During orientation we've talked a lot about our goals for the upcoming year. What do we want to take away from our time in Korea? Where do we want to spend our energy? And one of the phrases that keeps coming up is personal growth. Yes, we're here to teach, but we're more than teachers. We're also people and we're here to live and to see how far life can take us.
Last Thursday when we saw the mountain we were planning to climb I never thought we would make it to the top. But then we made the halfway mark and I thought, I can do this, and suddenly we were there. There are so many ways to grow, but maybe nothing is more tangible than stretching your muscles and finding your way closer to the clouds. No wonder temples are so often built at the top of mountains, literally above the rollick and tumble of everyday life.
Personal growth has been on my mind a lot in the last few days as we filled out our placement request forms. These forms don't guarantee we'll be placed where we want — placement is complicated — but our preferences do carry some weight. So I had to consider, how do I want to grow? and where will I be able to grow the most? I found three main desires. First, for my students, I want to have time to get to know them outside the classroom as well as in the classroom. I want to have the freedom to teach club classes and camps. Second, for Korea, I want to become in some small way a part of this culture, by exploring the land, by continuing to study the language and hopefully, by taking up the study of Korean folk dance. Third, for myself, I want to develop discipline by writing, and stretch my comfort zone by traveling and meeting new people.
With those goals in mind I filled out my placement form. Environment preference: mountainous.
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