What's Next?

I learned a lot while I was in Korea. I learned about myself, about teaching, about cultural differences, and a lot about being not just independent but also self-sufficient. I feel like I have grown up so much. But as with everything, there is a beginning and an end. As my time in Korea has now ended, my next journey starts. 

I recently accepted a teaching position as a middle school special education teacher. I am so excited. I am back where I started. I am going to be teaching at the middle school that I went to. I'm a wildcat again. It's weird to think about the fact that the whole adventure in Korea is done, but I think I am ready to be a special education teacher again. It's strange. I still feel like I'm a kid. Even when I was teaching abroad, I never felt like a real teacher. I have no choice now. I am an adult. I bought my first car all on my own. I'm paying my own phone bill. And in a few months, I am going to be in charge of my very own classroom. 

Thank you for everyone who read my posts for the last two years. 

I've had so much fun writing about my time during the last two years, I wanted to find a way to continue. 

안녕!

My Trip Home

On the first of April, I started my journey home. It was a long one, that consisted of a lot of emotion, exhaustion, and nervousness. 

Two days before I was set to leave, I had to say goodbye. I had gone to school the previous week and packed up all of my belongings, so the only people I still had to say goodbye to were the other foreign teachers in town. I met with them at a cafe in the afternoon and we talked and said goodbye. That evening, I had my farewell dinner with my host family, and my host siblings made a cute banner on the window that said "Bye, Kristy. We Love You." It was so sweet. We had pizza and cake and watched a movie. It was a wonderful final night. 

The next morning, I finished packing, and my host mom took me to Chuncheon to catch the bus to Incheon. That's right about when I started having more issues than necessary. The bus had been suspended, starting that day. No signs, not notice, just done. Great. Now I have to drag all my suitcases through the train system. I love trains in Korea but when I have a lot of luggage, I much prefer to take the bus. I started with the ITX to Seoul and switched to the Airport line. Then I found out I was on the limited train, which didn't go to Incheon, so I had to get off and get on the next train. The place I was staying at that night was right by the airport, so I got off at the airport station and carted my suitcases all through the airport to get to the shuttle buses. I then got on and had to pull my suitcases up this huge step because there was no storage underneath. One of the men on the bus was nice enough to help me when he saw my struggle. I got off at my hotel and it was really nice. I got checked in, had dinner, and got ready to go home the next morning. 

Because of the virus, I had to go through screening before I could even check into my flight, so I had to get to the airport even earlier. When I finally got to check-in, I found out that my flights had changed. I originally was going to fly to JFK and go to BWI from there. But I guess the flight from New York to Baltimore was canceled, so now I was flying to JFK to ATL to BWI. This made my trip even longer. 

Getting through security was relatively easy. I did accidentally pack a pair of scissors in my carry-on that got thrown away, but oh well. I was packing a lot. The last time I flew home, there were so many shops and restaurants that I could go to and waste time until my flight, but half the place was shut down. 

The long flight to New York wasn't too bad. The middle seat was empty, so I wasn't squished, and the food was decent. Once I got to New York, I just got more frustrated. I was a bit cranky because I didn't sleep on the flight. At the spot where I was supposed to transfer my bags, they told me that I had to drag them through the airport to recheck them at the check-in counter, just in case of flight cancellations. That instilled in me so much confidence that I was getting home. Then I had practically every one of my bags get flagged going through security again. They didn't like my camera, my bag of necklaces, or the food products I bought at the airport in Korea. Every one of them was opened, tested, and then rescanned. Then I got to repack them. Yay! If I thought Incheon had a lot closed, even more, were closed at JFK. I only found one place that sold food that was even open, and I found only one store that had snacks. 

When I got on my flight to Atlanta, I was surprised by how empty the plane was, I was put next to two people and squished into one row. That wasn't going to happen with so many open seats. I moved to another seat and was on the way of my second flight of the day. Atlanta was a lot nicer place for my final layover. There were several places to get food and far fewer people. My final flight had maybe 30 people on it. I got a whole row to myself! Though I did have a slight scare because I missed the announcement about my gate being changed and I thought that it might have gotten canceled. It didn't but I wasn't happy because I had been up for too long by now. I had my final flight home and even arrived early. I got through baggage claim really fast and before I knew it, I was in my mom's car, on my way home. Sleep.

The Craziest Weekend

Late one Friday night, I got the email that I had been dreading. The US had raised the travel advisory to Level 4: Do Not Travel. This translated to a full suspension of the Fulbright program and sending all grantees, who were still abroad and could leave, home. I was being sent home. The voluntary departure was becoming a mandatory one. This was so hard for me. I knew I wanted to stay, but I don't think I knew quite how much until I read those words. I started to cry immediately. I talked to my host mom, called my parents and I just sat with the news as I laid in bed most of the night trying to figure out what was next. 

24 hours later, my sadness turned into confusion. On Saturday, I was given something that I thought was gone. A chance to stay. They told us that because of the control that Korea had over the virus and how it was looking like it was getting better, the ETAs were getting special permission to go back to voluntary departure status. Now I am going crazy. I had just gotten it in my head that I was going home. I thought about it and wrestled with this decision for the next day. I barely slept. I knew I wanted to stay, but now with the travel ban, I wasn't sure if that meant I wouldn't be able to get home on my new grant ending date of June 30th. I also was trying to decide if it was even worth staying. We still hadn't started school yet. And with the projected school start date, I would only get a solid three months with my kids, provided the date doesn't get pushed again. 

