Let’s set the scene: It’s September 2020. America is still in the midst of the pandemic. I am out of work and sitting at my kitchen table eagerly counting down the minutes until my DoorDash dinner arrives. I start to fall down a YouTube rabbit hole. Naturally after several “BTS Crack” videos, the algorithm starts to tailor my “recommended” section to Seoul vacation vlogs, “Calling My Boyfriend Oppa for 24 Hours Challenge” videos, *ew, gag,* and finally, “A Day in My Life as an EPIK Teacher.” I started picturing my life if I had moved to Korea when I was 23, the first time I heavily considered the idea. What would I be doing now? Would I still be teaching? Would I be back in America? I had spent the past five years working at a company and was way past my expiration date. I’m sure we can all relate to staying in situations for too long because they are comfortable. I had also recently turned 28. With two years left of my 20s, I kept thinking about what I really wanted to do. Your late 20s are a weird transitional period in your life. Half of your friends are married with children, and the other half are taking tequila shots on a Tuesday night. I had nothing tying me down. Nothing was holding me back from picking myself up and dropping her in a new country. The idea of moving abroad was taunting me. Why teaching? That five year job I worked at was in management. Retail Sales Management to be more specific. I was a Store Manager of associates who were teenagers/college-aged kids working their first jobs. What I hated about it – customer service, (if you know, you know). What I loved about it – the managing aspect. There was something so rewarding about training a teen working their first job, watching them grow within the company for several years, go off to college, and visit occasionally as an adult. In a way, I was already a teacher. Also, working around the Washington, D.C. area, I was constantly interacting with people from all over the world, even a large Korean population. A lot of my associates were Korean American and I can credit them for introducing me to the culture. After doing more of my own research, I found that Korean culture has so many facets that I believe Americans can take note of. Korean culture is based on respect, respecting your elders and your community. American culture is based on respecting yourself. I’m sure some will argue with me, but from my personal experiences, I have concluded that American culture tends to be self-centered. I mean, take one look at how the US handled COVID and compare it to Korea. I have such a deep appreciation for people from other cultures. America is a melting pot and the diversity is one of the main things I cherish.
Okay, I’m starting to ramble. Moving on…
After a grueling process, I submitted my application to EPIK, with a preference for Seoul. Since it is a competitive program, and almost all applicants request a placement in the capital city, I was not entirely shocked when I received the news that I was hired by the Jeollanamdo Language Program. (In case you’re not sure how EPIK works, they are essentially a recruitment agency that puts you in contact with different POEs/MOEs who are hiring Native English Teachers). Specifically, I would be living in Boseong, a rural county best known for their green tea and being less than an hour outside of Gwangju. Panic started to set in when one quick google search directed me to basically zero information other than pictures of fields. “Oh my God. I am going to be living on a farm and washing my clothes in the river,” I spiralled. I reminded myself of how bad I wanted this job and how bad I wanted the cultural experience. Well, this would be quite the cultural experience indeed. The good news is Korea is a tiny, tiny country. Public transportation is perfected and easy to use. We live in 2021 and technology has advanced to a level where translation apps make language barriers nearly obsolete. I was ready to take on whatever adventure lay ahead of me.
Fast forward to now. It’s been seven whole months since I moved to Korea, and I can honestly say that this was the best decision I have ever made. I love my job. I love my city. I love everything about my life here. Sure, it’s a challenge at times. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but I think I am the type of person who needs the constant stimulation of a challenging atmosphere to thrive. I teach at three different schools, two middle schools and one high school. I have met so many incredible people through this job. I really don’t think words could describe how much I love and appreciate my students. They are intelligent, funny, and have the cutest personalities. Since I live in a small city, I constantly run into my students at the local restaurants, convenience stores, 노래방 (Korean karaoke room), or just walking down the street. Even my lower level students love to talk to me. I hope one day when I have kids of my own they can be even half as awesome as my students. My colleagues too. I really don’t think I could have asked for better teachers to work alongside with. I have built great relationships with so many of them and they have become family to me. Some of my coworkers speak fluent English and can have natural conversations with me to the point I forget they aren’t speaking their native language. I have immense respect for anyone who can speak more than one language. If that applies to you, please know that I think of you as a superhero. My coworkers who aren’t yet fluent but want to better their English, let me tutor them once a week. They’ve already made so much improvement and we enjoy sharing stories about our personal lives with each other. As much I would love to get specific about my job, I want to respect the privacy of my schools, students, and coworkers. Picture the most awesome person you know and then multiply that by 1000. Those are the people I get to interact with on a daily basis. Lucky is an understatement. Living in a small city means I get to know the locals on a personal level. Each morning I am greeted by the same people at the bus terminal, stores, restaurants, etc. When I first moved here the locals stared at me like an alien. I was one of the 6 foreigners in my entire city, and the only white girl. At this point I have just started to blend in. Some days I miss the celebrity treatment, other days I am content being just another face in the crowd. The scenery here is breathtaking. Some days I feel like I live in a Studio Ghibli film. Rural parts of Asia are quaint, slow-paced, and colorful. My Korean level has improved so much just from living here. I’ve realized I know a lot of Korean just from listening to the language every day. I even DREAM in Korean. It’s never in coherent sentences of course, more like “맥주 주세요,” or other random phrases I use day to day.
This entire experience has taught me how much hidden beauty lays in the surprising parts of life. Sometimes they are people and places we don’t necessarily go searching for.
Incandescent 