I've been published in print!!!

It's true! I have been published in the Gangstar - a magazine for English teachers in Gangwon-do. Seeing as I couldn't nab an extra copy to send home to my Mum, I'm re-publishing the same article below. Mike also wrote an article, and since he read mine before writing his own - lets say you can tell; so I'm not re-publishing Mike's! Ha! He really should start his own blog :)


First Impressions

I arrived in South Korea on the evening of the 21st of August 2006. I arrived with high hopes and much anticipation of the adventure that I had left behind my family to pursue with my husband, Mike Rowe. After two laps of Incheon International Airport, we found the EPIK desk and were met by the perpetually cheerful Mr Kim. He promptly sent us off for dinner, which was delicious! That night we were delivered to Korea National University of Education for 10 days of orientation; preparation for our entrance into our own Korean cities and jobs. Orientation was a whirl of lectures on teaching techniques, Hangul and Korean culture. I found the course was well planned and well run. I enjoyed orientation immensely. I made many friends in my spare time, who I talk to and meet up with whenever I can!

All too quickly orientation was over and we were packed into a bus, destination Chuncheon, Gangwon-do. I was nervous about meeting my co-teacher; would he or she like me? After our presentation I met Mr Jo and Mrs Yun, who were both very welcoming and kind. But neither were my co-teacher, so I would have to wait. It was also my first chance to meet Lotu Fuli, who was also bound for the mountain city of Taebaek. It wasn’t until the next day that I was finally able to meet my co-teacher, Mrs Sohn; I was so excited to meet her and find out that my school is Hwangji Middle School - a boys only school! I had a good feeling about this.

My first day of school and I had a number of questions to face that I wasn’t expecting, “We go out for coffee?”, “What is your mobile number?” and (my favourite) “Could you pull out your hair?”. I had been warned that the questions from the students would be personal, so I was ready to smile, laugh and say no! The thing I wasn’t prepared for was the welcome screams and yells – as soon as the students realised that I would be teaching their class. At first this made me nervous but the students have gotten a little quieter and I have gotten used to their excitement. Having blonde hair has certainly been interesting for me; my neighbour’s children came over to visit me one afternoon and started patting my hair! I felt a bit like a pony. I’ve learned just to go with it, people are just naturally curious about someone as different looking as I am. My bright blonde hair, my blue eyes and curvy figure makes me strange and I have come to think that part of my job is to be strange, to be different. I’m cool with that.

Just before Chuseok, Mike and I headed north to Chuncheon for the weekend. It was a decision that we would have been better off planning but we knew the bus service would get us there. So after 6 hours on some slow buses, we arrived in Chuncheon and met with our friend, a fellow Aussie, Albina Lee. We wandered around Chuncheon, amazed to be in such a big city and compared stories. Albina’s family had kindly offered us a room for the night, which turned into dinner, breakfast, sightseeing, some fabulous Chuncheon BBQ Chicken and being taken back to the bus terminal. It was just an amazing weekend and I was blown away by the hospitality so freely given.

I have been in South Korea for 8 weeks now and I can happily say I have no regrets for becoming an EPIK ELI. I’m still learning which food I like and which I don’t. I’m finding that last minute changes are the norm and an easy-going attitude makes all the difference. Being here with my husband really is a great help – we blow off steam together and share lesson ideas. The students are fun to teach and my co-teacher is great to work with. I have found Korean people, by and large, to be kind, generous and happy. I love my small mountain city, returning from a trip to Seoul showed me how much I think of Taebaek as home.

Squeezy