Why I chose Korea

People keep asking me how I came up with Korea. Everyone from the embassy to family to friends to random strangers at the airport as I got ready to leave. So I will say, for a variety of reasons

1. I was fed up with the turn of the American economy. Unable to get a job in my field while possessing a master’s degree had led to stupid retail positions. Never again. I figure I might as well do something I’d always dreamed of doing before I got too caught up to do it. And this was the opportune moment.

2. I needed to find myself, and Atlanta was too cloudy for me. I have too much history there. I needed a place that was brand new, fresh, clean, a place to forget all the pain 2008 had caused. And a brand new country was the answer. I wasn’t running away from my problems, which I abhor, but rather in finding myself, learning to deal with them, or so I hope…

3. I was inspired by someone I knew who taught in Japan. I’d rather not talk about it, but it left me intrigued. I was insanely jealous in a good way when he went. I thought it was the bravest thing I’d ever seen to just go off on your own, and I will always have admiration for that….

4. So why not Japan or China? Simple Korea is a happy medium of the two. Japan is an amazing country, but the cost of living is too high, and I need to save a crapload of money to pay off all my debt. China is well, China, and I want to visit but not to live there. It seems simple enough. Keep in mind that nothing with me ever is.

5. So why teach. Dude it’s the only job readily available. And seriously, why not. So what if I have a healthcare background. I also love the kiddies, so that’s that.

6. People also ask me about the process to get into it, but I’m not going to do all that. Seriously just Google e2 visa Korea, ESL Korea etc and millions of sites and blogs detailing the whole process will pop up. I will only warn about the snags in mine.

A. be sure your background check looks “official” this is subjective to the Korean government, but they made me do mine over as it was not on letterhead. This set me back 2 weeks.

B. I think I was just doomed by Atlanta in general. I couldn’t get a visa appointment for 2 weeks after I got my confirmation number because they are so busy. Damn. Everybody in the South is moving up to Korea. Even my interviewer commented on it. This leads me to...

C. The interview was hilarious. This somewhat hard to understand Korean guy entered the room which the gorgeous Korean hostess (damn why they so fine) had ushered us into. He had all our documents in order, and looked around the room identifying who we were. He starts telling us about how amazing Korea is, and why everyone wants to go there. I ain't gonna say no, so we are all nodding emphatically. Then he talks about how the US economy has really affected the world as a whole, and how when Korea had a downturn we let the sharks take them, so the same should happen etc. Wow. Then he talks about how ironic it is that people have to fly in for what will amount to a 15 minute interview. Seriously. I was the only one from Atlanta. They’d flown in from Miami, Orlando, Alabama, and North Carolina. One guy was supposed to leave the next morning so his boss pulled some strings, and the guy didn’t hesitate to let us know. I thought that was funny. He said it’s good to know people in high places, what if I’d rejected it. Funny he worked at Avalon, the other school I considered. He seemed like an arrogant jerk though so that made me feel better.

He then proceeded to ask us each about ourselves and why we wanted to teach in Korea. When he got to me he said, wow you went to Emory that’s a very good school. Why do you have a neuroscience degree going to teach English? Good question. I came up with one of the answers he told us he always heard new culture blah blah blah, but he told me I’d be highly prized as an Emory grad. Sweet. Good thing I didn’t mention the masters. I thanked him in Korean [kamsahamnida] which I thought would impress him (I took a Korean lesson) and he ignored me and responded in English. I agonized all day that I would be rejected… Next day I had an E2 visa in hand, and the rest the say is history