The story begins a couple of months before June 2009, roughly Febuary or March. Tarryn and I lived in a very nice apartment in Plumstead, Main Road. It was perfect. We were 4 stories up, which pleased me in a way I cannot explain, I've always enjoyed the sensation of living so high up. We made the apartment ours. We had a nice, large main bedroom, a secondry bedroom for guests, a bathroom and seperate toilet, and friendly, spacious living room, a kitchen and a balcony over-looking the Main Road. From there we would see many a spectacle, fights among prostitutes, car crashers. Just below us was a phone booth, and my friends and brother and I would have alot of fun calling the phone as pedestrians walked by. They would answer the phone, and walk away baffled as a result of what they heard on the other end.
We hosted many parties and gatherings, and everyone knew that spending time at one of our gatherings was a worthwhile night out.
Tarryn worked at a small internet office right across the road, literally 5 minutes away, and could leave the house 10 minutes before the time. I had a job teaching English to Korean students via the internet, using a telephone software. I enjoyed it, it wasn't difficult, I could do other things on the internet while I "taught", and the pay was very decent.
However, this is where the problem arose. I depended on it as my only source of income, and it soon started to dry up, as students became fewer and I was slowly but surely forced out of the company.
My parents were both in Korea and had been for about 2 years, so naturally they suggested I come over to Korea and teach english at a school for a year, and come back with the money I would have saved. It seemed like a good idea, but I was nervous. I had never taught a class before, and the thought of up rooting everything that Tarryn and I had built up in this perfect little apartment was daunting.
I spent many sleepless nights, tossing and turning, wondering if this is what I should do. Everyone would tell me one thing or another. My parents, as well as Tarryn, thought it was a good idea, while some friends and Chris (my brother) were more skeptical.
Finally, around March time, I decided that I would go. Tarryn and I sold the house, I packed my bags, and prepared to head off to Korea.
It was a sad occasion, saying goodbye to the apartment. We were only there for about 7 months, but we had really made it our own and already had some special memories of the time spent there. The period before leaving was an anxious and nerve wrecking time, as I thought that I was saying goodbye to myself, as if a part of me was dying and would never come back. I worried about Tarryn, how she had put all her faith in me, and about how I could re-pay her. I vowed to make this work, somehow, and start a new life, better than the one we had left behind.
The day to leave came too suddenly. The previous night, Tarryn, Chris, Lin and myself spent the evening at the waterfront, and Tarryn and I slept at their place. The bed was too small, we only had one pillow and one blanket. I put my arm around Tarryn and left it there until she fell asleep. I had no such luck, and I tossed and turned, unable to put my mind at rest.
Finally, at about 5:00 AM, I gave up on sleep, got up and packed myself a wizard. As this would be the last billy I'd have for quite some time, I decided to pack it large and make it memorable. I sat on the couch in their spare room and hit it. It went down smooth, I put the wizard on the floor, and lay back.
I started to get an ephinay. I realised that, despite being highly nervous for this upcoming adventure, it all made sense. I was supposed to do it, as if I was destined for this. I realised that, if you choose to be, our lives are part of an unbelievably complex and detailed Divine plan, writen in stone the day your are born. Every single activity that you do in your life, is all connected to the great plot that is your life. I felt that no matter what I had done in my life, I was always destined, at the age of 23, to travel to Korea to work. This perhaps wasn't my ultimate destiny, but I was still on the right path towards doing whatever it is I was meant to do. That was the last time I worried. I thanked God for this revelation, and I thanked him for always being there, through every step of my life, every breath I took. I thanked him for being there for me to rely on, and for taking an interest in my life, and for wanting the best for me. I climbed back into bed, next to Tarryn, and fell asleep with a smile on my face.
The next day, after 2 hours of sleep, we got up, had breakfast, and Tarryn and I went down to Cavendish Square for a last meal and our favourite resturant. I had sms'd a few friends who'd replied, including Sven, Matthew Schnetler and Nadia. James and Warren both called me to wish me luck, as well as Uncle Bruce and Aunty Anne.
