"Arbeiten" translated from German means to work. For some reason, low-skilled jobs in South Korea are called a similar word - Arbeit.

If we take the Russian language, the most suitable word is handyman.

A person who comes to work in South Korea without an H2 or F4 visa does not have many work options.

Either go to work at a factory, or go to Arbeit.

In this article we will look at what “arbeit” is, how much workers are paid, what conditions they live in and what kind of work they do.

Working on an arbeit means that you come to a certain Korean, he moves you into his home.

Every day at 7 am you come or are brought to the office. Next, they decide who is going where. The work can be different - construction, fields, greenhouses, etc. You may get an easy job and you will be watering the street with a hose all day, or you may be sent to help at the post office or cook kim-chi (a Korean dish), where you will spend 10 hours peppering cabbage.

There are an endless variety of types of work on the arbeit. The word “handyman” fits here more than ever.

At all jobs, they must be fed, from 2 to 4 times a day. As a rule, 2 meals - a full lunch and dinner, and 2 small snacks. There are also 10-15 minute smoke breaks.

At 18.00 (almost always) work ends. You are taken home and the rest of the time is yours.

Payment on Arbeit, as a rule, varies from 60,000 to 120,000 won (3300-6600 rubles today).

Basically, payment is made daily, after work.

The foreman/employer is the person with whom you live, to whom you are brought to the office every day, who provides you with work.

An employer is a person who pays your foreman money for the work you have done, and for whom you actually work at the site.

The rate is fixed and paid to you by your employer. The employer has a percentage of your work, but this does not affect your earnings. Let's give an example - your Foreman sends you to work collecting garlic. The employer pays him 120,000 won per person. He gives you 80,000, and takes 40,000 for himself.

There were cases when a team of 10 people, receiving 80,000 each, completed a construction project, for which the foreman received 2,400,000 won. In total, his net earnings from you per day were 2,400,000 - 10 x 80,000 = 1,600,000 won. That is, from each of you he earned 2 times more than you yourself. You need to take this calmly.

Firstly, he is your employer, and how much profit he earns from you is his business. Secondly, he pays for your housing and resolves your issues. Thirdly, there are days when you even leave him in minus (let’s say there is not enough work on that day, but he still has to pay you, and he sends you to a site for which he will be paid 800,000 won, instead of 10 people - 15, because that there is no work. In the end, he pays you the difference.) or zero. It also happens that the foreman pays a little extra for a profitable project. It happens when employers pay extra for good work.
The main key to success in working on an arbeit is to work productively. There are many examples when employers took a good employee to work for them directly, on more favorable terms, realizing that he was of great use. There are many examples of when a good employee was given a work visa and he completely emigrated to the Republic of Kazakhstan receiving a good salary.

Also, if you loaf around and try in every possible way to shirk work, of course they will pay you, but they will definitely complain to the foreman. After several such complaints, the foreman will most likely ask you to move out, and you will either have to return home or pay a job search fee again. And the repeated work will be much worse than the original one; as a rule, those “fired” are sent to the hardest or lowest paid work.

The advantages of working on an arbeit:

1. Since you work different jobs every day, and most of the time these jobs are temporary, the chances of the police arresting you for illegal work are minimal.
2. You get paid daily. Firstly, even taking into account the fact that Korea safe country In terms of payment, receiving money in your hands every day is calmer and more reliable for yourself. Secondly, when you get tired at work and want to go home, having received payment for your work, a decent payment by Russian standards, it becomes easier and there is an incentive to continue.
3. The work doesn’t get boring, and it’s easier to work through the entire term. You quickly get tired of the same work.
4. Opportunity to gain experience and profession in different fields.

Disadvantages of the job:

1. The employer is constantly changing. Everyone has their own character, attitude and approach. You need to build relationships with everyone.
2. The work can be physically very difficult and exhausting.
3. Even if you came with a friend to work for the same foreman, there is a high chance that you will work in different places, and just live together.

IN Lately More and more people have heard or read on the Internet that you can make money in South Korea. A country with a small territory and a powerful economy attracts citizens from all over the world, including from the CIS countries. At the same time, the options for entering Korea, as well as the ways to earn money, are different and diverse. In this article, the author will try to understand this type of income as arbeit "in Korean". Of course, it is impossible to cover all the nuances and details of the arbeit in one publication, but we will try to cover some points. To do this, the author decided to get a job as an arbeit! All people's names and titles have been changed, any resemblance is purely coincidental.

...The plane was approaching Incheon (colloquial - Incheon) from the sea, through the window you could see the silhouettes of ships and various boats floating by. The weather was sunny and foreshadowed a good mood after the St. Petersburg rain and gloomy sky. Having collected my things, I headed towards the exit of the aircraft, watching the other passengers as I went. Basically, these were citizens of South Korea who were returning to their homeland after a trip to Russia and St. Petersburg.

Walking along the long corridor from the telescopic gangway to the border control point, I stopped at the front of the counters where Korean employees were processing entry stickers. My turn came quickly, I approached the check-in counter and handed over my passport. I had F-4 visa for ethnic Koreans. And having this visa made me happy, somewhere deep down I was grateful for the opportunity that the Korean government provided for overseas ethnic Koreans.

