Well, it's getting close to the end. Lately, I've been going through different areas of Seoul and reminiscing of all my years in South Korea. For this post, I'm going to tell you 12 things that stick out the most about my time in Korea.
1. Meeting my wife on a Christian dating app and meeting at a cafe in Gangnam for our first date.
Our first date was awkward and I honestly didn't think we were going to have a second date. She had never met a foreigner before and she was really quiet. But our second date was much better and we took off from there!
2. Getting married to my wife at a church near Ttukseom Resort Station.
That was a difficult day, yet the happiest day of my life. I didn't eat anything until 4:00pm (big mistake), but I am very proud that we had a beautiful wedding. The food was great and the reception area overlooked the Han River. My wife's sister was nice enough to book a hotel for us in Incheon, so we spent the first night of our honeymoon there and then headed off to Hawaii the next day!
3. Arriving in Ulsan, South Korea for the first time.
I remember my recruiter picking me up at the airport, taking me to my apartment building, realizing it was just a 10-minute walk from my academy, and getting used to all of the new surroundings. It was my first time seeing everything around me in a different language, older women staring at me as I was walking down the street, and kids saying "hi" when they saw me.
4. My dating experiences during my single life (2003-2014).
I learned a lot during this time. I dated some nice women, let some nice ones go, dated some that didn't like me, dated one that spoke little English, dated one that had a hot temper, and dated some that I didn't like, but they liked me. I also made some mistakes and hurt women that didn't deserve to be hurt emotionally. My mistakes caused God to make me wait for three years (2011-2014) before I got into a new relationship again. That wait turned out to be great because that woman eventually became my wife. I grew up during this time and the Lord really changed me spiritually and emotionally to the point where I was a different person when I met my wife.
5. Leaving Ulsan, South Korea (February 2005).
I went back to Ulsan for a new job after living there for a year. I went back to chase after a girl that I broke up with and she gave me the false impression that she wanted to give our relationship another chance. Once I got there, she told me that she didn't want to get back with me. Thankfully Jesus delivered me out of Ulsan by closing my academy three months after I got there and I moved to Yangju (north of Seoul) after that.
6. My first year in South Korea (Ulsan from September 2003- September 2004).
Teaching elementary school students was tough but fun, teaching middle school students was hell, and my boss gave me three vacation days the whole year. Not only that, but I took one sick day off. My boss tried to get my coworker to call me and convince me to come to work, but I refused. The only thing that kept me going was church and a few relationships I had while living there.
7. The worst job I ever had (Yangju- February 2005-May 2005).
I had an interview with a very nice director from G&B Academy and met his wife and his two daughters that were in elementary school. He offered me a good salary and the academy looked very nice. However, once I started, I didn't realize that I wasn't going to have textbooks to teach and I was only going to teach at his academy from Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then I would teach at another academy in Dongducheon on Tuesday and Friday. The academy in Dongducheon had books, but I didn't have breaks. I had five-minute breaks in my original academy, but the whole experience was a nightmare. Despite me having good working hours (2pm-8pm), I spent most of my morning trying to find things to teach while skipping meals in the morning. I lost a lot of weight during this time and got so stressed out that I was crying on the phone to my mom. I had a girlfriend at the time and I told her that I planned on going back to California and she freaked out. Thankfully, I met a lady at church (Debbie Reid) who recommended me working at an adult one-to-one English teaching academy (English Channel).
8. English Channel Days (July 2005- November 2008).
I moved to Seoul for the first time and this was the first job I enjoyed while living in South Korea. I taught adults one-on-one for 30 minutes and some for 50 minutes. The only downside was that I had to work the split shift and every other Saturday. But this job was the stepping stone for keeping me in Korea for a long time. The teachers were a close-knit group and they were from all walks of life and we even had Christmas dinners each year. I really loved this job. Sadly, the company got greedy in 2008 by expanding too much, leading them to fall on financial hard times. I found out they hadn't paid my monthly pension for three months, causing me to quit. Six months later, they filed bankruptcy causing me to never get my lost pension. Ironically, this company now exists under a new name and new owner: Maven.
9. Wall Street English Jongro Gangnam Days (Formerly Wall Street Institute Gangnam- 2008-2013)
Everyone had told me that I had to work at Wall Street Institute. They said it was a laid back atmosphere and it was fun to work there. My friend Rick Johnson, who worked at English Channel with me, left English Channel one year prior to that and started working at Wall Street Institute. Once I got there, I had a fairly picky manager at the Jongro Center, but the curriculum was really good and the atmosphere was laid back since I worked from 7:00am-3:00pm. I adjusted fairly quickly until the company was going through difficult times. A round of layoffs happened in December 2008 and thankfully the Lord allowed me to get passed them even though I was a fairly new teacher. I got transferred to the Gangnam Center despite me living near Shinchon Station. My hours got changed from 10am-6:00pm because they already had a teacher working the morning shift. However, they compromised and let me go home at 6:00pm. It was a long day since I got on the train during rush hour in the morning and ended up getting home at 7:00pm. Unfortunately another round of layoffs happened in January, but God allowed me to pass through those too. We had a pay freeze where we couldn't get a higher salary for two years. Despite that, I enjoyed those days and teaching university students was fun. I had three different managers there.
