Continuing my life journey and how I was led, Part 6 deals with our experiences in South Korea. It is another part of an upcoming book or website section entitled Divinely Led.
Part 6: Teaching in Korea
Working at the University
This section describes the three years we spent working at the University.
The university was a very different experience from the language academy. We still had both foreign and Korean co-workers, but the English teachers from overseas were looked after by an American couple, Gail and Bill, who had by that time lived in Korea for about three decades. They had seen ups and downs with the North Korea situation and knew how things worked in Korea. So they were a great help to all of us who came to teach and experienced culture shock or fears when politics flared up with North Korea.
In the early days, when the staff was small, Gail and Bill hosted activities in their home. One of our first memories was a Thanksgiving lunch. Alex and I walked from our home to theirs passing an old part of town with remains of a Korean village and a shaman’s home marked by a flag with a back-to-front swastika. It was all both educational and a little overwhelming, but slowly we got used to things.
Teaching had its challenges as well as its enjoyable aspects. Some groups were easy and pleasant to teach, while others lacked interest and motivation. Koreans in general found learning English quite difficult because it was different from their language structure, as well as the alphabet. Those teachers who had taught in China shared that Chinese students were easier to teach.
The Korean teachers taught grammar and the foreign teachers taught conversation. Most of the foreign teachers were young and American, though a few were in their 50s like ourselves at that time or even older. One couple had disabilities which fitted perfectly in a school that, in contrast to most others in Korea, catered to the needs of students with disabilities. Most of us weren’t trained in dealing with special-needs students, but we did the best we could.
What first brought us in contact with the Nazarene sister campus near our home, and through that with Korea Nazarene University, was Alex’s desire to do further study. Although that didn’t eventuate in Australia, his wish was interestingly fulfilled in Korea. A fellow teacher, John, was about to start a PhD in Christian Education at Hoseo university in Seul. He would get time off and commute once a week to classes. When Alex heard that, he pricked up his ears. One thing led to another, and Alex was invited to accompany John in his van on the first day of class. Things moved quickly, and by the time they came back, Alex was signed up for the program!
So each week, John and Alex travelled together to the University in John’s van and took a couple of classes together each year for about three years. Over time, their advisor, Meerha, found out that Alex was a good editor and also obliging, so she started calling more and more frequently asking for help with various projects. She would pay, but it was just becoming too time-consuming and often inconvenient. On more than one occasion it was at a short notice, a weekend, or time when we had other plans. It was also taking away from Alex’s teaching responsibilities, such as offering the students time for free talking.
John and Alex finished all their classes and passed the necessary exams. The time came to think and start working on the dissertation. Alex struggled with finding a suitable topic, and when he finally thought he had one, Meerha, to save face, agreed to support him, but wasn’t really qualified to do so. She promised to look over his beginning draft over the winter break while we went to Australia. Alex expected some feedback and planned to continue from there. But there was no communication from Meerha, which was quite disconcerting.
However, again, this was another example of how all things work together for good and being guided. Having extra time during our break, we decided to check out our neighbors’ house across the road which had a For Sale sign next to it. We had felt for some time that our home was a bit small and kept looking as opportunities arose. In this case, the opportunity was life changing – we ended up buying the house and owned it for about 20 years!
Back in Korea, Alex learned that Meerha had misplaced/lost his dissertation work before she would have had a chance to work on it. It was later found, but the student-advisor relationship was highly unsatisfactory. By then Alex was feeling quite discouraged about the whole thing and felt like he was being used when Meerha wanted editing, but wasn’t available to serve him when he needed her. He was so upset that he simply didn’t want to talk to her and made himself inaccessible whenever she would call. One time a meeting was arranged with high hopes, but before it eventuated, she went on a trip to Japan. So the whole situation ended on a negative note which Alex took quite badly. He felt that he always went out of his way to help Meerha with editing, whereas when he needed her help, she let him down.
Early during our time at the university, probably due to the stress and culture shock of the situation, I lost my appetite. That of and by itself wasn’t unusual as it has been happening periodically for decades. What was unusual was that this time it lasted for three weeks. Our boss Gail and her husband became very concerned about it and urged us to seek medical advice during our semester break in Australia. Coming back was touch and go but thankfully, as a result of our Thornlands neighbor Len who was knowledgeable about herbs, it all worked out.
Later on, my teaching responsibilities were diminished, and instead I was asked to coordinate the revision of the University catalogue. The story of that is in the next chapter.
We stayed in Korea for almost four years. During that time, we saw both the foreign staff and the campus expand. An impressive administration building was constructed as well as a professors’ building where most of the teachers ended up having a self-contained mini apartment. Our home continued to be in an apartment in a high-rise block off campus, which was a good thing because over time, the atmosphere in the professors’ building became toxic from one or two disgruntled teachers whose negativity spread.
We were also a part of the 50-year anniversary celebration of the school, during which the updated university catalog that I helped revise was placed in a time capsule. That felt like a special moment.
Our boss Gail and her husband Bill were both very kind to us foreign teachers and shielded us from the demands that Korean bosses would have put on us and other pressures. Like myself at that time, Gail had an aging father back in the US and would go home every semester break to spend time with him. That enabled us to do the same – go to Australia and spent time with my father. Later, teachers were required to spend part of the break teaching at a summer camp.
In July 2005, we felt it was time to leave. Alex’s dissertation wasn’t coming together and he felt he didn’t want to work on it in Korea even if he did come up with a better topic and advisor. Other than the challenges with his study situation, which all in all was positive, our stay too was largely positive and a good experience. We left on good terms with the university and were even invited back later when there was another teacher shortage.
For other information on divine leading, see Spirit Helpers and Guides
Here is a short reflection on being divinely led.