One Year Later

Well, 1 Year, 16 Blog posts. That's about 1 a month with a few ambitious months...not tooooo shabby. And for the new year, a blog redesign! Nothing fancy, but something fresh I hope.

My new contract-year resolution #1 is to write more. It's something I need to do, for my own sanity if for no one else's benefit, but it's also something that requires energy and reflection and thought. Which after a long day at work, or a long weekend spent exploring and traveling, or an even longer weekend spent drinking...are tough things to muster. But I do really believe that reflection is an essential part of a healthy life. I spend a lot of time reflecting out loud to myself while I putter around my apartment, but it's even better to have it somewhere written down. Plus I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I live with someone else...whoops.

So, with my one year anniversary in Korea just past, I think it's an ideal time to reflect on the way that I've changed, the things I've gained thus far, and the expectations that I came in with. Periodically I like to look through old documents I have saved on my computer (essays from high school, old journal entries, the like) and the other day I stumbled upon the personal statement I wrote when applying to come teach in Korea. I think for the sake of reflection, it's interesting enough to post here along with a hindsight-ed afterword.

So, slightly abridged, here's my application essay for the EPIK Teach in Korea program:

As I search for a career path, I’m realizing that school in any form is a hugely important part of my life. For quite some time, I've known that what I'm really good at is learning. Consequently, I believe the ideal way for me to move forward is to maintain a strong sense of constant education and exploration. Short term, I want to continue my learning outside of my own cultural bubble. Although I've traveled, I've never really immersed myself in a culture completely foreign to my own. Moving to South Korea would completely fulfill that goal. 

I am also interested in experiencing different cultural approaches to education. My own love of learning has fostered an interest in how others learn, what makes a ‘good’ learner, and how society can support or hinder a well-rounded education. A classroom of students is an ideal place to study learning. Teaching a classroom of children in Korea would not only fulfill my desire to explore a new culture, but also would help me further my larger goal to study different ways of learning and teaching.
It is important to me that I always try to be conscientious and respectful in new situations until I’m able to listen and observe carefully and understand more about cultural norms and actions. I believe Korea, with its dichotomies and its intricate social patterns, presents an exciting challenge to my personal dedication to remaining open and observant. An unfamiliar country and life will allow me to view the world from an entirely different perspective. I am ready and eager to do what I can to fall into place in a new Korean home: from making friends, to learning the language and customs, to trying as much new food as I can. I know it will be difficult, and I am fully aware of and prepared for the challenge. In my experience, the best way to deal with a new situation is not to merely learn to survive, but to learn to enjoy. I think what’s really most important to me is that I am not traveling to escape from something, but rather to enrich an already blessed life. 

In terms of my educational background and philosophy, for the past four summers I taught at a private summer school program that catered to international students. I worked in the classroom with other teachers, as well as on my own with some older classes. Many of the students came from Korea, Taiwan, or China, and they attended in order to practice their English. Although the focus of this particular program wasn't specifically to teach English, I encountered a variety of situations in which English was not a reliable communication method. I helped with writing and language arts classes as well as science and math classes, so I have a solid foundation for teaching a broad range of topics, and I understand how to communicate without necessarily using a specific spoken language. 

Also, this past year I participated in a program called ArtsBridge, which places college students into low-income public schools in Los Angeles. The program encouraged me to develop a wide variety of teaching tools that took into account every different learning type. Through curriculum that I developed myself, I truly felt as though I was presenting the students with a new way of learning. The program challenged me to communicate the material in many different ways in order to get through to every child. 

As a babysitter and nanny, I've often cared for children aged 2-5 and I feel that my enthusiasm is a key attribute that helps me deal with any number of young children in a classroom. Furthermore, working with children one-on-one has given me a really good grasp of how children learn individually and what kind of environment is most suited to a child’s mind. Curiosity is infectious and I enjoy finding myself caught up in a child’s early explorations of the world. I feel I am able to enthusiastically and gently guide children towards exploring the things that will be of most benefit to them. I understand how to take a given curriculum and present it in a way that still provides some freedom for exploration and inspires the children to love the process of learning. I am nurturing by nature, which helps me create a very safe environment for children to make mistakes and try things repeatedly. I also understand how much parents care about their child’s well being, and my ability to get to know each child allows me to work with parents and show them I care about their child.
I feel that I am a well-suited candidate for the EPIK program and I would be so honored to be given the opportunity to teach and learn in Korea. 

A year later, I can safely say that much of this is still true. I still feel that I'm inherently a learner and an explorer. Noting the numerous (sometimes frustrating) differences between South Korean school and the schools I've worked at in America have taught me a lot of things about what I value in education and what I think could change. And while I don't get to develop as much of my own curriculum here as I might like, everyday I find myself developing more and more tools with which to get through to as many students as possible. I feel pretty confident now that if I met someone who spoke absolutely no English, I would be able to communicate some basic facts to them. I don't feel as confident about my ability to provide exploratory freedom for students, partly due to the realities of bureaucracy and red tape (anywhere in the world) and partly due to my own sometimes questionable ability to lead a classroom with a firm hand.

But what strikes me most of all, looking back, was my own dedication to remaining open to a new culture. I think I've succeeded relatively well in that endeavor. I thought it would be more difficult than it was, in fact. I'm learning the language and cultural norms, and I'm certainly trying even more food than I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, it was hard at times. It still is hard at times. There are things I have to do that not only make no sense to me, but frustrate the hell out of me. But in hindsight, I thought I would have to climb a huge mountain to adapt to life in a new culture. Turns out I simply had to walk more carefully than usual. With that realization comes the realization that I could probably do this anywhere. Granted, Korea isn't so far from a Westernized country in most ways, but overcoming the mental hurdle is the largest part of the battle. I've found a confidence in myself and my own capabilities that I never would have guessed existed. I'm not only surviving here, I really and truly am enjoying myself.

I was talking to a Canadian woman when I visited Bali who lives in Bali with her husband. She's a yoga teacher and he sells dive equipment and they've traveled and lived all over the world. I was listening with rapt attention to her story of crossing the Thai border in a bus at 5 in the morning on an emergency Visa run. And her story about trekking through Egypt to see the pyramids, and being in Mongolia, and so on and so forth. And I said to her something about how amazing her life sounded and how that's what I want to do in life. And she turned to me quite seriously and said, "You ARE doing it."

I AM doing it. What I essentially want from life is a story worth telling. And it's happening right now. 

And I'm telling it. 

Here's to another year of stories! And more blogs!
Love to you, interwebs.
Good night.