Messages by Asif

Alan, I believe there may still be room in epik as recruiters are still trying to get my to sign up with them
I went thru asknow.ca, he is a canadian guy in korea
dont send multiple applications to different recruiters as you will get logged twice and both applications will get rejected

Ryan, we should probably hook up closer to the time as we will be going on the same flight to the orientation. Busan is popular with surfers so I stayed away. Daegu is only 1 hour away. I should have put Daegon as my 2nd choice, instead i put Gwangji without doing much research! :)

are you based out of Toronto?
we could be going on the same flight then :)

I put Daegu as my first choice
where are u planning to go?

Hello,

I have been accepted into EPIK too but I found my interview totally different from your comments and what I was advised the interview would be like

My recruiter told me they would pretty much follow the application form and just verify the information provided. With me, because I have 12 years professional work experience non-teaching, they came up with a totally different questions

- they were very curious about my work background
- why do I think I can teach
- why I wanted to change to teaching
- was I going to go back into my profession after a year
- why specificaly Korea over any other country
- why I chose the city that I did
- questions about classroom discipline and slow learners
- what if I dont get along with my co-teacher
- why I chose the epik program
- what my teaching philosophy is
- give an example of when you had culture shock

I found it a bit tough but did the best that I could. I'm sure they skewed my interview because of my professional background and you could tell he had thought through his questions. It was at least 40 mins at 2 in the morning! I think if someone is a recent university grad they will get the simple 20 minute interview.

Fortunately I did ok, but I really didnt know after that interview for a while.

I have already FedEx'd all my docs !!! :-)
my recruiter said they will do a mass reply around July

try asking for email addresses of other foreign teachers in the school you are negotiating with to get their opinions about any concerns they may have

Hi, I was just wondering what people are doing about reporting all this foreign income

1) Get yourself declared 'non resident'
that would mean my entire RSP account becomes unlocked and 'taxable income' for 2010. That could cost me over $30,000!!!

2) Dont declare it, but then could get caught with a huge back tax bill if ever audited

3) Set aside 20% to pay Canadian Income Tax, plus a bit more for CPP & EI. Might be able to claim some of the 5% foreign tax back for a credit

Just wondering what experience and suggestions people have?
Thanks

I was just in China in Feb (Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai)

A few issues with internet
- no internet cafes
- only available in your hotel
- high cost upto $10 for only 30 mins
- dial up speed
- social networking sites blocked (Facebook)

I was staying in upscale 4 Star Hotels

In Shanghai everything was blocked (Hotmail, Wikipedia)

Has anyone else had internet issues in China?