The Beginning of My Love Affair With Asia
Teaching and learning in Korea
The year after our daughter graduated from university, she moved to South Korea. It was a bold move. She wanted to take some time off to travel but didn’t have the money, so she landed a job teaching English to young children.
We’ve always told our children to move somewhere interesting so we could come and visit. We knew it was time to pack our bags when we heard the news.
Korean War stories shaped my opinion of their country. I didn’t know what to expect. It would be our first trip to Asia as well. We did a lot of research and planning. There were a lot of packing decisions to make and a few required vaccinations.
We planned to fly into Busan, a large city in the south. It’s off the tourist track, as most travelers tend to visit Seoul.
Many locals aren’t fluent in English, especially those living outside the main tourist areas. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to communicate, so I focused on gathering some skills. I decided to learn some basic Korean phrases.
The Korean language has a unique grammar system, vocabulary, and alphabet called Hangul. King Sejong (1443) created this easy-to-learn alphabet to improve literacy levels in Korea.