I was asked to leave my fingerprints on a small electronic scanner, and was given a sticker, aka a simple small piece of paper that contained my entry details. As before, entry stamps are no longer placed in the passport. After checking in, I went to get my luggage and expected that strict customs officers would stand at the exit and check my bags for prohibited items, such as sausage. To my surprise, I quickly found my travel suitcase and headed for the exit without any checks. And I still couldn’t understand why they didn’t check the contents of the suitcase? They didn't even check the luggage tags! Walking past the employees who had no time for me, I stopped for a moment and remembered an episode from the movie “The Diamond Arm.” Remember when Semyon Semyonich walked past the controller with his suitcases? They put a cross on his suitcase with chalk, he was surprised, erased the cross and stood in line again to be checked. I think that customs officers do not check flights from St. Petersburg and Moscow as strictly as flights from Central Asia.

Within a week, through a friend, I submitted documents to the migration center for production ID cards(ID-card, a registration card for all citizens living in Korea for a long time) and began searching for job advertisements. Also, at the migration center I was given a certificate confirming the acceptance of documents for obtaining an ID card. This certificate is important until you receive an ID card. Thanks to my friend, in the building of the migration center, I immediately issued tonjanka(bank book) and debit card. Myself, I stopped in the city Incheon.

Basically, social networks serve as a source of vacancies for Russian-speaking citizens. Various job vacancies are posted every day. I was interested in Arbeit. Many people do not want to get an official job, especially those who do not plan to work in one place for a long time or wait a month and a half for a salary after starting work. There is such a thing as "out", period and time of salary payment. It happens on the 10th, 15th, 25th. If you got a job in the month of August, then you will receive your first salary for the days worked in the month of August on September 10, 15 or even September 25. Therefore, those who have just moved to Korea need real money and arbayt is the most acceptable option for them to earn money.

Payment in South Korea for guest workers is hourly, the minimum rate for one hour of work is 7530 won(about 6.73 US dollars or 456 Russian rubles). The work schedule does not differ much at different enterprises. As a rule, a working day or shift starts at 8:00 and lasts until 17:00. It's a short working day. Anything beyond this time is already considered processing and is paid at an increased rate, approximately 11,000 won (9.83 US dollars or 666 Russian rubles). Under capitalism, many people try to earn more money and are happy when there are overtime jobs. Sometimes there are enterprises where they pay for 1 hour slightly above the minimum wage.

I called one of the numbers that I managed to find in the process of searching for vacancies. A young man named Larik answered and said that the work was away in another city, Kimpo. The work is simple and not physically difficult, just collect and pack mattresses. Schedule from 8:30 to 17:30 (short day), departure from Incheon at 7:10. Payment is made twice, on the 1st-2nd and 15th for each two-week period worked. At the same time, they paid 93,000 won per day (83 US dollars or 5,624 Russian rubles). But every day for round trip travel we had to pay 10,000 won to the driver, that same Larik. As a result, 83,000 won remained net.

Morning in Korea starts “early” in the morning. From 6 o'clock there are already enough people on the streets rushing to their work. At the appointed time, I was standing in front of a famous brand bakery cafe in Korea. Other men and women stood nearby, waiting for their delivery bus. Compatriot guest workers from the CIS countries passed by with sad faces, hastily dressed and with sleepy eyes.

Another gray and white minibus pulled up and my phone rang. Larik called, it was his minibus. Having opened the door, I saw 8 more people inside, including the driver. Having settled into the middle row of seats, we went to my first Arbeit in Korea. However, after driving a couple of hundred meters, we stopped... To take one more person. As a result, in the minibus there were two girls and 5 guys sitting in two rows of seats, and two more guys were sitting in front next to Larik.

It turned out to be uncomfortable for four of us to sit in a row of three seats; our neighbor’s elbow pressed into our sides. But we have to be patient, we’re going to Arbeit! The smoke of siageret without menthol spread throughout the cabin from time to time, because... Larik wanted to smoke. After all, he has the most important job - delivering people to work and back. We drove quickly, changing lanes from one lane to another and overtaking passing cars. Despite the fact that Larik was in a hurry, he drove carefully, without any sudden braking or acceleration. After about 55 minutes we reached an area where many factories and factories were located. Our factory produced some of the most branded mattresses in South Korea. Let's call it, conventionally, FiveStar.

There were almost 20 minutes left before the shift started. With my eyes I assessed the upcoming working day. The weather was a little cloudy, but sometimes the sun showed through. I was asked to give a Tonjan woman and a certificate from the migration center about accepting documents to receive an ID card. To the question, “What should I do?”, they answered me: “Rest for now, when the shift starts, go with the guys, they will show you what to do.”

The rest of the guys sat comfortably on chairs in a special designated area for smoking outside. I sat down next to him, although I don’t smoke. But it was interesting to meet and chat. The Russian-speaking girls also sat down and lit a cigarette. More guys and a man of about fifty-five came up, greeted everyone and immediately lit a cigarette. The guys respectfully called the man Uncle Misha. A few minutes later, an elderly local Korean man appeared, whose name no one knew. And when asked what his position was, everyone answered that he was the most important one here. No one really knew what his job title sounded like in Korean.

Russian-speaking visitors call all local Koreans "hanguki". This head hanguk began issuing brief orders to other local Koreans. Ours quickly dispersed to their hangars and workplaces. I went with Uncle Misha to the main hangar, found a corner and changed into Korean pants made of light material. I bought the pants for 7,000 won.

8:30 everyone is at their jobs.

