(5) 90 in 90: The Short Goodbye

One of the sad and ultimate inevitable things that every foreign language teacher runs into while teaching overseas is the flurry of goodbyes that comes from teachers leaving the country to return home.

The amount of time teachers spend overseas varies. Some spend just a year abroad before heading back home. Some spend several years living overseas, carving themselves a nice little lifestyle that lets them do something different and separated from the norm of their country of origin while still having a comfortable life.

The reason people come to teach in Korea differs from person to person. Out of every person I've talked to, each person has had a slightly different reason for being here. Some come here to pay off student loans. Some come to find a better job and a means to escape from their country's economic situation. Some even come here due to a love of Korean culture and a desire to immerse themselves in it for a period of time. Each person has a slightly different story on what led them to Korea, making each person's back story all the more interesting.

For these reasons, you come to meet some pretty cool people living here with you. Teaching is not really a job for introverts. To succeed at teaching you need to be somewhat sociable and able to communicate with other people. Working and living in Korea has not only given me the opportunity to meet many native Koreans, but native English speakers from all over the world. It's been a wonderful experience to meet many people and see perspectives from other people and customs. I can honestly say that becoming friends with people abroad has broadened my horizons and views of many things that I would have never achieved staying inside my own enclosed bubble.

However, for as many people you come to meet and become acquainted with, an almost equal number you come to part ways with. Being a English language teacher is not a long term job, nor is it an adequate career for someone to have. People eventually have to return home.

People go back to find a job related to their major. Some leave to explore other opportunities. Some even go because they've become quite fed up with Korea and want to leave while they still can.

Whatever the reason, it doesn't make the goodbyes any easier nor does it make the reality that all the teachers face any less brutal.

Lifelong friends are difficult to make abroad. While it certainly is not impossible, the ratio of people who leave on a yearly basis compared to the amount of time it takes for someone to become comfortable and form a close relationship with someone does not match up. There are several people I consider to be on very good terms with. Despite our closeness though, I can already tell that the people that I have a chance to see again or keep in touch with in a meaningful way is very small.

This leads many teachers to become introverted. Not going out of their way to make friends or make a strong effort to become close to people. After all, what is the point if they're going to leave in a year (for other teaching programs in Korea, sometimes even less).

For me however, it stands a constant reminder to cherish and remember the times we have together. Value the little things that happen everyday and appreciate the moments you share with the ones you care about. While they may not be around forever, the memories and experiences you create will.

I was once told that years from now, we won't remember the names of all the people we met or the places we all met at. What we will remember are the times we had together and the reasons we remember these events to begin with.

I may not see all of you forever, but the memories we shared in this sometimes great, sometimes horrible and sometimes strange country called Korea will last forever.

So with that, I say goodbye to all of you leaving. Take care, and to quote a favorite game of mine: "I'll see you when I see you."*

I'll see you when I see you Gordon!

The quote is from Half Life 2.

Korea: Year 2

It's time to start again. Time to break out my lesson plans, brush up on my power points and wake up when the normal people do to head to work. After spending a month back home in the states visiting friends and family, my rest period and vacation is over. It's time to come back to Korea. It's time to teach again.

In a way I am excited to be back. The overwhelming sense of dullness and monotony than can come with any job had been replaced with new expectations and hopes for a better year. A new year is essentially a reboot to toss out the awkwardness and rookie mistakes of the first year and the opportunity to improve and make an even better impression on the youth of Korea and their impressionable minds.

I am entirely optimistic in regards to the new additions and changes to our selection of teachers. This year, our school added 11 new teachers, four of which are English teachers. While last year's group of teachers have either moved on to teach in other schools or retire, two of the English teachers were promoted to heads of the English department. Having worked with them for year and seeing where their stand in both their work ethic and stance on education, this is a good choice. 

The new teachers are all young and friendly. After spending only a few hours getting to know them, they all seemed very happy, enthusiastic about teaching and very willing to get to know this foreign teacher a little better. They left a very good first impression and I cannot wait to get to know them more as the year continues on.

My schedule had also been updated as well. Last year, my biggest hurdles came from messages lost in translation and trying to teach material to classes that were not intended to be taught. There were often many time that certain classes were missed or my presence was not necessary due to the messages getting to me too late or in some cases, not at all. My grade three students were entirely focused on preparing for their college entrance exams, and not interested or finding the necessity to learn new material that would not be featured on the exam. This led to mixed messages and sometimes wasted time and resources where they could have been applied in other areas.

My new schedule seems to eliminate the grade three students entirely, instead focusing on the more impressionable students: grades one and two. This would allow me to focus all of my time and energy on students who are constantly learning new material that will eventually be relevant to future testing.

This year also brings forward the new criteria for high school students called NEAT. NEAT is designed to teach students the necessary skills primarily used in speaking, writing and reading. The eventual goal of NEAT is to provide Korean English teachers the requirements and materials needed to teach students necessary English skills with confidence and if necessary, without the need of an English language speaker.

For me, and I suspect other high school teachers taking this seriously, this allows us to cut away the fat and uncertainty of what to teach and instead gives a clear and concise map of what is deemed necessary to teach students in order for them to do well on future testing and university opportunities. It streamlines the necessaries while still allowing flexibility and creative breathing room to teach each class how I see fit. It seems like a comfortable median of compromise between the two and I could not be happier about that.

If there are any warning flags so far, its the lack of teaching or a personal schedule that worries me more than anything. It is the second day of school, the first official day of teaching and I sit here writing this instead of teaching a class. I have yet to receive a schedule of any kind nor any idea of how many classes I will have and when I will have them. While this may seem like a BEST FIRST WORK DAY EVER, this has me slightly worried. 

With the addition of new English teachers at our school bringing the new total to seven including myself and the greater focus on having Korean teachers teach English without assistance, the need for a native English teacher seems limited and at times, unnecessary. Combined with rumors of the major language programs closing up shop in increasingly more cities, the paranoid side of me feels like this year may be my last at my school and whether I want to stay or not may not be left up to my own choices.

