by Tracy Bee

Created on: July 15, 2008   Last Updated: July 16, 2008

Change can be very scary. It inevitably makes people nervous. Questions and doubts bubble to the surface. You'll spend hours wondering and speculating about what is really ahead for you.

Not so long ago, I was on the brink of embarking on my own very scary adventure teaching English abroad, in South Korea. I was fresh out of university. None of my family and friends knew anything about Korea - nor did I really. My knowledge was limited to that which I had gained from books. There was also very little information available about Korea beyond basic history and tourist attractions. Korea is one of those places that somehow goes unregistered on any radar. Everyone hears about Japan, China, Thailand and other such places, but hears little about Korea. So, needless to say, I was clueless about what lay ahead for me. I knew no one else teaching in Korea, after all. I also knew nothing of the language. I was landing myself in a country whose culture and people were completely out of the realm of my narrow North American world view. Best of all, it would be the first place I had ever ventured on my own. However, I still say that it was the best move I have ever made.

As I have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt, I can now prepare you for the experience of teaching English abroad.

The first thing you need to know about teaching English abroad is that it will be a cultural awakening. As I strode through those first airport security gates, en route to Korea, had you asked me why I was going to Korea, I would have told you, "to see the world, silly." However, I was nave. You can never merely see the world. If you are open up to the experience of a new place, then the moment you set foot on foreign soil, the travel bug will have you in its sights and you will be on the road to enlightenment. You will never "see" the world the same again. American writer, Miriam Beard points out that one experiences "a changedeep and permanent, in the ideas of living" when traveling. Indeed, one does. And you must remain open to it. If you use your previous understanding of the world to filter your understanding of the new place, it will be impossible and you will have a horrible time. You must open yourself up to life's many possibilities. As Samuel Johnson timelessly stated back in 1786, "the use of travel is to regulate imagination by reality and instead of thinking how things may be, [you'll] see them as they are." My travels to Korea and beyond instilled in me this idea that life

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