"What are we going to do today?" — I asked Uncle Misha a question.
“Take your gloves, come with us.” - Uncle Misha answered.
Taking new gloves, I followed everyone. In the next yard across the road there were also factory warehouses. There was also a 40-foot sea container with a tractor. We had to unload this container. Inside were latex mattress bases in plastic packaging of various sizes and different characteristics. These differences, as it turned out later, delay the unloading work. Two guys were throwing packaged workpieces from the container, the dimensions of which ranged from 1.1x2 m to 1.65x2 m. Heavy and slippery packages were grabbed with all fingers and dragged onto pallets. The finished pallets were removed by a young hanguk on "Jackie Chan". This is how our Russian-speaking guest workers nicknamed the forklift, which in Korean (지게차) JiGeCha is consonant with the name “Jackie Chan”.

The first day of the arbeit, and I remember Larik saying on the phone that the work was simple and not difficult, began with warming up all the muscles and joints. I haven’t lifted or moved so many kilograms in all the previous five years combined. It was stuffy outside, my fingers began to ache from tension, and, due to the carelessness of one of the guys, I crushed my middle finger on my hand. I wanted to drink water, but the water cooler was in the hangar. I had to wait for a ten-minute smoke break.

10:30

On a break (십분- pinch bun) none of our people spared their lungs, savoring another cigarette. After quickly going to the toilet and drinking cold water from the cooler, a couple of minutes later we began the final unloading. It was necessary to unload before lunch, which began at 11:40. After the smoke break, the sky began to become cloudy and from time to time it began to rain. We were in a hurry. The rain was also in a hurry, choosing us as its target. There were only ten minutes left before the container was unloaded. These were the “wettest moments” of my adult life. The faster we tried to finish the job, the harder the rain fell. An elderly Hanguk came to check on us and cheer us up a bit, bringing with him a couple of umbrellas! But where can you put these umbrellas if your hands are full and there is not enough space around? The container was emptying, the rain was pouring down in buckets, and his hands worked like car windshield wipers in accelerated mode, washing the water off his face and wiping it with a wet T-shirt. Finally, everything was unloaded and we ran under the shed to wring out our clothes. Everything was completely wet: panties, T-shirt, socks, sneakers. Walking into my hangar, taking off my T-shirt, I turned on a large floor fan and began to dry it under the stream of air. Time on the Arbeit is scheduled in minutes, especially when it comes to smoking breaks, lunches and finishing work.

Arbeit is arbeit, and lunch is on schedule!
11:40

Uncle Misha commands: “ Dinner! Everyone quits their work and quickly goes to the minibus, which we take to the canteen, located three hundred meters from our factory. The women rode to the cafeteria in the main hanguk's minibus. The dining room is average, allowing about 100 visitors to eat at the same time. Workers and company employees from all over the surrounding area come or come for lunch, each at their own specific time. Therefore, there are no queues or crowds to be seen. Entering the dining room, I saw two large pots of rice and tables with salads and snacks. Among the traditional salads were kimchi, seasoned radish, sprouted soybean sprouts, fried meat, various salads, soup in a bowl, and cold compote. Principle buffet when everyone helps themselves to what they want to eat. I took a little bit of everything, but the plate was almost full!

Finding an empty seat at the table near the air conditioner, I began to sample my lunch. Accustomed to eating slowly, I was surprised to notice how our other guys were working hard with their jaws and chopsticks, the food “falling” into their stomachs at the speed of free fall. It felt as if they were in a hurry to get somewhere. Literally, in 8-10 minutes, all the food on their plates disappeared. They got up from their seats, took the dirty dishes to the dishwashers and went out. I felt a little uncomfortable and speeded up the absorption of my food. But no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t finish my first lunch on the Arbeit before 15 minutes.

After lunch, everyone again loaded into the minibus and went to their factory. The first thing everyone did was sit under the canopy and start smoking. As such, there was no communication between each other; everyone was busy with their thoughts or their phone. Lunch time lasts exactly one hour, until 12:40. To be honest, it’s difficult to work after lunch; I want to rest. But life in Korea forces people to change their habits, lifestyle and thinking. Although, many of our guest workers still live in Korea with their bad habits, without even thinking about changing themselves and their thinking.

Work and work again...

Uncle Misha was short, densely built with a face that was a little reminiscent of the actor Yevgeny Leonov. So you think that he will say jokingly: “ I'll tear the mouth apart, gouge out the blinkers! But Uncle Misha worked conscientiously, had a calm character and always tried to do the job well. He became my partner and mentor for the two weeks I spent fulfilling my mission. Together, we took the same latex bases that we unloaded from the warehouse, put thick sheets on them, then tucked them into special sewn covers for mattresses. The work required synchronicity and attentiveness. The finished mattresses were folded several times and placed in special branded bags. I put an information sheet inside the folded mattresses, zipped it on one side, and my partner on the other. I put on a green round sticker for control, gathered the fabric handles of the bag together and secured them with strips of Velcro. Uncle Misha fixed the zipper pulls with a plastic clamp and took the finished bags to a temporary storage area. After unloading the container in the pouring rain, the job couldn't have been easier. Every day we had new tasks and orders. Two young hanguks, a kind of senior factory foreman, gave us instructions in Korean about which mattresses to fill and pack. They themselves famously managed the Jackie Chans and were always on the job, showing their loyalty and efficiency to their superiors.

