This is my last year, I swear (and some stuff about Tokyo)

Today is the first day of my last year working in Korea. Seriously. This time I really mean it. If you don’t believe me, take a look at my phone. I’ve got a countdown clock going to the last day I officially have to come into work. As of right now I have 11 months, and 12 days. After that, the future is very blurry, which is both terrifying and exciting at the same time. 

I spent some time in Tokyo on a solo trip recently. I had no idea what to expect when I got there, except for things friends had told me and some Youtube videos. I didn’t know if I’d get lost, lose all my money or worse. This was my first solo trip that didn’t involve a visit home, and my first trip to Japan. And, you know what?

It. Was. Awesome.

I went shopping, I ate food, I got NAKED (not in public).  Even though the weather wasn’t that ideal while I was there (crazy wind), it was the most calming trip I’ve ever had. My head tends to be very busy, particularly when others are with me, and it can be frustrating when I can't get some time away from that.  But here I was, in a new place with new people. I couldn’t read the language, or understand most of what was being said, and my impulse was to respond in Korean (what little of it I know). Overall, not a good indication that I’d survive 5-ish days by myself.

But I did. And, even more importantly, it was probably one of the least awkward trips of my life. I slipped into the daily Tokyo routine relatively easily. There were no children gawking at me, like they’d just seen a bear wander into the building that no one else could see. None of the children randomly shouted “hello!”, running off like it was a ding-dong ditch without a door. I did have a girl wave at me from her stroller, but I think she did that because she likes to wave at people. I waved back.

The children, and adults, didn’t particularly care that I was a foreigner. And when it became clear that I didn’t understand most of what they were saying, they were professional and friendly. And, in turn, I was the relatively calm, curious foreigner. .. I hope. 

Check, Check and Check

I have lots of good news this week.

1. I've been notified that I'm going to my city of choice in Korea to teach!

2. I finished my final project and turned it in.

3. I finished my practicum hours and turned the packet in.

This week is officially the week where things end. My time as ANWA newsletter editor is pretty much ending this week. Not really good news, since I enjoyed it (despite the occasional stress situation...), but I'm looking forward to focusing on other things in its place.

So, what am I looking forward to now? Let's see...

- Receive TEFL certificate.
- Receive documents.
- Apply for E-2 visa.
- Buy plane ticket.
- Pre-orientation.
- Fly to Korea.
- Orientation.
- Move into apartment.
- Teach.

It's all moving so much faster now. I'm so excited, but nervous at the same time. Still raising and saving up money, but I'm getting there. Some stuff was more expensive than I thought it would be (like the IRS form for tax exemption, which I will write about later) and some things were a lot easier than I thought.

Thank you for reading. 'Til next time.

Why Teach?

Children are entertaining. They just are. They say things, do things, and even though those things occasionally mean you're cleaning up a disastrous mess or calling the doctor to schedule the removal of a foreign object from said child's ear, the entertaining or warm n' fuzzy moments pretty much make up for it.

But, mostly, it's the entertaining moments.

I might be saying this simply because I don't have kids of my own, but it's the fun moments that make it worth it for me. At least, that's what makes being around kids in a school environment worth it to me.

I was helping out at health fair this year (where they weigh you, see how tall you are, check your eyes and ears). I've helped out a number of years with the hearing part of the health fair, and it's always fun to test the really young ones who are doing it for the first or second time.

Most of them raise their hand so fast, they raise off their seats from the momentum. Others hesitantly lift their hand to touch the headphones for the first few frequencies, their hand getting higher as they go along. Each student seems to have their own unique reaction to hearing the strange warbling, alien bird sound in their ears. One kid even turned around and told me that I needed to turn it up because he couldn't hear it very well.

Well, I'll get right on that.

The point of me posting this is that I realized that I haven't really talked about the student side of teaching abroad. I've been keeping you guys posted about the application process, South Korea info and such, but I haven't told you about why I specifically decided that I wanted to work with children for a living.

This is why.

Kids are fun. Kids are great. When they get something, and they are enthusiastic about it, it's even better. I was kind of tired after a full day of health fair screenings, but I wasn't exhausted and I didn't feel like my day had been wasted. Today, I woke up at 9 since I didn't need to be up as early and felt like my day was half gone.

A while ago, I watched a video about motivation. My dad showed it to me, and now I'm going to share it with you on this blog:

The video is kind of long, so I'm just going to pin-point the one thing that is significant to me at this point in my life. I have some great jobs right now from some great companies, but it took quite a bit of work to find them among the crowd of "make $200 every day" and "Easy, Great Pay" jobs that weren't actually all that great.

There are more and more jobs out there that are asking freelance writers to write more for less. What they want is quantity over quality, and in the end you, the writer, hardly get paid and actually feel a little... icky.

Then, there are the jobs that offer decent pay, but are so monotonous that banging your head on the keyboard would be more interesting and meaningful. I had quite a few of those jobs in the past, and while people were telling me how great it must be to be able to work wherever and whenever I want, I was getting headaches.

There was no satisfaction of a job well done, no feeling like I'd made a positive impact on the world and half the time I felt like my work was being deconstructed in front of me to be worked on a hundred times more.

So, I put my foot down. I decided that I wasn't going to do those jobs anymore, even if it meant more time in between jobs. This decision has done wonders for my mental state. I feel less anxious, even though I'm making less money, and I actually look forward to the work.

Which is why I decided to finally work towards teaching ESL abroad. For me, the meaning behind the work outweighs the possible disasters. I get to spend time with students who are bound to surprise me and amuse me, and I get to learn more about a different culture. To top it all off, I get paid and I get housing.

Sounds good to me.

If you have any questions, comments (maybe you want to help me out a little...) feel free to leave 'em where I can seem 'em. I'll do my best to respond. 읽어 주셔서 감사합니다!