The Romantic Allure of Country Living

Although I informally announced that I would stay at this school for another year, as of last night, I have decided that the best thing for me right now is not to re-sign.  There are so many things I love about living and working here, but I am jolted again by that need to keep moving. 
I don't want to be bored. I don't want routine.

I want to see things. 
I wrote this story for saykimchirecruiting about my thoughts on living in the rural land of South Korea.  It was really fun to write and I am really proud of it.  So I am republishing it right here. 

Six months ago, after passing through three international airports across two continents, I landed in Incheon, South Korea with nothing more than one ratty old plastic suitcase with a phonebook sized gash missing from its side, a momentarily traumatized dog needing a desperate patch of grass, and a light-headed adventuresome state of mind.


Outside the arrivals gate stood my school’s hired driver, a balding Korean man in his late forties with a stern looking face, holding a sign with my name on it.


He beckoned me forward and hastily put me in his van before leaving for the long drive up to northern Paju City.
After an hour of zigzagging past Hyundai cars on the road, as the backdrop of city life waved goodbye in my passenger side mirror, and the quiet sound of rural life filled my ears, we finally made it to my secluded public middle school nestled between beautiful mountains.


Not many people would prefer spending a year teaching in the rural outskirts of South Korea. Sure, it doesn’t have the glitz and glam of industrial, media-savvy Seoul with its shopping districts and night life, but living in a small town has many rewards and benefits.


Smaller classrooms, better benefits, (and objectively) cuter kids
I teach in a middle school about a 30-minute drive from the DMZ. There are less than 300 students in my school so I have no after-school classes and a lot of spare time to lesson plan, blog, learn Korean, twiddle my thumbs, plan vacations.


Because I am in a rural school, I get extra money each month, reimbursed transportation, and the big kicker, longer holidays.


Trading in high-rises for agriculture
I grew up in Ontario, Canada, spent my summers working amidst the chaos of downtown Toronto, and spent four college years in Ottawa, the nation’s capital.


I didn’t want to travel across the world to live in the same manner that I lived in back home. And there has always been something romantically alluring about being displaced in the countryside so I made the decision to trade in a skyline of high rises for an endless view of mountain tops, turning my backyard into acres of farm land with rows of cabbage heads.


The commute into town on weekends is long, but worth it because the subway system is extremely efficient and at the end of the day, I get to have it both ways.


I get to experience country life and when I need a little noise, lights, and crowded warmth from city life, I hop on the subway and head into Ilsan or Seoul.


The quiet
It can get lonely living in a rural town where you don’t know the language, but I am in school each day for eight hours where I am surrounded by hyperactive talkative kids. By the time I get home, I am actually relieved to be alone with my pets. The quiet day and the star-studded nights and the ability to dump my compost in the backyard is a great feeling.


How to survive it?
Make an effort: Living in a rural town definitely has its drawbacks. It’s less convenient, there are less entertainment options, less selection at the local grocers, and a smaller network of friends, but force yourself to look on the brighter side of things.


Don’t complain about the lack of convenience or the inability to run into a Dunkin Donuts for your regular latte. Instead, appreciate the quiet, the lack of traffic congestion and honking horns, the thoughts in your head, and the way the stars at night have never looked brighter.


Make friends: Ask your co-teacher to get in touch with the native teacher at a school close to yours. You’ll automatically have a new friend. Find out where the weekly socials are held and go. Find friends on Facebook that live close to you. It is so much easier to get by when you have a friend to complain to or laugh with at all the silly things your students do.


Take trips into the city: Go to a shopping mall, watch an IMAX movie, find a big English bookstore, eat at a foreign restaurant, watch a sports game, or anything else you can’t do in the countryside.


Don’t forget that you can leave anytime. You might be tied down to your contract for an entire year, but after that, you’re free to go back to your old life, or start new elsewhere.


If your living circumstances totally bum you out, just remember that it’s only one year so make the most of it. Don’t waste a year of your life complaining and sulking even if there is a lot to complain and sulk about.


Just know that however much you complain about things here, there are just as many things to complain about back home.


It’s all a mindset, so set a good one.

Quote of the day:
"Does your reckless fun HAVE to end in him dying a little inside?"