Another Year in Korea

FaceTiming with my Mom she’s excited for the few days of school left until finals begin and then finally the beginning of her summer. She can’t wait for Summer and I don’t blame her. For me there will be none. I mean I will be experiencing the heat and humidity of a Korean summer, from what I hear it’s like being in Dante’s sixth circle of Hell, condemned to flaming tombs, too hot to do anything. Koreas school year is different than ours, it starts in March and ends in December. Summer here is just halfway through the school year. On top of that I have a 10 day summer English camp that starts the day after our school ends on the 23rd July. From August 6th to the 19th I have 8 days of vacation I could use, while the other days must be spent at the school desk warming. If I was leaving Korea I’d be done on August 21st or something like that and be free to go where I want for as long as I want, but I’ve decided to do another year in Boseong.

When I arrived to Boseong I was already thinking about where I’d transfer to the following year, a bigger city like Suncheon or Yeosu. I had met a guy who was leaving Boseong after living here for 7 years and I asked, why? how? Now, after living here for almost a year, I’m looking forward to doing another. My schools are great, my apartment is nice, the surrounding area is beautiful, it’s centrally located from the big cities taking no longer than an hour and a half to reach the farthest, the beach is only a 15 minute drive and I of course have a car now. I couldn’t live in a Korea city, they are carbon copy replicas of each other, they aren’t aesthetically pleasing and even the small ones seem bigger than they are; they have cluster like areas, instead of a centralized downtown. Going out in them is fun, but coming back to Boseong after spending a weekend there is rejuvenating. Plus I get into the tea fields for free and can pick all the tea I want! (I wish). Getting away and being in the countryside is something I’ve come to enjoy.