Expecting the Unexpected
Never did I think moving to a different country would be easy. I was already expecting it to be tough — being across the world from home, moving alone during a pandemic, not knowing where I'll be living until I get to Korea… There were so many factors I thought about before moving. Yet, it still was the most traumatizing move of my life (is this an exaggeration? Maybe, but I don't think so). I was originally told, "you've been placed in a province, so your housing will most likely be bigger than the average city life apartment" OOOF were they wrong about that. I had read horror stories about moving across the world through this program, but nothing like mine lol.
My apartment is a box. It has zero storage space, no closets, my kitchen seems to be hanging by a thread, everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) was covered in five different types of flower wallpaper. Not to mention, I JUST got my bed last week — something that was supposed to be here before I arrived. I've been here for over two months.
The day before EPIK orientation ended, we all learned where exactly in the province we'd be placed/living in. I got placed in a small city called Namwon (남원) just 25–60 minutes away (depending on the mode of transportation) from Jeonju (전주), the capital city of Jeonbuk (전북). Namwon is so small that there is not even a Starbucks or a McDonald's, which is unfortunate because sometimes I just crave McNuggets or McDonald's' fries. And I didn't think I'd miss SBX after it being part of my life for 3+ years, but now that it's nonexistent, I do… There isn't much to do here, but there is a lot to appreciate — from its mountainous views to the river and cherry blossoms (when in season) that line the city! My favorite thing about Namwon so far is the Yocheon River because it's right behind my apartment and I can go on walks by it anytime I want and I am always in awe of how beautiful it is here.
Most weekends since I've been here have been raining so going anywhere really isn't worth it. So, so far, I've only been to Seoul, Jeonju, and Gwangju. This weekend I'm heading to a city called Daegu. And after about two months living in Namwon, I've learned to just expect the unexpected — every day and week, some curveball has hit me whether that's life, the office of education playing games with me or school (Korean surprises we call them), but I'm pushing through and figuring it out slowly but surely and honestly, I have never been more proud of myself than in these last two months! So I'm very happy about that. Plus, I'm SLOWLY learning Korean, making me trilingual (if I ever become fluent lolol — I don't have that much hope for this, though, but we shall see).
>HIGHLIGHTS/updates of the last couple months:
- I was free of quarantine on Feb. 21st! I made so many awesome new friends at orientation — so awesome that I cried when I had to say goodbye to them the night before we left for our placement cities/counties…I’ve literally never cried saying goodbye to people until I moved to Korea.
- A friend I made while being in covid jail at the airport and I are besties now even though we’ve only talked to each other for five minutes in person. And it’s really a shame she lives a bus ride and plane flight away from me (aka Jeju).
- Orientation was really pointless, I didn’t learn anything about how to teach English, but hey, I’m doing pretty well with it so far!
- I started teaching the first week of March and have been LOVING almost every minute of it. “Almost,” because we all have bad days.
- I teach at 4 different schools (3 elementary and 1 middle), I have 22 different classes, I teach grades 3 to 9, and have over 450 students. And I actually don’t have complaints about any of my classes. I might not know or remember most of their names, but I know their faces and LOVE them.
- My middle school has a total of 15 students; 7th; 4 students, 8th; 2 students, 9th; 9 students. I know all the names of my seventh and eighth-graders. Now I just need to learn my 9th graders’ names.
- I have zero problems with my co-teachers – they’re all fantastic.
- Most students don’t actually understand English, but I find ways around that to make them understand and it’s the most gratifying thing as a teacher to see the question marks above their heads turn into light bulbs.
- The only foreigners that live in Namwon are me, and 8 other foreign teachers and I am the only Asian person of the 9 of us here so all the locals think I’m Korean (even though I don’t look Korean at all). And then somehow it makes me feel bad that I’m not because I can’t communicate with them…………what a shame.
- I understand all the questions they ask me at the grocery store.