The Perks of a Small Town

When I first began the lengthily application process to be a teacher in South Korea, one of my worst nightmares was being placed in an incredibly rural area. I had envisioned living in the centre of a big cosmopolitan Asian city surrounded by like minded and interesting people. I think my assumptions were way off and totally unrealistic.

One of my biggest concerns coming to Korea was that I would be placed in some forsaken one stop country town, alone and nestled in amongst the rice fields. If you had given me the option I wouldn't have dared to choose a quieter area of Seoul, never mind rural apple-loving Yeongju.

Ariel view of Yeongju

However, a year and a half later I am advocating for why, in my opinion, small towns are better for native English teachers abroad.  Full disclaimer- I have grown up most of my life within 20 minutes of a big metropolitan city centre and don't do well without 'basic essentials' like a decent mall and a number of bars to choose from. Small town living was a massive change for me.

Yet, today I quite happily call Yeongju-si my town. After being 'dumped' by EPIK (The English Programme in Korea) in a town I knew nothing about, I have come to see  'The Ju' as my home base in Asia - a far cry from my initial frantic Google search of the area. Yeongju's Wikipedia page has little to no information on the area and is quite hard to find in the first place. My heart definitely sank when I was told by our coordinators that  I was going to a small town in Gyeongsangbuk-do province.

The riverside in the winter months.

On my walk home from school in Autumn.

Cherry Blossom Season at the river side in Spring.

Looking down on Yeongju.

Months later, I can see that it was the best place for me. Being put in a small community of 50 foreigners makes you a bigger fish in a smaller pond. When your whole life has been turned upside down by continent-hopping its nice to know things will be closer by and smaller to navigate.

Within my first week of being in Yeongju, I had had about 20 Facebook friend requests from the people living in my area, including a number of people who had come forward, offering to help me if I needed anything. The pay it forward attitude to the new people was incredibly comforting. Because that's the thing about living in small towns like these - there are only about 50 of us at any given time who can speak English in the city - so you might as well become friends.

I recently relived this experience, when  an expat, Shirley moved to Yeongju and came out to meet the expats at our local bar. Later on in the evening once she had left, we all looked at each other and said "Ok, we'll keep her".
She impressed us with her ability to drink multiple shots of soju and still down a beer afterwards,
Its as simple as that, if your an expat and can speak English - congratulations your in. You have a new set of built in friends to negotiate this country with. It doesn't really matter that you initially come from different ends of the globe.
Your friends now.

Shirley and I up in Seoul for St Patrick's Day.

Yeongju girls sleepover.

At the Norebang (singing room) at 3 am.

Simon and Jacques with all of us at Maekoli bar.

My birthday party a few months ago. Everyone, even peoples coworkers, came along.

Small towns mean that you also get to do a number of nerdy/cool things. Like throw an annual Halloween party and live in the same  apartment block as 10 of your friends. This mainly being because Yeongju doesn't see many western faces and somebody along the line decided it was best to just put them all safely together somewhere away from harm. My building has be affectionately named "the dorms".

Although I will say that small towns provide an endless stream of gossip. Especially when you have a small community leaving in a bout 4 or 5 different buildings across the city. I have gotten messages at 8 am in the morning at school saying things like, "You will not believe who hooked up with who last night".

A hike up Sky Bridge to the temple. About 20 minutes outside of Yeongju.

A view from the Temple halfway up  the mountain. 

Despite the gossip, you become very close with friends and find yourself immersed in a pretty tight nit community. When you have a birthday in Yeongju, its assumed that everyone is invited, even if there's someone new in town that you've never met. I have found that because our families and friends from home are not hear, your big occasion becomes everyone's big occasion. I write this as I am recovering from Frances' St Patrick's Day birthday party.

Last week after a drunken argument between friends over how Shepard's Pie was made, we decided to throw a 'Yeongju Masterchef' competition. I sat on a panel of esteemed judges/ whoever was hungry and in town. It was delicious and lots of fun to watch Simon and Lauren pick at each others dishes.

The panel of esteemed judges, for Masterchef.

The best advice I can give someone looking to come to Korea is try not to play it so safe. Everyone wants to live in Seoul or Busan because its the most familiar to us. Safe in a big city with everything at our fingertips is where most of us apply to be. Yet in reality, unless you work at a hagwon, this is highly unlikely to happen.
My opinion is be open to going wherever they place you because you might just be really surprised.