Its T-minus three weeks until I leave Africa. It’s a place that has always been my home. In fact I have only ever left the continent for two weeks of my life and even then it was under the protective wings of my parents. Yet now at 23, I am about to catapult myself into something entirely new and equally as terrifying.  I am petrified of saying goodbye, even temporarily, to my comfortable home, my cozy bed and even my old, white-faced Jack Russell.  I am about to board a plane to somewhere in South Korea where I will be teaching English to children for a year. I don’t know a sole that lives in the country, I cannot speak the language and I will know absolutely nothing about the school system. Yet somehow I will make it work. 

 

Hout Bay- the area I live in South Africa.

To make matters more interesting, I am moving to a province that I cannot pronounce and has no street view on Google maps (the yardstick by which I judge civilization). Oh and did I mention that that Korea has been under threat of nuclear war with its neighboring country? But hey, no biggie.

Because I want to be brave and do it anyway.

Gyeonsangbuk-do (the province in Korea I am moving to)

Because more than anything I look forward to the excitement that comes with the major change that is on its way. For those of you who know me, I’ve tried very quickly to learn as much as humanly possible about Korea in the last month. I have read and reread every blog and forum while discussing in painstaking detail with anyone who will listen, every pro and con of the EPIK teaching program. I know how long it takes to get to Daegu from Pohang. I know how much  local bus ticket are and I know how to say hello and goodbye in Korean.  What I don’t know is what waits.

And that’s is what is scary and exciting at the same time.

Yet I suppose there is nothing to do now, other than say a quick preyer, pack and repack my suitcase again... and well hope for the best!