Beginnings and Expectations

Let’s start at the beginning.

Since my first year of high school I have desired to not only travel but to live outside of the U.S. It all begins and continues with a woman. During my first year of high school I met a girl from Norway. Her name was Heidi. She was a very interesting person. She was the spark that ignited my curiosity of other countries, their culture and perspectives. She had a very cute accent and was attractive too. We were both on the track team so I was able to talk to her often.

Growing up in a small town, Garberville, in northern California made me feel even more closed off from the world. Having this feeling of disconnect only strengthened my desire to explore and gain worldly experience. When you are so far away from everything curiosity of the world dominates your thoughts. Unable to wait for graduation I applied for the Rotary Scholarship Study Abroad program. This program would allow me to go to almost anywhere in the world for my senior year of high school. The entire bill would be paid for excluding food and supplies, which I assume the host family, would help with. Unfortunately I was runner up for the program. I don’t know what is worst not being even close to going or being so close that you begin to wish ill of the person going so that you could take their place. The person chosen was healthy as a horse and went without a hitch. My desire to leave was too strong. So, I moved to Sacramento for my senior year of high school.

While attending school in Sacramento I became great friends with a foreign exchange student named Luiza. She was from Brazil. She and I became best friends. I loved hearing her perspective on worldly subjects and try to see things from her point of view. She was gas to my flame of desire to travel. That year I applied for another scholarship program. This program would have sent me to Germany for a year. Even though I was one of the four finalists I was not chosen.

Each year of college I entertained the thought of studying abroad. However I had two big obstacles in my way. One, the programs cost money I didn’t have. Two, they usually didn’t offer the classes I needed or the classes I needed were offered on campus during the same time as the study abroad program. So, five years of college passed and the only excursion into another country under my belt was a quick trip to Mexico via the 5 freeway. If you have been to southern California you know there is very little distinction between northern Baja California and southern California. If it wasn’t for the border crossing no one could ever tell when someone passed from one country to the other. During my last year at UC Davis I met “Amelia” EunJin Han.

Amelia is a very interesting woman. She was born and raised to the age of 16 in South Korea. She then moved to Spokane, WA for two years. She moved to Los Angeles upon graduating from high school. Her experiences were unique and interesting. Her perspective was not of an American but also not of a Korean. She was somewhere in between. She successfully merged the two cultures and perspectives. She acquired from the two whatever she needed or deemed appropriate. She made me not only want to travel and explore but being with her has shown me an interesting culture that I otherwise may have over looked.

I dove into the Korean culture and loved every little bit of it. It was so foreign to me, so different. Unlike Chinese and Japanese I had very little exposure to Korean culture. Every tidbit of information was new. The sights, the tastes, the smells, the language; everything was new. At some point my knowledge of Korea or at least modern Korea equaled that of Amelia, my Korean girlfriend.

Amelia and I will have been together for 3 years on the day I finally leave the U.S. Dec 3rd 2008. Amelia decided to move back to Korea to be with her family and be an older sister. I commend her on her decision, it was not an easy one. She was suppose to go back on the 19th but she ended up missing her flight, which I must admit I didn't mind too much. She went back on Oct. 20th. I have missed her since and can't wait to see her again. I love her a lot. She raises the bar for me and makes me want to be a better person. Being with her has become one of my main reasons for going to Korea. My desire to travel may have begun long before I met her but she will always be my main motivation. As soon as Amelia told me she was planning on moving back home I began my job search.

When I was looking for a job in Korea I discovered that since I have a degree and I am an English native speaker from a country whose native language is English I qualify to teach conversational English in Korea. This job would not only pay me a fair wage but also pay for a round trip airfare there and back, a severance package of one month’s pay upon completing my 1 year contract, and reimburse the cost of a work visa. The only out of pocket expenses were getting all the paperwork together, notarized and apostilled, and shipped to Korea. And of course enough money to live off of for one month and if you are like me and have bills to pay, one month’s worth of bills set up for automatic payment.

Instead of just contacting a random recruiter, which there are a lot of. I looked up the top companies in Korea hiring native English teachers. The first one I contacted quickly told me they only hire teachers with experience, which I had none. I had better luck with the second company. I was able to quickly set up an interview with one of their company’s recruiters. It’s always a good sign if a company doesn’t have freelance recruiters. I was able to convince him to hire me by sharing my personality, my perspective, and my knowledge of Korea and its people.

I got a job with one of the biggest English teaching corporations in Korea. They have been teaching English for over 30 years. They are opening a new office in HwangSung-Si Dongtan U-city. I will be the only native speaker at that location until spring. It will be interesting being the only foreigner at the office. I am not new to the feeling of being the odd man out. There had been times when I have found myself in a conversation where I don’t know what anyone is saying due to a language barrier, mostly thanks to Amelia and her Korean friends. I can’t say that I went from point A, the interview, to point B, getting on a plane, without a hitch. Between my company’s misunderstandings and pitfalls of the Korean bureaucracy it has been a bumpy road with many delays. If you find yourself in a similar position don’t let it discourage you, just keep moving.

I don’t want to have too many expectations. Instead I want to keep an open mind while in Korea. I want to be like a sponge and just soak up the culture, history, and the language. I expect to learn and to experience many things. I expect to try new foods and to listen to new melodies. I expect to be shocked and be amazed. I do not want to hold specific expectations nor be handicapped from misconceptions.

I am going to Korea to learn and to grow. I am going to Korea to not only discover the world but also myself.