In 2 weeks, I’ll be back in Korea.

I’d been waiting and waiting to hear back from one recruiter about a position in Cheonan. It was a for a new program based at one of the universities. Even though it was at a university, I still would have been teaching elementary students. It would have functioned as a hagwon with after school classes. Classes would have been conducted from 4:30-10:30PM. However, the pay would have been substantial enough to overlook the negatives.

When I didn’t hear back from them on Mon or Tues of last week. I started sending out resumes again. I’ve been focusing on the Gyeonggi-do region, which is the area surrounding Seoul. It’s a big region with urban and rural areas.

Ideally, I was looking for a public school in Seoul. Seoul is, obviously, the capitol of Korea. It’s one of the most populated cities in Asia. It is culturally diverse and a hub for the rest of Asia.

I’ve heard positive and negative sides of public schools. The classes have 25-35 students, but there is a Korean teacher present, so students are on their better behavior. Teaching hours are significantly less than a hagwon, but you still have to be present during school hours, 8:30-4:30. There are more vacation hours. I think I’ll enjoy the focus of education and not business. A public school wont have to worry about kissing up to the parents and keeping up cash flow. I think a public school teacher is, also, a step up in the teaching field, and it should improve my resume.

I sent out applications to 3 recruiters. One found me a hagwon in Seoul. But the school was no different than my last teaching job. That’s not change. That’s more of the same. Recruiter 2 found a rural teaching job at a public high school. Interesting. Recruiter 3 got back to me a week later, and offered me a position with a public elementary school in Suwon. (Note: I learned that all public schools in Seoul are already full. I’d have to apply, now, for a position in the Spring semester. If I wait that long, I might as well try for Japan again) So, I spoke with recruiter deux.

They offered me a teaching position with a public high school in Anseong. Anseong is on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do and very much rural. It’s so much, that I’m offered the rural teaching bonus of more pay and vacation with the Educational board. Wikipedia states the population as 150,000. Daegu had 2.7 Mil. What intrigues me about this position is the fact that it’s at a high school. Many recruiters are quick to throw an elementary or middle school at you. You almost have to climb the ladder up to a high school. I think this would better my chances to get into more high schools in the future.The school claims to be a technical high school with a focus on engineering and sciences.

I have no idea what the high school curriculum will be like. Hopefully, I wont have to go through picture vocabulary and adjectives everyday. I haven’t seen a public school text book. At my old hagwon, there was a focus on TOEFL tests with the older students. These are the exams for a better entrance into universities. High school students are bombarded with schooling, because it’s important for them to get into a good university and make their parents proud.

Will I enjoy the rural setting of Anseong and the possible loneliness of few people to converse with? Will the school administration be a bunch of chewyheads? Will anyone working at the school be able to understand English? …Maybe. But, I could think of worse situations. I don’t want to go back to Daegu. I’d rather see another side of Korea; Start a new adventure. And anyways, Seoul is about an hour away by bus.

So, I’ve FedExed my paperwork to begin the process of obtaining a working visa. My contract has me penciled in to start work on Oct 13. I, honestly, don’t think I’ll be able to complete the visa process by then, but I can still enter Korea without having it. I just have to take some additional steps to get it. Or if I’m late by a couple days, what are they gonna do? Fire me? Otherwise, systems are go. Now, I’m just trying to think of all things I’d need or loose ends that need to be tied.