Saying goodbye to Korea (or so I thought)

I hadn't really planned to spend more than a year at Global in any event, but the IMF crisis assured that we would be leaving Korea at the end of my contract. I can't say there wasn't any bitterness about what had happened to my bank account as a result of the crisis -- my savings would lose 70% of their value at the time of conversion to Canadian dollars. Nonetheless, it seemed like the time was right to go home. Two-and-a-half years as an English teacher in Korea was enough.

I spent my final two months at Global as a married man. Heather and I got married on March 7th, 1998. This new fact of life also had me looking forward to returning to Canada and the prospects for "real" work. Somehow, being an ESL teacher never seemed like it could be a real career. Actually, given the fun times I was having with friends, it felt like an extension of university.

In my final month, we had a good-bye party for Kelly, a birthday party for Dan, and another birthday party for Johnny. On the final Saturday of April, everybody from the Global expatriate family got together at Alicia's apartment for a dinner party, which was the beginning of our goodbye. The final goodbye party took place on my last night of teaching, April 30th, 1998. Of course, we spent the evening at Cass Town, and the party was also a second good-bye for Kelly, who decided to go home to the U.S.A.

I remember feeling a slight twinge of sadness at the moment my final class ended, believing that my career as an ESL teacher was over and my Korea experience was coming to an end. But I cannot deny how happy I was that night, knowing I would be going home in just a couple days.

Below is a video of my last day at Global.