Tag: advice for living abroad

South Korea is a fantastic place to start for new English teachers because the country is very welcoming to foreigners, its location in Asia makes it a great launching pad for additional travel, and the pay and benefits are quite generous. That said, many of us first-time teachers will end up at one of the ubiquitous private academies called “hagwons”. While these offer great opportunities, there are a few things you may want to consider before consigning yourself to a year in one of these schools.

It had been about 10 months since I’d arrived in Daegu, South Korea and I hadn’t left the country since. It’s funny how over time you can change without even knowing it. I went to Japan expecting to have a pretty great vacation (because come on, it’s Japan), but I wasn’t really planning on coming back with a whole list of new lessons learned.

Introducing our latest teacher interview. This time we interviewed Alexander Lewandowski, an American teacher hailing from Illinois who took the right steps to teach English abroad in Taipei, Taiwan.

China is definitely high on the list of places where you will experience culture shock. Here are nine moments of culture shock I experienced in China when I first got here.

During my first time seeing (and smelling) stinky tofu, I wasn’t sure how to react. Should I be curious? Afraid? Excited? I realized that I could choose how to feel. Instead of turning my head in disgust, I decided to be brave and maybe even a little excited.

Taking a deep breath, I instantly recognized the salty undertones of the scent of a port city. The ocean has a certain calming effect, even when we can’t see it, and Busan is a city under its spell.

What’s really important today is what I hate about Taipei – and trust me, there are too many reasons to count. But, for the sake of time and fitting this article together nicely with a 10 Things I Hate About You theme, I chose the only 10 things I hate about Taipei.

What’s better: One year, one country or one year, many countries? I definitely agree on the latter, which is why we put together this list to help English teachers in Korea decide how best to use their vacation days while living abroad. Asia is huge, beautiful, and exploding with must-see destinations.