Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Here We Come, Korea!

So, after 7 months and a few weeks of being home we're finally heading back to Asia. It's been a frustrating past few months considering we were planning on being out of here August 1st. When we came home April 16th we planned on staying the summer and getting back to Japan during hiring season in August. Two of our friends wanted to go somewhere different so they talked us into Korea so we started that process which has been the longest and most irritating and stressful process of my life. So here it is, almost mid-December and we're just catching a plane out. Once we decided to go with private schools it's been a breeze, just came down to choosing the right school. I found the right school, they booked our flights and off we go!

In 2010 when we decided to go to Japan, we accepted our jobs in January, received the fly out date in February and left in April. Those few months between February and April I had plenty of time to adjust to the idea of leaving and mentally prepare myself for the huge change in my life. With going to Korea I got my fly out date on December 2nd and that fly day is December 14th. That is 12 days to prepare myself for leaving. I'm not talking about packing and getting things ready to go but really prepare myself. This time around I'm not scared or intimidated because, for the most part, I know what to expect. Yes, I've been desperately trying to get out of Weston for the last 4 months. And now the time has come and perhaps I should be breathing a sigh of relief and rejoicing but regardless of the exciting aspects of leaving and travelling someplace new I'm still, once again, leaving the comforts of home for quite a while. I'm leaving all my friends and family and just the easiness of familiarity. I'm still trying to decide what I want my last American meal to be on Tuesday night, any suggestions?

Before we left for Japan I was an absolute nervous wreck. Japan had always been on my list of places to see but I never thought I'd actually be calling it home. I had no idea what to expect in any capacity. I didn't know the language, I didn't know what a 14 hour flight was like, I didn't know what food to expect, I didn't know how the train system worked, I didn't know how I was going to do basic things like grocery shop. This time, though I'm going to Korea and not Japan, those things are far less daunting. I don't know a smidge of Korean...but I learned Japanese fast enough to feel comfortable so I know I can do the same with Korean. And learning the language really is the gateway to making things easier for myself.

I'm sitting here now at my Aunt's house, a place that has basically been one of my two homes while being in Weston. It really hasn't hit me yet that I won't be seeing this place anymore in just a little over a week. My last 8 months here haven't been the most difficult. Other than being the cart girl at the resort for a few months it's been pretty easy peasy. Sleeping in every day, doing what I please...not bad. So knowing that in a very short time I will have a legitimate responsibility every day is a little scary. Any normal situation...you job search, you interview, you get a job. When you interview for a job you know exactly what you're getting into, exactly what your bosses expect out of you on a day-to-day basis. Taking a job in a foreign country is not like that...because I have very little idea of what my daily life will consist. I know that I have a 30 minute walk to work, I know that I have to make lesson plans for each semester, I know that it's important that my classes get through their books, I know I switch classrooms each class, I know I work from roughly 2-7. That's really it. How does the school want me to make lesson plans? Will I have to interact with parents? Will Koreans disrespect me simply because I am foreign? Are the children as badly behaved as Japanese children? Not only am I going into a new job, in which every person is nervous, but I'm going into a new job in a new culture in a new country where things don't work the same way they do in America. Nerve-wracking? I think so.

Everyone keeps asking if I'm sad that I'm leaving before Christmas...the answer is no. I mean, the idea of it saddens me a little but I was with my family for Thanksgiving and I'm sure they're just happy that I finally have a job. Maybe the fact that I'm leaving in 8 days will hit me soon? I hope so because today seems like any other day and that flight looming in my future...doesn't even seem real.

PS Once we get over there and settled in I'll change the name of this blog!

No comments:

Post a Comment