However, no matter what happens in the end, it still stands that it is indeed the 'end'. The last part and the last thing I should even be thinking of now. I have a whole year ahead of me and as long as I go forward with the right people and willingness to do well, I think I will be ok. 

It's a brave new world, but its my world. It's a fresh lump of clay, but my hands yearn to get dirty.

I want this year to be great, I want it to be memorable. I want to make this to a great year.

So, I think I'll go do that. 

An epic photo of my school's front door. Actual epicness of school may differ from photo. 

The Comeback (Vacation Time and Thanks to Korea)

I like how I look here, despite the beer in hand. 

Tomorrow I fly back to the US to spend a month revisiting family and friends before starting the new semester in March. It’s become a cliché statement for people to casually throw around thoughts and surprise on how fast the year has passed by. It always seems to come crawling to back to people, as they look back fondly at the year that has quickly passed them by, so many happy memories like the chapters from a book read long ago.

I can’t speak for those who had a rough year, for those who endured a year of grueling cultural differences and hardships that didn’t equal the long venture from their country of origin. I know quite a few people like this and for them, I feel sorry. Life has a tendency to be a real bastard sometimes and giving someone a difficult time in a foreign country is a cruel fate to subject a person for a year.

Luckily, my experiences have been incredibly positive in Korea. Sometimes it seems that your attitude is instrumental in determining how you will respond to differences and challenges, and that a positive attitude triumphs over all eventually. If anything, a year working overseas has helped to change my attitude towards many things in life, gaining new perspectives and depth on all aspects of life. A year working overseas has made me realize that in the end, no matter where we come from, we all want the same thing.

We all want to be happy and healthy. We want success for our family and friends. We want to wake up every day with a sense of purpose, asking ourselves “What are going to do today?” rather than “Why am I waking up today?”

We all want fulfilling experiences. People always have a way to fall into the trap of becoming set on a routine, choosing the ordinary and safe route to achieve goals and make their way through life.  Many of us yearn to break out of our daily grind, to do something different and exciting, to prove to themselves that their life is more than a factory assembly line.

I understand that for some, the daily grind can be difficult to stop or alter, especially when others depend on their routine for survival and support. That is why I appreciate the opportunities constantly presented to me. For I have an advantage others do not: I have age and time on my side to branch out and explore. To truly take chances in my life and test just what I can and cannot do.

I’ve meet wonderful people I can’t imagine being without. I’ve traveled to places I previously only read about, never once thinking that I would be able to witness their intricate beauty and majesty, putting even the most high resolution photos to shame. 

There are times to act silly and times to be serious. This was a  hybrid of both. 

Going home and marking my one year anniversary of working abroad stands for much more than a relaxing vacation and reuniting with friends. It stands as a timestamp on my memories for a point in my life that served to create an incredible year. It stands as a place in time where I was able to shrug away the restrictions and routines that we can so quickly become accustomed to.

That’s not to say this isn’t possible anywhere but Korea. Whether you go to a town just outside your own or the deserts of the Mojave, a new location with new faces always helps to invigorate your life again. A cleansing of the soul and chance to start over, to forget the vices and missteps of the past and strive to become a better person. To achieve the person we all dream of being, but some never seem to make. It could have happened anywhere, but Korea just happens to be the country I ended up in, and therefore making it a place that will never be forgotten in my mind.

There are too many people to thank, and not enough gratitude to express in these short paragraphs. I hope a simple thank you will suffice.

Thank you Korea for providing me with the life experiences I will never forget. Thank you to the people who have entered and stuck around in my life. Thank you to my co workers and those willing to help me with my first awkward steps.

I didn’t do things perfectly, and made plenty of mistakes. I didn’t get to say my goodbyes to all the people I wanted to. I didn’t get to travel to all the places I wished to, nor did I always take advantage of situations presented to me. However, that’s the great thing about vacations with old friends and family, time to think and process. Time to improve for the future.

I will enjoy seeing old friends and family, but I am always anxiously looking forward to the future, for even better days than those I have had and preparing for the times where it can possibly get worse.

I dream of tomorrow, an even better year. An even happier year.

Ended the last night of the old year singing and being merry. Bring on 2013!

2013 Will Be Awesome

It's been too long. It's been too long since I've updated this. It feels awful. There's that weird balance of not knowing what you want to write, and therefore not writing anything and feeling bad that you haven't written in so long, that you have to write something, anything to make sure you completely don't loose your sensation of writing.

It's hard to tell where I'm at now, a lot has happened to me, a lot of good things during the last few days of the old year and the early beginning of the new one. In less than a few months I will be going home for a month to see friends and family again. I have re-signed my contract and agreed to stay on for another year. I've officially survived one year, and it feels pretty great.

My thinking and priorities have changed during the past few months. Things like living on your own and the expenses that come with them take on a bigger significance in your life. Not to say that the living expenses in Korea are terrible, far, far from it in fact. Rather its the knowledge that the amount of money I will have to spend when returning back to the states that has my concern. Suddenly the things that English teachers in Korea take for granted like apartment rent, auto insurance and gas prices become a very real prospect. Living on your own is expensive.

As someone once told me: "Kyle,  you have to pay for water."

For most people having high paying job with little expenses is usually an excuse to forget about this, for me however, it is only a reminder of what one day will come.

Another thing that has changed is my own view of living and companionship. I used to not mind being alone. In fact, I enjoyed being alone more than I would have probably liked to admit. I didn't use these feelings to be a recluse however, I often would take the time to socialize and engage with the outside world, but in the end enjoyed the peaceful serenity of an empty apartment at the end of the day. I liked the empty silence and cold emptiness to be a soothing reminder that my thoughts and my worries were my own, hidden away from the outside world separated by only my door and a reassuring smile. 

Things changed drastically once I started dating in Korea. Where I had once appreciated solitary living, a few visits and weekend stays have changed my mind. I still appreciate the silence, but I notice the unpleasantries of being alone more than before. The nights seem a little colder. The echos of my walls a little too loud and quiet drip of water from my sink a little too monotonous. I was missing her more than before despite now only being a few hours away. We were talking more about our lives and dreams. We were sharing things about ourselves that we very rarely told anyone. It's a connection that I never felt before, but hoping will last forever. It's a good feeling to be with someone, to know that you're not doing things alone and that at the end of the day, can have someone to come back to to share all of the triumphs and help you forget the defeats.

