The day I arrived in Korea

It was an easy decision to come to Korea and teach for a year.  The school system here offers ample opportunities for untried and untested teachers to come and gain their first experiences in the classroom, and boy, do you get the experiences.  In addition to the regular elementary, middle and high schools, they have private schools, "hagwon", which offer extra classes in many subjects;  most commonly, English. Hence the need and desire for native English speakers.

So, I left my rental flat in London. Sold or gave away most of my belongings and squeezed what remained into my backpack and waved London and England goodbye.

I arrived in Korea on a bitterly cold Friday morning in January which was a huge shock to my system after the brilliant Melbourne sunshine.

The route to Korea involved a brief stopover in Singapore followed by 7 weeks in Australia, where I got to spend a sunny Christmas & New Year, hug a koala, meet family I hadn't seen in a very long time and experience friendly Australian hospitality.

But that is another story, that may very well be continued in a later episode...

I arrived in Korea on a bitterly cold Friday morning in January which was a huge shock to my system after the brilliant Melbourne sunshine.  I was met by a couple of guys from the agency that had organised my job for me.  They found me the right bus stop, bought my ticket for me and loaded me on board. Three hours later I ended up in Cheongju, the capital city of Chungcheonbuk-do province and about a 30 minute car ride from Jincheon, my new home...