None of these were full time jobs. They were freelance or part-time, as my visa only allowed these kinds of gigs (I was an exchange student for the most part). The extra money was welcome, the experiences were interesting, I got to meet new people and work was also fun.
1. Model Did that for a few months and it was one of the coolest jobs I ever had. I wrote extensively in this post how I got the job as a model for an apparel company, what I learned from doing it and how the photoshoots occured. I'll admit it, it gives me the giggles to be able to say "I was a model in Asia". I really liked working with the photographers and the language barrier wasn't so much of a problem; when he couldn't find his words, the photographer was literally just showing me the pose I needed to replicate.
2. Video producer
Made a video for the same company I did modeling for. At some point they needed a promotional video and since I had the skills, I offered to do it. It was actually really interesting for me. After modeling the jeans, I got to see the journey in full, from designing to manufacturing, stone washing and dyeing. I did some filming of my own, added some footage they already had, edited the whole thing and had my friend Dorin compose the music. This is how it turned out.
3. Camera operator Another job found on Craigslist. This time, a sports correspondent from Globo TV Brazil needed a camera operator for a week. The Brazilian national football team was in Seoul, training for the match with the national Korean team. For a few days, our small crew (the reporter, the local translator and me) followed the players and produced several news pieces, for Brazilian audiences. We had a lot fun doing it and the guys kept laughing at me for not having much football knowledge. One particular funny story is that I was told to especially follow Neymar with the camera while he was on field and I responded, embarrassed, "I...I don't know which one is Neymar" (I do know now that he is a superstar). Luckily Neymar had an out-of-the-ordinary hairstyle, as per his usual self, and he was easily recognizable.
4. Business English tutor
While many expats teach English in Korea, it is a bit difficult to find work teaching English if you're not a native speaker. I got this job though because the two corporate workers I was tutoring needed to go to Germany often for business trips and I also have some experience with German (but it was easier for them learn English than German - understandably so). I was mainly having conversations with my students related to business topics, articles and current events and my favorite form of (loving) torture was to make them watch videos of people speaking English in various (heavy) accents and then ask them what they understood.
5. English teacher
As a teacher, I was working in an English preschool and I conducted several kinds of activities with larger groups of Korean children, aged between 3 and 8. It involved reading stories, singing and dancing, handmade crafts and games. While working with children is not necessarily my greatest skill and "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" can really get on your nerves after listening to it six or seven times a day, there were days when I really enjoyed my work. Some of the younger kids were really sweet, coming to hug you and asking you to play with them.
And every single child - no exception - absolutely loved the mega-hit Gangnam Style. The preschool supervisors didn't encourage the teachers to play it that often, since it's not an English song, after all, but we all broke the rules because the kids were going crazy for this song and we were loving it. They knew ALL the lyrics, they would dance and jump continuously and I even think I saw some headbanging going on at some point. Much more lively than Old Macdonald, that's for sure.
PS: I was questioning whether it's OK to post this video, but I tried to make sure no children's faces are exposed and nobody is recognizable. It's like 6 or 7 years old anyway, so everyone would have changed significantly by now.