South Korea Bound

For any of you that would like more info on my South Korean adventure, here ya go.

I will be leaving for SK end of the first week of March (so if you want to see me before then, give me a jingle) and I will be gone for a minimum of a year. I will be teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) at an English Village on Geoje Island. An English village is like a intensive/immersion destination school more than a public or private institution. It is where children (and even adults) come for 2-7 day intensive courses where we practice situational English like restaurant, airplane, customs, grocery store etc...They also offer a summer and winter camp (one to four weeks) which consists of similar scenario type courses but more in depth. 

Geoje Island (also called Koje Island or Koje/Geoje Do--Do means island in Korean) is located to the south and east of Busan, the second largest city in Korea. It is a major import location for Samsung and another company I have never heard of. There are approximately 300,000 people on the island (Wichita has 600,000) and there is a decently large foreigner community there. Geoje also boasts pebble beaches (not all of them are pebble though) scuba diving in the summer time, a hilly terrain great for hiking, clean air, and a nice slow pace in stark contrast to places like Busan and Seoul (the capital and largest city in Korea). Geoje has recently been connected to the mainland via bridge so it is only a 30 bus ride in to Busan for shopping, a night out, or to see my girlfriend Tori (whom I met in Honduras this past summer and roommated with while on Utila doing our divemasters together)!

For those of you that don't know why I am going over, here is a quick little tidbit about that. As I love to travel, my mind went reeling to think of ways to make money while having fun and make enough money to be able to travel for 2012. The conclusion was yachts or teaching English in South Korea. Yachts didn't fit quite right at the moment, so I moved on to SK. The reason I will be able to make enough money to travel in 2012 from teaching in SK is because they pay to fly you over there, pay you quite nicely a month for 40hrs a week, provide you with a furnished apartment, your contract includes medical insurance as well as what we would call a 401K which you get back at the end of your contact and your employer will match your contribution, a month's pay at the completion of your contract, and food there is quite inexpensive. So, all and all, I will be able to not only pay down my student loans while I am there but also save, save, save for more traveling!

My school, as I said, is located on an island. It is right on the beach (something like 25 steps!) and only five minutes walking distance from my apartment (which is also right on the beach!). I already have an international driving permit and have plans to obtain a vehicle of some manner, but most likely a scooter--toot toot!

Travel within SK is quite fast and easy. They have built a new fast train that makes getting from the larger cities even faster and easier. It is quite easy to travel from one end of the county to the other and back in a day, although you won't get much else done but travel. It's not like here at home when you can drive for eight hours just to get two states (or even one in some cases) over to see someone or go somewhere. Also, flights between SK and nearby countries are relatively inexpensive so I am planning on trips to Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and China at the minimum while I am there. My school offers 10 vacation days a year with 5 sick days that can also be used as vacation days.

Geoje English Village was my first pick as soon as I saw the posting for it so when I got an interview, I was thrilled! When they extended me the offer for the position I was even more thrilled because they were wanted their new teacher to begin on February 21st but I knew my documents would not be back in time to meet that deadline so I was afraid they would have to pass me over for a candidate that could be there for their desired start date. But luckily for me, I had a stellar interview and hit it off really well with the teacher who interviewed me so they decided to wait the extra few weeks for me to be able to take the position! If I get my documents back sooner than anticipated, I will be leaving sooner than March 7th, otherwise that will be my final day in the USA for at least the next year!

Lastly, the contract is for a year but I can decide at the end of that time to extend my contract for something like 3 months, I can renew it for another year, or I can choose to take my severance pay and my return ticket allowance and begin my 2012 travels! I already have started a list of places I want to go and things I want to do. First on the list is China for at least a month studying Tai Chi and meditating. Then I want to go to any remaining Asian/Pacific Rim countries on my list that I did not make it to during my time in SK. Then, I will head out to England and begin travels in the UK with a definite stop in Scotland for a meditation/yoga retreat, then Ireland, and on to Europe until my money runs out of until I think of something else I'd rather be doing or somewhere else I'd rather go! So having said that, I will probably be gone for at least 2 years as of this stage. So it's five weeks and counting until I depart for a very long time, get your Tamera time in while you can!