Graduation...Now What?

It has been a few months! For those of you out of the loop or just didn't get all the details, I did graduate. YAY. Not to brag but I did graduate at the top of my class! It was a lot of hard work and many long hours but in the end it was worth it. Just like everything else in life.

I stayed in Prague for a week or so after graduation trying to get things sorted as to where I was going next. I decided on South Korea. Little did I know that it was going to be a long grueling process to get there.

One day while surfing the Internet for jobs I came across this ESL (English as a Second Language) recruiting firm for an island called Jeju in South Korea. I saw the pictures and instantly fell in love. I was at the moment in a KFC with Josh and I turned to him and said "Josh this is it! This is where I want to teach!" Sure enough I was contacted by the recruiting firm and so the process began.

I needed to return to the US in order to get my e2 Visa for the first time. South Korea recently changed their immigration laws and in orer to recieve a working visa you must applu while in your orgin country. So back to the US I came. That was a little unexpected but my wonerful family (Mom, Norm, and Nanny) helped me get what I needed done!

There was a slight bump in the road to getting my documents because my criminal background check using my name and birthday id not clear. I guess someone with an arrest has some similar information as me. I had to then get a fingerprint background check done. I was home a total of about 7 weeks. Then on a Tuesday I got an e-mail from my recruiter saying that my flight to Jeju was booked for Saturday June 7th!

It was a long trip. I flew from St. Louis to Los Angeles. I had a 4 hour layover then took Korean Airlines from LA to Seoul, South Korea. The flight from LA to Seoul was about 13 hours. I was only able to sleep for about 4 of those hours. It is a good thing that they had personal TV screen on the back of each seat and I was able to watch movies the rest of the way. Once in Seoul, I took a bus 40 minutes to another airport and flew to Jeju. My recruiter's partner met me at the airport.

I spent my first day running around to various educational offices and meeting all sorts of important people. I also had to go to the Immigration office an apply for an Alien Card. This card is sort of the Golden Ticket out here because once you have that card you can do anything. I can get Internet/cable at home, a cell phone, and most importantly a bank account.

My apartment is wonderful and I have a fantastic view. I have added pictures of my view with this blog post. I will be writing another post just on my apartment soon.

I went to the Elementary School that I will be teaching at the second day. I had to go straight to work! Ha ha ha. That was OK though because that is what I am here for. I will be doing a post on the school and program that I teach soon as well.

Mostly I am trying to adjust to the 14 hours that I gained in time, the culture, food, and weather. So be patient and know that there will be many more posts to come :)

Tibor

I know I had mentioned a while back that I would write a little snippet about Tibor. He was my Czech student that I was assigned to do one-to-one lessons. The lessons were great. Tibor is 22 years old and currently attending a University here in Prague where he has lived for the last 12 years. He is an only child and was raised by his father. In his free time he plays tennis and likes water sports.

The entire one-to-one teaching was a great experience. It was challenging at times when I could not understand what he was trying to ask me exactly. That is why pronunciation is such a huge part of learning a language. I worked mostly on teaching him how to speak in the past. In the Czech language they only have the present. So he does not understand how to form a sentence that tells about a life experience and so on. Tibor requested that I gave him lessons that were hard. I laughed and said ok. My professor Terry said that for once Tibor had met his match. His other one-to-ones hadn't challenged him enough! Then I came along. Ha ha ha

Tibor is very smart and I made the lessons as fun as I could. We even watched part of a movie! Ha ha ha. Hey, I had permission from my professor to show the movie. He thought it was a great idea for the lesson I had planned.

I plan to keep in touch with Tibor even though I will be leaving the Czech Republic. He has been a great part of my learning experience and definitely challenged me as a teacher!

Intimidation

The other day in class I was speaking to my professor Terry about intimidation. He was shocked that someone with my talent and personality would be intimidated by other teachers in the class. He told me to follow him to the library and there he pulled out a book with a poem. It was so inspirational that I decided to post it here on my blog for everyone to read. Enjoy!

by Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that
we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frighten us.

We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of the universe.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There is nothing enlightening about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are born to make manifest
the glory of the universe that is within us.

It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

And as we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.