The Encouragement To Go For It!
We were fortunate to have both of our parents, my brother and sister, plus our good friends Joe & Nicole visit us while we lived on Geoje-Do. Here, Nicole, Sean & Kristin wait for the bus.
We had set the date for our wedding as July 22, 2000. In the year leading up to it, I had taken a full-time position as a Chemistry and Anatomy/Physiology teacher at a small high school near Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. I had completed my Masters course work and was taking a break to work while I figured out my Thesis. My fiancé, Sean, was finishing Bachelors degree in Business Administration in our college town in Kirksville, MO. We were separated and working towards the common goal of getting married. But, then what?
I spoke with Mom and Dad a lot that year. We were planning our wedding in the town Sean and I met & fell in love in. Also, I was seeking what our next move would be, and trying to understand what the next year could look like for us. On one conversation, Dad asked me - What’s holding you in place where you are now? What would be the most incredible thing you can imagine for next year? Through that conversation he encouraged me to look into finding work abroad. He told me the time is never better than now. It will only be more complicated in the future!
Through the 1999 internet, I found cooljobs.com. Eventually, I found a recruiter with whom I corresponded. Sean and I decided to work with him and we set the course in action. Four days after our wedding, we packed our belongings and flew to South Korea. We had little idea of where we were headed! Eventually, after busses and taxis and a lot of going with the flow, we found our new school and apartment to settle into. Over the next 1 1/2 years, we learned the culture, made friends, travelled, worked and earned money from the town of Kohyun on a small island of Geoje-Do, South Korea.
Through our journals and letters to our family, I can see how our world perspective changed during this time. Our understanding of our own preconceptions allowed us to see a culture as it is, without our values attached to it. Our confidence in ourselves grew as we navigated unbelievable situations together and as individuals. We had a purpose there - not as travelers, but as teacher and as representatives from another culture, another world.
Back home, this experience shaped our new life we were creating in the States. I completed my Masters of Arts in Education with a thesis I designed and carried out in my South Korean classroom. Sean’s confidence and our financial advantage from living overseas opened the door to our business that has sustained our family for the past 13 years. The experience gave us interesting stories that differentiated us from the crowd and helped us find opportunities and the confidence to go for it!