i'm practically robin williams

When I first started teaching university classes I felt like I belonged in Dead Poets Society.   I was pretty pleased with myself.  No longer would the majority of my words in class consist of "Jonny, sit back down", "Hani, are you saying bad words to your friends?  No bad words in my class", "Charlie, if someone makes you angry tell them 'Stop, I don't like it'...you cannot hit your friends", "What's rule number 1?? NO SPEAKING KOREAN!  This is Teacher's time to talk"....and so on.   I've surprised myself a lot because I've actually enjoyed teaching kids.  Teaching was one of the professions I had zero interest in.  When we decided to teach in Korea I was a bit nervous.  The many benefits of teaching in Korea** quieted my initial concerns about the actual work but it was still a relief when I found that for the most part, I truly enjoyed my students and teaching them. Also, I have little doubt (although not personal experience to back up my suspicions) that teaching English is enormously different to being a proper teacher.  But in any case....while it's still not my life calling....teaching has turned out to be very doable.  

Still, when I traded in teaching kindies, elementary and middle school students for college age students and adults I was pretty thrilled.  Especially because the majority of my classes are discussion / free talking classes for high level students.  That means that I choose (hopefully) interesting topics to discuss in class, write or find discussion questions related to the topics, introduce the topics, sometimes teach some related idioms or common phrases and then the rest of class consists of us chatting and sharing opinions.  I've learned so much more about Korean culture and have had many interesting talks since starting this position at the end of August.  The icing on the cake when teaching adults is that you can be friends on a level you can't with children (as much fun as kids can be).  We go out for coffee, take trips to Seoul to eat Mexican food, watch Desperate Housewives at 2am and have meaningful conversations. 

We will finish our current contract on February 17th. This contract was only six months because we are covering a position for our friend Frances while she spent the six months traveling in India, Africa, France and Turkey.  When she comes back we'll be flying home to the states for an extended visit.  After more than a year of being away from home I'm sooo excited to be back.

**My friend Kate was over while I was writing this blog and she mentioned the very true fact that most people who have not taught in Korea always wonder why any of us would choose to live here of all places.  So I have created a short, non-exhaustive list. 

 Why Korea? 
- The chance to travel and live in a different culture.  Living in a culture is so different from merely traveling to a different country on vacation. 
- A community of other native English speakers from every English speaking country.  A lot of us see each other again while traveling in other places (sometimes organically and sometimes orchestrated) and when we sometimes return to Korea. 
- A life without bills (free housing, free utilities, sometimes free food)
- A paycheck that we don't have to spend on bills and thus can use to travel, save, pay off student loans, etc.   Not only are we paid a salary but we get an extra month pay just for completing a one year contract.  Our roundtrip airfare from our home country is also covered. 
- A job schedule that allows for a life outside of work.  This is a big one for me.  If we ever come back to Korea for another contract we will want to teach university again which often comes with three day weekends (like our current position) and 4-5 months paid vacation (during school breaks) every year.  
- While we do enjoy a lot of things about Korea itself, that's not why we chose Korea and it's not why we come back.  We would probably try out new countries and new cultures if there were other places where we could teach the same hours and save the same amount of money.  But it's also nice coming back to a country where we're comfortable and where we know a lot of people.  We miss our friends in Korea when we're gone.   We've been able to live in some countries and to travel to several others and will do that more in the future but Korea has taken good care of us. 

The view from our current apartment in Chungju, South Korea (a smallish town an hour and a half south of Seoul)  It's been really different living outside of Seoul but cool getting a different experience.  

Inside our apartment.  Since we are covering for our friend we decided to just move into her apartment that the university provides and use her furnishings while she's gone which worked great for all of us!  

One of my beginner level classes, although only a few of the students were truly beginners!  Half of them were exchange students from China and one from Uzbekistan.   I really, really loved this class....I'm super in love with the Chinese students' accents when they speak English.  SO cute.  

Some of the students from one of my high level classes.  I had sooo much fun with this class and we became really good friends.  University students are full of relationship drama and life direction drama which of course I find really interesting to talk about.  

Some of my students out at Mr. Pizza....love these guys! 

Ryan with some of the students in his intermediate level class. Our students seemed to really love spending time with us outside class and we really liked it too.    

reluctant resolution

One year ago I was blonde.  Ryan and I had just moved to New Zealand to live with our Kiwi friends.  I had submitted to my first southern hemisphere summery Christmas. I was excited for our plans to traipse around the world a bit.  

2010 didn't align completely with my expectations....but that's okay. We've learned to be pretty fluid with our planning and to only expect that all our plans will change.  It was a good, full and important year.  

I've been pretty satisfied with my anti-blogging stance.  Occasionally a whisper of ambition would run through my head telling me that I should be blogging and keeping track of our lives....for our own benefit and to help keep others more properly updated.   These were supported by a small barrage of "Do you have a blog?"s and "You should be blogging!!"s.   But if there's anything I'm good at, it's knowing myself.  It might just be unhealthy how self aware I am.  In any case,  I knew without a doubt that while keeping a blog is a clever idea and I can easily conjure up romantic images of sitting in a coffee shop typing up witty anecdotes about our oh so interesting lives.... instinctively I know that reality is that I will never have time or feel like writing and within about five minutes I will be spatting the word "blog" with an intense disdain of the added anxiety it has brought me as one more thing on my to do list that I don't want to do.   

So I've been happy to stick to facebook and skype as my modes of long distance communication.  

But because I'm stupid and optimistic....and easily persuaded to do things I know will make me miserable in the long run.....I am starting a blog.  Because my mom keeps telling me I need to (apparently she thinks that my rants to her regarding myself or social issues should be heard by other people as well.....maybe so she isn't the only one who is stuck listening to my inane ramblings) AND because I keep sensing this gut feeling that 2011 is going to be a semi-critical year in the Thomas' life.  

New Years Eve I was up on the roof of my friend's house in Bangkok trying to see the fireworks that were easy to hear but not so easy to see through the tall buildings.  And true to my stupid habit of being more present in my thoughts than in my surroundings.....I was paying most attention to my internal despair at realizing that I had somehow in the past month or so slowly let the idea of starting a blog change from something I was in no way going to actually do....into something that I  had decided to do although I don't think I had fully become aware or it up until that point.  

I didn't make any resolutions this year.  But I am here blogging.  I'm not thrilled and I'm a bit intimidated.  But I'm here.   

(Also, much to my relief, Ryan will be blogging here also!  Yay!)

ten

To cover the past ten years when I wasn't blogging (did blogging exist before then?), a brief synopsis: 

Got married

Finished bachelors degrees 

Moved to Kentucky for three and a half years 

Ryan got two masters degrees

Jessie worked at Clear Channel Radio (Promotions Director)

Jessie worked at Asbury College (Admissions Counselor) 

Moved to Chicago for six months for Jessie to help an advertising company launch their Chicago location.  

Spent 8 months traveling (New York City, the west coast from Vancouver to San Diego, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico) 
     and preparing to move to Korea

Taught English in Korea for almost 1 1/2 years

Traveled to the Philippines

Visited Hawaii 

Visited home for 3 months

Lived in New Zealand for four months

Traveled to Fiji, Australia, Thailand and Laos

While in Thailand, volunteered with the Bamboo School and The Well 

Made an overnight trip to Japan

Back to Korea to teach ESL at Konkuk University for six months

February 26th we will fly back to the states with extended stops in LA and Seattle. Will arrive in Detroit on March 16th.