Your time in Korea has come to an end...checks on the bucket list, memories made. You are filled with emotions, one of them is stress. Just as much as packing up your life and moving abroad was intimidating, so too, is moving back home. Living and teaching in Korea has become a second home. Teachers who return to their home country often experience culture shock and struggle to adjust to the lifestyle they had before.
Read MoreTags: Korean Post, packing, moving to the United States, moving home, traveling, furniture, Banking in Korea, selling, pension
Moving to the other side of the world is no easy feat. In getting to Korea, a lot of the process is assisted by Aclipse, especially when it comes to all of your paperwork. Packing for Korea is somewhat daunting, but thanks to packing guides from my fellow bloggers, I think you're pretty well set with advice. Recently, I made the big move from Korea back to the U.S., after three years of accumulating way more stuff that I'd realized. Here are my dos and don'ts for packing up to leave Korea at the end of your contract...
Tags: packing, Teach English in Korea, Teach Abroad, Teach in Asia, teaching in Korea, a year in Korea, Korea, Activities to do in Korea, moving to the United States, going home, moving
I love South Korea. One of the many reasons I love it so much is because of the fashion on display here. Everything is ridiculously cute! From cat ear headbands to teddy bear phone cases to a million different cute/weird Engrish phrases on shirts and some really adorably styled dresses, I have a lot to choose from and a steady source of income. My love often results in the overflow of clothes in my closet. After one year, I have accumulated much too many wonderful things.
Tags: teaching in Korea, a year in Korea, moving to the United States, going home
The nerves and the stress that come with moving out of one place and into a new one are terrible. Especially when you have been living somewhere for a full year, and accumulated so many new items, friends, and tastes. Luckily, moving back to your home after a year in Korea is not too much of a hassle! I've put together a list of five very easy tasks to complete to make sure your return is as smooth as possible. I returned to the United States, but most of these steps are applicable to any return country.
Tags: packing, teaching in Korea, a year in Korea, moving to the United States
Korea will change you. That's a given. How? There's no one answer, and it will vary greatly from person to person. For some, it'll be little things like mannerisms or habits, for others, maybe larger things like your entire perspective or self-confidence. As the summer term comes to an end this week, my friends and I have fallen back into a recurrent discussion: What will it be like to go home after living in Korea? While my own repatriation is still at least a year away, I got a taste of it this past spring. And I have to say, going home was definitely a little weird, but not in a bad way. What I found was little pieces of Korea came home with me, in ways I hadn't quite anticipated...
Tags: future plans, life in Korea, leaving korea, homesick, arriving in korea, teaching at Chungdahm, saying goodbye in Korea, moving to the United States, saying goodbye, goodbye, going home
Whenever I decided to move to teach English in South Korea, I had no idea the far flung effects this choice would have. Sure, I knew the experience would probably change me in some ways and could have effects on my future, but I mainly thought this would just be an isolated one year experience that would not relate to my life in the U.S. Or to put it in other terms, I never thought my American life would intersect with my life in Korea. The countries are too far apart and the culture is just too different. It is funny to me now how naive I was because I could not have been more wrong. Let me tell you how...
This mixing of lives began when I started to plan for my next step after Korea. I knew that I wanted to move to California, but I wasn't quite sure where. That answer was provided to me when I was accepted into a graduate school program in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a huge city though and figuring out where to live in the city can be a nightmare, especially for someone like me who does not know the city. Knowing that this could be a problem, I decided to use some of my vacation days for a trip to Los Angeles to scout out the city.
Tags: teaching in Korea, moving to the United States, Koreatown, meeting Koreans