10. Wall Street English Yeouido Days (2013-2015)
This was a challenging time for me. I transferred to the Yeouido Center unexpectedly and at first it was fine since the manager was a really nice South African woman. However, it just so happened that she was leaving Wall Street within the next two months and was replaced by a former coworker of mine, who I got along well enough with in the Gangnam Center. As a manager, however, he was a micro manager and there were other issues but I would rather not add to that since we have buried the hatchet and we're now friends. But besides that issue, the students were very unique and very picky. I had one student that complained at the beginning of class and told me she didn't want to introduce herself since she was tired of doing that at the beginning of every class. I had another student that would join a free talking class and take notes of everything the teacher was saying. In a Social Club class (20-30 students), she would ask a question every 5 minutes and it would disrupt the class greatly. There was another student that had a question every single day and I got annoyed one time because she never said hello first. She just jumped right into asking her question. Finally, one student complained because I called her out for not doing most of her homework. It was Friday night at 9pm and in all honesty, I just wasn't in the mood. The students in Yeouido were picky, unique, and were complainers. Finally, I asked to be transferred to the Samseong Center because the manager that I had at the Gangnam Center was there and I would be able to work under him again. I got my wish.
11. Wall Street Samseong Days (2016-2020)
Unfortunately, that manager that I was hoping to work with transferred from the Samseong Center back to the Gangnam Center and another manager started working in Samseong. The new manager at Samseong wasn't a horrible manager, but he was very forgetful and very critical when he observed teacher's classes. He was friendly, but an awkward character. When he said hello, it just wasn't natural and he didn't know how to have a conversation using small talk. He was just a very unique guy. He was there for a year before he transferred to the Busan Center and a another manager replaced him. If you thought the awkward manager wasn't so great, this next guy was even worse. He was Scotish, so he seemed to think British English was the best. Originally, there was another Scotish teacher there along with the other teachers and this teacher loved him to the point where he helped train him to become a manager. He would get paid an extra hour for him to be trained in his office.
A year later, he had left, and our staff consisted of 2 UK teachers, two Canadian teachers, and me, the American teacher. This teacher would show favoritism toward the two UK teachers and make the two Canadian teachers and myself do what we call English in Action but wouldn't tell the UK teachers to do it. On top of that, I had put in a vacation request to go to Europe for vacation in 2017. He rejected the first one and said it was a busy period for us. The next day, I put another vacation request on his desk and assumed he had received it. A month before my vacation, I asked if he was going to replace me with another teacher on a certain Saturday since I wouldn't able to work while I was in Europe. He looked surprised and we went to his office. He said that he didn't know what I was talking about. I told him that I requested vacation and assumed that he approved it since I heard nothing back from him. He assumed that I was lying and didn't give him the request. I told him that I take responsibility for not following up on it but he should take responsibility for losing my vacation request form. Eventually, he had to give me the vacation time since I had already bought flight tickets. As soon as I got back from vacation on a Monday, I received an email from him telling me that my evaluation was coming. When we met to discuss my evaluation, he ripped my class that he observed (although he hadn't observed the UK teacher's classes at all) and told me that he would observe one of my classes EVERY month to make me become a better teacher. This was in November 2017. He was honestly the worst manager I have ever had in my life.
By the grace of God, headquarters was considering transferring him in December. Lo and behold, he got switched to the Gangnam Center. The manager that I was hoping to work under when I originally came to Samseong, was transferred back to Samseong. That manager stayed until he retired in 2019 and was replaced by my current manager, who has been very laid back and easy going. She follows the WSE system to a "T", but she's fair and straight forward.
Working at WSE isn't that difficult, but the perks of the job have been slowly disappearing. When I first started, if you had more than five classes a day, that was a "busy" day. And if you had a "no show" all you had to do was go around and talk to students. We used to have coffee machines that made latte and Americano. They also used to have toasters and bread/jam available in the mornings for students. WSE used to also have mints available and they used to make their own pens. These days, the company has cut costs, you have to make 25 study plans per month for students as a quota and you have 1 hour where you have to stay in the Center and make calls to students asking them questions about their computer homework if they reserve a time slot. To make a long story short, they have given us a lot more busy work since the first time I started working at WSE. The company has become like most other adult academies with regards to treating the students better than the employees. On the other hand, I'm thankful to have worked 12 years here. Not many people can say they stayed at once place for such a long time.
12. My Travel Experiences in Korea
Seoul is a great city to live in, but what I love most about South Korea is outside of Seoul. Gangwon Province is absolutely beautiful especially the cities of Gapyeong, Sokcho, Chuncheon, and Yangyang. I love the greenery, the quiet nature of Gangwon Province, and the beaches on the east side of Korea. Jeonju is nice because you can see Hanok Village and eat some delicious Korean food. Busan is great because of the beaches, easy access from Busan Station to the beach, and the comfortable weather. Jeju Island has an amazing view from Halla Mountain, beautiful beaches, and friendly people. Even day trips to Paju, Incheon, or Pocheon (from Seoul) are quite fun. There is so much to say about various cities in Korea, but if you ever live in Seoul, don't just stay here. Yes, there are lots of things to do in Seoul, but to feel the real South Korea, travel around the country. You won't regret it.
Closing Thoughts
I came to South Korea when I was 27. All of my 30s were spent in South Korea, which is amazing and hard to fathom. I've grown up as an adult here, learned how to deal with frustrating moments, learned how mature as a man to become a good husband, and have learned valuable experiences traveling inside and outside of Korea to gain more knowledge of the world. If you ever get the chance to live abroad, do it. You'll gain a better perspective on life and you'll grow as a human being. I thank the Lord that he brought me to South Korea. I will miss this country greatly.
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
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