Orientation

I have been in South Korea for two weeks now, and they have been jam packed.  I can't decide if it feels as if I have been here for just a few days, or a few months, things have been intense.

Orientation was incredible and it made me thankful that I applied through EPIK to teach at a public school rather than being thrown into a Hagwon (private English school).  The orientation site was held at Daejin University, which is located in a beautiful area of the country, with picturesque mountains and lush vegetation surrounding the campus.  It even has a reconstructed temple site located in the same vicinity, which was incredible to explore.  I made many friends at orientation, and was able to share a dorm room with Alan, who I have developed a strong friendship with as well.

The orientation schedule was hectic at times, but was filled to the brim with high quality lectures, fun activities, and enormous amounts of useful information.  Everyone was given a thick couple hundred page orientation manual that correlated to class-style lectures, and it's a powerful reference guide that I am thankful to have.  For me, what truly stood out above everything else was the passionate leaders of the orientation.  I was fortunate to be chosen as a class leader for the sub-group I was a part of, and was chosen alongside one other girl to give a speech at the closing ceremony of the orientation.  I used the opportunity to retell my humorous story of getting lost, while attempting to parallel the inert kindness I received in that situation with the passionate work of those involved with the orientation.  Here is the speech, courtesy of my fellow teacher and friend, Alfred: 

Alan and I in our dorm

The men's dormitory

One of the many statues on campus

Campus at Daejin University

Temple located right next to campus

Inside the temple area

Stone waterfall area near large stone steps

There were about 300 teachers total, this is just a section of the guys.

Most of my core group from orientation!

Beauty in nature!

Field trip to Seoul

Field trip to Seoul

Field trip to Seoul

Field trip to Seoul

Museum in Seoul

A day of extremes.

I have now experienced my first day in Korea and the travel leading up to it, and I think "roller coaster ride" is the best way to describe it.  Well then, here is the last 26ish hours of my life:

It starts out with waking up at 5:00am and being taken to the SAC airport by my awesome sister Nikki, but we were both pretty out of it after a night of visiting and delicious spicy food and wine.  Everything goes smooth, I check my bags and a fly to Seattle, and the easy part is done.  In the SEA-TAC airport my abysmal sense of direction caused me to walk around an extra 45 minutes for no reason, but with the help of the internet and a nice man working at the airport, I managed to not exit the security clearance to try to check in with Korean Air (all I had to do was sit by the gate in the first place to check in).  So yeah, that was aggravating, but then I made a new friend. :D

I was really just minding my own business, but a guy in a suit obviously needed a place to charge his laptop and I offered the one that I was sitting by.  Slowly our conversation developed, and over the next 2 hours we got to know one another and spoke a bunch about Korean culture, American culture, and all sorts of things in between.  His name is Lee and he travels all over the world working for a company that is involved with Hyundai I believe.  I was happy that he was impressed with my knowledge of Korean history and the culture, and we shared e-mail addresses and are going to meet up in Seoul when I get all of my logistics (school placement, new apartment, etc) figured out.

Unfortunately our conversation was cut short by the boarding of the plane, and so I stepped into the unknown cabin that would be launching me off to Korea.  It was actually the best service, cleanliness, and accommodations in a plane that I have ever had.  Every seat had a TV with a remote control that was also a game controller, and you could watch movies, listen to music, watch television shows, or play games during the flight.  Every seat was given a blanket, pillow, toothbrush, eye mask, and water bottle from the start!  The flight attendants were abundant and every 10 minutes I would have to say no to another offer for food or drink.  Unfortunately it was still a 12 hour non-stop flight, and I had not done one of those before.  I wasn't able to sleep more than 5 or 10 minutes, and so I played a ton of Tetris, and even got in the top 8 scores by the end of the flight, woohoo.  After what seemed like an eternity the flight finally was over, and so I found myself at the Incheon International Airport, a HUGE place that is the stuff of nightmares for directionless people like me.  Luckily I connected with Lee when the flight ended again, and he helped me make it to the emigration area before he had to go.  That is when the fun really started to ramp up :P

So I get my bags, and then I realize that altogether they weigh about 80 or 90 pounds, which ends up being not fun to carry around the huge airport looking for a bus terminal that I can't find.  After finding an information desk, I finally find the bus (or at least I think I found it?), but the driver didn't speak English and I never heard the speakers call out the stop that I was listening for.  So I get kicked out of the bus on its last stop, and I'm on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone (I don't have a sim card yet), and I'm still carrying 90lbs of luggage.  Needless to say it wasn't fun, but after dragging my luggage through the dirt for a while I found a little group of food stands. Unfortunately none of them spoke English, they seemed really intent on helping me.  His son called a taxi for me, and even though it took 2 hours to show up, I enjoyed making conversation with body language.  I even received some food and drink, yet they wouldn't accept a small tip for the help they gave me, so I went on my way and after a 30 minute taxi drive (it seemed like the bus never even got close to the destination), I finally made it to the guesthouse that I'm typing this from right now.

