In Chungju, at home in Korea

8/30/11

Everyone had a great time at orientation. We all went our separate ways on 8/26/11. I found my new co teachers and my new home in Chungju located in Chungbuk province. I’ve had conversations with my closest orientation friends and they are doing great, and are located all over Korea. That’s perfect for making trips around the country. Not only do they know where to go and how to get there, they may put me up for the night. Saves time and money!

I will be teaching English conversation in two elementary schools.  I have a wonderful co teacher at Ye Seong elementary school. His name is Kim Hyun. I call him Mr. Kim. He’s very young, only 27, single and very handsome. His English is very good and I know we will work well together. This is a really good placement. Last night all of the teachers and the principals went out for dinner. We had dok. That’s an assortment of meat BBQ, right at the table. They also served vegetable side dishes and soup. Ye, of cours, we had rice as well. 

I have another school, the name is An Seong Elementary. I will go there 2 days a week. I think the school is a little smaller at the second placement. So, the situation will be different. I’ll tell you more later. I haven’t actually been there yet. In addition to teaching many classes throughout the day, I will try to convince my students that after school English class is a good idea. I hope they’ll fall for it. I really enjoy teaching EFL. My 5th and 6th grade English students are great! Smiles all the way! 

I have an apartment in Chungju on the 7th floor. The stair are good exercise. It has 1 room and a bathroom. It’s about 200 square feet small, but I’m comfortable. It may be a little tight when Ben gets here, but we’ll try to keep it simple and it will all work out.  Actually, I was pretty impressed with all of the things that came with the place. I have pretty good storage space, enough room for my things and a vacuum, blender, rice cooker, some pans for cooking, an ironing board and iron, a microwave, lots of bedding for guests and all of the other basics like furniture. I’m not sure how much TV I’ll watch, because I really don’t have time and most of the channels are Korean language. So, I watch movies on my computer. I have enough of those to keep me busy. 

Oh, by the way, I was glad when I arrived at my new home and found almost all of the people living there are way gook (foreigner). There’s people from all of the native English speaking countries, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, England, New Zealand, Canada and of course America. There’s a few that trickle in from other places, but I haven’t met them yet. We have a regional professional development organization for socializing and keeping up with new ideas for teaching. The first night I was here, we went to dinner and for a drink after. 

I am really lucky because I have a few friends that I made well before I got here on Facebook. Oh the power of social networking! I met Susie on Facebook while she was going through the application process. She’s been here since February 2011. She has made a few friends that are about my age and we live quite close, so we get together often. I’ve already had an over night guest. It was Susie! : )

I guess you can tell that things are working out quite well here in Korea. I have a job that I love, and good teachers to work with. My apartment is equipped with everything I need and I  am making friends easily. However, there are times when I need the comfort of a familiar voice or some encouraging words from my friends at home. Please write comments on my blog or shoot me an e mail. If you have Skype, search for me Constance.Hendry. Keep reading and keep in touch. It would be a long year without you.

incredible Journey day 4

The pace has picked up a lot since we arrived in Jeonju from the airport in Incheon.  Our schedule begins with breakfast at 7:30am and ends at 8:30pm. Each day we have 5 classes with very little time in between for sight seeing but I have to say, my discoveries have been incredibly fun and interesting.  

First, I didn’t think I would find such progressive teaching methods being used at the training. I’ve been amused and delighted the entire time by both Korean and Native English speaking teachers. We’ve had trainings for presentation of American literature, using power point and multimedia for teaching English, introduction to English language  curriculum, and a very active class for Tai Kwon Do,(which I may regret and well remember tomorrow).  During these classes, I’ve laughed hysterically at the presenter and members of the class when they volunteered, and later was encouraged to scream loudly and let it all out in Tai kwon Do.  If you know me, you know my real Asian passion is Tai Chi. We’ve never been encourage to scream. I have to admit, the screaming was a real release for all the anxiety that I was feeling for the last few months while planning and preparing for this wonderful adventure. Thank you Teacher Parks!

Let’s just say you have a variety of unforeseen pleasures here on campus.  The other day, I was reminded of the old style potty. Have you ever seen a squatter? Well I was surprised to find one here on such a modern campus.  But not nearly as surprised as when I found a super modern fully automatic potty. When I say fully automatic, I mean this baby does it all. You sit down (as girls will) and go... forget the toilet paper, you push a button and you get auto bede’, the water just flows to the area and then you push another button and a cool breeze blows you dry.  I can’t imagine what anyone waiting for me to finish was thinking because I was laughing hysterically out loud, tears in my eyes. I couldn’t stop and I couldn’t leave the stall because I was laughing and felt silly. 

I was so glad my roommate shared that she had had this experience as well, because I just had to talk about it. Lol Lol. I’m still enjoying the experience, but I have to admit. Old habits die hard. I chose the usual do it your selfer for my next visit. I couldn’t risk another hysterical fit in the auto potty stall. 

Finally, I have been very busy, very well fed, and feel very welcome by everyone that I have met while here on campus. Tomorrow we have a field trip into Jeonju to see some historical sights and eat the Jeonju invention, “Bibimbap”. This I am told will be the highlight since the dish, while served all over Korea originated here. I have to close now, because it’s almost time for my Korean language lesson. I didn’t do so well last night. Maybe I should take some time to study before I go.  

