Here I am. My first blog post. I wanted to let you know a little bit of the premise as to the reason why I decided to move to South Korea and become an English teacher.
This past summer (August of 2009 to be exact), I went on a family vacation to Europe. My family and myself had been to Europe several times before. We went to Switzerland and Austria together and then I ventured off to meet some friends in Italy for awhile. I had previously studied abroad in Italy and also visited 3 other times. As this was my 5th time in Italy, specially Florence, I didn't prepare a lot besides making sure I was able to stay with some friends there. The evening before I arrived in Florence, I was told that my friend went out of town last minute. When I contacted another friend, she also decided to leave town on vacation with her boyfriend.
I arrived into Pisa at 11pm with nowhere to stay. By the time I got into Florence, it was nearly 1am and pouring rain. I was prepared to sleep on the streets of a piazza. Part of me was terrified and the other part was thrilled. As luck would have it, I managed to find a hostel and not sleep on the streets. As I had lived in Florence previously and been there many times, I didn't know what to do while I was there. The friends I came to visit were gone and I had done a lot of the touristy stuff. It was raining heavily and I was bored out of my mind for almost 4 days. I managed to make some friends, have a picnic at the Piazza Michelangelo and turn rotten grapes into wine. However, it was mentally noted that it was quite possibly the WORST vacation I had ever had...and yet it was the HAPPIEST I had felt in years. I knew I wanted to move to Italy and create a life there. I knew it was going to be hard but I planned to do whatever it took to make that happen.
Ironically, during that Europe vacation, it was suggested to me by multiple people that I should become and English teacher overseas and they specifically mentioned South Korea. On impulse, my first response was "if I was going to go or live anywhere in Asia, it would definitely be Japan," and I didn't think anything more about it...until I decided to move to Italy. I didn't know anything about South Korea and the country seemed beyond foreign to me. However, the more I mentioned it to people, the more people told me they knew someone else who had gone and some who were still there and I heard nothing but positive feedback. I was sold. It was August of 2009, in the middle of the worst economic recession in U.S. history. I needed $20,000 to create a life in Italy and there was no way that I was going to do that living in Los Angeles, California. The only way I could save the money I wanted and move to Italy was to teach English in South Korea....
After months of paper work, preparation, and packing up my entire life, I waved goodbye to my dad at the Los Angeles International Airport and I entered the land of the unknown, BUSAN, South Korea on January 19, 2010. It was a very long flight. I tried to sleep on the plane but let's be honest, it was extremely uncomfortable. Upon my arrival in Busan, I had no idea who would be picking me up at the airport. I was just told someone would meet me. I was also told my a friend (who was currently living in Korea) that a stranger will probably have a photo of you and tell you to go with them...and that was almost exactly what happened. I was approached by a man asking with a thick accent "Daniel?" I nodded wearily. He motioned for me to follow him outside. I followed him to the car where he loaded my bags. He told me in very broken English that he was taking me to the school where I would be teaching. Despite his broken English, we still managed to have a good conversation and laugh a little bit. It was about a 45 minute drive to the school which I found out was just outside the city of Busan in Gyeongsangnam-do Province in the city of Yangsan. We pulled up to a restaurant where the director of my school and two Korean teachers were having a chicken dinner. They welcomed me with food and beer. It was definitely off to a good start. Then my director, Ho, took me to my new apartment.
So here I am. I live in a small-ish studio apartment but honestly, it's just me, I really don't need much. It has very nice, clean wood floors, a tv, small kitchen and the bathroom (the shower head is above the sink! There isn't a separate shower area). I'm so excited to have a full sized bed! I honestly didn't think I would. The kitchen has basic cooking utensils and a washing machine inside. So I'm set. The apartment is right around the corner from a main road so this week as I explore I will be buying things like more hangers, a Korean flat iron (I desperately need one!), and another trash can (there is only 1 and it's TINY!). Otherwise I"m pretty much set. It is almost 9am right now. I'll start my first/only day of training today at 1pm. My work hours at 2-9pm but I go in early today. I will post more and some pictures soon :) I"ll keep u posted. Until then, time to start unpacking. However, I wanted to get set and share a little about what is going to be an experience of a lifetime.
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