So a lot of people have asked me the question, “South Korea, huh?”
Yeah, I get it, it’s not really on the top of most of my peoples’ must-see lists, and especially not as a place to actually reside. And no, it doesn’t sound as glamorous as Barcelona sounded. But you know, glamour isn’t what it’s all about for me. I guess maybe I should have known that, but if I start counting the things I should have known, this blog is going to become really depressing, really fast. Maybe it should be titled Live and Learn.
I guess I should start with why I left Barcelona in the first place because that feeds into why I came to Korea. There were a lot of factors, not the least of which being homesickness, but practically, living in Barcelona wasn’t sustainable for me. The job market was tough, and I felt that when I did find a job I would have to work much harder than I wanted to work on my ‘lifelong vacation’ in order to pay the bills. I sold myself on the idea of coming home and teaching math somewhere, and beginning a practice as a personal finance coach. It seemed so appealing at the time, plus it was just nice to have a plan. And by that point, I was also coming home to a boy, but I have to be clear - I was not coming home FOR a boy, just TO him. I know how it might have looked, but please, give me some credit. If I’m bold enough to move across the planet, hopefully it would follow that I’m also not dumb enough to move back across the planet for a guy who it already did not work out with once.
Needless to say that lasted about 4 minutes, and being home wasn’t nearly the charmed life I had built it up to be while I was looking forward to it back in Spain. I was living back at home with my parents, which I loved because I got to spend so much time with my baby sister Carly, and I became besties with Carly’s cat, Cleo. Plus, it was free. But it was harder than I had anticipated to go back to life in Dallas and to be broke. I’ve recently realized that material things don’t matter to me (hence I sold everything I owned and moved off), but after years of indulging in that Dallas lifestyle, where what kind of car I drove was ‘important’, it was going to be mighty humbling to live very frugal life, and move back in with my parents in Forney, TX, while I got my life back in gear. Especially while getting my life back in gear entailed finding a job so I could afford to get an apartment and fill it up with new versions of all the crap I had sold merely 3 months before.
It was literally easier just to up and leave again. And thank goodness for that because what really makes me happy, what really is the only thing I know doesn’t get old for me, is new places, new people, new sites. That I learned while I was in Europe. So even though Barcelona didn’t ‘work out’ for me, it still did serve a purpose. And just because I left doesn’t mean it wasn’t a life-changing experience.
So where did I get the idea for Korea? Well, one of my Barcelona friends, Christina, was coming to work here in Korea after Barcelona. She already had a job before we even got to Spain. And it is a really sweet deal: free flight, free housing, public transportation so no car payment, no car insurance, and you get paid around $2,000 a month, tax-free for the first two years. So basically all that money is bank. No other place on the planet will give you that good a deal (I know because I’ve looked), and teachers here are very highly esteemed, put on a pedestal as they should be everywhere else. But at the time when she first told me about it, none of this phased me. I had never considered Asia as place for me, and I even remember at one point saying the words, “There is no way in hell I would go to Korea.” Live and learn, right?
Then, when my BFF Angela was visiting me in Barcelona, I told her about Christina and her plan. Angela’s interest was immediately piqued, and she started researching it and was sold from the start. Her boyfriend Chris and her brother Eric were on board in no time, so when I decided I had to get back out of Dallas, Korea was the natural choice. Having 4 friends here made Korea appealing in a way that going it alone could not have been, no matter how brave I was, and the job/apartment setup could not be beat. Plus, another of Angela’s friends, Greg (who we know from high school), had just completed his first year and loved it. As it turns out, everyone I talk to either knows someone or has a friend who has taught in Korea - it’s pretty common, surprisingly. My Uncle David also lived here for 4 years in the 80s and loved it so much it seemed he may have never come back.
Fast forward 3 weeks, and here I am! Greg recommended his recruiting firm, Footprints Recruiting (www.footprintsrecruiting.com), and they helped me find a job (even though they basically dropped the ball on about 100 things along the way, but more about that later). All I needed was my college degree, no experience necessary, and it didn’t even matter that my degree wasn’t in English.
I will teach at Chojang Middle School, an all-boys school here in Busan city. The schools here are much nicer than the ones back home, with great amenities for English classes because apparently learning English has become a high priority for Koreans in the past few years. Luckily for me. My school is nestled on the side of a mountain, overlooking the bay and the city sprawling out below. The view is truly breath-taking, and I will post pictures as soon as I have some.
I honestly have so much more to say, but this has become more like a short story than a blog post, so I’ll save it. I thought that maybe it’s because I can’t speak a word of Hangul (the language they speak in Korea) that I have so much to say here on my blog, but who am I kidding? I’ve always had a lot to say. Some things don’t change no matter where you are on the globe.
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