safety rating

The only reason I gave the safety review a six is because of the lack of traffic enforcement laws in South Korea. I honestly feel like I am playing roulette with my life every time I get on a bicycle or attempt to use a crosswalk. Remember the game FROGGER on Atari... probably not; I feel like the frog.

As far as day-to-day life in Korea, it is great. I was blessed with an amazing placement, a great school, awesome co-teachers (7 of them), and a good place to live. I was placed in Sangju; a bit rural, but perfect for me. I am huge into supporting the local economy, so I buy all of my fruits and vegetables at the marvelous farmers market held every five days; only five minutes from my house.

The transit system (train and bus) was fairly easy to figure out, but we did have the help of some other great EPIK veterans.

The most suprising thing so far has been the incredible community of foreigners (waygooks) in Sangju. When I originally started reading reviews and what not while applying through Reach to Teach (amazing recruiting agency. Attention: John Kellenberger ( ; ) I thought maybe there would be 5 to 10 other foreign teachers in the city I would be placed in. I was wrong. Try at least thirty. Great support group. We have set up our own Sangju facebook page which is an amazing resource. It is an invaluable resource for everything from how to understand the washing machine controls to just getting a group dinner together or answering questions about schools or lesson planning.

I have only been in Korea for about two and a half months, but must say it was a great decision. None of this would have been possible without the thorough guidance of Reach to Teach. I have already recommended them to others on blogs who are thinking about teaching English overseas, and will continue to do so.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or needs.
Thank you again for your guidance Reach to Teach and Mr. John Kellenberger. Have a great dye.

Jesse cox
2jessecox@gmail.com