Intro's

      I never thought that I would end up in South Korea, but here I am. This is an awesome opportunity for me, and I want to share my experience with whoever is interested. Briefly, this is how I got here. Last December, I was trying to decide what I should do after graduation. I was in my senior year at the UO. I am a mathematics major and I want to teach math as my profession in middle and high schools. In order to teach, I have to go to graduate school to get my masters in education and my teaching certificate. Being completely burned out on classes and school altogether, this was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do after graduation. (Kudos to my math friends who are going!!!) 

     Being in this predicament, I happened to be talking to my third set of grandparents :) LeRoy and Carol. Having a nephew who is doing what I'm doing now, they talked about how much he has enjoyed it and so on. Being all out of ideas myself, this seemed like a fresh breath  of air and it fit perfectly into my overall plans. However, I really didn't think that I would be able to do everything necessary to go abroad. At the time, I was just say'n my prayers before every math test... LOL. So, I went to the UO career center and inquired about opportunities like this, and Korea seemed to be the most in demand.  It was all downhill from there ... well for the most part. Six and a half months later after getting my passport, criminal background check, authorized diploma, authorized copies of my diploma, passport photos, transcripts, visa apps, visa (thanks to Adventure Teaching), packing, moving, squaring away things at home, and some really last minuet shopping and packing (Thank God for my sister Jena :), I received my flight itinerary on Friday 8/12 and left at 9:50am on Saturday 8/13. Whew! Eleven hours later I landed at Incheon International, and here I am blogging in Korea. Meh, no big deal. 

     I am now living in Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, and I work at Pyeongcheon Langcon School. I have a one year contract which will end sometime next August. Pyeongcheon is the neighborhood in Anyang and Langcon is the school's name. Langcon is a branch of the Avalon schools or hagwons. Hagwons are supplementary schools to students normal education. Hagwons teach regular subjects but the focus is on English immersion. So students go to normal Korean Schools and then go to English language schools. This was the first culture shock for me. These kids basically are either at home eating and sleeping or are in some sort of classroom. The most activity they might get is if the parents take them to a Karate class or something like that. 

    Anyway, I am really excited about my stay here in Korea, and I hope that I am able to share my experience with you, even in this limited format.