To teach or not to teach? That’s the big question.
Hey guys! So as many of you know, I went on a great adventure to Korea this year, to teach. What we didn’t expect was for me to come back so soon, especially because of my love for many Asian cultures and learning more about them everyday. So let’s start from the beginning! I have been working with a great school here in my home state of Oregon called the ELCI. I love being in the teaching environment even thought it has nothing to do with what I got my BS in and what I am getting my MS in, it’s basically something fun that I get to do and enjoy doing it when I sub every now and then!
Going to Korea was going to be a new adventure for me, and don’t get me wrong, it was still definitely a great adventure and I made a new friend, Jen along with meeting Heather, Mike and Brody. So lets get started, I was going to be in a city south of Seoul (Seoul was really where I wanted to be, but no, all of the big recruiters said teachers loved cities outside of Seoul) so of course I listened to my recruiter and went with the city outside of Seoul, big mistake. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of beautiful smaller cities and I can’t wait to visit them one day, but knowing who I am and what experience I was wanting, I should have just waited for a school in Seoul. Since this was my very first experience in an Asian country, I have traveled a lot, mostly to different states, Mexico and Europe, but never Asia. Therefore I was so excited for this new adventure, it started out great, my mom actually upgraded me to first class with her for my birthday (Cheers! Thanks Mom!). First class was definitely amazing, especially for the long 14 hour flight, I usually see seats like that on the social media influencers posts that I follow so I will admit it was pretty cool being in boujee seats like that (picture to follow).
Okay so back to my post about Korea and not the flight, ha. When we arrived in Incheon things were definitely chaotic (Oh yeah, I left my Beats on the plane.. so much for boujee seats and having extra room for your things). The line to get through immigration was long but not too bad, when we got through getting our luggage wasn’t bad either but getting a freaking sim card for my phone was a pain, especially because my driver didn’t really speak English and he kept getting mad at the people working at the kiosk for taking so long even though there were a ton of people also waiting in line.. talk about awkward. But, pre-ordering my sim card was definitely a great idea! Thanks to kkday for saving me! Once we got to the city I was going to be in for a year, things were okay. The hotel was disgusting though, I’ve never been in a place that dirty and moldy, no wonder I felt like shit that whole week of training.
I finally got to bed around 3 am and had to be up by 8:30 am to meet my manager from the school I was going to be working at and boy it was rough getting adjusted to the time difference. The school was nice, I met two cute kids the first day I did a tour and then I had free time to meet up with Jen and wander around, and sleep, thank the lord! Jen was awesome, she’s one of the kindest souls I have met and she was so welcoming when I first got to Korea. Monday came around and training began, it was a mess, nothing was like what a normal week at the school would be at since it was moms weekend and the kids are drilled hardcore to memorize and know how to act in front of their mothers. The school was definitely an elite school, the kids wore Burberry outfits that were worth more than my life basically, but you would think that a school that elite would treat its teachers really well and give them a decent living arrangement. The apartments were worn down, and the way that the kids were constantly yelled at and expected to know literally everything after the first time they heard it was not the life for me. I wouldn’t say I’m an amazing person but I don’t really have good feelings when it comes to treating kids certain ways. Lesson learned, some schools are amazing, some are not, that’s all to it, unfortunately.
Although teaching didn’t work out, I did however leave and adventure in Seoul for another week and a half and it was honestly one of the BEST experiences of my life! I completely fell in love with Seoul, I am going back in April to take my cousin there for a week after we spend a week in Japan (yay for cousin trips!). Seoul definitely won my heart, it’s a place full of diversity and there’s so many things to do there, you could do one new thing a day for an entire year and never run out of activities. The people, country and sights were beautiful.
The district I stayed in while in Seoul was Yeouido, it’s known as the Wall Street of Korea, and it definitely lived up to that with the mass amount of business people and their daily attire.
Yeouido was beautiful, I loved walking along Han River and seeing multiple forms of art all throughout the park from statues, stories, and even the little swings they had around, it was definitely the place to be. It’s pretty cool how basically anywhere you are at in Korea, you can just walk everywhere, rent a bike, take the bus or take the subway. The subway was the choice of transportation when it came to getting to different districts, and I must say I am basically a pro now that I have mastered the tmoney card, kakaometro and kakaomap! This was a big accomplishment for me, especially being in Seoul for the first time with millions of people. Growing up I never had to use public transportation so it was all completely new to me, being smushed on a subway with a ton of people as it’s hot and sweaty in there, yeah not the best, but definitely cheap and easy to use!
“TRAVEL MAKES ONE MODEST, YOU SEE WHAT A TINY PLACE YOU OCCUPY IN THE WORLD.”
~ GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Getting to meet up with Lucy was one of the highlights of my trip! She was a student at the school I worked at in Oregon and she just so happened to be in Korea while I was there so we spent a day together adventuring in Gangnam! This picture was at Starfield library at COEX mall, it’s AMAZING, I was literally in heaven here.
Umm, so another thing.. THE FOOD. Holy guacamole, it was absolutely amazing, like literally one of the best places for street food ever, even the restaurants were bomb, but let’s be real, it’s all about the street night markets. Myeongdong had some of the best stuff ever, from barbecue chicken on a stick, these little egg buns with cheese to these bomb fish shaped pastries. The people are the nicest ever, I also bought some Kpop stuff from a guy, because you know, kpop and he was cute and liked practicing his English with me, so that was a bonus. I would say that my favorite part was either Myeongdong or Gangnam, there’s just seriously so much to see and do, I don’t think I could ever be bored if I lived in Seoul.
One really cool place that I got to adventure to was the Harry Potter café, let me tell you, if you’re like me and you love HP, this is a MUST. It was such a cool vibe once you got inside, you could order whichever creative food and drinks you wanted, but, you have to get the “Happee Birthdae” cake, it’s not the best I will admit, but you definitely need it just to say you had it. Once you place your order you can pick which floor you want to sit on, they were all different themed which was also super cool and they were filled with props that you could get some insta worthy pics with! Overall, it was definitely worth the confusion to get there, the pictures were fun to take and it was a great experience with great forever family friends. Oh yeah, there was another huge Line Friends store in the same area, I unfortunately didn’t get to go into this one, but no worries, I shall venture in when I go back in April!
“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect” -Luna Lovegood
If you’re into fashion, Myeongdong is also awesome as it has some great shopping areas and of course, my favorite, MCM. I think I died and went to heaven when I walked into this store, it’s been one of my favorite brands for awhile now, thanks to my mom. Getting to walk into their vault with special collections was so cool, and getting to see their newest releases right after seeing Jhene Aiko and Billie Eilish wearing it on Insta, was even more exciting to me.
Overall, Korea was a great trip, despite the downfall of not enjoying the school and the way they are with kids and how they treat teachers, I found a new love in Seoul and I can’t wait to be back in April! I think Korea will become my new Hawaii and I’ll need to do an annual trip out there to explore more and more every time. Up next, Japan in March and Korea (again) in April!
Myrrha Alexis 
Awesome! Just wondering if you’ve seen parasites and if you have any thoughts or comments.
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Hi there! I have seen it, about three times actually! I saw it twice when it very first came out and again just recently. It’s such a well constructed movie and I was so ecstatic when they won 4 Oscar’s as they were very well deserved. It was also amazing to see that a S. Korean movie was the first non-English language film in Oscar history to win the award for Best Picture! If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it!
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