General thoughts December 09

---

So thoughts so far, almost four years since i left the UK, in search of "finding" a different way to life from my previous mundane existance. And here we are, New Zealand covered in the first year (skills obtained, second chef, decent waiter, good cocktail maker, night truck loader, and housemaid, wow), Australia in the second and third (skills obtained, good little fruit picker, above average furniture removalist, cracking van driver, as well as real life skills such as German, much better guitar player and relaxation techniques), micro spec of time in Thailand(TEFL, thankyou), and ten months into teaching English in Korean elementary schools. The first career job i'd had in ages.

The first three years were fantastic, met some amzing characters and try my best to keep in touch, and as for life skills i'm a new person. But Korea...Man, Korea has been ten months of ups and downs. I've experienced racism, xenephobia, previous unknown rudeness, and made to feel somewhat inferiour as a person...well that was to start with.

But ten months down the line, i've made it, my Korean is coming on strong, and my reading has improved. I've got to grips with the job, and have found that i have a previously unknown skill. The students have improved vastly in my tenure here, and have even won some awards at the local level. Thats not to say it hasn't been hard as a member of staff at my main school, I never get told anything, and have had very limited support on a personal level. But hey, that's just how things are, it'll never change.

Favourite quotes of the year have been, "you should learn some basic Korean" (me, i totally agree), followed swiftly by the person suggesting this turning their back and leaving me stranded there, "thanks for the help 😊". " I don't care about you" fantastic co-teacher, and other very funny ones that i just can't recall atm.

So the reason, i've finally decided to write somethings down, are, todays experiences. I had my after school class with grade 1+2 cancelled, but the students weren't informed, and they melted my heart. They were so unhappy that we weren't going to be having an English lesson. I'm so, so going to miss these children, and i keep thinking about staying another year, but i need a break from Korea.

I need to be treated as an equal, and not as a foreigner.

So excited about South America, so upset about leaving these children.

---