On the very first day of Arbeit, I saw how our guys worked. Some people worked hard, doing the work slowly, others worked conscientiously, doing everything carefully and silently. The old hanguk constantly came to the hangar and looked at the work, and also checked the mattresses himself, sniffing the spongy latex base. Repeating after him, the guys also poked their noses into the latex and sucked in air: it was a kind of “stink detection sensor” for used mattresses. According to its marketing policy, FiveStar accepted back used mattresses after a certain time and replaced their covers with sheets. And so, we unpack such a used mattress, remove the cover, then remove the sheet with the remains of someone’s hair and deeply inhale the aroma of spongy latex, yellowed in places. True, I never inhaled, because... my nose still wouldn't detect anything.

While packing the mattresses, I caught myself thinking. Real branded Korean mattresses, some of which cost as much as $1,800, consist of Vietnamese latex bases, material from Thailand, Chinese bags and the handiwork of Russian-speaking Koreans. All these components are capitalism in action.

At 17:15, cleaning of the workplace and the area around it usually begins (청소) jeongso. It so happened that the general cleaning on the first day began early and ended quickly. All the guys went to the toilet; a young guy named Gena remained in the hangar, finishing sweeping the floor. After a while, the senior foreman came running and began to scold our guys because they had left the hangar and there was only one Gena left inside, who was cleaning up. As the young hanguk explained a little later, through a video camera in the hangar, the elderly hanguk saw an empty hangar on the monitor in his office and wondered why everyone had disappeared somewhere. Having appealed a little to our conscience, the foreman said that next time everyone should be in the hangar by 17:30. Nodding our heads, we went to our minibus, having previously signed our signatures on the work time sheet. I noticed that none of the guys even change into a change of clothes, although after a working day the whole T-shirt is wet from sweat, and the pants collect all the micro-dust that imperceptibly floats in the air from working fans, mineral wool and materials.

The journey back home takes a little longer, because... Many people are returning from work and there are small traffic jams on the roads. The girls immediately sat in the back row of seats, the rest in the empty seats, Larick turned on the music and we all drove to Incheon. The girls, by the way, immediately received payment, because... they worked temporarily for a few days. In a short day, they received 68,000 won in their hands, of which 10,000 won were immediately given to Larik for round-trip travel. Their work was not very hard, assembling boxes with massage pillows, putting stickers on bags, etc.

Is it possible to make money in South Korea?

Thus, after working ten days over two weeks on this particular arbeit, everyone received 920,000 won (822 US dollars or 55,710 Russian rubles). From this salary it was necessary to give Larik 100,000 won for 10 days of travel. But this remaining amount is enough for one person in South Korea to pay rent for an apartment, eat normally and make small purchases.

Accordingly, if you go to Arbeit on a permanent basis, you will receive about 1,650,000 won per month (about 1,475 dollars or about 100,000 Russian rubles). By the standards of South Korea, such a salary for guest workers is considered small, but if we compare the work time (only 8 hours) and the schedule (five days), such a salary looks attractive. Working on a permanent basis and having officially signed a contract, guest workers on average receive from 2,200,000 to 2,800,000 won per month. And this is already a significant income, which allows visitors to make money savings and improve their lives.

In conclusion, I would like to note that due to the economic crises in the CIS countries and new sanctions for Russia, the economic stability of South Korea is attracting more and more guest workers from both the CIS countries and Russia. Consumer activity in South Korea itself is quite high, which also affects the production of various goods. And, if the next global economic crisis does not break out, then guest workers from the CIS can live in Korea for a long time and earn a better life for themselves!

Dmitry Tyan
(August-September 2018)

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The life of the main character of this article changed dramatically after the February elections in the Tunkinsky district; the new leadership asked her to leave, saying that the new administration no longer needed her services. Leaving her family, small homeland, friends and loved one, Oksana (name changed) had to leave the country. During her four months of work in Korea, she managed to work both in the fields and in an expensive restaurant. Now she is a pulpop (illegal immigrant), in December of this year she will close all her loans and pay off her debts

“Within 2 weeks, my friend and I bought tickets for a direct flight to South Korea. I think every second resident of our republic has friends or relatives who visited or stayed there... We also had such a person, our fellow countryman, a guy from Tunka. Through him, we found an intermediary who was supposed to meet and arrange a job. Then we didn’t yet know where we were going, scenes from Korean dramas were scrolling in our heads, everything was like in a beautiful movie... But we knew one thing for sure, no one was waiting for us there, no one owed us anything there, we only rely on ourselves and that we ourselves have chosen this path and have to go through it with difficulty, sweat and possibly “blood.”
I remember how yesterday, at the airport, I said goodbye to my boyfriend, hugged him tightly and said that I’ll be back soon...
We've completed registration and that's it, we're waiting for the bus that will take us to that very plane. In my head I repeat everything according to the instructions, everything should go smoothly... There was no time for sleep on the plane, we flew for 3.5 hours and all this time there were a million questions that I was not ready to answer even to myself... Why? For what? Was it worth it?
South Korea. Almost arrived... Through the window I notice small islands in the middle of the ocean and many plots of land, clearly divided into so-called fields.

