Frustrations as a Foreigner

So even though I'm in quarantine at the moment, there are several things that have been infinitely frustrating while moving to Korea and working with my new employer. If you want to know the name of my employer, I can tell you, but I'll omit their name from this entry because it's not really important.

I tend to be as self-reliant as possible when it comes to things like my career. As a teacher you have a lot of requirements and things that keep you caged in, but you at least have the knowledge and confidence to handle situations when they arise and you're relatively assured of being supported by the school unless you make a major error.

Not so here in Korea from what I've learned so far. Then again, I've only been here for ten days, and I've been in quarantine, so my point of view may change later, but I'll look back on this and see my frustrations.

First of all, the level of difficulty in getting my employer to respond to certain things is infuriating. I'll send an email about something important and sometimes they'll answer straight away, other times it takes them a day. There is no consistency.

Second, the amount of information that was kept from me is still annoying. For example, I asked for an academic calendar months ago but none was provided to me. I just found out today that they do, in fact, have an academic calendar. Go figure.

Third, phone numbers. When I tell you that not having a Korean phone number is one of the most challenging things there is, I mean it. You can't do anything without a phone number. Visiting the health clinic? Phone number. Registering for an app? Phone number. Want to buy something? Phone number. I currently don't have a Korean phone and number, but you can bet I'm getting one as soon as I am physically able to do so. My school has a phone number that I've been putting down on official information, but I do not like having those things out of my control or knowledge.

Fourth - my apartment. I don't know why it was some great secret to keep, and perhaps I'll never know, or perhaps they'll tell me on Saturday, I don't know, but being told that I was not allowed to know about my apartment's location for MONTHS was seriously upsetting. It wasn't a deal breaker or anything, but when I have people asking me where I'm going to live. or if I'm trying to work out a route from my apartment to work, etc. it helps to know what I'm doing. I do finally have my apartment's address, but I didn't learn it until this week. Months after I signed the contract.

I'm sure there are more I've mentioned to others, but these are the main ones I can think of for right now. Hopefully (most assuredly) things will get better once I'm out of quarantine.