Chapter 7: The End of My Korean Summer

Unpacking my "Why" for relocating to South Korea

Summer was coming to a close and my first couple months in Korea had been partly amazing, but also a bit strange. I had spent so much time alone in my room playing video games, but I had gained the confidence to move around my neighborhood a bit. This came with my growing knowledge of the Korean language.

Still, summer school was strange because I had to teach summer school… alone. Being alone wasn’t the strange part.

Every day I’d get a group of elementary school kids and I had to teach them all by myself. Did I mention that none of them spoke any English? This was crazy.

The first week of summer school, my co-teacher was there to support and after that it was no training wheels, all gas and no brakes, sink or swim in the deep end of the pool. I still don’t know how I made it through that time. The good news was that my classes were only scheduled for the morning and the kids were let out by noon.

I thought for sure that this meant I would be going home at noon too, so that’s exactly what I did. To my surprise, I got a phone call from my co-teacher asking me where I was at. When I said I was at home, she told me that the Vice Principal had stopped by my office and was confused as to why I wasn’t at work in the afternoon. I was also confused by this. It turned out that by their logic I was being paid for a full day of work so I was supposed to be at work all day even if I didn’t have work to do.

This wouldn’t be the last time I had to deal with this type of arrangement while living in Asia. The next time I’d find myself losing my job, but that’s another story for another chapter.

Anyway, I had to go back to the school and sit there for the rest of the day. A couple weeks into this, my Vice Principal came by my office and saw me sitting there bored out of my mind and told me I could go home. The next day, he told me that I could go home each day, but that I had to stay home and out of any trouble. It was then that I understood that he was basically saying, if I was out and about and something happened to me, he would be held to account.

So with this wink and not arrangement, I went home and stayed home in the afternoons… mostly.

Fall was approaching and in my solitude I began to reflect on my exodus. Why had I left America so suddenly? What was I running from?