Incheon. A huge beautiful modern airport, I have never seen anything like it! We were worried about customs control because... from the communities they knew that they could turn us away before we even arrived... Without notice, we went through all the stages of verification and... hurray! We're in Korea! Happiness knew no bounds! We were met by Sasha, a pleasant young man, an ethnic Korean, originally from Uzbekistan. There are many people like him in Korea, intermediaries are people who get you a job, help you with housing and food, work for a certain paycheck, of course. On the way, we met a woman from Vladivostok, her name was Albina, she had already been in Korea for a week and managed to get settled and leave work. I was at the Arbeit - this is not the main place of work. You just come to the Samushil office, early, early in the morning, wait for employers, they may or may not hire you, it depends on the stars... just kidding, everything depends on the employer, of course, if you work quickly and efficiently, they will pick you up every day.

And so, late in the evening we got off the bus and found ourselves in the city of Mokpo, which is in another part of Korea. There were 4 of us on the bus from Russia (Roshshcha), three from Buryatia and Albina. The owner (sajanim) met us and treated us to chicken legs. He owned several fields. We went to the Buryat hostel and were told to live there. We met everyone, there were a lot of them there. They greeted us good-naturedly, and even with vodka (soju)... There we were also instructed on how everything works in Korea, and warned about raids by the immigration service.

On the first and last day we worked in a field of peppers (a bunch). It was one hell of a hell!

We arrived home barely alive, hungry and wet with sweat. The heat was unbearable, stuffy... 70% humidity was just a nightmare. By the way, in Korea it is very stuffy, the humidity is high and you are constantly wet, because of this, allergies appear, “prickly heat”, your whole body just itches.

This was our first work experience. After that we decided not to set foot on the field!
We eventually left there. We got a job at a jellyfish factory. The work was also not a fountain, but the pay should have been good... The plant was closed on the second day... At the third job we ended up at a jeans factory, another intermediary arranged for us.

Jeans factory... We worked there for 12 full days. In terms of wages, everything is transparent and clean there. There I learned that garbage is clearly sorted in Korea. Paper, plastic, glass, iron, food waste - everything is separated! This is very important for them; it will not be difficult for them to dig through the garbage and separate one from the other into different bags. So that’s what I’m talking about, the plant... I don’t remember the painful and exhausting 15-hour working day, the constant adjustments from the supervisors who watch your every move, the stuffiness in the hangar and millions of liters of cold water drunk. One minus, the salary is small at the factory. More precisely, two disadvantages - the salary and the crazy pace of work, which is why we decided to leave this place.
The next day we got a job building chicken coops. A team of 25 people, Buryats. The warden is Korean, who communicated with us more or less humanely. After working for a month, I decided to leave because, frankly speaking, the management was driving me crazy. They withheld our wages and didn’t give us money for overtime, because... the object was not delivered on time and this money went into someone's Korean pocket. Our warden cheated on us three times and all these three times, allegedly because of poor leadership, saying, “I stood up for you”... they didn’t “hear” me... “I defended you”... “I love the Russians... the Korean system”... Don't know. Whether he spoke the truth or not, it doesn’t matter to me, it’s on his conscience. I left.

Through intermediaries, I got a job in Shchiktan - in a cafe-restaurant. I work here 50 days and nights. The staff is mostly female. One Nepalese, two Koreans, me and a Buryat guy. Our owner is a daredevil! Every morning we are recharged by the hostess with whom I live in the same house.
Large groups of people often sit in our cafe and order a lot of meat and soju. Meat is very expensive, especially beef. Almost all food is spicy. Each hot dish comes with appetizers and salads. For 1 person there are at least 9 plates of snacks, which are scattered little by little on the plates, and what kind of snacks is the desire of the hostess and the cook. But kimchi (pickled red cabbage) is always present on the table.

Koreans love to eat in these kinds of establishments; they don’t really eat at home. Our cafe is considered expensive and the quality of service is accordingly the same for all visitors. For having a good and expensive meal in a cafe, we order a taxi at our own expense, serve additional snacks - this is obligatory for paksadzhanim (distinguished guests), regular customers receive discounts, nuts, sweets and all that from the establishment as a bonus. Quite so, everything looks tempting. In Korea it is not customary to tip, but again in our cafe it is not like that. 10,000 won - for being from Russia, please.

While working in a cafe, I noticed many different little things about Hanguk (Koreans), they love to drink. Not just drinking until you lose consciousness, but drinking after a hard day at work and the next day, going to work again, and then drinking again. This is not alcoholism. People just relax, relax this way. Here I have never seen a real alcoholic, nor homeless people, nor hooligans, nor bandits. There aren't even stray dogs here! The cats are all wild and afraid of people. It’s interesting, but it’s a fact that the Hanguk people are pretty bad at geography. Earning so much money, only a few travel around the world. It’s normal to go on vacation to your own sea, to your own Busan beach. I learned that Hanguks are constantly learning, constantly in some kind of search for new knowledge, and this is supported by the state as a whole. And also there is no pension. How do people live? But simply, they work until the last minute. I saw grandmothers and grandfathers who looked like the letter “G” - these are the people who put the whole of Korea on its feet. The president once said that the strength of South Korea lies in its people, and the people went to the fields, factories and factories. They made Korea the way we see it now. But time passes, and who will plow the fields and hunch over the machines??? Are there really fragile Korean girls and sugary, painted guys? Of course not, there is nothing to lure them onto the field. This is the problem for all of Korea. All progressive youth are leaving the country for the number one Asian country - Japan. And today’s youth have already forgotten about the bustle in small towns, where the basis of the bread on the table is painstaking work in the fields. I was surprised when I saw a flower pot and noticed that it was not a flower growing in it, but several peppers. This is fine. The land is tiny, each square costs a fortune. Why am I writing all this, but to ensure that there will be illegal immigrants and guest workers in Korea! Who besides us? The generation of grandfathers and grandmothers who now work in the fields is passing away, and there is no replacement for them, but there are people like us. The employer himself is interested in us, because... we can be paid half as much as Hanguk, but for our money we get enough, we don’t have to pay for health insurance and other paperwork... We are criminals, lawbreakers, but at the same time, Korea needs labor, besides it's inexpensive.

