*Insert dramatic news intro music here* “Good morning Boston. We have a real exciting story for you tonight, on channel 7-11. (2 hours later) Our office has just received word that a local who goes by the name: Themollysaurus- a small town girl with big dreams- is about to sign an English teaching contract for a job in South Korea…What’s that, Bob? It seems that our manager has just confirmed that she has indeed, signed the contract already! Let’s see what the crowd is like outside! Take it away, Bob!” Yes, yes, yes the rumors are true!! I have FINALLY signed the next year of my life away for a teaching job in South Korea! BY GEORGE, SHE’S DONE IT!! AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! Cue Whoomp, There It Is by Tag Team.
You have no idea how good it feels to have this “pipe dream” of mine out of those gosh darn pipes, and set forth into the world! Be free dreams! I just keep wanting to fist pump, or get a running start for an effervescent high five but all the while my hair looking perfectly wind swept behind my head, and then ending with a dashing smile… all in slow motion…because I-DESERVE-IT! Do you know how many people told me I would never actually go because the application process- which I started back in July– had been taking too long? You’re darn tootin’ it took too long- 6 months too long, I’ll say. Important: **If you guys are going to read my blogs, you must read it in your head like I do. For instance, the penultimate sentence should be read with a thick, yet charming upper Wisconsin/Canadian accent. You gotta be quicker than this, guys! That one is in the key of the State farm commercial- if you don’t know what this means, then “you can’t sit with us!” I digress.
For these past six months I had to reluctantly answer questions like “so, you’re not really going, then?” and “do you think you actually will, now?” and my favorite “oh, that’s still a thing? I didn’t think we were talking about that anymore.” Obviously these people who have uttered such slanderous accusations, as well as those who have merely just thought them, do not know the first thing about themollysaurus. For she is a rare breed. She walks to her own beat of her own drum, which she bought for a dollar at a hippie flea market on a whim. She knows only what she has experienced firsthand, and everything else is a mystery to be discovered. Like when Harry found out at the end of the seventh book that he was the last horcrux… Actually, yes, exactly like that. She doesn’t judge or belittle others, rather, prefers to build them up- if, and only if she feels threatened. In which case all bets are off. It’s weird talking about myself in the third person…quick tip: this whole paragraph should be read in the voice of Bear Grills.
Those who have had the utmost pleasure of hearing me ramble on about this opportunity for the last 6 months, probably already know the sweet hook up I’m getting. Round trip airfare paid by employer, a fully furnished apartment for which I am not responsible to pay rent, health insurance, *free* wifi everywhere in the country, a salary upwards of 2,000 USD/month, 4 weeks paid vacation (to be used congruently with the students school vacations) and the ease of mind that waygooks/expats/foreigners are a dime a dozen over there. The only thing that has changed is that I will be teaching in Seoul- the nation’s capitol, and one of the biggest international cities in the world. I originally had my sights set on Busan- the nation’s second largest city- but I thought, why not do it right the first time around? Go McGowan or go home, ya’ll! I leave at the end of March- the 28th to be precise- with one week of training, and then a full teaching schedule to begin on April 6th. It is unclear which grades I will be teaching, but the girl whose job I’m taking has been teaching Kindergarten MWF and 6th grade on Tu and Th.
An interesting and noteworthy point, is that for the first week upon my arrival I will living with the family of the director for the Hagwon (language school) I am working at. There is an overlap between my first week and the last week of the girl whose job, and home I am taking. #sorrynotsorry lol. I feel as though this will allow for an authentic Korean experience I would not get otherwise. Plus, it will allow for bonding time with my new boss, and for this I am excited and grateful. However, there is always that awkward time when you start a new job, and you’re trying to bond with your superior on a professional level. This always stresses me out a little; but knowing that when I walk out the door I won’t have to struggle to figure out where my place is…well that’s comforting. When I get home, I know my place is on the couch watching whatever I please. At a new job, everything is unchartered territory- you never know what you’re going to discover. I am curious to see what our dynamic will be when I am: just arriving to a new country, where I don’t know a single Seoul (har har), meeting my boss for the first time and then going to stay with his family for an extended period of time. There will be nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide!
On the whole I am super excited about this new chapter in my life. I am boldly going where no one I know has gone to live before. I am beginning an unexpected journey out of the shire, and into lands unseen by many. It will be with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to those I hold dear, but to them I will only say “I’ll see you later.” It’s much less final than the alternative, and implies the notion that I fully intend to see your glorious American faces again. And we will see each other, for I possess the one ring to rule them all. One ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in darkness bind them. (Read in the very powerful, makes-you-poop-in-your-pants-and-run, kind of a deep voice).
XoXo
The Wayward Waygook 