Another International Adventure Begins...kind of

During the past several months since graduating from college, I’ve found myself in the same rut that many recent graduates typically experience upon the completion of their undergraduate studies: What do I do next? After completing a long-term substitute teaching position in April, I decided that I would go to graduate school in the fall, though I could not articulate my reasons for wishing to do so. As graduate school rapidly approached, I began to seriously question my motives for going back and realized that it was more about buying myself two more years of time than it was about driving myself towards some particular career goal. I began to panic. I frantically performed nationwide job searches for positions that were even vaguely related to my somewhat precarious English degree. At four in the morning, three days after my initial panic attack set in, things were about to take a serendipitous turn in my favor. When I saw the job listing, I immediately burst into boisterous, maniacal, sleep-deprived laughter because I somehow knew instantaneously that this was the solution to my dilemma: I would just remove myself from the country for a year…to South Korea.

There are literally thousands of opportunities for native speakers of English to teach the language in various Asian countries, and you only need a four-year degree to do so. As it so happens, my degree is in English Education, and I also have experience teaching in a global context (I completed my student teaching in Ireland last fall.) While I jest that I am only doing this so that I can put off making serious decisions regarding my future, the opportunity is actually much more practical than it may initially appear. The salary is at or above what first year teachers receive in the States, the cost of living is relatively low, and your employer not only reimburses your plane ticket, but also pays your rent. Not to mention the fact that I get to see, work, and live in another part of the world, which is always a bonus to me, even if it means giving up a few conveniences such as a car, an industrial sized jar of peanut butter, television stations that broadcast in English, and clothing stores that are not tailored to 5’, ninety pound Korean women. And since getting a job in America is not exactly the easiest thing to do right now, and since going blind-sighted into graduate school doesn’t sound like a good idea, it seems that the timing is right for me to run off to South Korea for a year.

Of course, there are a few little bumps in the road…I know what you're thinking..."They got nukes over there!" as my boss so bluntly put it when I told him the news. This was not a major concern when I was living in Ireland. Ireland is quiet. Ireland is humble. Ireland is well-behaved. Ireland is aware of what is going on in the world, but it does not preoccupy itself with interfering or meddling in the business of other countries. Ireland does not go on power trips. And while I can generally say the same about the country to which I am potentially moving, I cannot say the same about its neighbor to the north. North Korea, in plain English, is very, very naughty. I will be living in a country that has the most heavily guarded border in the world, a fact that is both comforting and scary. Comforting because it is secure...scary because it necessitates security. Of course, while the tensions between North and South Korea have never fully ceased to exist and have actually escalated recently due to some provocative missile tests in the north, it seems as though lately North Korea has been focusing most of its energies on hating my country of origin, so perhaps in a twisted sort of way I will actually be safer by living in closer proximity to North Korea. It's a story I plan to follow closely, which is not always easy to do since the American media would prefer to expend its resources interviewing people who met Michael Jackson one time forty years ago, as if this somehow provides profound insights into his life, his death, and his character. In any event, I don't think I'll be going within fifty miles of that border, else I run the risk of being sentenced to twelve years of hard labor.

The other problem that I have with hopping on a plane to Korea is that I haven’t been offered a job yet. As is usually the case when I become determined to do something, I have become prematurely excited. I only applied to the recruiting agency yesterday, and while I am confident in my likelihood of getting placed with a teaching position, I perhaps should have waited until I signed a contract before I impulsively quit my job and spent money that I don’t have on Korean travel guides. I guess while I may be the voice of reason, my behavior suggests otherwise.