So I've been awake for like 27 hours now, and its time to crash.  Tomorrow I'll travel to Daejin University for an 8 day orientation before I am finally placed into an apartment and school somewhere in Seoul.  I haven't even been into the heart of Seoul yet, although I'm rooming right now with a cool Irish guy named Alan that is in the same teaching program I am in, but is being placed in a different city.  He explored Seoul today and said it was amazing.  I can't wait!

Thanks for reading this wall of text, and I promise there will be pictures in the near future :D

Why I am leaving the U.S. to teach in South Korea.

In four days I will be in South Korea, preparing to attend an orientation for my new job: teaching English to elementary school students in a public school!  It is a 1 year contract, with an option for renewal.  Am I excited? YES

Some people have asked me why I chose to do this, and in the spur of the moment it is hard to deliver a perfect response.  Let this be my attempt to convey my reasoning for such a big life change:


1.  I believe I have found my career path.
       I have made of lot of random, arbitrary decisions in my life.  I have a B.A. in Economics, simply because I knew I should get a degree and it was an easy and convenient choice.  I enjoyed very little of my Economics coursework, my favorite classes at U.C. Davis were a poetry writing class, game theory, calculus, and upper division literature classes.  Yet throughout my education, I began to realize it was absolutely crucial that I would be passionate about my future career.  The truth is, I was unable to find the passion to pursue law school (my original intention), and things began to get kind of scary.  But from working in a direct sales position and at a bank, I started to realize something.  It is the teaching aspects of a job that I truly enjoy.  Encouraging and educating my co-workers gave me a great sense of pride and helped me stay focused in jobs I would have otherwise despised.  And so when I discovered this opportunity, things really clicked for me.  It may not be as lucrative as certain business oriented jobs I could have pursued, but that leads me to my next point...

2.  For me, positively impacting others in a direct and tangible way far outweighs monetary gain.
       I can admit that several years ago my primary objective was making a lot of money, even if I ended up in a career I didn't really care about.  I'm not sure if it was working in banking, becoming more frugal, or speaking to friends and family, but somewhere down the line that changed a lot.  I think that whether people like to admit it or not, the average person ends up being negatively impacted by wealth.  Whether it is the people who mess up their lives after winning the lottery, the proven facts that people in lower income brackets donate a higher % of their income than those in higher income brackets, or society's general obsession with materialism, the facts are abundant.  This isn't to say if you are well off you are a bad person, there are plenty of great people with superfluous wealth.  But the point is, I will be happy being someone that never truly accumulates that much material wealth, but is instead enriched by the work that I accomplish and the impact I am able to make on others.  But why am I going to Korea to begin teaching...?

3.  Teaching in South Korea appeals to me on many levels, ranging from superficial likes to lifelong aspirations.
       Sometimes its easy to say that I'm going to South Korea because I enjoy watching Starcraft II (a competitive strategic computer game that has high levels of competition in South Korea), but in the scheme of things that is merely a superficial like.  Would you believe me if I told you, a couple years ago I spent hours reading about Hangeul (Korean language system) and became fascinated with its logical form and unique history, despite knowing nothing about Korean culture?  Coupled with the fact that I have held a sincere lifelong aspiration of becoming bilingual, the opportunity to begin my desired career in Korea began to intrigue me quite compellingly.  Years before that I discovered Kimchi, and instantly fell in love with it, despite all of my friends and family thinking I was crazy at the time.  In fact, during my first experience with Korean BBQ I was already wondering why I didn't live in Korea :).  Another aspiration I have had is studying a martial art, and what better place is there to study Taekwondo?  Beyond these conveniences, I have always admired elements of the Eastern mindset, with less focus on the individual, and more on tight-knit families and social well being.  To live and work in South Korea is such an incredible fit for me-- truly when I discovered it my internalization of all of the above came to me like a blinding light.  And ultimately South Korea has allowed me to jump into all of this very quickly and put these theories to the test.

What about after the contract, what then?

I plan to spend at least two years in South Korea, because I will be putting a great deal of time into learning the language, and it is unrealistic that I could achieve what I want in only one year.  I do not know what the future will hold, but it is plausible that I could stay longer in South Korea, and just as likely that I could pursue continued education in the U.S. or Korea to either continue teaching in the U.S. or teach at a higher level in South Korea.

Well that's it then.

My bags are packed, my mind is open, and my stomach is prepared. :)