As soon as I had come to the decision that I wanted to stay, another email came through. They told us they were sorry, they had made a mistake, they weren't able to give us the choice to stay. We all had to go home. If we wanted to stay, we would have to do it on our own. Meaning, get new visas and become a foreign teacher in Korea, without the protections and support that Fulbright provides. Now I had to decide if this new choice was worth it. I never planned to stay in Korea beyond my second year. I had already started the application process for a job back home. Is it worth all the trouble of getting a new visa, negotiating a new contract, and doing all the other requirements in order to say for only three more months, even though I had no idea when we were going back to school? After a long night with little sleep for the third night in a row, I had to decide.

I'm going home. 

I just hope I'm making the right decision....

Coronavirus

I have mentioned in a few recent posts about the Coronavirus (Covid-19), but I haven't really spoken about how it has impacted me and my interactions with the changes in the society around me because of the virus.

My first realization about the virus and how it was spreading was when I went to Busan. This was mid-January time. I was hearing about it getting bad in China but Korea had maybe three cases at the time. I really didn't think about it yet.

I knew it was something I needed to really lookout for when I was traveling to Japan in early February. I was going to Seoul the night before and as soon as I arrived, I realized the atmosphere felt different. Given, the fine dust levels in Seoul are usually high, so there are always people wearing masks when I go to the city. But it was different this time. Because of the high pollution levels and the virus, everyone was wearing a mask. To the point where I actually felt like I had to wear a mask. I was getting strange looks from people. Truthfully, I always get strange looks from Koreans. It comes with being a foreigner in a very homogeneous country. I did buy a mask though. I knew I would be going through the airport the next day, and I should have it. I really hate wearing masks. They make me feel like I'm suffocating and whenever I have to talk, I feel like I have to shout.

In Japan, I began noticing everywhere I went, I would see signs saying that the staff is wearing masks to protect themselves and the costumers from the virus, as well as big bottles of antibacterial hand gel at the entrance of most of the places that I visited.

The airport wasn't as scary as it seemed like it would be, considering the virus has been mostly spread by traveling, but both in Korea and in Japan, everyone had to go through this additional screening room when entering the country, where you would pass through a sensor that was trying to detect a fever, I think. It was a little intimidating, as it was just a big white room, with not much in it, but I made it through easily of course, and I know it is there for everyone's safety.

Not too long after returning home, it started to get pretty bad here. The number of cases here began to rise very quickly, and it became really serious for a lot of people, especially in Daegu. There are several ETAs whose placement is actually in Daegu, so that is kind of scary. None of them were infected, thankfully.

Now, it seems like the whole dynamic of the country has changed in the last few weeks. Festivals have been canceled, the government has advised people not to go to religious events or worship, and the start of school has been postponed almost a month.

So now, I am pretty much just biding time here in my little town until school starts. We've been advised not to travel outside our placement cities, so most days I've been hanging out at home working on anything that will keep me busy, like my teaching application for back home, my Korean studying, and a bunch more, as well as hanging out with my host siblings who are also stuck at home. It gets a bit tedious and boring at times, but I know I'd rather be doing nothing here, and eventually get to teach again, then go home to do nothing, and be done with my grant here altogether.I'm hoping the situation will improve within this month, so we can return to a semblance of normalcy,, and I can start going around the country again on my weekends and finish out my grant with a bang.

Also, if I can't travel for the rest of the grant, then this is going to be a pretty boring blog for the next few months.

For anyone that is worried, where I am is pretty safe. There are very few cases in my province, lets hope it stays that way.

Should I stay or should I go?....

It's no secret that the coronavirus has gotten much worse in Korea, especially in the last few weeks. Barely a week ago, Korea raised its status to red. It has told everyone not to travel unless it is essential, and lots of festivals and events have been canceled. The idea is to limit people's contact with each other.

But, up here on my little mountain, it doesn't feel quite as real. I know when I go into town, everyone will have a mask on, and there won't be a single soldier in sight as they have all been restricted to base, I think.

It got more serious, to me personally, with an email. Recently, all of the Fulbrighters in Korea have been given the chance to decide if they want to go home early and end their grant.

I don't know what to do, or how to go from here. I knew when I received my grant that there was always this possibility that is something happened in our host country, that we could be sent home. But it never occurred to me that it would actually happen. I just wish that they would just tell we have to go, instead of making it a choice. I don't want to make that choice. A lot of people are telling me that I need to think about my safety and put myself first, but I have this life here. I've already come to terms with my whole Korean adventure ending in July, and I am ready to go home and start my next chapter, but I don't want this chapter to be cut short.

I suppose what I can do for now is just keep an eye out and make my decision if it gets worse. Luckily this isn't a one and done choice. I will get other chances if I do change my mind, but for now, I'm going to stay. I'm going to try, at least, to stay for as long as I possibly can.

Wish me luck!