Even my work schedule has changed from its normal 9 to 5 work day, now only lasting from 2 PM to 5 PM. It's a weird change to get used to. The day always feels incomplete, like my priorities shift to the middle for a few hours, with the rest of the day spent with ample amounts of time and me not being sure what I want to do with them. Until my schedule goes back to normal, I need to make sure that this newly acquired free time does not go to waste. Things like Korean class and writing need to be the main objectives.

For 2013 a lot has changed, more than I have written here and more than I currently have the ability to adequately express. In time they, like all thoughts, will be met with solutions or disappear to the back of my mind like so many other random thoughts lost to obscurity.

Like every year before it, and like every year ahead, I hope 2013 will be a great year. I am eternally optimistic that every year will be a good one, even if its incrementally. Inch by inch and day by day. 

*I visited Jikjisa Temple early in the year and saw it was populated by tons of snow people> Like this cold chap here, I'm approaching the new year with a smile. 

"I'm Going on an Adventure!": How The Hobbit is related to all of us

This was a slightly unusual week for students (and many other foreign teachers) in Korea. I had a two day mini weekend during the Tuesday and Wednesday this week. My school is currently in the process of enrolling new students at our school along with the election of the new president on Wednesday. This meant two days spent doing anything but coming to work. I did the two most logical things I could think of: I visited my girlfriend and we saw The Hobbit.

I had previously read The Hobbit when I was younger. I was still just a middle school student, and the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was about to be released to theaters. I was curious about the source material, so naturally I tracked down all four books and began reading away.

The Hobbit at the time was a book that I found enjoyable but a bit simple. It wasn't until years later after taking a more in depth look at its narrative structure and characters that I realized that this seemingly simple tale was something so much more than that. It was a book that went beyond a simple journey to slay the dragon. It was a deeply personal journey about having the courage to leave your comfortable and familiar world behind. It was the call to adventure that we all harbor inside us, but sometimes lack the courage to find.

Watching The Hobbit reminded me of this, and given the current circumstances, was the perfect time to watch and be reminded of where I have gone and where I want to go.

As I finish up my first year in Korea and my first major job overseas I have watched many things change. 

Coming to Korea has changed me on many levels. In just one year I have learned more about myself than any other point in my life. I learned where I stand on issues and how I choose to interact with people. I discovered that the purest joys in life come from the little things and most importantly, I have discovered that my biggest areas of growth came from discover and exploration. I discovered that curiosity usually always equaled rewards and that failure didn't always mean the end.

There are several points during The Hobbit where Bilbo decides to go home or continue on his journey. Always afraid of the consequences of leaving his comfortable home and having several opportunities to turn back, he always decides to continue on. He knows that he can die any minute. He knows that if he returns, he will not be the same person he was before. He goes along willingly. He knows that opportunity for reward and adventure outweighed the fear of death and failure.

There are moments that like Bilbo, I miss my home. I miss the comfort of people and places that I saw daily. I miss the comfort of lying in my own bed in my own home. I miss the ease of simple tasks such as communication. The US is, and always will be my home. This will never change. There is not a doubt in my mind that I will return home one day. Perhaps for a little while, and perhaps indefinitely.

However, I can also say that I still have a little time left in me. I still have a yearning to explore and travel. I still have a yearning to see the world beyond the scope of my own home. While I can still afford to, while I can still manage too I will remain open and ready for the next big adventure, whatever it may be or whenever it may come.

I think The Hobbit is such a resonating work of fiction that still holds up decades later in both print and moving picture form is that we are all Bilbo. All of us like peace and comfort, knowing that it is around the corner whenever we need it, but at the same time, there is the yearning to break out beyond our walls and explore the bigger world. Humans are curious by nature. I believe that inside all of us, there is a burning need to indulge our knowledge and wanderlust. I believe that we all need the thrill of adventure once in awhile to make us feel alive. To show us that we are more than a biological drone that goes through the daily motions. Some just need a bigger push than others.

Korea was my unexpected journey, but now, I cannot even imagine my life if I never came here. I have had opportunities that I could only dream about back at home and have met people who have made a lasting impact on me. I've learned to be afraid and feel despair. I've also learned to find joy and happiness from life. I've fallen in love with the adventure and the people in it. Some of whom I love and cherish more that I thought I was capable of.

My adventure in teaching continues. One more year awaits and I cannot wait to see what else happens. As Bilbo said: “I’m going on an adventure!”

This week in being busy and excuses

You hear it all the time. You hear it as an excuse and you hear it tossed around by people who really are not, but rest assured everyone, that when I say this week, no this month is incredibly, it is not an understatement in the least.

Of course, I'm not complaining, my school is keeping my busy but with actual work that will have an actual impact on the students and staff. Despite the language barrier, I have become a almost full-functioning member of my school staff. I make the tests, decide the criteria and am even in charge of giving them a final grade along with my usual responsibilities teaching classes. It's a lot to juggle and I partially blame the fact that I am in a high school where exams, exams and more exams are right around the corner. I also blame the fact that my school is a private school where high test scores take a high priority over everything else.

Again, I don't mind. It's nice to feel like I'm a part of the school and my input is important enough to be considered valid. I hear stories of many teachers being little more than glorified Mp3 players and simply regurgitate information from the book given to them. Here's a tip to some new teachers interested in teaching in Korea, if you're sent to a high school, prepare to work hard.

My other life, my writing life has also recently gotten a shot in the arm with another publication for me to write and submit to. My plan of continuing to build and supplement of writing resume while overseas continues to go over very well and continues to provide my life with a sort of counter balance and time management both during and after school.

Despite all of this, I find myself still managing to have time for personal enjoyment on the weekend. I usually find myself with more options and things to do than I have time to do them. It is possible to have a normal life along with a busy one, its slightly tiring but always worth it.

