Little Things to Love About Korea

The things I seem to enjoy the most about Korea are the little moments. The unplanned events that begin as random excursions and become nostalgic filled memories later on in life serve as a reminder that our lives, no matter how routine or drab always hold surprises for us when we least expect them. If we keep that positive attitude, if we gravitate towards the interesting and adventurous rather than the pedestrian and routine, we find out selves making new relationships and going to new places where yesterday, you would never think you would end up.

Korea has more than its share of those random adventures that make for entertaining tales to be retold later on. The differences in culture along with the different mentality we adopt when living and working abroad makes for some off beat and varied encounters with people and places. A cynical view may make my amusement at the little things seem like a childish and naive fascination with the world, an optimistic and simplified view on the world at large, but I prefer to look at it in a different way. Where other see frustration  I see a new opportunity for understanding and perspective. Where some claim they will never understand I claim to try my best to understand.

I think to work in Korea, or anywhere not counting your own home turf, you need that sense of wonderment and that attraction to adventure and the what ifs. Working overseas is not for those who wish to have a safe and predictable life. For me and most likely many other foreigners living in Korea, running towards something new will more likely than not garner more rewards than walking.

While there are more than I can possibly list in one tidy post, some of my favorite little/big adventures are things I see or participate in everyday.

I love that the city I live in is small. I know there are days where I would prefer the excitement and relentless pacing of the big city, but living in a smaller, more rural location has its benefits. It's laid back and relaxing, with an area big enough to have distinct areas that differ from one another, but are still easy enough to get to. This is best during the warm summer nights when walking from place to place with only the distant rumble of cars and chirping insects can be heard against a faintly lit city street.

I love that my co teachers this year are young and friendly. I didn't spend a lot of time last year getting to know my co teachers and didn't form any strong or lasting relationships. This year, after only a few days into the semester, I feel like I have a more friendly relationship with my co workers. They are a lot like me, young, needing a job and all together in this little job we call teaching. While still acting professional, I feel like I'm more at ease around them. I can act like a professional young man, one who wishes to break out of his shell every now and then.

I love that there are a lot of new foreign teachers in Gimcheon. Last year I had gotten to know some people pretty well and developed a group of people that I spent time with. This year, there is a larger selection of people from all over the world, each of them bringing with them interesting back stories and reasons for being in Korea. It's always a refreshing way to start a new year by meeting new people. While I can't say with complete conviction the strength of our relationships with one another, I can say they are new and friendly, making each new person met an exciting new encounter.

I love that I finally feel comfortable with teaching. Last year was my first year teaching and while I did a decent job, there were many areas that needed improvement and many time where I didn't always feel confident in what I was doing. Now that I have been here a year, and feel familiar with the way the school operates, I feel like my lessons have really taken a turn for the better. I anxiously look forward to each new class and look forward to how I can build a lesson around new material. While its is still challenging and demanding at time, feeling more comfortable and confident goes a long way to making me a better teacher, and therefore benefiting the students even more than before.

Perhaps its the change in temperature, perhaps its a renewed interest in exploring everything and everyone Korea has to offer, but I can't help but feel excited about every new day. Every day is filled with a new unexpected adventure or inspired conversation waiting to happen. I'm doing the Feris Bueller, and slowing down to pay attention to the finer details and things around me.

So far, I really like what I see.

Photos of some great people from my town

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. 

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.