As I'm sitting here on the deck of the house at Bald Head Island (BHI), taking in the unobstructed views of the ocean, dunes and learning the true meaning of a "relaxing vacation", I've decided to attempt my second blog, this time of a little different nature though.
For all those "in-the-know", forgive this quick recap of my life the past few months. I just graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a major in business administration (concentrations in finance and international business) on May 10 (mother's day!). My whole family was able to come up to Chapel Hill (minus Alli :( ) and we were all able to celebrate my past four years at Carolina. I really never thought that I'd grow to love Carolina as much as I did, but having lived in Chapel Hill for almost 4 years, you can't help but fall in love with the small-town feel and amazing atmosophere associated with the basketball power-house school that is Carolina. I look forward to the day that I step back onto campus (whether it be as a grad student or as a devout and supportive fan and advocate of Carolina). Anyways, I graduated, without a job, much to the surprise of my family and more of a suprirse to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would graduate from college without a job (especially having done pretty well in school...), but alas, there I was, an unemployed college graduate. So what did I get to do upon graduation? You guessed right--I moved back HOME! And while I can't complain in the least at living at home in Charlotte with my amazing mom and dad and sometimes unappreciative younger brother, and being close to my friends and having ample time to do basically whatever I want, being unemployed sucks! So here's what I did...
When push came to shove and I realized that I couldnt' live at home forever, I found an Americorps program called City Year. It's basically a year of service (typically in an inner city) where you get paid a very meager weekly stipend. I applied and was accepted to City Year New York (I chose NY because it's always been a dream of mine to live and work in NYC for a multitude of reasons, and I felt this would be a great opportunity to do so.) If you're interested, check out the CY website (http://www.cityyear.org/index_ektid13309.aspx or http://cityyearnewyork.blogspot.com/). At the same time that I was pursuing this option however, I was also exploring going back to Asia and working over there.
Everyone knows that there's a pretty big demand for native English teachers in Asia since most Asian countries are putting a premium on English education. I did some research, and found a government run program in Korea (that's SOUTH Korea) called EPIK (English Program in Korea--very creative, I know). It's sort of modeled after the JET Program in Japan which has been a huge success. (Un)fortunately because I started looking into this option so late (teaching English abroad), I missed out on certain deadlines and was only able to find this program in Korea was still accepting applications. Of course, I could have pursued teaching in a private school in Asia or a language institute, but I am much more interested in working in a public school and interacting with the students in that type of setting. Regardless, it was a pretty long and drawn-out process with a lot of paperwork, but I was accepted into the EPIK program and actually got my first location choice (well, my first choice was really Busan, but all the positions were already filled by the time I was applying, so my next choice was Incheon which is right outside of Seoul). A few weeks ago, I got my contract for teaching in the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education, I read it through carefully, was very pleased with it.
So I basically had two options to chose from: giving a year of my life to service in NYC (East New York, Brooklyn to be exact) or teaching English in Incheon. Two options that I really never thought that I'd have to chose between, but two that I had found for myself and were interested in. After careful consideration and lots of talks with mom and dad and other friends about it (thank you to all who have given me input and insight into this decision), I finally made up my mind a few days ago. I will be teaching English in a public school in Incheon starting in mid-August, and I could not be more happy and excited about it. Having traveled to Asia two times before (once with Lovell to China and Tibet [thank you, again], and once when I studied abroad in Bangkok, Thailand) I realized that I have an affinity for Asian cultures and people (as well as travel). I absolutely love being completely out of my "comfort zone" (I'm learning I don't really have a comfort zone, or mine is very large in some respects) and I love learning about different ways to live a happy life. We get so easily caught up in the materialistic things here in the US, and I find a respite in the more simple way of life over there. Some hate it, some find it too much, some can't deal with it, but for me, it offers a chance to continue to grow as a person and further my personal aspirations. And while this is not what neither I nor my family had really envisioned me doing after graduating from Kenan-Flagler Business School, we all realize that I am still very young and have the rest of my life ahead of me to develop a more professional career upon my return to the States.
So this blog will attempt to accurately protray my experiences teaching English to a bunch of young Korean students. I'm sure it won't be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm sure as hell that it'll be rewarding for a lot of reasons. I can't wait to touch ground in Korea (one of the countries I have NOT yet been to over there) and experience first-hand all that it has to offer, from the craziness that is Seoul to the amazing mountains and remote islands. I'm ready to hit the floor running!
