So you want to go to Korea...

As I said before I want this to be helpful to anyone who might want to go to Korea in the future. So I will begin with some helpful hints to get you started on your way.

Some of you may have your heart set on going to Korea, some may have it as an option and other readers (probably most of you) are just trying to figure out how I got to where I am. The first thing I would suggest to you if you want to go to teach English in Korea is to find a recruiter (or two or three) to help you with your search. There is NEVER any cost to get a recruiter so I would stop talking to anyone who asks for money. Recruiters make their money from the schools in Korea that are looking for English teachers.

I'm not going to say who to go with (I will tell you who I am working with and who has impressed me), but I will give you some tips:

1) Shop around. Find as many recruiters as possible. Generally all of the ones I have contacted are friendly and helpful. Even if you don't use a recruiter, talking to them can give you information that other recruiters don't mention.

2) Ask questions. I've seen it on many recruiter websites so this might be redundant, but if you want to know something, ask. If you're going to committ to moving halfway around the world for a whole year you want to be sure of what you're going to deal with (that being said, nothing is predictable and new experiences can be good for us all - even if they are scary as heck). A good recruiter will be as helpful as possible (I've gotten some pretty long replies - which I find helpful).

3) Talk to other people. If you can get in contact with other people who are doing the same thing, it can be helpful. They can suggest good agencies (and steer you away from bad ones). Facebook could be helpful in this regard if you use it.

4) Take your time. Plan your trip farther in advance. You don't want to be scrambling for a recruiter to place you somewhere in two or three months from now. This is not something you want to rush.

Picking a recruiter can be a fun and exciting way to get the process going. As always with big decisions like this (and I'll stress this later), do your research. Check things that you are unsure of and don't always take one persons word for things.

Two recruiters that I have been impressed with are Canadian Connection (based out of Toronto) and Russell Recruiting (based out of Vancouver). without having committed to either agency they were very helpful. I would recommend at least talking to them or looking into them if you want to go.

If you have any questions about recruiting or looking for recruiters, do not hesitate to ask them on this blog.

Stay tuned for some bigger news about my Korea trip coming in the next few days, accompianed by some new helpful hints.

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...