Arriving at Jeonju University

It was along wait at the airport. I met several women that I am now friends with. One of them is my room mate in the dorm. We seem to be on the same wave length in spite of the age diference. I was concerned that I would be the only mature person here, but slowly I'm finding people that are more my age or close enough. 

I’ve had some frustrating, “I just can’t get it together moments” since arriving at the University. One of them was getting my internet hooked up. It was supposed to be easy and then... Well, let’s just say, I know things about computers better when the instructions are in English. So my next frustrating thing is, change my settings to English translation.  I am definitely going to learn about international computer transitions or is that translations. If anyone has some advise, please send it this way. Google showed up in Hangul, but they make it easy. There’s a little link to having the “English only” version. So now I have to deal with the rest of it, even my blog. I just keep clicking until I get the right button and it works. 

I had my medical exam this morning, rather uneventful and then heard there wasn’t going to be a breakfast this morning.  GROWL.... Not even octopus? come on...

I’ve been waking up at 2:00 am for the past 2 days and then can’t get back to sleep. Well, tonight that will end, because I’m not going to bed until after 8:00 pm and will sleep like a log until a decent hour in the morning, like 6:00 am. That’s the plan.

Landed safe and sound!

It’s 5:35 am in Incheon South Korea. My plane landed early and safely. My luggage was here as well. It was a very long but sleepy flight. The attendant brings 2 meals during the 11 hour flight. The first one was a choice of Bibimbab or steak. I’m an American. Of course I chose Bibimbab! Later I found out that there was a possibilty that the meat was octopus. Funny, it tasted a lot like chicken livers.  What do I know. Other wise, there was a variety of vegetables and rice and chili paste to mix in and spice it up. 

I really liked it as I was hungry.

I sat next to a Chinese man and his 2 year old daughter.  She was a beauty and her daddy was the nicest daddy I have ever met. After he let her play for awhile, she had some milk and he got up from his seat, which then allowed her 2 seats to stretch out and get a good nights rest. Can you imagine, that man stood and and sometimes crouched down by her all night as she slept like princess. Finally I saw him after about 7 hours, pick up her feet and sit under them.  He really doted on her as though she was the most important person on the planet. 

By the way, she woke up later and was playing with her I pad that had English language learning software. She was learning to count, say the names of animals and vegetables. She also had a Winnie the Pooh book that she was talking to me about in English. Her father spoke both languages fluently and she was learning them both also at the age of 2.  I was very impressed!

Just about 2 hours before we arrived in Incheon they brought the second meal. It was a simple cheese omelet with a muffin, fruit, yogurt and juice. I was hungry and it seemed like a good idea to eat before landing since the airport would be very slow and not many shops open. 

But as you can imagine Micky D’s was open and that’s I spent my first Korean buck. I paid 2000 KRW for an Americano coffee. I sit here wired already sipping it as I write. 

There’s 2 more hours before I meet my recruiter and take the shuttle to Jeonju University for the orientation. Here’ goes! 

OMG I just noticed that my computer is speaking Korean and writing in Hangul! 

We made the decision and then...

I know you want to hear what came next. So here goes.
The application process was pretty long but well guided by my recruiter at Teach Away.  I think I was the first person to apply for the 1000 positions in Korea through Teach Away. My Application was in before the jobs were posted on their site on Jan. 1, 2011.  I had the whole EPIK application filled out and filed by Jan. 15, 2011 and began the VISA process. So much paperwork and notarizing and apostiling documents.  Finally the application was sent to EPIK on April 1, 2011.  Still more waiting.
My EPIK phone interview was on April 20, 2011. I was confirmed sometime in June and recieved my NOA and contract July 21, 2011. That was just a few weeks ago.
Remember I told you all of this started in November 2010. A LOT of work and waiting!

Now I'm down to 3 more days until departure and I am very ready to go, and continue this adventure on Korean soil. I have 2 extra large duffles packed and ready to check, and 1 back pack ready to carry on with me.  On Tuesday, August 16 at 9:00pm I leave for LA.  My international flight is with Asiana and departs at 12:30 am.  After crossing the international date line, I'll arrive in Incheon, South Korea at 5:00 am.  I will have had a complete nights sleep and be ready to start the orientation with a semi clear head. haha or so I think.  Wish me luck!

Why South Korea?

Hi Everyone,


I bet you're asking, why South Korea?  Well that's not too much to ask.  It all started back in November, 2010 when I was looking for teaching jobs.  Somebody gave me a link to a job site called School Spring.  I found several listings in various American cities. Some had as many as 100 openings for the new school year. Then I saw a listing for 1000 openings for English teachers in South Korea.  My curiosity peaked, and I asked Ben if that was something he would do. We thought about it, and soon South Korea became our passion.  For months we ate, slept and breathed South Korea. 
We lived through the threaths made by Kim Jong Il in December, 2010, the Tsunami in Japan, and even the recent mudslides near Seoul, but nothing has changed our hearts and minds. We are Korea bound!