Sowing Season

Alright. So today I woke up to a package on my bed. I opened it and found inside my EPIK contract. That is one way to wake up. In it I found out that I am going to need to be in Korea on August 18^th and that I will be teaching somewhere in the Chungbuk Province. Now while I like being able to sound cultured by saying “Chungbuk Province” I am still a little bit worried about being placed in the sticks. Through my research I have found that there are three  relatively large cities in Chungbuk but I have a really strong feeling that they will be something like the Korean version of Delaware. “We’re in… Delaware…” To quote Wayne’s World. The biggest of these cities is Cheongju so, seeing as I probably won’t find out my city until well into my ten day orientation, I will be crossing my fingers for Cheongju.

                I am looking for a bigger city, not because I am looking to live that McDonald or Starbucks life, but because I am extroverted to a fault. Seriously. I have a four hour limit to how long I can be alone without talking to/hanging out with someone (preferably English speaking). While you might be thinking, “Yeah, but Kyle, this whole painful isolation could be a great learning and growing experience for you” I fear I might go insane and start talking to myself (and responding).

                However, I am a pretty positive guy so I got to look at the upsides!

South Korea is small. Very small. So I will be about twenty minutes from everything worth doing.

I will be about an hour from Seoul.

I will be about two hours from Busan (the beach)

I will be about forty minutes from Daejeon

The list goes on. Also, population-wise, the bigger cities are still bigger than my hometown (Riverside, CA). I called my mom and she made some pretty valid points, as she does when she isn’t busy stressing me out. I could start a novel or a screenplay, I could find myself, this will make me see more of Korea because I will want to leave to the bigger cities. When all is said and done as long as there is a good bar, a good café, and a couple good friends I will be okay.

Also I put in my two weeks’ notice at Disneyland today but I will probably have to come back to that subject when the last day draws a bit nearer.