Jade Monkey Prepares to Fly

Kimchi and kimbap, here I come! Onchon and sauna, get ready! Seoul and Ulsan, be prepared! Here I come!

It's been six years since I taught in P.R. China, and three years since my last trip to S. Korea when I started working on a documentary about life as an expat EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. This summer, I am returning to Korea to teach at Hanyang University in Seoul. I will also finish the film I started three years ago, and I'll spend a few days in Ulsan, where I lived from 2002-2003 as an EFL teacher.

At the moment, I have located my passport (yay!), which involved several hours of tearing up my office and then finding it right where I'd expected it to be, and I've already planned out what bags to bring. I even ordered a sweet little over-the-shoulder purse for ease of movement and keeping the motto "always be prepared in Korea." My experiences in that country have given me a firm foundation for knowing that you can't really predict what will happen or when, so better to have your act together.

I will be traveling with two, possibly three, students from the college where I teach. The Korean documentary professor at that college (I'll call him Chun) has organized this yearly trip to a university in Seoul, usually bringing 9-12 students. This year, he invited me to submit a proposal to this university for a class in screenwriting, and they were happy to have me on board. Anyway, back to the students. I've already found myself bubbling over with enthusiasm to help them have the best possible experience. I've created a "pre-departure guide," and as I said, I'll be traveling with at least two of them. I am so stoked to share my "second home" with these young travelers, most of whom haven't been abroad before, much less in Asia.

So far I've finished the syllabus for the course, but I'm still collecting clips and materials. I've got a week of vacation coming up in Massachusetts to visit my people there, but after that I will have to hit it hard to get everything together in two weeks.

Keep checking back for updates - I'll be doing that as often as possible. Be prepared for the glorification and condemnation of all things Korean in the weeks ahead!