It’s my second month of working in a cafe, and I know a lot and understand what they want from me: a knife, scissors, water, a glass, etc. But I still have more to learn. Learn Korean after work, repeat words and numbers, names of snacks and dishes, objects and much more. Everything is very difficult. It’s hard to overcome laziness and sit down at the table and write hieroglyphs, it’s hard. The body wants rest, silence and simply inaction, but the consciousness says, we must learn!
We, migrant workers from Buryatia, treat each other completely differently and support each other in sorrow and joy, in sickness and in health... Well, seriously, this is so, at least I have met just such people, now friends. The days flew by quickly, I didn’t even notice how a month had passed, then I officially became a guest worker and a pulp worker. The stamp in my passport said that I could arrive in South Korea until September 13, 2016. This day came, and I didn’t feel anything, my eyes didn’t even twitch... I didn’t feel like going home, because... I understood that there was nothing to do there... There was no work... There was no money... But I wanted to live... Even with a diploma higher education It’s difficult for a simple young specialist to get a decent job... Entrance everywhere is only with “white cards” and reserved seats... I open vacancies in Ulan-Ude, all the time - administrators, cleaners, bartenders, janitors and waitresses. Everything is complicated. I’ll just keep silent about working in my native area.
I think that those who want to come and make money here will always find work.

There are always vacancies, you just need to take it and come. I do not advocate or advise people to become violators of the law of a foreign country. To hell with the invented crisis! We live here and now!

Moscow student Marcel went to study in China for six months, came to South Korea, where in a matter of days he turned from a guest worker to a teacher in English. As part of a series of materials about compatriots who moved abroad, he publishes his story about this country, its citizens and their morals.

In mid-June, my studies in Dalian, China ended, and I still had a month and a half left before the start of the autumn semester in Baumanka.

I am a rather reserved person: I have great difficulty making new acquaintances, so I like to put myself in such situations - alone in a foreign country, and in order to somehow live, I need to spend time with strangers, communicate a lot, look for opportunities to earn money. The decision to fly to Korea alone was not easy for me, since I don’t know the language at all, and I didn’t have much money at first. On my side were the positive experience of a similar trip of my friend from Sakhalin, a visa-free regime and parents who said: “Try it. If all else fails, take a plane ticket and fly back.” For some time I doubted whether it was worth it, but I realized that if I continue to think about it, I definitely won’t fly anywhere. And I just bought a ticket.

Here's your mat

I knew that in big cities- for example, in Seoul - there were cases of deportation, so I chose Wando - a small fishing town on the southern coast. I didn’t look for housing for long - I settled in a public sauna. Many guest workers start from this place because it is the cheapest housing in all of Korea. For six dollars a day I had the sauna and showers at my disposal; foam rolled into a roll (local pillow), a rug and a sleeping place on the floor in a large room with other guests.

The problem was the lack of work on the arbeit - that's what they call a workhouse in the German manner in Korea (I have no idea why they use german words). Arbeit is a small office where guest workers come from the very morning: Tajiks, Uzbeks, Russians, Buryats, Chinese and Koreans themselves. There we had fun, played cards, drank free coffee from the Sajanin - the owner of the arbeit, until some Korean offered us a job. We agreed to any. I managed to work as an assistant on a ship, as a landscape designer, clearing weeds in the field, as a loader, but the most interesting things lay ahead of me. Work was not given very often; over the past month, the guys worked as laborers for only 15 days.

There was a catastrophic lack of money - I even went to church for a free lunch. And I thought: why don’t I teach English? I'm relatively good at it. Firstly, this job involves communication, which is exactly what I needed. Secondly, wiping my pants in the office without doing anything is pointless, and the teachers in such schools speak English, and maybe one of them will offer me some other hack. I found several English language schools in online maps. In the first four they rejected me right away, and the boss of the fifth, Mr. Kuang, said: “Well... Come back tonight. Let's talk and have a beer." I didn’t want to go on a visit empty-handed, and I didn’t have money for anything substantial. I bought a couple bags of peanuts for a snack. While buying nuts, I caught myself thinking that I had never saved so much in my life. It looked very pathetic.

Mr. Kuang liked my English. He himself was busy raising three sons and dumped some of his lessons on me. It didn’t turn out to be very much, only 18 hours a week, but in the remaining days I could work somewhere else. He asked me to hide my country of origin because there are “stupid stereotypes about KGB.” I introduced myself to the children as Marcel from Ireland, and the red beard and accent served as proof.

This was the first time I had close contact with children. I had several groups with students ranging in age from 9 to 16 years old. This is very unusual - I have never felt so many curious glances from Asian children. What I liked most was working in the oldest group with eight girls. This was the most attentive and calm group. Lessons with them were held in a conversation format without any textbooks. We discussed K-pop, interethnic marriages, Seoul, their dream guys. When they suddenly started speaking Korean, I turned on the episode from Pulp Fiction when Jules shouted: “English, motherfucker, do you speak it?!” (“Can you speak English, bastard?!”). I did not tell Mr. Kuang about such methods of mine.

