Greenheart Travel

Author: Dejah Powell

  • Hold Back the Tears (but Pour the Soju)

    by Rachel Lynn, Greenheart Travel Teacher in South Korea

    Korean dinning and drinking is something I’m really going to miss when I go back to America.  Surely I can find a place to grub on some Korean and without a doubt I will be drinking with my friends and family at home.  However, it’s the WAY it’s done in Korea that I really love and it’s experiencing it with Korean people that I sincerely enjoy.  Going out to a traditional Korean dinner and being the only foreigner there is a pretty special experience.  Everyone wants to teach you something, whether it’s how to hold a shot glass when accepting soju from your elders, or how to wrap your galbi with radish peels.  There is a way to eat everything and there is a way to accept and pour drinks.

    As I sat at my table, surrounded by the people who have become my coworkers and friends over the past year, a sense of fondness and appreciation overwhelmed me. I brought myself to Korea but these people brought Korean culture to me. In that moment, I felt as though I was having an out of body experience. I saw everything going on around me, but the only thing I could hear were my thoughts. I looked around at everyone smiling and clanking their glasses while the green bottle got passed from person to person. Sadness crept into my lungs.  I thought back to my first staff dinner and remembered this exact moment being one of my first big cultural experiences only 12 short months ago. “I am so lucky,” I thought to myself, and I meant it.  I have been truly blessed to have been able to be a part of this culture, and what a wonderfully rich culture it is. I am so proud to have spent one year here. As my thoughts enveloped me, I masked my sadness, held tight to my appreciation, brought myself back into the moment, and shared another shot with my friends at the table.

    Read more from Rachel’s farewell dinner in Korea on her blog…

    Learn about Teaching in Korea from Rachel's blog.
    Learn about Teaching in Korea from Rachel’s blog.

  • Live a Life with No Regrets and Travel Abroad

    by Rachel Lynn, Greenheart Travel English Teacher in South Korea

    Rachel’s response to the article, 3 Reasons to Travel While You’re Young by Jeff Goins

    I looked back on the months before I had arrived in Korea. Making a move to the other side of the world was a scary thought.  As adolescents, the world pushes us to plan for the future.  That’s what I had been doing for the past four years: working hard in college to secure a good job (one which I would enjoy) and hoping to eventually become an independent. When I looked at where my life was heading, and where I wanted my life to go, I realized that there were some uncertainties.

    Sure, I had gotten what I wanted, a teaching job out of college, and a degree hard earned that no one would ever be able to take from me. However,  I started to crave the world.  I started to realize that I was young and able, and that although a secure job was what I was  looking for, I wasn’t ready for it yet quite yet. I have seen too many adults in my life struggle through hardship and life changes.  When my elders were young, the idea was to settle down, get a job, and start a family.  Some of them passed this notion on to us, perhaps not in the form of relationships and marriage, but in the form of career and independent life. However, if you listen to your elders, many of them will often say, “if I could have done that when I was young, I would go back and take the opportunity.” Perhaps, it’s not that they would change their lives, and the decisions they made, but that they would enhance it by taking more risks.

    I decided, I didn’t want to be one of those people. I wanted to know, then when I age, I will be able to tell my children to chase their dreams and fight for what they want, take opportunities without hesitation, and look back without regret. Don’t live a life that follows the norm, live a life that leaves you breathless, that enhances your learning, and that inspires you and others.  I want my children to know that I was brave enough to live a life like that, and they can as well. I wanted to travel the world. I believed that if I went away, I would have a better understanding of the world, of people, and mostly of myself.

    To read more about Rachel’s thoughts on teaching abroad in Korea, visit her blog…