Final Thoughts Before Departure

In approximately 3 hours I leave my house for the Toronto Airport. I thought I would share my thoughts at this time.

For starters, in roughly the next 30 hours I will be present on two flights which both will be longer than any other flight I have ever been on (continuously). Being cooped up in a tiny metal tube for so long is likely to be one of the least exciting things I have done (though I was on a train for 74 hours once with only a few breaks and that was pretty neat). About 30 minutes into my second flight I will be farther from where I grew up than I have ever been before. Then I have 11 hours more to fly.

Big changes are not new to me. Every time my life changed (usually because of a new school - though you could argue this is a new school for me too) I have enjoyed the change and have become a different person. After these moments pass it is often hard to look back and understand why I was the way I was. I think that sometime very soon I will experience one of those moments. Life will never be the same.

Change is never easy, even if it is for the best - and this certainly is better than my current situation. Change is even harder when you're not completely sure of what to expect.

On some level I do have some expectations, but most of those are vague. One thing I do know is that the distance from home is likely to be the easier adjustment than my way of life. I am not worried though. What I consider normal circumstances has changed so much even in the last few years that I think I could adjust to almost anything. The speed of this adjustment, however, will likely be a shock to me.

I want to go into this with an open mind and a sense of adventure and exploration (that being said, I won't kid myself: I am not a traiblazer by teaching in Korea; I am following in the footsteps of thousands of others).

It is because of all the above reasons that I have been alternating between excited and scared out of my mind. There are so many unknowns and that is both thrilling and terrifying. I am certainly glad I am not doing this alone (well, I am getting to Vancouver all by myself, but that's easy - I've been there before).

For better or for worse I want to look back on my decision to teach in Korea as a wise decision. No matter how bad it could be or how great a time I have, I will not regret trying. I'd rather know this one slice of life than wonder what it's like.

So here's to big changes and doing what you want to do. Here's to living.

See you on the flip side...

A (not so brief) Introduction

Before I get into all the nitty gritty details of what Alex and I have done up to this point, I thought I would write an introduction so that you would know who I am and what's going on inside my head. I organized the introduction into a few simple categories so that it makes them easier to read. I will do my best to get Alex to answer similar questions. However, she is busier than I am with work right now, so her introduction will probably not come for at least a few weeks.

Who am I and where do I come from?

My name is Michael Davidson and approximately twenty-five years ago I was born in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. I lived the first 18 years of my life in Hamilton, Ontario attending elementary, middle and highschool before I went to York University in Toronto to study Chemistry. Two years into my degree I decided to switch to an Education degree and a year after that I decided I needed a change in scenery. I moved out west to Victoria, BC to attend the University of Victoria, where I completed my Bachelors of Education in June 2007.

I have been involved in a variety of extra-curricular activities through all of my years of schooling, but the last 10 years or so I have focused mostly on running. I ran with the track and cross country teams at my highschool and both universities I attended. My successes were small, but I am happy with what I accomplished. Lately I have been busy working three jobs so I have been unable to run as much as I would like.

I am also very big on the idea of sustainability. There are those who would call me a tree-hugger, or environmentally friendly, but they are missing the point. I believe that we are all a part of the world around us. If we hurt or damage the world and it's other inhabitants we are hurting and damaging ourselves. If I had a goal with all of my thinking about the issue it would be to help people to change their perspective so that they see how we are all connected to each other and our surroundings (environment?).

Why do I want to go to Korea?

The cliched answer would be: “why not?” but I'll spare you that for now. As you may have gathered in the above answer, I have not been anywhere in the world (except for a few Canadian provinces and a few American states). The biggest appeal for teaching in Korea is that it is somewhere different. I have always wondered what things are like elsewhere. I want to experience a different way of life. That being said, those who know me will know that I'm a bit particular about certain things. I want to eventually see the world, but I don't think I'm ready for a lot of the places that I want to go to. I think (and we'll see if this turns out to be the case in the coming months) that Korea is a nice first step. Things will be different, but I don't expect them to be so different that I won't be able to function. It is my hope that Korea is the first step on a career spent teaching and helping those all over the world.

Korea also has an established history of english speakers coming over to teach as well as a large network of agencies and companies that can help with the placement process. As mentioned above, I like to try new things, but at this point in my life, I'm not ready to take huge risks by going to a country in which I will have no support network.

I have also had a big attraction to Asia (to be honest, I've had an attraction to most global areas that I haven't been to) and for the longest time I've wanted to go there. This will give me a chance to live there and, on occasion, visit other countries that are close by.

One final reason I will discuss (I'm sure there are many more I could add to this explanation, but it is getting a bit long) is the lack of jobs and opportunities where I am. Being a teacher I was told there would be a lot of work. There has not been much where I am living right now (Victoria, BC) and I have heard that other areas of the country (Ontario) have more teachers than classrooms. Though this is helping me feel good about my decision to go, most of my frustration finding a teaching job came after I decided to go to Korea.

Thats all for now. I'm sure you'll learn more about me in future posts and hopefully you'll learn all about Alex as well. If you have any questions you would like answered, please post a response and I will try to include answers in future posts. Keep in mind, I do have some ideas and I plan on being very comprehensive so I may already plan on answering your questions.

Until next time...

Yes, there is a reason for all of this

For whatever reason you are reading this blog, I hope that one day it will become useful to at least one person out there (though more likely it will be entertaining to many more). As you may have gathered from the title and tagline of the blog, I'm going (I went?) to Korea for a year to teach. This being written months before I leave - I don't even know my departure date yet! - I don't know exactly where this will go but I do have a few reasons for doing this.

Reason #1: Since teaching in Korea is a popular choice of the post grad (more on this in a later post - I promise), and the choice to move halfway around the world is something not to be taken lightly, I thought I would document my experiences (whether good or bad because I do expect both) so that if anyone wants to do the trip in the future they can learn from my successes and my mistakes.


Reason #2: I realize it will be difficult to keep in touch with family and friends in Canada (or wherever they may be) and I thought this would be an easier way to keep track of me (or rather, us - more on that in this post and no doubt in future posts) without sending out mass emails that would likely get deleted anyway.

So there you have it: two simple reasons for all this effort.

As I mentioned above, there is an "us." The second half of the "us" is Alex(andra). Korea was more of my idea, but she wanted to come with me and I wanted the company in a foreign country. I am working on getting her registered for blogger so that two perspectives (because I guarantee you they will be very different) can be presented for you and your fellow readers.

Currently I am busy with trying to keep myself afloat in Canada at the moment and I don't have a lot of time to write, but I will try to get a formal introduction of myself so you can see where I am coming from and why I chose to go to Korea. I will try to get Alex to do the same.

Until next time...