Back to work for me now, I'm booked for the rest of the week preparing for exams and helping to prep my school's first digital lesson plans (the future!) This might be the shortest and most self indulgent post I have ever done on here, but as of right now... I really don't have anything else to say. Sorry about that! Life can't be terribly exciting all the time I suppose.

A story of my first typhoon

After witnessing my first typhoon I think I can say with certainty that it is definitely something that seems much more significant in real life than through a screen of a TV or the page of a book. We see images of nature’s fury and the aftermath of her atmospheric induced rage but so often do we give it only a mere passing thought. Sometimes slightly more but nothing that ever affects us, makes us reconsider things or gain a new respect for nature’s tendency to flip the fuck out and rage until there’s nothing left. We experience none of these things until they happen to us, until the “that’s never going to happen to me” happens.

To be perfectly fair this is not the first typhoon I had experienced in Korea. Only a few weeks before had I bared witness to a passing typhoon in my small town of Gimcheon. The brunt of the storm was much further along the coast. My town only witnessed a few prolonged rain showers and the inconvenience of having to pull out an umbrella when stepping outdoors.

The second one to hit was a big one. While we were spared the harsh wind and ocean waves crashing down on us, we were hit with a flurry of rain and water for nearly two straight days. Heavy rain is nothing new in Korea but its after effects were where the major concern came in and almost were the cause of my home becoming much wetter than I would have preferred.

It was still raining hard once I made my way to school. It was still early and getting there and back was not an issue when you had the modern ease of public transportation. As the morning went on, the rain continued to fall harder. I offhandly asked one of the students if they would be going home early. He replied no, stating that the school rarely, if ever let the students go home.

About an hour until the afternoon bell, I noticed students screaming and running outside the teacher’s room. Curious as to why the students were making more noise than usual I peaked outside and like Ebenezer Scrooge asking a young boy what day it is, my students enthusiastically replied back to me that it was announced that the students could go home early.

It was then that I knew that something was amiss in the world of my school. Not only did my principal never allow students to leave early, but today was a testing day as well. It would have to be a pretty serious reason to let them leave so soon. To the students, they felt that they had just won a war against authority. I felt ever more suspicious that the typhoon was going to be a little bigger than a few raindrops.

Even if students are allowed to leave early or are excused from coming to school, teachers still have to come in and sit in the office. The reasons as to why are beyond me, but as the last students left I took my place at my desk and began to work on my computer, listening to music, draining out the world and the rain around me.

The day went on for another hour, my coffee drained itself from my cup and as I finally removed the noise blockers to the outside world I, I noticed that groups of teachers were running around and nervously talking to one another. A few were on their phone and others were glued to their computer screens, staring at the latest weather reports.

As the room became more chaotic, one of my co teachers came in from outside, looking as if the weather had not only rained on him but engaged in a fist fight as well. His dress shirt was soaked, with his tie glued to his chest from heavy rainfall. His pants legs were pulled up to his calves and the back of his feet were bloody and scratched.

“Kyle, we need to go home now. We cannot stay here anymore,” he told me in a rushed tone as he began to run around the room alerting the remaining teachers there.

Volunteer workers frantically working to block the incoming flood water. 

I looked outside my window and saw that the rain had picked up the pace significantly, Not only was the rain falling down at a furious rate, but the school was beginning to attract rainwater as the hallways and steps began to disappear from sight.

A group of teachers that lived near my area were preparing to walk home together. The bridge we usually crossed was too dangerous to drive over by car. I questioned the logic of a car being unsafe but walking being acceptable but quickly put it aside as the teachers packed their bags, rolled up their pants and took off their shoes. We were heading out into the typhoon and we were going to go home.

Walking out of the school was sense shocking experience as the rain pelted us from above, its wet drops feeling more like tiny pellets rather than the gentle rainfall that people liked to romanticize. The normally bare streets overflowed with water pouring out of the sewer drains and down from the hill. The simple act of walking was not more challenging due to the fast running water.

Teachers stayed in a group as we passed out tunnel entrance to the school. Where there once was a dip in the road now stood a pool of water that was rapidly becoming fuller. No car would ever have a chance of making it through. The school was now effectively cut off from the rest of the world. A wish that students often made about the school, but never intended they would actually see.

The sewers began overflowing, bringing in even more water. 

As we walked down the street, we saw people standing in doorways and cars pulling over to the side of road. As fast and as thick as the water fell, it was becoming too difficult to see a few feet in front of you, let alone ahead of the road. My teachers continued to walk on, the wind was picking up and the was now blowing directly on us, slowly trying to push us back to the school, trying with all of its will to prevent us from heading back to our dry homes. This had just become a man vs. nature situation. I was wet, tired and not wanting to turn back. It was too late and I was too far. I was going home.

After walking along the soaked streets I saw a line of cars slowly turning around in the middle of the road and people walking from both sides. We had reached the bridge over the river, one of the few ways to get back to the other parts of Gimcehon.

Police stood on the bridge directing traffic and guiding people across. As we came closer, he suddenly motioned to us and began frantically shouting at us to hurry. I began to run across the bridge with some teachers in front and behind. Like a horror movie, I didn’t have time to make sure everyone was across and only a few occasionally head peaks back confirmed that the other teachers were keeping pace and not lost to the raging river below.

The river below us was usually a river in name only. Barely a trickle of water was usually seen below and the entire expanse could easily be walked across with no effort.

Today was different as the waters raged below us and splashed up onto the bridge. Once we made it to the other side I was finally able to take a good look at the river below and see for myself its transformation from David-esque stream to a now Goliath sized monstrosity of flowing water.

The rapidly rising water. Notice the height of the sign. 

The water was rushing so fast overflowing so rabidly that the road below was overtaken by it and was shut down completely. The bridge we were on was usually a 4.5 M deep tunnel. The tunnel was now no longer visible, only the remnants of a streetsign and the occasional tree branch floated by.

I walked back to my apartment, dropped off my wet belongings and immediately headed back outside to witness the damage of the river. I only had to walk a few feet to see a disaster movie scene in front of me.

