Scariest Moment of Korea

We all have a moment in our lives in which we will never forget the overwhelming emotion of fear, shock, and intimidation. We all have them. They can happen to you when you are six or when you are ninety-six. Age matters not to scary moments. My scariest moment was on March 28th of the year 2008 and I will tell you why.

I just arrived in South Korea two days before. I came to Korea to teach English as a Second Language. Originally I was supposed to be working in the small town of Gangjin at an English Village and work with kids who were between the ages of five and fourteen. About three weeks before I was to fly over, I got an e-mail from the person who was in charge of placing me in Gangjin. He wrote to tell me that there had been a change of plans and I was to be sent somewhere else.

Uh oh I thought to myself. I continued to read the e-mail. I was to be working at a girls high school in the city of Mokpo. Uh oh I thought again. I have always been a somewhat shy person who has always tried to shy away from public speaking whenever I could. I was scared already just reading the e-mail. I realized I can’t shy way from everything my whole life and looked at Korea at being a chance to break through some mental barriers. Only a few weeks to go until I fly. The flight came and the flight lasted far too long. Sixteen hours later I touched down and two days later, one of the school teachers drove to my apartment to pick me up. Uh oh.

The drive to school was maybe a five minute drive and before I knew it the car was parked and I was standing on school grounds for the very first time. I was hidden out of sight by the flower garden and I walked past and stared at the school. Uh oh.

All I could see was a mass of heads sticking out of every window and girls in uniforms waiting outside of the school. When eye contact was made, a giant eruption of cheers and screams and hand clapping occurred. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh.

This was exactly the moment where I felt the most scared and intimidated in my life. Several hundred Korean high school girls managed to scare me just by applauding me. Uh oh has since changed into cool. I am settled into my job and into Korean life. But I will never forget that moment of fear and always think back upon it with a smile.