Last week was the first time since I left for Korea that I did not have a conversation with myself about extending my contract, this was largely in part because I had made the decision to stay. I am not one to rush into a decision like this with any shred of ignorance, I had to try and absorb the scope of commitment that I was going to be signing on for. One of the things that make living here in South Korea fun and exciting are the people I socialize with. This is pretty broad actually, from the teacher and students I interact with everyday to the other English teachers from my town, and around the country. Anyone in this situation needs to be okay with a certain amount of solitude, and while teaching EFL has me interacting with lots of people and students it is not exactly like chatting with old friends about my day. One of my prime concerns with extending my contract was asking "how am I going to keep myself from turning into a hermit and talking to myself until August?". I had been hanging out with a few people from emu on any given Friday or Saturday, this is all fine and dandy until you take into account that they will be leaving at the end of December. So I thought to myself I ought to see who is sticking around for the year. I went to Busan with Brandyn and Tony, they are in for 12 months, other people that are cool (12 month contract) include Ian, Josh and Dave. Dave was quite peached to find out that I was sticking around, and I will make sure that by the time he goes back to see the Queen he accent is all but gone and he pronounces all the syllables in British towns and cities.
Perhaps an even larger issue I had to sort out was the one involving me graduating college and needing to figure things out. I don't know exactly what the job employment situation is back home but word from a few (very) close and respected people in my life are that things in the mitten are glum, I believe the words used were "shit" and "a pit of despair". If I were to have come back at the end of January, I would have went to work subbing, and generally grinding things out until summer. In addition to this and being old, I would have to scrap for health insurance and all that costs too much money in the United States. While I am a healthy individual, my health coverage here in Korea is reimbursed 90% of what I pay, and treatment is pretty cheap to begin with anyways, so why stop a good thing? I think my mom is worried about several thousand things to do with my life but one of them probably has to do with me not getting a start on looking for/ getting hired/ moving my stuff out of the house/ being less than 6000 miles away. Rest assured I am aware of this, sorry for the gigantic mess I left around the house and in my room, that will be dealt with in due time. For now, I have an opportunity to teach and experience the world at a time in my life when I have finished round #1 of college and have only begun to trek out into the unknown. This is okay because I don't plan on kicking the bucket any time soon. Living like this would be hard to come back to when I encumber myself with things like car payments, rent, morgage, and anything "adult-like"...It makes me shudder just to think of it. I know my outtake on life is a little bit eccentric compared to others but I have surrounded myself with friends that understand this or at least accept that I see things this way.
One of my friends back in michigan, Emily, was nervous to see me go to Korea. Not because I didn't know the language, or culture, or being a billion miles away. She thought that even though I said I was only going away for 6 months I would fall in love with everything or nothing in particular and extend my stay. Clever girl.
Staying until August allows me some flexibility in my travels, I am looking to spend new years someplace warm and tropical (Thailand?). Jeju Island in the spring, Japan before I come back, and who knows where else. I aim to have a few more stamps in my passport before I have my next Oberon!
It feels weird to have the future as an open book. Never before has my life direction been this open, there has always been something on the horizon (school mostly) that I could have my sights set on. I have read about adventures of travels through Tolkien & Adams, now I can live them.
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Einstein.
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