Sewers in the middle of the street shot forth water like a dirty water fountain. Stores alongside the road had their owners desperately try to ward off the invading water with makeshift sand bags and brooms. People wandered in the street some volunteering to stack sandbags and keep the flowing water away from more buildings for a few minutes longer. Men in ponchos barked orders as young men shoveled sand into bags. Off in the distance the sounds of sirens sounded in the air as people close to the bridge began to quickly move away. The water continued to rise and the mighty raging river was touching the bottom of the train tracks. It was becoming distressingly obvious that only a few more feet of rain would end up completely coming over the bridge and flooding the buildings below. My home and many others were only a few feet from water oblivion.

I stood watching for a few more minutes, morbidly curios at the impending doom that so many were desperately trying to hold back. The emotions running through me bordered on excitement, being so close to danger and damage and yet dreading what the river could bring in only a few more minutes of rainfall. While it was a far cry from true danger, the feeling itself was exhilarating. I felt like all my senses were at their maximum potential, that at any minute, I could jump into the river and swim my way to safety. These were crazy thoughts of someone intoxicated by the chaos happening around him and the frightening realization of their actions.

I left the riverside and went back to my home. As I went inside I noticed that the rain was beginning to die down and the distinctive splats on my windows were beginning to become quieter.

I spent the rest of my night inside, glued to a TV with a bowl of ramen in hand. Not knowing nor no longer caring about what was happening outside.

When I awoke the next morning I was greeted to the familiar sounds of birds and people talking. As I turned over, I noticed that the sun was shining through and the clouds were back to their cotton white look.

The storm had passed. A new day was here. 

Half Way In: Birthdays, Goodbyes and Half way points

It is now September, seven months from when I first came to Korea and began working for EPIK and stepped foot into Korea for the first time. Before I get too far into details, I will say that this is going to be a slightly sentimental post on all of the things that I have seen and witnessed since coming to Korea. However, this was not a blog post that was planned or even given second thought. There were no plans to celebrate my anniversary in Korea and the time spent here.

The truth is that if I were not writing this post, I would have probably forgotten about how long I have been here. The old line of feeling just like yesterday has never made more sense to me since coming to Korea. Time seems to go so fast here. There’s always work to go to, people to visit and places to go. I used to enjoy the quiet moments of doing nothing and being lazy but with this new, upbeat lifestyle change, I find it hard to sit still more than a day. I am always wanting to move around and always wanting to get outside, even for a bit and get some fresh air. I am slowly becoming a man of motion, and stopping for anything feels odd and like a waste of time.

It's not a birthday without cake

The last couple weeks have been significant in contributing in the nonstop lifestyle. I recently celebrated my birthday with my first birthday party with friends in my life. It was a small and simple event but one that I was very fun to take part and of and very thankful to participate in. I always used to feel that celebrating your birthday was a slightly selfish act of self indulgence and always felt slightly embarrassed for wanting to have one, however this was a lot of fun. I loved having some good friends around to eat, drink and have a fun time. It’s taken 25 years but I finally figured out that the best birthdays aren’t the ones where lavish attention is spent on the birthday boy/girl, but rather its using your day of birth to spend time around and remind yourself why you are thankful for being alive for and kicking for this long.

Last week also marked two events held at the same time, the birthday of one of my dearest friends and the departure of another good friend.

Our histories go back a few years. The person celebrating their birthday was someone I knew from back in the day as a university student. We became good friends and quite close before she had to go back to Korea and I went my separate way. It was not until this year that I would actually see her again.

As for the person leaving, this person was the best friend in Korea to my friend from the university (still following?). I ended up becoming friends with her and despite the short time of knowing her, got to become good friends.

The group assembled 

The party was a dual celebration of one friend leaving and one friend’s birthday. What made it special was the attendance. I had meet friends and friends of friends through various networks and meet ups through these two people. When I was finally able to see most of them all in one place, in the same room, talking to one another, it was a great moment for me. I was always a sucker for uniting groups of people for common causes and it was especially heartwarming to see all of us coming together to give one person one last goodbye and another person some birthday wishes.

My months in Korea have been memorable and exciting. I have learned, grown as a person and discovered more about myself and others than any other point in my life so far. I hope my remaining time in Korea can be spent learning more, growing more and meeting more people.

Despite being miles from home I can say with complete conviction that I am content and happy with my life. I don’t have all the answers yet, but right now, I don’t need to. Life is simply on auto pilot now. The top is down, the skies are clear and the road is long and empty for miles on end. 

Vacation Plans: And Now for Something Different

One of the highlights for many foreign teachers in Korea is vacation time. Besides the public holidays that everyone gets off, most foreign teachers get an extended vacation in both the summer and winter period. EPIK is no different, with up to 8 days off in the summer and 10 days in the winter.

For most, this is an exciting time to explore other parts of Asia for a relatively cheap price tag. Locations like Thailand, Manila and Vietnam are some of the most popular vacations, and this year it seemed like nearly all the teachers in my program would be spending their vacation days overseas.

Originally, I was planning to make a vacation for myself on Jeju Island, located a few miles away from the Korean mainland. It sounded perfect at the time, in the summer Jeju was home to sandy beaches, the beautiful ocean and a tropical atmosphere that is unlike anything else in Korea. At the time, I thought that this would be a perfect vacation spot: close to Korea and yet still different enough to seem like I went somewhere different, it was the perfect spot to forget about life's little problems.

This plan soon fizzled out of existence when I looked at the price tag of the trip. When combined with the cost of tickets to fly over, lodging and transportation across the island, the final cost was well outside my price range, something that I was simply not able or wanting to spend. Maybe a few years earlier I wouldn't have cared, but with a job and bills to pay, it s amazing how much my mindset has changed.

Slightly distressed, I now had no plans for what would be my longest vacation until next year. It was obvious that I would be staying in Korea, a situation that didn't appeal to me. This was my chance to do something different, see somewhere new before I came to that point in my life where I no longer could see the things I wanted to, or go where I wanted to. I felt like I was setting myself up for time that would just be wasted in the end.

