...though it doesn't happen often. But it did this time.
Let's start from the beginning. Around mid-July I (on a whim) applied for a job to teach Social Welfare and English at a small university outside of Seoul, South Korea. The job ad came through my Social Work program at USU, from a professor who had worked in the sociology department there for 30+ years, and was now working at the university in South Korea (called "Far East University"). Applying for the job was kind of one of those "Wow, wouldn't that be cool?!" kind of things. I didn't know if I was really serious about it, because to be frankly honest I've never really been interested in going to South Korea. Literally, on all my lists of places to travel to, South Korea was never on it. Not that I thought it was a bad place--I'm just more of a Visit-Europe type of girl, always dreaming I could go to England and all of the UK, France, Denmark, Italy, down to Egypt and maybe some other countries in between. I would stop off in Spain too for good measure, because it's there in the middle of everything, the culture seems beautiful , and then I wouldn't be wasting my Spanish. (I'd go to South Africa, too, but it's not in Europe. And, now that David has lived in South Africa, I figure he can escort me around when I can finally pay for it). But this South Korea job was a chance for me to travel and get paid (a decent amount, actually, for a social worker who has just finished her masters degree) for it.
Anyhow, about 3 weeks ago (literally, THREE weeks ago) I heard back from the program. I had gotten the job, and they would like me to come by September 1st. What the...? That was two weeks away!!! When I got my mission call, I had two MONTHS to prepare, and they had given me a detailed list of things to bring and do beforehand. The lists I got from the university were sparse at best, most of them pertaining to things I would need in order to get a working visa 90 days after I got to South Korea. There were some other problems as well with the school's organization of getting me down here, so I won't lie--I was REALLY hesitant. I emailed a couple of friends that had served missions in South Korea and got information from them. I worked out making sure the school was real (having heard that some people get offers to "teach English" in other countries and then arrive to find the offer no longer exists, and they are therefore forced to figure out how to get themselves back home), and I emailed my professors from USU to see what they thought about the idea. A few of them knew Dr. Kim personally, so that helped calm my nerves a bit.
Up to the time my mom was flying me to the airport, I was seriously considering not coming because I was so nervous. There were, of course, many prayers thrown out there to figure out if this was a good idea. There was really no concrete answer, except for the emphasis on pursuing a goal that I've felt prompted several times in the past year to work towards--getting my PhD. I talked to a friend who is in his PhD program right now for Social Work, and he said that teaching social work in South Korea at a university (even if it is small) would set me apart from other applicants, so this could potentially be a chance to travel and improve my resume a bit.
I think the hardest part was getting on that plane from San Diego to San Francisco. By the time I got to San Francisco, though, I was feeling a lot more confident. I did, however, have to move some of my things from one suitcase to another, because I hadn't had time to weigh each of my bags to see if they were the correct weight. That experience was oddly, overly stressful. It all worked out though. Since then, I feel like everything has been kind of surreal. I got here South Korea's Thursday night. A man from Far East came and picked me and another teacher (and his wife) up from the airport, and drove us to our housing. We're living in an international house on campus, and the room I'm staying in is really nice. It's kind of like a nice hotel room. It was oddly comforting to have such a nice room. I guess they do that on purpose, so we feel better about the whole experience.
Anyhow, Friday morning we met with some of the students, introduced ourselves, had a little "American Culture" day, and then planned out the teaching schedule. We're supposed to have 2-3 more teachers coming next week as well (I was a little frustrated when I found that out, knowing I could have had a little more time to prepare to come!!). We walked into town, a little over a mile away, and our supervisor showed us where the grocery stores and a few little places to eat were. The town we're in is small, but it seems like we have almost everything we would need there. I haven't taken a walk on my own around the whole school yet, but I'll try to this evening so I can post some pictures. We went into Seoul for a little while yesterday, but we didn't stay long (we were all so tired!) so we just went to a few shops, learned how to ride the buses and subway, and did a very little sightseeing. I figure I'll go back to Seoul, and hopefully do some more sightseeing around the country, once I get a little more settled here in Gamgok.
Craziness, I know. But here I am. My contract is for a year, so it'll be over next August. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll stay the whole year (the penalty for breaking the contract is minimal--I just have to pay back the amount they paid for me to fly here), but it's been a great experience so far.
I'll post pictures soon!
Love,
Bekah
