2014: A Year in Review

HAPPY NEW YEARS! While we welcome a new year, we would like to take a moment to reflect on the one that has just concluded. 2014 was a year of transition for Hedgers Abroad. Finishing our contracts at our first job in Korea was a struggle of will and perspective that we eventually won; leading to a much better situation in public schools.

Interview With an Expat – Pete Lucarotti

A few weekends ago, we traveled to Boseong to visit one of our interesting expat friends named Pete. Apart from living in a wonderfully small and beautiful city, Pete is a talented potter. He offered to show us around his pottery studio and let us try our hand at the potting wheels if we came for a visit, so we naturally jumped at the opportunity.

Expat Holidays

Holidays for expats can be really lonely. Facebook only makes things worse as you see the ones you love posting photos and stories of family get-togethers back home. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t celebrated in Korea and those days just pass by without much notice. However, we do get one day off for Christmas, which I am insanely grateful for.

Living More Simplistically

Recently, we found ourselves asking each other, “Where did the day go?!” Our to-do lists just kept getting longer and longer and our free time was non-existent. There wasn’t enough time in the day to get everything finished. We started talking about how nice it would be to have more time for ourselves. Time for reading, time for writing, hell, a NAP!?

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

A little under two years ago we left Oklahoma and everything we knew for something completely different. From the planning stages to today- to (probably) the end of our stay in Korea, we’ve heard many of the same phrases and sentiments repeated.

A Day in the Life… How to Find a GOOD Hagwon Job

Last week we shared our extremely bad experience of our last year’s hagwon job. However, we do want to stress that even though situations like these can happen, there are many teachers who really love working for private academies and highly recommend them. The key is to know how to find the right school that is reputable.

A Day in the Life – The Nightmare Hagwon

We have put off talking about this for a long time. We needed a chance to let the dust settle before writing about our experience last year.

As many of you know, we taught in Seoul last year. We taught a private academy, or hagwon. We chose to live in the capital because of the convenience for foreigners and also because Seoul just seemed like such an interesting and fun place to live. And it was.

A Day in the Life – Public vs Hagwon Schools

After teaching in Korea for a year and a half with experience at both public schools and private academies, we wanted to put together a list of the pros and cons of each. These are important to consider when applying for an ESL position in Korea, so be sure to do your research before deciding which is best for you.

A Day in the Life – How to Teach in Korea

We have already voiced our opinion about why Korea is the top choice for many people looking to teach ESL in Asia. However, recently we have been getting a lot of questions about how to teach here in Korea. Before moving our lives half way around the world, we did months and months of research.

A Day in the Life – Summer Vacation

We are very excited this year to be working at public schools where we are given summer and winter vacation days. July 23^rd started the summer vacation and our classes are finished until August 18^th. However, the Korean public school system does their vacation a bit differently than back home.