Nearly five years ago I made a decision that changed my life. I moved to South Korea.
I was intrigued with the idea of moving to a foreign country from a young age and spent hours scouring the internet to see how I might do this. When I was at university I was approached about the possibility of moving to Namibia as a cello teacher but unfortunately it didn’t work out. By then I had graduated and was stuck in a cycle of jobs I didn’t like, working to pay the bills, with very little left over, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. A Korean friend had been encouraging me to move to South Korea to teach English but I was filled with indecision and uncertainty. As a good friend told me recently, at that point in my life I was lost.
I was intrigued with the idea of moving to a foreign country from a young age and spent hours scouring the internet to see how I might do this. When I was at university I was approached about the possibility of moving to Namibia as a cello teacher but unfortunately it didn’t work out. By then I had graduated and was stuck in a cycle of jobs I didn’t like, working to pay the bills, with very little left over, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. A Korean friend had been encouraging me to move to South Korea to teach English but I was filled with indecision and uncertainty. As a good friend told me recently, at that point in my life I was lost.
Then one morning in 2009, a few months after I had started yet another job I wasn’t passionate about, I was made redundant with immediate effect. Feeling pretty pissed off and disenchanted with life, the next day I made a snap decision. I was moving to South Korea. I started applying for jobs online and quickly had some interviews lined up. I remember one of the first interviews I did which I thought had gone well. Unfortunately he called my recruiter after and told him I wasn't suitable as he couldn't understand my Scottish accent. This is a theme that continued throughout my time teaching in Asia. Nevertheless, I eventually got a job offer which I accepted and started the ball rolling for my visa application. I was just waiting to receive my visa when I went to visit my sister in Aberdeen for what I thought would be the last time before I moved abroad. On my way home my recruiter called me to let me know that my visa was delayed because it had been cancelled. It was unfortunately being processed too slowly for the very impatient school director in South Korea. He had given up on me and hired someone already living in the country. But I refused to give up. My visa was cancelled and reapplied for, linked to a different job. When it finally came through everything was a terrible rush. I remember my recruiter asking me to book a flight for the next day. I negotiated with him and instead booked a flight leaving two days later, not one. Although I had been mentally prepared to leave for a while I still can’t believe that everything was done in such a rush at the end!
I vividly remember arriving at Seoul International Airport. I was exhausted and everything was quite overwhelming as this was my first time outside of Europe. I was greeted by an immigration official who was concerned about something with my visa and I was led to a separate room. I remembered none of my hastily learned Korean words and didn’t really understand what was going on. I later found out (when I was pulled into that same room every time I reentered the country) that I had been flagged as suspicious because of my previously cancelled visa.
Moving to Korea was in no way easy. I was utterly unprepared for what it would be like. I landed in the middle of monsoon season. So much for my vision of Asia as a sunny warm place! I made my way to my new home town Yeoju from the airport in the dark and met my director. Exhausted from almost 24 hours of travelling I did my best to make some small talk with him and then went to see my new apartment. The very first thing I saw was a cockroach which ran away as soon as I saw it. So I then spent my first weekend huddled on the couch due to rain and a hidden cockroach.
On Monday my new director Andy took me to get my medical health checkup done at the hospital. This is compulsory for anyone who wants to teach legally in Korea. I was feeling a little nervous and only able to offer up a very small amount of pee into a plastic cup which I then had to carry uncovered down two floors in the hospital. The nurse inspected it and showed it to my director with a conference in Korean. I was unsurprised, but still embarrassed, to discover that it indeed was not sufficient. So off I trotted to try a bit harder.
After my medical check we headed to my new job. On the way I remember Andy asking me “Do you like children?” An odd question for someone who had just moved around the world to take up a job working with children I thought. When I said yes, he was pleased. “You will meet many children today. Are you excited to start teaching?”
