Teaching English in South Korea vs Thailand Part 2

by Jason -- December 21, 2011

Last week I shared an interview with Ellie about her experiences in teaching English in Thailand and South Korea.

Today, I have one more interview with long-time travel blogger, Johnny Ward. He’s been traveling since 2006 and shares all of his knowledge and experiences on his blog, OneStep4ward.com.

1. Can you give a brief description of both your teaching job in Thailand and in Korea?

I graduated from University and went straight to Thailand for a year of teaching English overseas. It was a great gig actually, I went with no job and organised it when I was there. I chose to work in a language school as opposed to a government school. Both have similar amount of contact hours (around 20) but with the language school I only had to be there during contact hours, if I wasn’t teaching I was free!

In Korea I worked on English camps during summer and winter, basically one month English intensive camps. They’re great too because although you teach English every morning, afternoons are filled with other activities like movies, sport etc so it’s a fun environment. Both countries were private companies, in Thailand my kids ranged from 14-25 and in Korea about 12-16. Continue Reading

TWiSt Seoul 2 – Live Tomorrow!

by Jason -- December 16, 2011

Back in August I partnered with Seoul Space to bring the first “This Week in Startups” Seoul meetup episode. It was a lot of fun, so we’re doing it again. This time, hopefully even bigger and better than the first.

You can watch our episode live online today (December 16th) on the “This Week in Startups” website.   It starts at 7pm Pacific, 10pm Eastern and 12pm Seoul (17th). And if you miss it live, you can watch it anytime on the “This Week in Startups” website.

The second time around has been a lot easier to setup. I knew what to expect and I was able to reuse many of the pieces from the first time. Because of the success of the first event, getting out the word was also easier. Let’s hope everything comes together again. Right now over 125 people have registered to attend — and we’re hoping for 150!

If you’d like a preview of the companies pitching, you can check out the Twist Seoul blog post.

I’ll be hosting the live event in Seoul today as well as hosting during the live broadcast. I’ll be the one wearing the Unanchor shirt :-) .

Teaching English in South Korea vs Thailand

by Jason -- December 13, 2011

Over the past few months we’ve had many posts discussing what it’s like to be a foreign English teacher in South Korea. In this post, I’d like to compare and contrast the experience of teaching English in South Korea versus Thailand.

The following is an interview with Elizabeth Noelle. She has taught English in both South Korea and Thailand. She blogs about her experiences and travels on One Day I’ll Fly Away.

After teaching English in Korea for a year, she traveled through Southeast Asia and is currently living and teaching in Thailand. Continue Reading

Announcing Our Public Launch of Unanchor

by Jason -- December 7, 2011

[Begin commercial]

  • Are you looking for a local’s view of a new city?
  • Want to get off the beaten path and avoid the tourist traps?
  • Do you hate researching what to do and how to get around for your next vacation?

Then our Unanchor travel guide itineraries are for you. We find local experts around the world and tell them to put their best tour information together… Then we sell it for only a few bucks.

[/End of commercial]

In today’s post, I’ll discuss what we’ve been working, tell you about our new interactive itinerary format and at the end I’d like to offer you a 15% off coupon to try an Unanchor itinerary for yourself.

Continue Reading

Skiing and Snowboarding in Korea – What’s the deal?

by Jason -- December 2, 2011

With winter approaching my mind always wanders to the same thing – snowboarding. It’s one of my favorite activities and yet I haven’t been on a board in almost three years. This year I hope to change that and perhaps go on a couple ski holidays. We’ll be in Korea for most of the winter and it’s a place that’s well known for its skiing and snowboarding. In fact, the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held here. To help prepare me for snowboarding in Korea, I asked a few friends about their experiences skiing and snowboarding in Korea as compared to other places. Continue Reading

Korean vs. American public schools!!!

by Sharon -- November 11, 2011

I work at a public elementary school here in Seoul, so for the past 8 months I’ve been closely observing how the public school system works here. Granted, it’s been almost 17 years since I graduated from elementary school, but here is my attempt at comparing my American public school experience to the Korean school I work at… Continue Reading

The Entrepreneurs Rollercoaster

by Jason -- November 3, 2011

I’m currently sitting on a plane back to Korea. After almost 4 weeks in the states I’m excited to sleep in my own bed, cook my own food, get back to my routine and wake up next to my wife.

It has been a roller coaster of emotions the last few weeks. Now more than ever the realities of trying to start my own business have been hitting me, and to be perfectly honest, it’s been difficult. In this post I’ll share the roller coaster that I’ve been on the past month. Continue Reading

Advice Overload in San Francisco

by Jason -- October 15, 2011

I’m currently in California, here for a little over 3 weeks. The primary reason I’m here is to attend three weddings. I can’t thank my friends enough for lining up all of their weddings for me. Unfortunately though, I’m Sharonless. She’s still in Korea and was only able to get 3 days off for her sister’s wedding (the last of the 3 weddings).

While I’m in California I’m trying to network as much as possible – see old friends, meet new friends and frankly just talk with as many smart people as I can about what they’re working and what I’m working on.

My first week here just wrapped up. I spent it in San Francisco, enjoying some absolutely amazing weather. It was a successful week; I was able to catch-up with friends, meet a few travel entrepreneurs whom I had never met in person and meet with some potential investors as well. In this post I wanted to discuss settings up the meetings and the actual meetings themselves, and share some of my learnings from going through this process. Continue Reading

An overdue update!

by Sharon -- September 15, 2011

After weeks of trying to get me to write again, Jason got his wish. It’s not that I don’t want to write posts, but my job is (to say the least) tiring. I enjoy having my free time after work to unwind after a stressful day and I absolutely relish my weekends because I get to spend more time sleeping and recharging my energy.

But, since my school year is halfway over and we have been in Korea for over 6 months, there’s a need for an update! Here is what I/we have been up to since my last post –  Continue Reading

What I Learned From Organizing & Hosting Twist Seoul

by Jason -- September 6, 2011

Last week I helped organize and then host the first ever “This Week in Startups” Seoul Meetup episode. In this post I wanted to discuss the experience of doing it, what I had hoped to gain from it and what I ended up gaining from it. Continue Reading