Science and violence

In the younger groups everything was different. I felt like a toastmaster. It was necessary to constantly hold the students' attention. If one of them was distracted from the lesson, he would drag the rest along with him, and the class would plunge into chaos. But even in such moments, I was glad to work there, because just a day ago, the guys from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and I were turning over an entire field of solar panels in 30-degree heat.

Four days of teaching at school brought me $180 a week. The remaining three days I went to the arbeit, where you can earn up to 90 dollars a day. In addition, sometimes we got a wild freebie: once Ruslan and I from Buryatia unloaded a small van with some plastic things for growing algae and received 5.5 thousand rubles for four hours of work. By agreement, we gave 10 percent of our earnings to the sajjan.

Arbeit workers are usually mercilessly exploited. The worst thing for me were those solar panels. It was Saturday morning, when I immediately went to Arbeit, not even having time to leave after the hellish revelry with the guys from Krasnodar and Vladivostok: the calculation was that there would be little work on the weekend and I would be able to rest up. The first thing I had to do was show myself to the sajani, because the more often you come to the arbeit, the greater the likelihood of getting a job. As luck would have it, right from the taxi we were put into a minivan and taken to a field where we had to turn the solar panels in teams of seven. Real hell - heat, sun at its zenith, not a cloud and only panels to the horizon. They paid us well - seven thousand rubles for 10 hours of work.

My weekly income was about $300, but I continued to live in the sauna to save money for my trip to Korea. Some students saw me there, and I must admit, it was a little awkward. To their questions “Why do you always go to the sauna?” I answered: “Because I like it.” This was partly true.

Same as everyone else

Mr. Kuang introduced me to other English teachers - Americans, Canadians, Irish - who worked in primary and secondary schools. Oddly enough, they, like the guys from Arbayt, are not going to Korea to teach because they have a good life. This is also an opportunity for them to earn money. It turns out that my Canadian friend is just as much a farm laborer as my Tajik friend. Working conditions and attitude on the part of Koreans are, of course, different, but the essence is the same.

One of my teaching friends deserves special mention. Fabio, 30 years old. Holder of three passports - Italian, Irish and Brazilian. He visited many countries, but one of his journeys was especially wild: he traveled across all of Russia by train - from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. I have visited more Russian cities than I, a citizen of Russia.

I made more and more friends: random visitors to the sauna, migrant workers from Central Asia, my students at school and my best friend, and part-time boss, Mr. Kuang. He was very sensitive to my situation, because at my age he also traveled. When he was 25, he worked as a volunteer in one of the Baltic countries.

Before leaving Wando we had a big drinking party. It was fun and sad at the same time. It’s sad because after traveling in Korea, I will have to study at the university. But there was no time to be sad; I can cry in Moscow. Ahead of me were two Korean cities - Daegu and Seoul. My friends live there, whom I met back in China.

Before me, there were thousands of Russian-speaking tourists in Korea who will tell you about Seoul better than I can. Let me just note that this is beautiful modern city. It is comfortable for a foreigner to move around it. Hongdae, Gyeongbok Palace, Gangnam, and even ordinary streets - walking there is an incredible thrill. There are also unrealistically beautiful girls in Seoul. I think it’s no wonder there are such a huge number of plastic surgery clinics there.

Computer clubs are more than alive in the Korean capital. Huge diagonal monitors, throne chairs, the ability to order food directly to the computer. Grown men come to chop into something, there are even VIP clubs for the wealthy. I limited myself to remembering my youth and beating a Korean in Warcraft III.

What I personally learned from the trip was the banal “I can.” I'm afraid that my life here in Russia may turn into a routine, work - home, home - work. There will be few new impressions. Utilities and renting an apartment will ruin my budget. But at any time I can come to a place unfamiliar to me, where everyone speaks a language that I do not understand, with customs that are unfamiliar to me. I will still find friends, work, impressions, visit amazing places and after a while I will remember this country with a smile.

I have experienced the vicissitudes of illegal workers. But first I turned to an employment agency in South Korea, which is located in Ulan-Ude.

There I was briefed and sent to my agent in South Korea. I went “visa-free” for two months. In addition, the South Korean consulate in Irkutsk assured me over the phone that it is not necessary to obtain a three-month visa for the media. Among illegal immigrants, employment agents are called intermediaries.

Various "arbeit"

My intermediary sent me and our fellow countrywoman to an “arbeit” in one of the country’s industrial zones. There we were met by another intermediary, a Chinese. He moved us into an apartment, which in their own way they call “wonroom”. The apartment turned out to be nice and cozy. Our work shift began the next day.

What is "arbeit"? These are offices and employment exchanges that provide work to foreigners with a work visa. Local Koreans are called Hanguk. “Arbeit” offers its hanguks jobs in various plants, factories, and fields. The Russians compete with the Malaysians, Chinese, and Mongols. There are many industrial zones in South Korea, where plants and factories with different types of production are concentrated. Therefore, one day you can go to a cosmetics factory packing creams, and on the second you will have to pluck ducks in a refrigeration department at another factory.