Before I left the UK I had been told that I would spend my first day observing another teacher. Nope. The old native teacher had already left and covering the classes was more important than having a confident teacher who felt able to deal with the classroom. So about thirty minutes later I was thrown into a classroom with two 5 year old boys. They ate me alive. Chewed me up. And spat me out. I crawled to the bathroom after the hellish (yes, hellish) 50 minutes were over and cried a little bit. Then I dried my eyes and went back into the classroom to try with the next class. I got over it though and learned some classroom management skills ( the hard way!) and this time last year, I was successfully teaching twenty 3 year olds in one class and nine 2 year old in another for two and a half hours every day. And I almost never cried.
So my first few weeks in Korea were a blur of loneliness, lying to friends and family back home about how amazing it was, hunger (I hadn't quite figured out the food situation yet), and battling through lessons I didn't yet know how to teach. I wouldn't change a thing. I adapted. I learned. I researched. I made amazing friends. I fell in love with South Korea. I fell in love with teaching. I spent just over two years teaching in Korea and two years teaching in Taiwan. And now it's over. I left Taiwan a year ago and after five weeks traveling I headed home to Scotland. I can't believe how quickly nearly five years went but I am so thankful that I had that amazing opportunity. Really, getting on that airplane was the best decision I ever made.
I vividly remember arriving at Seoul International Airport. I was exhausted and everything was quite overwhelming as this was my first time outside of Europe. I was greeted by an immigration official who was concerned about something with my visa and I was led to a separate room. I remembered none of my hastily learned Korean words and didn’t really understand what was going on. I later found out (when I was pulled into that same room every time I reentered the country) that I had been flagged as suspicious because of my previously cancelled visa.
Moving to Korea was in no way easy. I was utterly unprepared for what it would be like. I landed in the middle of monsoon season. So much for my vision of Asia as a sunny warm place! I made my way to my new home town Yeoju from the airport in the dark and met my director. Exhausted from almost 24 hours of travelling I did my best to make some small talk with him and then went to see my new apartment. The very first thing I saw was a cockroach which ran away as soon as I saw it. So I then spent my first weekend huddled on the couch due to rain and a hidden cockroach.
On Monday my new director Andy took me to get my medical health checkup done at the hospital. This is compulsory for anyone who wants to teach legally in Korea. I was feeling a little nervous and only able to offer up a very small amount of pee into a plastic cup which I then had to carry uncovered down two floors in the hospital. The nurse inspected it and showed it to my director with a conference in Korean. I was unsurprised, but still embarrassed, to discover that it indeed was not sufficient. So off I trotted to try a bit harder.
After my medical check we headed to my new job. On the way I remember Andy asking me “Do you like children?” An odd question for someone who had just moved around the world to take up a job working with children I thought. When I said yes, he was pleased. “You will meet many children today. Are you excited to start teaching?”
Before I left the UK I had been told that I would spend my first day observing another teacher. Nope. The old native teacher had already left and covering the classes was more important than having a confident teacher who felt able to deal with the classroom. So about thirty minutes later I was thrown into a classroom with two 5 year old boys. They ate me alive. Chewed me up. And spat me out. I crawled to the bathroom after the hellish (yes, hellish) 50 minutes were over and cried a little bit. Then I dried my eyes and went back into the classroom to try with the next class. I got over it though and learned some classroom management skills ( the hard way!) and this time last year, I was successfully teaching twenty 3 year olds in one class and nine 2 year old in another for two and a half hours every day. And I almost never cried.
So my first few weeks in Korea were a blur of loneliness, lying to friends and family back home about how amazing it was, hunger (I hadn't quite figured out the food situation yet), and battling through lessons I didn't yet know how to teach. I wouldn't change a thing. I adapted. I learned. I researched. I made amazing friends. I fell in love with South Korea. I fell in love with teaching. I spent just over two years teaching in Korea and two years teaching in Taiwan. And now it's over. I left Taiwan a year ago and after five weeks traveling I headed home to Scotland. I can't believe how quickly nearly five years went but I am so thankful that I had that amazing opportunity. Really, getting on that airplane was the best decision I ever made.
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