It gradually came to me that staying in Korea maybe wouldn't be as bad as I thought. I visited many places in Korea and saw many different things, but I have never seen Korea in a natural state. Whenever I had visited a city, or small village or festival, it was always under the pretense of a specific event or meeting someone. I had never seen Korea, nor its back alleys and off the path locations. I had never seen Korea just to observe, to soak in the culture, to travel with no destination in mind.

It occurred to me that I had been everywhere in Korea, and yet in the end I'd barely scratched the surface of what Korea was really like. I had seen the tourist Korea, the true Korea was still hidden.

My vacation was suddenly clear; I had to see Korea, as much as I could, as far off the path as possible. If I was going to be living here for a significant amount of time, I wanted to know the country better. I wanted to be participant in immersion, not just another tourist.

My vacation plan was simple and yet I was giddy with excitement to get started. My vacation consisted of one long journey, from one end of Korea to another, by train and bus, along oceans and highways. I planed on making my way through the country of Korea taking in as much as I could. There was no specific location, there was no specific plan. Get on a train and simply see where it took me.

Traveling like this, with no map or plans is one of the most satisfying ways to travel. Too much structure and rigid planning makes a trip seem too scripted and planned. You weren't really blessed with the freedom of exploration, you were simply following a list of locations with one more check mark to be made.

Maybe I'll come across an amazing temple, a bustling city. Maybe I'll find nothing but barren fields and mountains. Maybe I'll find a place to rest, maybe I'll be on the trail for days, lost without any idea where I am, or where I'm going.

Where I go and what happens, doesn't matter to me as long as the journey is mine, the decisions are mine, I can be satisfied. The joy of discovery, discovering someplace new is one of the most thrilling aspects to me, the need to explore and discover on my own pace is something that will probably never be scratched.

The journey is mine, along with the twists and turns.

"I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul".

Chapter 10: Small town living, big life lesson

I have always been drawn to the big cities. The bustling metropolises and the frantic city life was an exciting invitation to someone who spent a good portion of his life in the suburbs, reading about the concrete jungles from socialites who roamed the city like some predator traversing the jungle with ease. I had decided at an early age that the city life was for me, I liked the chaos. I liked the nonstop nature. I was going to live there one day. It was only a matter of time.

This love affair continued, as I grew older. I was lucky enough to spend two summers in Tokyo, Japan, one of the largest and busiest metropolises in the world. It was a city that never stopped moving and always had something to do. Tokyo solidified my love of the big city. I was convinced that I was going to live here for a very long time.

Events occurred and eventually the option of Tokyo was no longer a viable one. Like a love that was never meant to be, Tokyo was a city that I loved dearly, but knew in my heart at the time, was something that would just not work out.

I turned my sights to Korea, once again aiming to work in a big city, and immerse myself in the bustle and breakneck speed of daily city life. Again, it was not meant to be as, my location chosen for me was not the sprawling city that I had envisioned, but rather the town nestled in the center of Korea. A town called Gimcheon.

Gimcheon at one point had actually been the second largest city in the Gyeongbuk province of Korea. Eventually however, its industry and economy slowed down and the once bustling metropolis became a slow paced shell of its former self.

My initial reaction was one of slight disappointment. Despite being one of the largest districts in Korea, a majority of it was farm land. The actual city portion could be walked within an hour. It was a city in name only; to me it was a town, a town just like the one I grew up in my entire life. It seemed that no matter where 

I went, the small town life was set to follow me.

Many weekends were spent outside of Gimcheon. I used the weekend opportunity to travel to the bigger cities around Korea as often as possible, not a difficult feat due to Korea’s excellent transportation system that could you get you from one side of the country to the other in a matter of minutes. Sprawling cities like Seoul, Incheon and Daegu were my homes away from home on the weekend. Sundays were always looked at with slight apprehension, the adventure of the city would have to wait until next weekend, and my small town needed me back again.

The past weekend was out of character for me. I had spent a majority of my weekends trying to get away from Gimcheon and explore but this weekend I had felt compelled to stay. Perhaps it was my mind telling me to take a break from exploring. Perhaps it was a need to become more accustomed with my own area of residence. Nevertheless I didn’t purchase tickets out of town like normal. I didn’t pack for the weekend Thursday night. I simply went home on Friday and stayed in.

I awoke Saturday morning feeling refreshed and optimistic. Saturday mornings were usually met with a few seconds of apprehension as traveling and working the night before would usually leave me exhausted. This was one of the first times I had slept in my own bed on a weekend. It felt good, it felt comfortable, it felt uncharacteristically inviting compared to the hard floors and stiff mattresses of hotels and jimjobangs I had become accustomed to.

That afternoon I received a call from some other foreign teachers in Gimcheon. They were planning on spending a night out in Gimcheon and I was invited along. These were people that I knew fairly well, but not as well as other people I traveled to visit. They were acquaintances in my town that I enjoyed being around, but never spent more than a few hours with.

I met up with the group of friends and after a nice dinner, we ended up walking around the middle of downtown. The sidewalks were filled with people and couples happily going about their business. The small shops were lit with bright lights and loud music. School children, free from the burden of school and studying ran in the street, some of them with ice cream in hands all of them laughing and seemingly happy to be free of the pressures of school if only for a day. As I continued to walk and observe the other people a sense of comfort and content begin to come over me. I was walking with good company, on a warm and breezy Saturday night. The sky was clear; the streets were brightly lit and bustling. It was an idyllic evening in my town of Gimcheon. Never before has a town looked more peaceful and happy. Never before did I feel more at home while being so far away.

I still love the big city. I love the busy lifestyle. I doubt that I will ever fall out of love with it. However, that night time stroll in my little town made me fall in love with a different kind of living, a life less frantic, but one more comfortable. Life doesn’t always need to move fast, and this is the town that told me that. 

Paying Bills in Korea by using an ATM

There have been quite a few videos and blog posts about paying your bills in Korea. However it is worth nothing that depending on the bank and your location, the experience can be quite different.

The bank I go to is NH (Nong Hyup Bank) It is a very common bank in Korea. There is another popular bank called KB (Kook Min Bank) that is also found in nearly every location.

It should also be noted that many bills can either be paid online or automatically deducted every month from your bank account. However if you are unsure on how to set up either process, or like me, live very close to the bank, these are also easy options. Using just your bank card and you bill.

