Foreigner.....burnt out?

 Ah the dreaded burn out that comes with living. I would really be interested in meeting someone who has never experienced a burn out for at least one day regarding one thing, and even burning out on ice cream because you just a whole tub counts. It just comes with having the daily grind of living in a situation that you aren't completely in control of.

  Since burn out is a common occurrence in daily life no one should begrudge you getting a little burnt out at work right? Well most of the times I would say yes, because we are all entitled to our bad days at work and would just really have rather called it in sick. I've felt it, your parents have probably felt it, and probably your grandparents even had it. The problem is when people burn out a little bit to early. Now I'm not saying that there should be a set date when you can officially burn out, but please try and not do it in your first month working. That isn't a joking date, I have personally witnessed a co-worker burn out within their first month of working at our company and I just had to shake my head at it.

The question is how to see if you are burning out and what you can do about it if you are

Signs and Symptoms: To tell if you're burning out at work ask yourself these simple questions

• Would I rather be getting teeth pulled than walking through that door?
• Does any little task you are given make you want to turn and punch the nearest person because they should be happy you showed up?
• Are you barely making it into work "on time" or showing up in less than professional condition (a little tipsy from the night before?)
• Have you started a count down till you get the next job? (this only applies if you are like many ESL teachers and are on a yearly contract)
• Do you try and do as far under the bare minimum as you can to conserve effort?

If you've answered more than one of these questions with a yes, than you are either burnt out or rapidly heading there.

Prevention: This is the super tough part, but the number one thing I can tell you is have a life outside of work. If your whole life is centered around it you will burn out faster than you can blink. So before you go hopping off to your new job (this is mainly regarding going abroad for jobs) really research where you are going. Don't just jump into the first job that will give you some sort of money. Here are things you should look out for

• How friendly is the work environment - Whether you plan on being bffs with these people or not if you go abroad to work sometimes these are the only native speakers you will see for awhile and it can get lonely if you are surrounded by douches.
• Is there a change for outside of work socializing - Check your schedule and see just how much down time you are going to have. Not enough and you get burnt out waiting for the weekends and they are never enough. Too much down time and you are in the same boat.
• Can you pick up a hobby? - Hobbies are important when you have a job because they are your escape from it and it gives you something to look forward to at the end of a long day.

These are only a few suggestions which either would have been nice to know before I went abroad or have kept me going. I mean I felt very mixed writing this because some people realize right away even their first day that their experience abroad isn't for them and I don't want to judge them for at least realizing this quickly. The point of this post was to realize when you are burning out and turning into a negative person and to do something about it!

Foreigner Smash!

 While in a foreign country three approaches can be taken

• F*** that culture I'm from the best country in the world (this is not limited to Americans)
• I'm in love with this culture I want to be this nationality
• Don't mind me just passing through

I've seen all of these approaches and let me tell you they all make you friends and they also come with enemies.

F*** that culture approach: This is often seen from the fresh out of college crew who get the easy to come by jobs in Asia (Currently this is the ROK's problem) and they haven't really put any investment to learn about where they are going. They go with the stereotypes they were brought up on and not much else. 

                   Pros: These types are great people being the loud spoken jokers who don't really care what the locals think of them when they are having a good time. They are usually pretty good when you are feeling grumpy and just hate where you are because chances are they hate it too. They like to explore the touristy places and take fun pictures and party hard into the night with some drinking as a bonus.

                    Cons: The downside of this fun loving bunch is that they are often immature and not grown up. As stated before they DO NOT care what the locals think and if you want to take the other approaches being associated with them could cause problems. At work you may see some unprofessional behavior that upsets you. Being immature they can be gossips and drama llamas and let's face it if you have your own problems, do you really need them making more?

I'm in love with this culture I want to be this nationality: Ah the people who have fallen in love with a culture, often do to the public face they show outsiders and has never actually been there. They go by many names in different social groups and regional places, but we all know them and have our own takes.

                Pros:Usually these are the best people to go to for language study help or etiquette tips just in case you don't want to inadvertently offend your co-workers or the population in general. They can be great friends with the catch of being an introvert, but hey sometimes introverts are the best kind of friends.

                 Cons: They are almost obsessed with the culture and often times are obsessed with getting with the natives. So if you befriend them expect to be included on this get a native significant other quest and it is not always pretty. The country of their obsession can do nothing wrong, it could be killing babies in the street and they would say "Hey it is their culture" (that was an over dramatization btw). So your gonna have to stomach a lot to hang out with them.

Don't mind me just passing through: I feel like these people make up the bulk of the work force because they've come here for a job and not necessarily the love of a country. I find myself currently in the category so I feel like I can't really rate the pros and cons of them objectively. I will say that language learning is not always at the top of our list, but we will give it the college try to make our time easier. While we try not to blatantly offend the natives, we can't be expected to know every little gesture to make in every situation to keep things agreeable.

Anything to add? Feel free and I will edit these to include input.

 

Foreigner Down!!!

Unless you are made of sunshine and rainbows you are bound to get sick while abroad. Odds are it will be within the first week, especially if the place you are moving to is vastly different in cuisine or climate than your home country. Don't worry it is usually just a mild to bad case of food poisoning.

