A few months back I completed my last Peace
Corps blog post with the following:
Just the other day, I came across an old bucket
list I had made a few years back. One of the goals was to live in a foreign
country for a year. 26 months later I suppose that is a double check. Speak
another language- Check. Make a positive impact in the world-Check. Which check
is next? Travel Asia or get a tattoo? I am excited to find out.
I decided on the latter; this is my masterpiece.
Just kidding.
As many of you may know, I am currently living and teaching in South
Korea. I completed my 120-hour TESL certification
while in Guatemala and have embarked on a very different, but nevertheless
exciting journey across the globe. This time
round I do not have a curfew and Luis has joined me. I figured this would be a great medium for
sharing photos and experiences with family and friends back home. And, of course, whoever those people who
continually read my blog from Russia and the Ukraine may be.
Although fully aware I was traveling to an
extremely developed country, I subconsciously mentally prepared myself for a
Peace Corps II. I knew this was not the
case, but I think I started to connect going away with bucket baths, latrines,
and malaria medication. My
fully-furnished apartment, stove and plate dryer included, and health insurance
are concrete examples of the luxuries I am fortunate to have here. South Korea actually ranks fifteenth
world-wide on the UN’s HDI (Human Development Index), ahead of the likes of
France, Spain, Italy, and Denmark.
I am living under great conditions. More importantly, I am extremely interested in
the opportunity to experience international education in a much more developed environment.
To give a brief overview, I am teaching in a private language school, or
hagwon.
Students are extremely motivated and equally pushed to be successful
academically. I am teaching a wide range
of students: My Friday first period is
the beginner class (5-7) and much focus is put on phonetics and basic grammar. My final class on Friday is the advanced
students (12-15) with focus on reading comprehension and conversation. Our first pre-planned lesson happened to be
about JFK and a piece about the Peace Corps.
I can’t make this shtuff up. I
really enjoy the variation in age range and the different obstacles and
learning opportunities they offer.
Hangul, the name of the Korean alphabet, is slowly becoming my friend. The written language goes back to 1446 when it was created as an easy way for the common population to communicate. A portion of the population had previously used Chinese characters and Hangul was the solution to advancing national communication - thankfully it is supposed to be the easiest Asian language to get a grasp on!
The weather thus far has gracefully lied
somewhere between gorgeous and ungodly humid.
My apartment complex is alongside a river and is coined as the ‘country’
by local folk (Luis’ boss) who live in the city of Gumi. This ‘country’ has countless coffee shops,
grocery stores, and twenty-story apartments.
Plus, it costs around $2.40 to get to Luis on public transport. In old Peace Corps fashion (I miss my morning
hikes from Chamelco to the tea cooperative) I walked an hour and a half from my
house to the city nearest him. I was
able to save bus fare to get there, but ended up splurging on a Smoothie King
smoothie to quench my thirst upon arrival.