On our way home, I phoned Dan to say goodbye and then stopped off at Nick. His girlfriend Nicole was there and we just chatted for a few minutes. I realised that I would miss Nick alot, and that he would miss me. We'd become even closer recently than we had before, due in part to our newly founded strong relationship with God. We would spend hours sitting and talking and speculating about the nature of God and his power to work in our lives. I would miss these talks.
Tarryn and I finished packing my bags and headed off to the airport. I checked in, and we sat at the coffee shop, waiting for Chris and Lin to arrive. They did, and I said goodbye to them and left. Tarryn cried, I tried my best not to, as it would just make things worse. I would miss her deeply though.
The flight to Qatar wasn't too bad, and I spent a very interesting 12 hours there. The first few hours was spent running around looking for an internet cafe to notify everyone back home that I was alright. Just as I was about to give up, I met a friendly little boy who took me to one. Later I met an american guy who, if it wasn't so late in the day, I would've spent more time with.
I was in good spirits. But then, suddenly, as I started to leave the hotel and wait at the airport for my flight, I started to lose it. I started getting this overwhelming feeling of realisation that I wasn't going home, but I was going even further away from home, from everything I was familiar with, and there was nothing I could really do about it.
I was on the brink of tears as we were driven to the plane, and I was feeling nauseas on the plane itself. I ate a small part of my meal, watched an episode of Friends, then fell asleep, to avoid the pain more than anything. I didn't really want to be awake.
When I woke up, I was surprised to hear from the big arab guy next to me that we were about to land in Osaka, Japan. I watched a bit of a film about Richard Nixon, a also read a book of biblical quotations to provide inspiration, given to me by Tarryn, which made me feel so much better and reminded me of God's revelation to me the day before. I spent an hour in Osaka and was feeling much better. The staff were friendly and, back on the plane, it was relatively empty of passengers. I read more of the book, helping me even more, and watched highlights of a classic and highly memorable Arsenal match with Manchester United that I had thoroughly enjoyed a few years before.
Well, it was good to be back. I had travelled to Korea with Chris in January 2008 to visit the parents. We had had a good time, and now I was back. I spoke to Tarryn on the way back to the parents apartment, and it was good to see their little Yorkshire terrier Chippy, now all grown up. He remembered me.
I slept soundly that night, and woke up in the late morning. My dad took me out to Lotteria for lunch, and we discussed my prospects ahead.
I had two issues to sort out. Firstly, I needed a job. I hadn't secured a job before coming, and my situation was made more difficult with the fact that I only had a diploma. It was easy enough to get a teaching position if one had a degree (in anything), but more difficult with only a diploma. The second problem was that I needed to somehow get Tarryn over here. the plan was that I would get a job, get settled, and then Tarryn would come over and also work somewhere, despite not having any sort of qualification (she, like me, had a TEFL certificate, which would help).
I sent my CV to countless schools, they seemed interested but then lost interest as soon as they heard I only had a diploma. I had an interview at a university in Seoul with a woman who recruited people with a diploma, but was I was offered was a position at a school in the north of the country (not a nice area) and without an apartment, I would have to share a hostel room with 6 others. No thanks.
The situation became increasingly desperate and I became more and more depressed. The whole thing seemed hopeless. I cried once or twice when I would phone Tarryn back home, who had been anxiously waiting for my call, only to tell her that no progress had been made, which meant I was getting closer and closer to coming home. We had given up everything back home. She would have to continue to live with her parents, I would move in with Chris and Lin at my parent's house they were looking after, and who knows when we would get our life back.
Finally, when all hope seemed to be lost, a stroke of luck happened. Dini Turner was a woman who was high up in the education department in the province. I'm not sure exactly what her position was, but she was a big cheese with strong contacts. My mom had befriended her and it was Dini who initially suggested that I came to Korea before actually securing a job. My mom asked her for advice, and she had an idea. She felt partly to blame for my situation.
By some strange coincidence, her husband (and American) had just quit his position as an elementary teacher in Osan, and she arranged an interview for me with the english teacher at the school. I met her (and Dini for the first time) at a building used for orientations. The interview with Shin (the english teacher) went well, and soon afterwards I arranged to meet her at the school, called Maehol Elementary School. Before long, I had a short interview with the principle, who agreed on the spot to hire me, and Shin and I went ahead finalising the documents. I got my Alien Registration card organised, and therefor I was then legal to work in the country. I secured a teaching job!
