<#301 Foreign Community>

 

 

By Yu Yajing, Guest Reporter

 

I have been in Korea for more than three years and I have experienced a lot during that time. Sometimes when I look at my life in Korean, I find that I have changed a lot since I came here.  I knew nothing about the Korean language and always got lost when I went out because I could not recognize Korean characters at all when I first arrived. But now I have a lot of Korean friends who I meet frequently, and I have an easier time in class.  But even more importantly I have become more independentin both in my daily life and also financially. I know most of the foreign students are just like me.

To pay for tuition and living expense, many of my friends have taken part-time jobs even though at home they rarely if ever did housework. As you know most Chinese families have only one child nowadays. You can imagine how spoiled Chinese children are, they are treated with the greatest care and their parents expect a great deal from them. But because of that, we found we could do not do anything without our parents once we left home. We want to prove our competence, so I think the most direct way is by achieving economic independence.

Among the foreign students I know, some work on a production line during their vacation, others work in a restaurant as a waiter, waitress or dishwasher, still others work in a convenience store at night. Also, if you can speak Korean well, you can teach foreign language learners your native language as an after-class teacher, however, that is not an easy job to find. Almost all my Chinese friends in Korea have had a part time job even though the pay is never more than 5,000 won per hour. Having a part-time job is not so common for college students in China because parents think a part-time job is unnecessary if you are not in a really bad economic situation. Most Chinese parents have the conservative view that the most important job for a student is to study. “Just study hard; it is a waste of time to have a part-time job during the school term.” That’s what my mother always says.

I had a part-time job when I was a freshman --- I was a waitress in a restaurant. At that time, I worked three hours per day for 4,000 won per hour. I cannot say it did not have an effect on my studies. Every day, I took a lot of classes, and had to spend twice the time doing my homework compared to Korean students because of my lack of Korean language. After my classes and part-time job I had to do some chores like washing and cleaning, and I had to contact my parents. I was always tired when I went to bed at night. However, I learned one important thing from my part-time job: it’s not easy to earn money! But thanks to my part-time job, my Korean improved a lot and I became better at managing my time.  I think most of the foreign students have had the same experience:  they lost a lot, but gained even more.Thanks to our part-time jobs, we can fully experience whatever we do. I believe it will be a bitter but valuable memory when, years from now, we recall our student life in Korea.