After the first week the fun begins, and how much fun all depends on how you got to your foreign country of choice.

1. Study Abroad - This one can be tricky because it covers the rainbow spectrum of fun because of all the variety we have in study abroad programs. It also depends on how lucky you get with your program. My personal experience with study abroad was all across the rainbow. After declaring myself sick and asking for help I was sent to a nurse.....who did not speak English, instead she had a chart of English diseases or symptoms with the Japanese counterpart. After much hyming and hawing I was told to go to a clinic where the first time my university was kind enough to drive me (it was ~40 minute bus ride alternatively) and all was slightly well. For the follow-up visit, I was told to get there myself and I would not be provided with a translator, instead I got to try and hijack any Japanese student who was walking by. Not so fun and not so helpful because the odds of them knowing medical terms turns out to be very low. 
2. Work - Again this is a rainbow runner, because it all depends on how great your company is. For company mandated things, you will get an escort and a translator I mostly guarantee that because you have to do that to be able to work there. When it is not work related and you just managed to hurt yourself or get sick....that is where the fun begins. At one point during my job my tonsils were so swollen that I couldn't eat solid food and drinking was painful enough to make me cry. I had a high fever and was extremely tired and dizzy (probably lack of food and dehydration) I came into work not knowing what to expect, they told me not to work and see a doctor. That was the good part, they then proceeded to tell me to walk to the hospital (~20 minutes away when you are healthy and walking at a decent pace) or I could go to the clinic across the street. The clinic across the street doesn't sound so bad right? Well they didn't know where it was in the building and this building had 11 floors and no one would go with me. I ended up getting lost and ending up in a chiropractor's office and it turns out I had herniated one of my lumbar as well. I have also twisted my ankle, and been given the look like I was complaining about a paper cut when I had to use a computer chair to wheel myself about and refused assistance in getting crutches. So yes it runs the rainbow.
3. Marriage - I have no idea on this one, if someone would like to tell me I'm all ears. I would assume you'd get treated better than #1 and #2 because you have someone who loves you.
4. Traveling - I would assume you are just screwed in this department because well, no one has a financial investment in you (#2), no one will be in trouble if you die (all the above) unless you are traveling with a company, and you really are just relying on the kindness of strangers if you don't know the language on a fairly high level of comprehension.

I think that covers the main reasons for traveling. I will say that improving your diet will definitely aid in preventing illness. If you want avoid street food, in certain countries it doesn't really matter, same with the tap water. Feel free to add personal experience and advice.

Being an ESL Teacher

Being an English Teacher, well more specifically being a ESL teacher in a foreign country, is never easy. There is first the language barrier to jump over, I'm currently working in ROK, better know as South Korea. I being the smart college graduate I was picked a country that I didn't even know the language of to spend my first year of independence in. Due to my personal choices I had more hurdles to jump over than I should have and mainly I am only to blame.

     The main thing I'm focusing on right now is language. Now apparently I did an unusual thing for many of the ESL teachers who come to Korea and I actually decided to learn a little Korean before I came to live.....in Korea. Now I will stop and say this is a generalization, I'm sure that there are plenty of people out and about who have taught themselves a huge amount of Korean and can carry on conversations with natives. For my current situation when I arrived I was on of the 4/10 teachers who could read Korean. I'm including the teacher I replaced, who had been in Korea an entire year. If you will join me in a moment in stepping back and thinking "how could I live a whole year in a place and not be able to read 80% of things in my daily life...." I am a language major so it took me only 2 hours to learn how to read the Korean alphabet. In the entire year this teacher and many of my co-workers were here, they did not learn the alphabet.

 So yes score one point for me (commences in some patting myself on the back), but I have also unfortunately kinda stopped learning Korean there, I think I have maybe 20 words in my toolbox for Korea and I've been here 7 months (now hangs head in shame) I feel if I put an conscious effort into this process I would have learned at least 500 words by now. I would also argue how can I be this old and still have a rather shaky grasp of English grammar. I digress, not knowing a lot of Korean can make teaching more difficult and at the same time easier. Students cannot unfortunately express many ideas to me, at times I'm glad when it involves them wanting me to help them wipe their butts (more on this later), but then I cannot understand them if they are insulting me. The later point I find a blessing and a curse because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be as nice to these children if they actually were insulting me in Korean.....opposed to the other teachers which they insult in English. The butt wiping part comes in because I occasionally teach children who are Korean age 5....now wait what do I mean Korean age 5? There is this magical thing in cultures who follow the lunar calendar where you get to add one year based on the time in the womb....yeah scream now you are older than you are, but that makes these kids western age 3.5, so it is understandable that they want me to help them with basic tasks. I'm pretty sure I've actually learned the Korean word for poo...and I choose to ignore this fact.

 When I leave work though I get to experience what I just put these children through, where I am the beginner trying to express my wants to the masses of Korea, and half the time it breaks down to me showing them a word on my phone's dictionary, thank whoever for smart phones, or miming what I want....I was never good at charades as a child, I would like to think I'm pretty good at it now. So finding food, ordering food, shopping for things...becomes a trial in itself, but it can be grand.

 Sometimes the language barrier is fun.....sometimes it isn't.