Have you wondered what it would be like to live in a country completely different from the United States? Has the call to adventure ever rang your doorbell but you were never bold enough to answer? That was me until I dove right into teaching English as a Second Language in the Korean public school system.
I didn’t know where I would be living, what age-group I was teaching, and who I would be working with until my first day of work. Fortunately, I went into the experience expecting surprises, I even preferred it that way.
I had no bank account, no knowledge of the language, no phone plan, and was completely lost trying to find my way around. Doesn’t this sound like a wild ride? If you care to tag along, I want to share my experiences with you.
Let me get the fundamentals out of the way. I came from a tiny town of 2,000 people in rural Wisconsin. It’s 2015, College graduation was on my mind and I have absolutely no plan for my life. There is a burning drive to experience anything other than the American lifestyle, just to see what’s out there. Between the benefits package and a friend’s personal experience, I was able to settle in on the English Program in Korea (EPIK).
I never formally trained to become a teacher and didn’t have any real aspirations to become one. Though, six years of teaching at a programming camp helped me out more than I thought it would. I will boldly say that I wasn’t an effective teacher and I probably was never going to be given the circumstances. Between the language barrier, learning the culture, and struggling to be a teacher, I ended up being more of a teaching assistant and that’s okay. As a teaching assistant, I was engaging and would motivate students to dive out of their comfort zones, something I did a lot at camp.
Even though I didn’t do much teaching, I still feel like I made an impact on those little faces. Every child from both of my schools wrote me farewell letters on my last day. I still have those precious memories. Even my “English” camp was a success despite them not learning a lick of the language.
Many Americans don’t get a chance to engage with someone that doesn’t speak native English but, students as young as third-graders had to work with me despite the formidable language barriers. There is a powerful lesson behind that kind of exposure.
The lesson, don’t expect to be a great teacher or even a teacher at all. It will save you a lot of pressure and headache if you can take a back seat and assist in the ways that you can. Teaching will be the least of your struggles walking onto this job. Culturally speaking, Korea is very different from American culture. Between the rigidly formal hierarchy, a group-first mentality, entirely different systems of measurement, and their generally stoic demeanor, there is so much to get used to in such a small amount of time.
In addition to all that, I was expected to teach the day after my ten-day orientation. I had one day to move to my city, get settled into my house, buy necessary living tools, and figure out where to take my bus to work. Those first few days were such a ride for every reason you could imagine.
My co-workers did their best to share Korean culture, values, and interests with me so I could branch out and get a taste of Korea from all angles. They took me to restaurants, baseball games, movies, and even amusement parks.
They introduced me to a private English academy where I would volunteer for conversation hours, it was here that I met my best friends while I was overseas.
These friends would become my direct link to all things Korean. I would eat dinner with them regularly and we would go hiking on the weekends. One time they took me on a tour of Seoul, an invaluable gift for any overseas traveler. If you are ever staying in a foreign country, the aspiring English speaker and wayward traveler make for the perfect match.
On my weekends I would go see all kinds of places, you can read about my time visiting an amazing Korean garden here. Regularly I would walk through my city’s public park to see the nearly daily hubbub. There were boxing matches, “garage” sales, K-pop shows, and numerous celebrations. There’s always something for everyone.
One of my favorite dishes was gimbap, gim meaning seaweed, and bap meaning rice. This dish was so tasty and cheap, for two dollars I could get a roll of seaweed and rice with all kinds of veggies, meats, and cheeses, in the middle.
I thought I would have a hard time adjusting to Korean food because I was traditionally a picky eater. I quickly found that a lot of their food is amazingly delicious. Their presentation is also refreshingly different from the American’s pile everything onto a bun style.
Korean dishes seem to favor three aspects of a meal: variety, portions, and community. Most dishes are meant to be shared with other people and they usually come with different sides to eat with your meal. One of those sides will always be kimchi, a deliciously spicey vegetable topping. The entrees are usually smaller compared to American dishes because guests are expected to snack on the many sides provided. Or in some cases, guests are expected to have a multi-course meal.
If you have ever been to a Korean barbeque you will see what I am talking about. If you aren’t familiar, Korean barbeque has a hot plate in the middle of the table where guests personally grill the purchased meat. In addition to the meat, there are plenty of roots, potatoes, garlic cloves, and kimchi for everyone to sample while their meat cooks. Large lettuce-like leaves can be used to sample all sorts of flavors and tastes together, this style of eating is called ssam (wrapped food).
Not everything was amazing though, there were many times where it was hard to be away from my friends and family. It’s hard to maintain my connections to America on an 11 hour time difference. It became especially difficult when Trump was threatening nuclear annihilation with North Korea on a near-weekly basis. I landed in South Korea in February 2017, right when Trump became president of the US. In the next few months, we would see rising tensions between the two countries while South Korea attempted to broker peace between the two.
As an outsider, I had a real hard time negotiating what the conflict meant for me and my safety. I wouldn’t be able to sleep some nights while I ran worst-case scenarios over and over in my head. As time went by I would learn that Koreans have a vastly different view of the situation than Americans do.
South Koreans generally paid no mind to the threats made by the North. While others saw the United States as an occupational force exploiting the conflict for personal gain. But most Koreans relied on their own resiliency and history to get through the tougher and more turbulent times.
I had not realized this but the Korean war never ended, there was no truce agreement. An armistice was declared, putting a temporary halt to any conflict. The situation has remained like this for almost 70 years now. Koreans have been flirting with war and conflict for so long that all men are required to serve two years in the military.
As an American, this was such a different perspective for me. Since the war on terror, we don’t know even know who our enemies are, aside from the archetypical Russian boogyman.
Their society has had decades to cope with the uncertainty of a tenuous relationship, I had just moved into the country and had to navigate that all on my own.
My parents and siblings were terribly worried about me. They even threatened to keep me from flying back when I came home for summer vacation. This was around the time that North Korea was threatening to nuke Guam.
What would you do in that situation? Continue to live in Korea despite the nearly nightly panic attacks you get from geopolitical pressures and close relatives? Or would you end up like me and compromise by formally requesting a void in your contract?
The decision to leave Korea was just as hard as the decision to leave for Korea. How could I abandon the place I have called home for nearly 8 months now? What would Koreans think of me when I told them that I am running away to America because I’m afraid of open conflict? How do you tell your classroom full of young students that you can’t be their teacher anymore because friends and family are urging that you come home?
That choice made my last day unbearably sad. In the end, it was the right thing to do. Towards the end of my time in Korea, I was self-isolating and living a poor-lifestyle. The only English I would be speaking was in my classes to children who could barely understand me. Once in America, I would spend almost a year unpacking all of my emotional trauma.
All in all, my experience was a mixed bag. In my hope to find myself abroad, I only came back with a bunch of great stories, pictures, and personal strife. I didn’t figure out who I was or what I was going to do, but I’m beginning to think those are things that people only feign an understanding of.
Would I go again? Absolutely. As time grows and the pandemic carries forward, I think fondly of those cheerful students and that compelling cityscape. Korea truly is something, unlike anything an American like me has seen before.