I worked one day in greenhouses, collecting weeds from the roots of ginseng. I was given my first salary of 55,000 won (approximately 2,700 rubles). And the next day I was already packing canned food at a meat processing plant. This is quite hard work, as I had to lift heavy boxes. Then, through great connections, I got a job as a bookkeeper at a factory producing soft drinks and coffee. These products, according to the Koreans, were exported to Japan. I wrote down the pallet numbers on forms and glued them. During the night shift I monitored the production of plastic bottles.

However, work at this plant ended. And again I found myself on a package of creams. The whole day I stood next to the Korean woman and plugged the “yellow bananas” with plugs. My partner poured cream into them from a huge vat using her machine. Then we managed to visit factories for packaging noodles, semi-finished vegetables, duck, pharmaceutical products and a box manufacturing plant.

Almost all factories have a 12-hour working day. But for women from 09:00 to 17:00 or 18:00. The salaries of women and men differ markedly. Some factories work night shifts. During such shifts, the salary increases to 90,000 won (5,000 rubles).

Our fellow countrywoman from Irkutsk spoke about working on women’s “arbaits” in Seoul. Women usually clean motels and wash dishes in restaurants and cafes. However, in the metropolitan metropolis, the “arbeitchik” must drive to work himself. Every day he works in different places. Salaries are paid in different ways: somewhere once a month, somewhere every week or daily. I managed to see an “arbeit” in a neighboring village, which was located right on the street. There, workers go out onto the street and stand in rows, waiting to see who will be chosen for work.

Pulp pops in wonrooms

Usually, when holidaymakers come here, they turn to intermediaries. Employers actively publish paid vacancies in mobile phone application groups and on social networks. This service costs $130 and up. Russians willingly work in factories and factories. Most often, newcomers work on the land. Old-timers are moving to “arbayts”. Residents of Central Asia and Buryatia often work in shiktan cafes and motels. And the illegal immigrants themselves in South Korea are called “pulpops.” Of course, Russians have the opportunity to work legally. But the majority of them cannot obtain these visas due to excessive requirements. In particular, due to ignorance of the Korean language.

Pulp workers' salaries are lower than those of legal workers. The employer takes this difference. The advantage of “arbeit” in industrial zones is that they are delivered to factories. “Arbeitchiki” are forced to rent apartments. They are called here "apats" or "wonrums". Renting an apartment costs 200,000 won per month per person (10,000 rubles). Although it will cost much less for ethnic Koreans and ID card holders. Several high-rise buildings are owned by one owner. Construction and rental of wonrooms is a profitable business for Korean businessmen.

I would like to note that we are now witnessing the integration of foreign labor into economically developed countries. According to rating best countries According to US News, South Korea is among the top 23 countries in the world, ranked 11th and considered one of the largest recipients of foreign investment and the sixth exporter in the world. And it is not surprising that migrant workers from different countries. They often stay here to live, create new families, and receive citizenship.

"Arbeit" and fictitious marriages

Uzbeks are a large diaspora in South Korea. As one Korean woman with ethnic roots said, she married a citizen of Uzbekistan. Now the fictitious husband regularly pays her alimony. Therefore, Uzbeks come with work visas, prudently creating fictitious marriages with ethnic Koreans of Uzbekistan. There are also fictitious marriages among the Buryats. For a certain amount, you can marry an ethnic Korean and obtain residence rights in South Korea.

Often, visiting women marry Hanguk men. Thus, a 38-year-old Filipino woman has been married to a 60-year-old Hanguk man for five years. They are raising a son together. As she admitted, she had to hide her age in order to have a better chance of a happy marriage. According to her, in South Korea they are very attentive to such marriages. Special services test the family's strength: they may suddenly come and conduct an inspection.

Motels and maids

Nowadays there is little work at Arbeit. On one of these days, at a dietary supplement packaging plant, I found myself redundant. I had to get to my settlement to hitchhike. Fortunately, the Hanguks are friendly, and with a minimal vocabulary of Korean words they understood me and took me there. I had to go to Seoul. There, through an intermediary, I got a job in a motel. The cleaning there is usually done by women. They work in pairs, sometimes in threes. For example, two of them work as maids, one as a laundress. I had to work alone from 10:00 to 22:00. My hosts themselves lived at the hotel. I was also given a room and the same food as the Hanguk. In luxury motels with a clientele from Western countries, mainly from the United States, the Hanguk themselves work. And Russians are offered work in motels intended for Koreans. I did laundry, cleaning 28 rooms, and sorting garbage. So I worked 12 days without days off. And, having received my salary, I began to look for a new job. Search is a difficult matter. So I had to suffer for five days until I found a job in shiktan.

Shiktan

This is what cafes and canteens are called in South Korea. It took me more than five hours to get to my shiktan in the port city by bus. Russians are hired as dishwashers. The work schedule is 13 hours, sometimes more. Girls who speak Korean at a conversational level work as waiters.

My partner from Primorye has been working at shiktan for six months. She admitted that she enjoyed her work and that she would never receive so much money for the same work in Russia. She worked seven days a week to send home 50,000 rubles every month. Her monthly salary was 75,000 rubles.

I met another of our compatriots, Katya, in Seoul. She washes dishes in restaurants. Her monthly income allows her to rent a koshiwon - a room with a bed - in the Russian district of Seoul. She lives with hope for the future, trying to create a personal life that will give her a guarantee of citizenship in South Korea.