My Personal Korean Story

This is a short essay I wrote for a journal our province was making in Korea.

My Personal Korean Story.

Teaching in Korea for any native English speaker is going to be a life altering experience regardless of background or where one comes from. Every individual story is going to have its own unique wrinkles. My story certainly has its own characteristics that set it apart from another teacher, and that is what I’m hoping to share with this short essay.
When I was asked to write this essay, I was not given any parameters and with only a day’s advance, I did not have much time to write a polished essay. Luckily for me, my tendency to procrastinate during my college years has prepared me for writing last minute essays. At first I thought I would write an in depth analysis about the differences and difficulties an American would have to adjust to when coming to teach in Korea. I quickly threw that idea out because I would not have enough time to get enough research in write an intelligent paper. I needed to think of a paper topic that would be intriguing enough to hook a reader’s attention, without having to condense hours of research into a work week. Then I thought of a great idea while taking my one and a half hour bus ride to work in the morning. I could just write about my experience and my philosophy. With this topic, the only research I would need to do is search my own soul and hopefully have enough eloquence and time to writing an articulate and interesting paper.
“Story teller” is basically what a teacher’s duty is. It is the job of a teacher to infuse his or her personality into a story; mix is with enough creativity and life so that his or her students will absorb the moral of the story. That is how I viewed my teachers during my high school and college years. I graduated in 2009 from the University of Minnesota with strange little degree called Studies in Cinema and Media Culture. People often ask me to clarify what that translates to, and I don’t know if I have that answer. Basically the major skill I my department wanted to teach us were critical thinking skills and being able to understand our surroundings and having enough skill to take that information and turn it into something. This is why I think the job of a story teller and teacher is such an important job.
My story is unique in that I come from America with a Korean-American background. I had a small understanding of how difficult it would be for an American to come to Korea and live here. America is land of many luxuries that allows Americans live in excess. I knew there might be obstacles that I would have to overcome that maybe some other foreign teachers might not face because of my Korean-American background. A big part of me did not want to come to Korea because I was afraid of the challenge. However, I had a powerful encounter with a Korean student during a short stay in Korea earlier this year. I visited a hakwon one of my cousins worked at as a special guest. I did not have much prepared for the visit, so I just asked the students to ask any questions they had about America. Most students asked me simple questions about Hollywood and if I like the Simpsons. However, one female student caught my interest as she asked critical questions about the current social situation in America and how it differs from the social situation in Korea. I was more than happy to answer those questions, give her some historical information, and compare Korea and America with her input. It was about as pleasant a philosophical conversation I could have with someone who I don’t speak the same language as. After the students left the classroom I let her teachers know how intelligent the student seemed to me. To my surprise, her teachers informed me that they consider her one of their lower level students. I asked them how that could be and they replied that her math and science scores were too low for her to be considered a high level student. The news broke my heart because I’m someone who never excelled at math and science, but was always able to keep an intelligent conversation going with my versatile knowledge and the power of free thought. The ability to think creatively and outside society’s boundaries is not a skill that can always be taught. Sometimes it is a natural gift, and I felt strongly that the student I met that night had the gift.
I returned to America in the spring completely changed from my time in Korea. I wanted to leave my comfort zone, and my journey gave me more than I asked for. I was crushed by the cultural differences, I was shaken by feeling so alone during my time in Korea, and Korea gave me my first heartbreak. I wanted to shake off my depression and so I continuously searched for something that would lift my spirit. I made many dinner and lunch plans with friends and met a lot of new people. I hoped that during those meetings, I would get to share a story and get a good story in return. I reconnected with some old high school friends and during those times of conversation is when I felt like my happy self before my trip to Korea. One of my friends that I reconnected with had just gotten back from China where he taught English. I shared my story about the student with him and he informed me that he saw the same thing in China. He told me that he was thinking about going back to China to give students with the ambition of free thought an outlet to express their creativity. His words made in impact on me as I wished the same for the student I met, but I didn’t know what I could do for her. I slept on my friend’s words for a couple of nights, and then it hit me that although I might not be able to help that specific student, I could go to Korea and try to give other students that are in the same situation a platform to express their creativity.
I am still trying to find the person I was before my first trip to Korea, but during those few hours I am working and interacting with my students, they become my main focus and I am able to put my issues into the periphery. I am their story teller for the forty minutes and to strengthen their minds is my task. I have had the chance to meet other native English teachers since arriving in Korea and not all of them are here because they feel that education is the path to a better future. Most of them are here to make a few extra bucks with taking advantage of a free vacation. I have had my vacation in Korea and it turned out to be a depressing experience, and so I am here for one reason and that is to promote critical and free thought. I do not know if I will make an impact, but I will never know unless I try. If I can make an impact on just one life, I will have accomplished something great as a story teller. If I can progress the lives of a couple of students, I will have paid back the debt I have to the story tellers that came before me. I still have some time left in Korea and I do not know where I’ll go with my time or what sort of difference I will make here. My hope is that I can return to America and feel like I have accomplished something, and hope that my students can someday become story tellers and pass on our story to the next generation of thinkers and dreamers.