HQ the next day, Saturday at 10 AM. I will start teaching on January 2nd, 2007 and I will teach three classes a day with each being two hours long. I will be paid 23,000 won/hour (2.76 million won/month) or about ~$2900/month.

Dr. Kim also informed me that Social Welfare Society had contacted him. They told him that my father is still alive and lives in Seoul. They have yet to make phone contact with him, but Dr. Kim thinks that I may be able to contact early next year.


Saturday, December 30th

I was scheduled for teacher orientation at Pagoda Institute (Gangnam). This is headquarters location. The meeting started at 10 AM and this would be my first trip on the subway alone. Dr. Kim seemed a little worried for me, but I knew that I would be ok. The trip took 55 minutes with two subway line transfers. I attended the meeting with 6 other teachers. There were people from NC, DE, DC, Toronto, Sydney, and myself, but everyone Korean-born or raised. It was fairly straightforward with general information and what planning should done for the course. I have the difficulty of teaching two separate levels, so I will need to syllabi and lessons plans to prepare. It was also mean that I will have two levels of expectations from the students and of them for me. Out of the new teachers, just two of us will be teaching at the Sinchon location. Most others will be at the Jongno or Gangnam locations. Afterwards, they took us to a nice restaurant and we were able to do some casual chatting. I quickly found out that I was the only one without any Korean skills. This won't be a problem for teaching, but for general knowledge and conversation, it leaves me out on some topics.