BootsnAll Travel Network



Where’s the angst?

Some seeing the title may wonder, where’s the angst?
In truth it’s mostly past

You can change the past
While you may not be able to change the actual events of the past,you can change the intent of those events.
We all have issues that we’ve dealt with or that have become irrelevant with time.

When I had finally decided to go to Asia it seemed that opportunities in Canada were few and far between. I had done some teaching, administrative work and design work and couldn’t make ends meet.

I saw an ad in the newspaper. Teach in Korea for six months or a year. Paid airfare. Government sponsored school. I answered the ad. Called the agent. Went for the interview. John, the agent was a pleasant person and seemed nice. He was Korean and had been living in Toronto for some time. He asked me if I thought I?d experience culture shock. I assured him I wouldn’t, as I’d spend a lot of time in Toronto’s Asian communities. Oh boy, what a misjudgment that was.
A week later I had a call from the owner.
The company was EBS. The owner was a man called Jueng. I was asked to fly to Korea. They would have a ticket sent to my apartment.
The chance to travel and teach seemed perfect.
Friends and family were warily supportive.
The contracts were faxed, signed and re-faxed. This was `95 and the Internet had yet to become the force it is now.
The school had arranged for an agent to pick me up and take me to the airport. Very civilized.
I had lunch with my brother Byron. It would be our last.
My brother troy came over late that afternoon. We’ve always been close. Troy didn’t want me to go and cried. Troy’s emotions have always been closer to the surface than mine.
The agent knocked on the door. I grabbed my bags and headed to the car. We stopped once to pick up a young woman who introduced herself as Min. We had met at the interview a couple of weeks before. We had talked on the phone a few times after that.
Min was originally from Singapore and had been studying in Canada. I had no knowledge of Korea’s attitudes and didn’t realize this would soon be a problem.
We boarded the flight to Korea. Korean Airlines took us from Toronto to Chicago for a brief stopover and then back up over Vancouver, B.C., Alaska and Japan before landing in Seoul, South Korea. From there it was a short flight to Pusan.
I was wiped. I hadn?t really slept on the plane, and the total travel time was about 25 hours. Min had wisely taken a couple of Gravol. We arrived in Pusan and it was warm
Toronto had been cold. Exhausted and both hauling a years worth of luggage we were ushered to a car by John, who had flown out a week before.
Our ride was a Tico. If you can imagine an economy car, then imagine it’s been washed in hot water. Small doesn’t begin to describe our chariot. It was like the bus to Clown College.

There are many wonderful things to experience in South Korea, and a few things you don’t want to experience. Pay attention.Be willing to listen to good advice, disregard the idiots and be careful out there.
Enjoy yourself.



Tags: ,

Leave a Reply