Hello all!
Who'd of thunk it?! After a year and several months we
are going to return to the Land of the Morning Calm.
We are more educated and perhaps even more excited this time around, and we will be calling Busan our home.
After getting another degree each, both Jake and I had that same "Holy sh*t. We're done school, have some more student debt, and STILL don't know exactly how to start our REAL careers" feeling that we felt after graduating from our undergrad degrees. Granted, we do know what we want to do, but the tough economic times usually meant that for Jake, journalism jobs were volunteer or temp contract work only, and that for me, short term internships would be the only way to pass a long unemployment period while I gained enough experience to apply for any jobs in my marine management field. Therefore, while we tested out the Canadian employment options we would probably be working as dishwashers or servers at a restaurant somewhere. Looking for a good job is a like full time job in itself, especially if you are overeducated and underexperienced.... but isn't that the way the cookie crumbles??
Anyways, so, fearing student loan repayments, Canadian apartment rental costs, and a likely long period of under- or un-employment, we decided it best to return to Korea where our good looks and panache for the English language is more appreciated in the job market than it is here.
So, as Jake was tutoring English part time over the summer and I was completing my thesis and internship, we hooked up with a Korean recruiter in Halifax and he helped us find what so far seems to be a really amazing school in Dong Nae, Busan.
We will write more about the school once we get there and can separate the facts from the folklore from what we've been told by our boss and recruiter.
With a pretty firm grasp on the culture, language and city already, as well as a good dozen or so friends living in Ulsan and Busan, we are more than excited to extend our "real" job hunt to a year, while being gainfully employed and entertained in Korea.
Hence the resurrection of the BLOG! Hopefully we will be just as (or more) adamant about updating the blog with text and photos of our adventure in South Korea: Round Two!
If all goes as currently planned (which hasn't often been the case over the past month or so) we leave Toronto on October 29th, and arrive in Busan the morning of the 31st - Halloween!
We're still trying to think of a great couple costume that we could pull off for the night we arrive! John and Yoko? Austin Powers and Heather Graham? A pilot and a stewardess? Two Canadian hosers? All suggestions are welcome, and hopefully we will see you in Korea for All Hallows Eve!
Cheers,
Colleen
