A New Direction

Well, here I am, starting a blog. I'm definitely not an early adopter of this technology. Before this month, I never really felt the need to keep a diary that I could share with the entire world. At this time, however, I am starting on a new phase in my life, one that will take me far away from my current friends, family, and familiar surroundings. I'm starting this blog as a means of keeping my friends and family updated on the exciting changes going on in my life.

Many of you have heard by now that I am going to Korea. This is a big change for me, Sean Pearson the California boy. Yes, I once spent three months in Africa as an infant (which I do not remember, although the slides are interesting.) And yes, I spent a year in Oklahoma with my parents when was two years old. And yes, I have traveled within the United States, and spent four years going to school in Seattle, WA. And yes, I've been to Canada for a day. However, California (specifically, Northern California) has always been my home.

Some of you are probably wondering, "Why Korea? And why now?" Let me answer that with a story.

A few weeks ago, on the 5th of June, 2009, I was on Craigslist looking for someone who would be willing to join me in my existing business, when I ran across a post advertising for English teachers in Korea. At this point I was pretty discouraged in my business, my financial situation was getting more difficult, and I was just about open for anything that showed some promise. The ad offered good terms, and the qualifications listed were ones I could meet. I e-mailed the recruiter, and he asked for my information. I sent him what I could, and he told me he needed copies of diplomas that I did not have on hand. I told him I'd send them when I had them.

A little later, I remembered that my friend Dominic Lynch had come back from teaching English in Korea, and I e-mailed him to ask for advice. Dom gave me some good advice, and pointed me in the right direction to find more options for teaching English overseas. I posted my résumé on Dave's ESL Café, and I immediately had over a dozen recruiters asking me to let them find me a teaching job in Korea. Wow, what a difference from the local job market!

To make a long story short, not every recruiter required a copy of my diploma before they could match me with a position. In this business, those who move quickly are rewarded. One recruiter found a compatible position, and secured a specific job offer for me, well before any of the others. I gave some of the other recruiters a chance to make a competing offer, but none of them came through before I had to make a decision on the first offer. It seemed good enough, although I didn't have all the specifics I wanted. I accepted the offer and e-mailed a scanned copy of the signed contract to secure the job.

That was on the 17th of June, 2009. That was a commitment that I did not fully understand, and not only because the contract was written in Korean with an imperfect (and not legally binding) English translation. I also did not realize that although an e-mailed copy of a contract was not legally binding, I could not back out without killing my chances of getting a teaching job anywhere in that school system. I did want to work in that school system, for reasons I'll explain later. In fact, the time between e-mailing a signed contract, and sending off the entire contracting packet by UPS, should probably be explained in the next post. Later I will also explain the details of the offer, my duties, and what I expect to do in Korea.