Asus and electricity in South Korea

Hello all,

I live in Canada, and I purchased an Asus N61J series laptop about 4 months ago - I'm loving it so far. Next month, I'll be leaving for a year-long teaching job in South Korea (220 V apparently), and I'm wondering about power converters. I went to the Source and bought a universal converter for smaller appliances, but the clerk there told me I didn't need a power converter for my laptop (apparently this is what that black box thing is for on the cord?). All I got for my laptop was an adaptor so I can plug it into the socket. I just wanted to confirm that I made the right purchase, if anyone has any knowledge on the subject? I don't want to risk burning out my laptop with too much voltage or anything (as you can see, I am not very knowledgeable about this subject at all). Thanks a lot!

 

Check your power adapter to see what the voltage rating is. It should something like "100-220V" which means it'll work in S. Korea.

 

I live in South Korea.

My Asus G73JW works just fine here, I use a simple plug converter. (If you're with EPIK, you'll get 1 for free at your orientation. You can also buy these for a nominal fee. I would wait until you get here to buy them).

I hope you get a nice public school! I assume you're going into public school, as that starts in March, about the time you're leaving. You never know what your job will be like until you get there, every experience is different.

 

All laptop adapters come with "100-240V, 50-60Hz" specs these days. I can use my ASUS in my home country (runs 220V) with a simple US-EU plug converter. No need to get any voltage converters etc.


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Also instead of a end plug or converter, you can simply go to Yongsan (famous Electronic vendor marts in Seoul) and ask for the end cord that attaches to your power adapter with the Korean plug shape. It would cost you about $3 this route.

Ramgen is correct. You don't a voltage converter to use your laptop as the laptop power adapter converts to the proper voltage. You just need the correct plug shape.

 

OK, thanks! I checked, and my adaptor does say 100-240V. Perhaps I used the wrong terminology before - for my laptop I simply bought the end piece that allows it to fit into the Korean plugs. No, I'm not with EPIK, but it is a public school. Only half an hour from Seoul as well, so if all else fails I guess I can go to Yongsan anyway. Yeah, I can definitely believe every teacher has a different experience there. I guess I just have to hope for the best! Thanks again!

 

Ohhh! A little off topic, but what site did you guys use to acquire these jobs?

I posted my resume on "Dave's ESL Cafe" and got about 15 offers from China, however the salary is fairly low (and a couple decent paying schools from South Korea).

The ESL Cafe forums are semi-active but the admin won't activate new profiles so I can never ask questions.

Could you list the sites you used or recommended schools? Thanks

 

Istari, I will give you one of the most important websites you will ever come across as an ESL teacher in Korea. WAYGOOK.ORG - Index ! Haha, it is truly great for the newbie teachers, because it can be a little overwhelming at first. One of the best things you can do is play games with the students, they love it (and MOST schools like you to be an 'edutainer' anyway). Personally, I teach all of my classes alone (this is NOT common) and the subject is entirely up to me. In some ways I have it nice, in other ways I do not (it can be difficult to think of appropriate leveled content without the aid of a book).

Voodoo... if you want to get into a public school job, your best bet is http://www.epik.go.kr/ as they hire for most of the public schools in Korea. Including the Seoul area (it's a different application for that, but same website). The next hiring season will be in August, as that's when the next Semester will start (Too late for March!). That means you would want to start your application process sometime within the next couple months. The early bird gets the job when it comes to teaching in Korea. Find out what documents you need and start collecting them in a couple months. Just watch our for some of your documents (like background check) as they do expire.

If you don't care about public schools too much, you can use recruiters. They are easy to find with a google search. Don't just use 1, use as many as you care to sign up with. ESL-Planet, Planet ESL, Footprints, Korvia, etc... there are dozens of them. Just realize they have no loyalty to you, it is the schools that are paying them. Try to research (simple google or daves ESL forum search of the school name) the school before you commit.

 

Thanks so much for the advice! I will definitely check out that site. I had a bit of help finding my job, since I took a TESL course first, and they offered a bit of a placement service afterwards. Regardless, I definitely took every job offer I got with a grain of salt, and researched my contract and school a lot before accepting. I also e-mailed some staff there, and got their opinions on things. I didn't get the job through Dave's Cafe, but I definitely browsed the site. 1 month - I'm excited! Sorry, that was offtopic. Thanks again, I'll let you know if I have any other notebook travel questions.

 

This is way offtopic, please take this conversation to PM or the off-topic forum.