The first video is how to pay your bills through a special ATM used at KB Banks. The video is short but super helpful.

The second option is for those who do not use KB bank or live in an area where this ATM is not available, there is still hope!


http://strange-lands.com/2010/08/pay-bill-korea.html

This site details how to pay your bills through a NH machine or any ATM that does not have you insert your OCR portion of the bill. Just enter the account number, select the transfer option and pay our bills that way.

I hear there are even more options to pay your bills too. If I find any more or if you hear of any please let me know!

Chapter 5: Last Stop in a Little Town

I was jolted awake by the sudden lurch and stop of the bus. As I opened my eyes and looked out my window I could see that the bus had come to a stop and was parked next to the other busses traveling in the region. We had come to a rest stop.

I stepped off the bus to see a mass of other teachers standing in groups. Soon the leader of bus made an announcement that we had two hours of resting and lunch before heading back on the bus and finally going our separate ways. A majority of the group walked towards a small restaurant. It was close to noon. It was lunch time.

I entered the restaurant, a building not much larger than a dorm room that somehow was able to accommodate the nearly 80 teachers wanting a quick bite to eat. I found Moise already ready to sit down and eat. He was right; we did find each other again.

We ate our lunch mostly in silence. I had little to say at this point. When there was little to say or comment on I was known to go silent and not say a word. A trait most commonly mistaken for apathy or anger but instead was neither. It was appreciation. It was absorbing the moment and burning it into my brain. It was moments like these, the quiet little moment that I appreciated most and was something that I never wanted to loose that memory of.

After finishing my meal, I headed outside along with Moise. With a little over an hour to spare, walking around the little town was the best option and time killer.

The town was quaint and kitschy with souvenir shops, small convenience stores and cheap looking motels making up most of the landscape. In the backgrounds loomed massive mountains stretching into the cloud lined sky. It was beautiful, a small but perfect looking little town taken from a time long ago, the quiet nature and sounds of nature a departure from the hustle and noise of the city. This was a place that progress and time had forgotten, with  people seeming content with it.

During our short walk around, we ran into Hannah and another person we met during orientation, Jessica. As we continued to walk around the town we poked fun at the residents, went exploring in the nooks and crannies and talked about how small it was. I wondered if my town would look like this, small and isolated from the modern world. I wasn’t sure if I liked that idea. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to live so far removed from everyone else.

The hour passed and we were instructed to get back on the bus. The ride to meet out co teachers would only be a few minutes away.

We left the small town behind and only five minutes later, reached the parking lot where our co teacher waited for us. Once the bus stopped it was a rush and mass of people as we all gathered around trying to find our teachers and our bags.

My teacher found me quickly, the hastily drawn sign containing my name in black magic marker letting me know who I needed to be with and where I needed to go.

Not wanting to keep him waiting, I found Moise and Hannah in the crowd to give them a quick goodbye.

“Stay safe, see you around one day,” said Moise as he gave me a hug.

“See you around, talk to you on Facebook. Don’t be a stranger,” I said.

I gave Hannah a hug and told her I would see her soon.

“We’ll see each other again, in Jeju or somewhere nice,” she said with a smile on her face.

I walked towards my co teacher and took one look back as everyone scrambled to gather their belongings and find their partner. I was finally ready to head out on my own. This was the moment over a year in the making.

Dragging my bags behind me I headed back towards my co teacher. 

Chapter 4: Sending Off

The morning the EPIK teachers were supposed to leave was not the large heartfelt send off that I envisioned the night before. The time that we were supposed to check out of the dormitory was in the early hours of the morning. After going to bed later the night before, 6 Am came much sooner than I expected. Time has a funny effect on you need more of it, and the four hours of sleep seemed insignificant in combating my fatigue.

I made my way to the cafeteria, the cafeteria where for the last week would be one of the few places we could all be together at the same time. Most of the people I had gotten to know were already there, dressed in their best dress clothes and unusually quiet. Today would be the day we were finally separating, going on our own to unfamiliar locations in an unfamiliar country. Our only contact and form of assistance would come from our co-teacher’s. Some of who were teaching for the first time and just as inexperienced as us. Like anywhere in the world, first impressions were the important impressions, and with us having to rely on our co-workers to help us out, making the best impression was our goal.

While meal time was usually spent with discussion and laughter everyone was unusually quiet today. The mood was far from somber but the active discussions were far less frequent than normal. Everyone knew what was happening, where we going and how we would be separated. We wanted to soak in the moment, to enjoy what time we had left.

After breakfast we began to pack the last of our things, to prepare for the trip that lied ahead of us. The lobby was packed with luggage and people gathering in designated areas that would lead them to busses that would take us all over Korea. Some people excitedly chatted with one another about their new cities and new lives. Some just stood alone, waiting for the announcement to board their bus.

I walked outside with Moise and Hannah. We were all talking about how we would see each other again and how we could never truly be separated. A large group of our friends was already leaving to head to Incheon, a city that would be at the very least four hours away from us. As we walked to the parking lot to wave goodbye at the departing bus we saw our friends smile and wave back at us. It lasted less than a moment but it was a powerful and fitting way to bid farewell. Happy, excited and eager to see one another again.

“I feel like we’re sending them off to war,” I joked as the bus disappeared off in the distance.

Moise laughed. “Goodbye. See you later. We’ll remember you even in death.”

“Gosh guys, we’ve only been here a week and it feels like we’ve been here much longer,” said Hannah.

“I feel like I’ve known you guys forever. It’s hard for me to explain why. I don’t even think I have a real reason,” I said.

Soon it was time for our bus to depart. The region where I was assigned was large enough to need several busses to take us to our individual destinations. I left Moise and Hannah, hoping that our bus would take a rest stop or break before heading to our co teachers and getting one last chance to say goodbye.

“See you in a few hours,” I told Moise as I boarded my bus. Not sure if it was the truth or not.

The bus left with a lurch and as I sat alone on the bus staring out at the passing landscape, I thought back to all of the experiences I have had so far, the people I have met and the strange thought that only two weeks before I was still in my home, in my own bed thinking about the adventure that was surely going to await me once setting down in Korea.

