So, last weekend I made a new friend at one of places the local GET's hang out at. During our conversation, the fact that we were both "writers" came up. He told me that he was asked to write an essay about his experience in Korea so far. After e-mailing me a copy of his essay, I realized that out of all the essays that were in the book "Successful stories of a GET" (a book we received at orientation), his was one of the few that I had actually read. Long story short, I wanted to share with my friends back home, part of his essay. He describes the experience very well in my opinion. Here are a few sections I chose that relate to me. This was written by Michael Capanigro, who is on his second year in Korea.
"The English language has carried swarms of people from the ethnically mashed-up countries of the west to the eastern part of the earth’s ethnically dense cultures of Asia. Every GET should feel fortunate of the opportunity because being a native speaker of English is something you are born into, but teaching the language thousands of miles from home is not something we are all born to do."
"The expat community of English teachers in Korea is a diverse group of characters. We have all come here for some reason or other and all of us have a story to tell. These are the stories you’ll never hear from most people at home or from surfing the web. They are only told when you cross paths with a stranger who has come as far as you. Coming to Korea has been, for most people, to write a new chapter in their life or to at least get past the introduction. We should all be so lucky to turn that page."
"Learning to teach and trying to assimilate into a foreign country at the same time can be a perilous journey if you don’t embrace what you are doing and where you are living."
"Traversing the unknown warps one’s sense of time and distorts perspective, drawing the subconscious and disrupting the course. In a life of routine the mind begins favoring anticipation, caring only of results while forgetting the process. Our senses are lost without a process and the journey becomes a zombie-like charge down a worn path. What’s left to feel or experience when you already know the result or have anticipated the possible outcomes? I'd grown sick of knowing and tired of forgetting. I guess that’s why I came to Korea."
"For many GETs who arrive in Korea it will be their first job teaching anything. It can be an overwhelming experience to get in front of a classroom full of students who are more interested in you than in what you are saying, because, to be honest, they probably have no idea what you’re actually saying. You have to learn to speak in a new, slowed-down, succinct and instructional way. Once you get the hang of it you’ll find yourself speaking to your friends at home in the same manner and they’ll wonder if you’ve really gone abroad to teach English or be part of some human experiment. They’d actually be right in thinking both."
Overall, I think he gives a great perspective of what it's like living & teaching in a foreign country. A couple years ago I would have never considered taking on this challenge. But, after meeting people like this, I know I've made the right choice.
XOXO,
"The English language has carried swarms of people from the ethnically mashed-up countries of the west to the eastern part of the earth’s ethnically dense cultures of Asia. Every GET should feel fortunate of the opportunity because being a native speaker of English is something you are born into, but teaching the language thousands of miles from home is not something we are all born to do."
"The expat community of English teachers in Korea is a diverse group of characters. We have all come here for some reason or other and all of us have a story to tell. These are the stories you’ll never hear from most people at home or from surfing the web. They are only told when you cross paths with a stranger who has come as far as you. Coming to Korea has been, for most people, to write a new chapter in their life or to at least get past the introduction. We should all be so lucky to turn that page."
"Learning to teach and trying to assimilate into a foreign country at the same time can be a perilous journey if you don’t embrace what you are doing and where you are living."
"Traversing the unknown warps one’s sense of time and distorts perspective, drawing the subconscious and disrupting the course. In a life of routine the mind begins favoring anticipation, caring only of results while forgetting the process. Our senses are lost without a process and the journey becomes a zombie-like charge down a worn path. What’s left to feel or experience when you already know the result or have anticipated the possible outcomes? I'd grown sick of knowing and tired of forgetting. I guess that’s why I came to Korea."
"For many GETs who arrive in Korea it will be their first job teaching anything. It can be an overwhelming experience to get in front of a classroom full of students who are more interested in you than in what you are saying, because, to be honest, they probably have no idea what you’re actually saying. You have to learn to speak in a new, slowed-down, succinct and instructional way. Once you get the hang of it you’ll find yourself speaking to your friends at home in the same manner and they’ll wonder if you’ve really gone abroad to teach English or be part of some human experiment. They’d actually be right in thinking both."
Overall, I think he gives a great perspective of what it's like living & teaching in a foreign country. A couple years ago I would have never considered taking on this challenge. But, after meeting people like this, I know I've made the right choice.
XOXO,
Amanda
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