There were still two more situations to sort out. Firstly, I had no experience in teaching a class. Secondly, I still needed to bring Tarryn over. I got both of them sorted out during the parent's trip back to South Africa during Mommy's vacation. I was left to loko after the flat, and during the time Mommy organised for me to teach for 2 weeks at her school, teaching the "genius class" (a small class of grades 3 and 4) and the TEPS class (a small class of Grade 6's). The lessons went well, and I managed to befriend the students. A nightmare of mine came true on the last day when my alarm didnt go off, and I missed the first lesson!
The parents were both strongly against me bringing Tarryn over. It wasn't a personal thing, but they thought that I should first get settled properly, start earning a decent income, and then bring Tarryn over in around October (this was about July). Tarryn refused to wait that long, although she had been patient in earlier matters, and I managed to convince the parents into agreeing to endorse Tarryn coming over. Ultimately it was my decision, I just didn't want them to disagree too strongly, and I wanted them to be happy for us. In a way, they were quite right in suggesting that Tarryn came over later, as the first two months were tough. Nervertheless, Tarryn's parents agreed to finance the trip, and before I knew it, I was meeting Tarryn at Incheon airport!
My view of Korea was completely changed upon Tarryn's arrival. Earlier it had been completely foreign, and was, in a sense, the parent's turf. Now, with Tarryn here, it became my territory too, and I was showing Tarryn around. She had obviously never been there before, and it was my responsibility to take care of things and know my way around Korean life.
I had organised to move into my apartment a month before the time. Pops helped me carry all my belongings from Bongdam to Osan, but the apartment was still practically empty and I continued to live at the parents until Tarryn arrived. On the first night she arrived, we went back to my apartment. She was a bit shocked at the size of it (it's a bachelor pad) but she got perfectly used to it over time.
My flat still had hardly any furniture in it, that I had to wait untill September for, and without a TV, a cupboard, not even a bed, we spent much time at the parents. We had a blow up mattress and some blankets to sleep on, as well as a fridge, a washing machine, and Mommy's laptop which she had very kindly leant to us. But times were hard then, although we spent much time sight seeing.
I had been given about 400 000 Won for teaching those classes at Mommy's school, and after much persuasion, I was finally given the 300 000 Won settlement allowance from my school to get started with, so we had a little bit of money to live off.
I started teaching on the 1st of September. I was fairly nervous, although not as nervous as perhaps I should've been. The students were fascinated by me, and hung on my every word. I spent the first lessons introducing myself and given the kids English names. I only taught grade 5's and 6's, although I was given an advanced class in the morning before school, teaching a class of grade 3's and 4's. I took me a while to learn the ropes and really get the hang of it all and get settled, but soon I was busy designing lesson plans for the grade 5's (Shin was in charge of the grade 6's) and finding suitable videos and games to play.
Every Wednesday I also taught at another school. this was a strange school, as it seemed to be a branch of Maehol, but the school was tiny. It had all the appearances of a private school, although I was told that it was not. There couldn't have been mroe than 30 kids in the entire school, and I taught a class of 6 grade 6's and 4 grade 5's, and then a class of 4 grade 4's and 6 grade 3's. The kids loved me though, and it was a pleasure to teach there once a week. I was driven there by the school caretaker at first, afterwards I started taking a taxi, and was driven home by either the head teacher or school cook. The staff took a liking to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
As stated in my contract, I was supposed to recieve all my apartment's supplies within the first week of September, or, a stretch, the first two weeks. it took untill the last weekend of the month for everything to arrive. Shin was pretty useless when it came to organising everything promptly. Fortunately, Tarryn was at home all day to receive the stuff, but she got fustrated waiting for everything, as every day she was expectant to receive something, and often she was left dissapointed. First to come was the kettle, iron, toaster and vacuum cleaner (which pleased Tarryn as she fell in love with this fancy vacuum cleaner). Then came my cupboard, TV (which was useless without a TV connection) and a huge desk. Tarryn and I had booked up a wall unit in the road and fitted in nicely into my flat.