The bus traveled on. I closed my eyes. For a moment I was in another place of restful bliss.

A moment of peace before the real adventure was to begin.

Chapter 3: The Goodbye Song

“You're so sentimental.” a friend told me as I snapped another picture of the classroom. It was night time outside as the windows no longer reflected that warm glow from the sun they seemed to radiate throughout the day and instead showed the slight orange glow of street lights contrasted by the bright white light of our classroom. It was nearly 9PM and despite the late hour, our class was in good spirits. Lot's of teachers happy and smiling. This was the last day before our presentation and the last day before leaving the training grounds where we made our first friends and connections in Korea.  Everyone was a delicate mix of anticipation and anxiousness. The real test would begin soon.

People chose to celebrate their last days in different ways. Some chose the route of alcohol, choosing to create new memories or forget them through the nectar of fermented alcohol. Others chose to simply pack and prepare for the busy day that lie ahead of them. We chose a different path, we chose the path of norebang.

The appeal of singing Korean and American pop and top 40 songs in a small room may sound like an idea lost in translation but like any good recipe, the right ingredients were the key for making something amazing.

All of the inhibitions, the fears and doubts melt away when with good company. Even the shyest wallflower becomes a vocal powerhouse. The tone deaf become pitch perfect. Casual acquaintances become close friends. Norebang was the ultimate ice breaker. The key to bringing people closer together, making them feel comfortable and ensuring a good time is had by all.

To make the event even more memorable and ridiculous, it was suggested that we would all wear our pajamas and nightwear to the event. The pajama parties from out youth were back, an appropriate theme to match the ridiculousness and sheer innocence of the situation.

The norebang location was located on the training center's campus. There was no need for us to travel or take a cab into the city. As I stood waiting in the lobby for my other friends to arrive I kept seeing groups of people leaving, dressed for one last night on the town. Their gaze and stares said more than any other words could. Something looked very strange to them, where they could begin to rationalize the situation in their mind would only lead to more questions. I could not care less though, I wanted this night to be memorable and unique. If that was to be accomplished in only my PJ's then so be it.

I made my way to the center which served as an entertainment hub for people on the campus. The sterile and marble finished building looked more like an office or archival building rather than a place for fun and song. I cautiously made my way to the back room. Logic telling me that buildings like this usually did not host places like norebangs nor places for entertainment. Was I in the right building? What if I took a wrong turn? How would I explain myself in my PJ's? The fear and doubt began to slowly eat away at my mind as I continued to make my way to the back. It was too late to turn back.

As I walked down the dark hallway, I came a cross a room which appeared to have a large couch along the walls. Slowly I entered the room and and flipped the light switch. The room was a certified norebang room complete with tambourines, microphones, sound equipment and even full songbook. The only thing missing was the drunken patrons and smells of beer.

By the time I began to make my way back to the dorm some of my friends had begun to make their way to the dorm. They had all come as requested: PJ clad, a few drinks and snacks in hand and a will to keep singing. It was a room full of guys at first. me, Moise, Alex and Michael. Singing at the top of our lungs not carring who heard. Soon Ziggy and and Melissa joined us and the inhibitions and awkwardness of singing 7 year old pop songs in our PJ’s was lost on us. We could have been in our underwear, as long as we were having fun, it did not matter.

Despite the entire group being present, we decided to start singing anyway. Even though the song selection was limited with the most recent song being circa 2004, we still had fun anyway. Just like the first time, the inhibitions were gone. We were laughing and singing along. We were happy, drunk on the high that the good times and good people provided.

After an hour a man came to our door and politely told us to leave, as the center was closing down fr the night. Slightly disappointed that our fun had ended so soon and without the full group we headed back to our dorms, unsure of what to do next, afraid that our last night together for some time would end up unremarkable.

When we made our way into the lobby we ran into the rest of the group composed of Hannah and Josie and told them the unfortunate news about our hour of norebang and the closing of the center.  For a fleeting second, a look of disappointment flashed across their faces. That look soon disappeared as Hannah's expression soon changed into an excited revelation as she suggested that we play a game instead.

“It’s a really fun game guys,” she said in her bubbly and cheerful voice. “You’ll all like it.”

Never to doubt anyone who offered a good time with a smile on their face, I made my way to the third floor lounge where with our drinks and snacks, still clad in our sleepwear, we began to play the game.

The game was called Monopoly Deal, a card based and fast paced version of the traditional Monopoly card game. For what seemed like hours, the concept and basic rules of the game seemed to go over our heads. The game slowly unfold itself and the fun began to set in after a few rounds. Hannah told us that it would all makes sense the more we played and once the realization set in, the fun and competitive edge really set in.

Soon we were all intently focused on winning the game, we were friends who were never put into a competitive situation before but now it was all over. We were there to win.

Thinking of strategies in our minds and trying to out maneuver the other opponent, hours passed away. Curious onlookers would stop and watch, their amusement a combination of last day jitters, alcohol and the wonderment of how a group of people could be so engrossed by a set of cards. As we made our way through the game and new ideas and strategies were formed Hannah would remark with the phrase: “That’s a strategy!” A short cheerful phrase that was the lighthearted divider in this otherwise serious game.

The end came before what I thought was an assured victory, swept out from beneath my feet, Hannah came from nowhere and ended the game as fast as it began. The perfect picture for such a fast paced game. Victory came sudden, thrust upon you at a moments notice. To say I was amusingly mad was an understatement. To say that the others found my anger massively entertaining was another.

I went to bed that night, tired and having to wake up early. However, there was little room for regret or worry in my mind. Like the game, we were people from all over the world, thrust onto one another with only our jobs as a uniting factor. It was nights like these that I had not experienced in a long time, interaction that I was convinced only stayed in youth but became less frequent in age. It was the feeling of belonging and feeling like a tight knight group.

My fears of separation had disappeared. I now knew that through training, PJ’s, Monopoly and norebang were would be knowing each other for the long run.

We would always have Korea.

We would always have each other.

That's a strategy!