Introduction

Here we go. In three days, I will be halfway through my 20-hour flight to South Korea, where I’ll be living for at least a year. I’m still not finished packing, but writing is a better option than completely losing my mind.

Some background info: I am preparing to teach English in Hampyeong County in South Jeolla province, about 3.5 hours southwest of Seoul and 40 minutes from Gwangju, the closest city. I’m 27 years old (I guess 28 in Korea? Yikes) and originally from New York. I’ll be going from living with 8.3 million other people to…. 45,000! Definitely looking forward to taking a break from city life.

I am hoping this blog will provide some helpful resources on life in Hampyeong and help others with the ridiculous issues I had during the application process. Although I was originally accepted into EPIK, I had my fingerprints rejected for the required criminal background check THREE TIMES, with each attempt taking 6 weeks each. Fellow tiny-fingered readers rejoice— I fully plan on writing a series on how I eventually got my fingerprints to show up clearly enough for the FBI. Spoiler alert: it involves cayenne pepper and badgering your state representatives.

Also look forward to a couple posts on dealing with recruiters, applying to private and public schools, marketing yourself as a new ESL teacher, and holding your head up high when you’re stuck in the purgatory of having to wait months after you expected to leave the country.

Along with seeing Big Bang live, I am crazy excited to be living with my dear friend Dani again! This will be her third year teaching in Korea and she is the definitely the reason I am moving there at all. She has gone above and beyond to support me with the application process, serious family issues that occurred along the way, and making the move to Korea as smooth as possible. I really could not ask for a better friend. We’ve known each for five years now since we survived a year of AmeriCorps together and been great friends ever since. I was ready to placed anywhere in Korea, but luckily, Dani lives in Gwangju, only 40 minutes away!