What we were still waiting for, and probably the most important items, was the internet and TV connection. Tarryn was getting very bored at home every day, with only a book to read and limited movies to watch, which she had watched many times during the time in the flat. Choseok (Korean thanksgiving day) was a big occasion and was approaching on the 1st weekend of October. I pleaded with Shin to get the TV and internet organised by then, as we had waited long enough, but she failed at that. Finally, I took the matters into my own hands and made the call myself. I spoke to a very friendly woman and negotiated with her to have it done before the long weekend. This was Wednesday, and as I had Friday off (and so did everyone) I strongly hoped that it would be set up the next day. I came home from school on Thursday to a very satisfied Tarryn, happily talking to her mom on Skype and flipping through the channels.
Finally, everything had been organised. We spent the evening flipping through the channels, and I lit up a cigar that Chris had bought me on the understanding that I light it up once everything had been organised. What's more, I recieved my first pay check about a week earlier, and we went with the parents to Everland the next day and had a great time.
Those first few desperate months in Korea seemed like ages ago, yet I still remember them clearly. Much has changed, my fortunes, my situation, my perceptions of this task. Tarryn has since gone, but she had a great time over here. I was earning a very comfortable amount and bought her many things that made her happy. I bought myself some nice clothes and items too, including a fancy new laptop. We both took full advantage of the limitless internet, and have been downloading to our heart's content. Tarryn took home a 250 gig hard drive full of downloads and I have just filled up a 500 gig hard drive.
Chris came over just before Christmas, and Lin followed just before New Year, and we all had a good time together. Chris came out drinking with us a few times, Lin joined us for a memorable New Year, and after Tarryn and Lin left, Chris and I had some tequila's and beer at a western bar that we all had discovered. The 6 of us had an unforgettable time in China during my vacation, and we did more sightseeing before and after.
Tarryn left around the 23rd of January, which was about 6 months after she had arrived and a much longer stay than both of us had anticipated! We definately made the most of it and I'm proud of her for being so patient and also adapting the South Korea the way she did. I was worried about her being here, but she had a good time, was perfectly happy, and the goodbye wasn't as painful as we had worried. We still speak everyday on Skype.
It is now the 16th of Febuary and I start the new semester on the 2nd of March, in two weeks time. At the beginning of my teaching here, I told myself to just make it to the end of December, which will mark a sort of halfway point in my stay here, and everything is downhill from there (in a good way!) While the concept is true, the correct date would be end of March, or now even. When I start the new semester, the grade 6's have left, I get a new grade 5 class and msot importantly I have overcome the toughest part of the year, which is the first half. I know the ropes now, I know how to teach and plan lessons, and I am familiar with the school, the staff and the kids.
Now it is the long road to freedom. Semester starts in March, ends in June, I leave at the end of August. Four months of teaching, 2 weeks of Summer camp, and I'm free. That's nothing. I am in the middle of a 2 week vacation (I still have to come to school) during which I can plan as many lesson plans as I can and be ahead of schedule. I am settled here. I have money, I will start saving this month, I have everything I need. I have a few friends, Jangmi is a girl roughly my age who's mom owns the academy where Pops works at. Jeehye and Jenny are both ex students of mine from Carrot English (my previous telephone teaching job) and I get on well with all of them.
I have gotten over the worst. The dark times are over, and the only planning that needs to be done now is how to make my life better, not how to survive. I am doing this all for a better life to go back to, for Tarryn and I, as we deserve it. Every day I dream and see a vision of the heaven that I am striving for. This doesnt mean I don't have to work ever again, but it does mean that Tarryn and I have a strong building block, on which we can build our future together. I miss home, I miss my friends and the life I left behind. But I have grown as a person, in a way that perhaps I couldn't have done back home. I have grown spiritually, my relationship with God is stronger and more real than it's ever been. I have become a more responsible person, more reliable and more independant. I treated Tarryn to a good life, with the promise of more to come. She put her faith in me, and I hope to still repay that faith in the future.
I am not yet ready to come home. But when September comes, I will be ready. Table Mountain, the ancient gaurdian of Cape Town, summons me home. And, as always, I will obey.
