Personal Update: Our 2nd Year in South Korea

2020-2021 was our second academic year living in South Korea. I’ve renewed my contract, and we’re about to start our third year. It has been quite the ride with Covid-19 protocols dominating daily life. The school year was spent volleying between in-person, hybrid, and virtual learning.

The Korean government allowed students up to Grade 2 to go to school in-person in most cases, so Arianne had the majority of her learning on campus. She only had virtual learning in a few small bouts. Gabriel, being in 4th grade, was allowed on campus in a rotation. I think he had on-campus learning about 50% of the time, but most of the rest of the time he was able to be on campus as a faculty kid, doing his virtual learning with staff support. Overall, it was a much more predictable learning experience than the spring of 2020 when the pandemic first hit Korea. 

We are not sure yet what 2021-2022 is going to look like. Only high school seniors are currently eligible for vaccination, and we are now at Level 4/4 social distancing, which doesn’t allow on-campus learning. Within the next few weeks, we’ll find out more about if we can return to campus, and in what capacity. I’m mentally preparing myself for another year of on-again, off-again. Korea is in the midst of its “Fourth Wave,” although it seems the Third Wave never really ended! 

A big part of my role as Applied Learning Coordinator was supposed to be organizing off-campus experiences, both as day trips and multi-day trips. Prior to Covid, I had been working on a multi-year plan to add international trips to our high school program. Last academic year, we were not able to do any off-campus trips at all, and overnights were out of the question. 

While many of these plans were tabled, I put my efforts into developing on-campus spaces for nature education and outdoor learning. I also moved ahead with chairing the school’s application for CIS membership and accreditation, and became qualified as a team chair for CIS team evaluations at other schools. I chaired my first team, virtually, early in the spring semester 2021. It was a nice way to stay involved as a CIS volunteer, even though travel is restrictive and we can’t visit most schools on site. 

Socially, it’s been a weird year. Those of you who know me, know that I love hosting events and get-togethers. Well, Korea implemented a “gathering ban” of no more than 4 people, which has been in effect for almost a year. At Level 4, we are still allowed 4 people during the day, but only 2 people after 6pm. We can have larger gatherings in the workplace, so most of our social time has been at work. We now effectively have a 6pm curfew, since the kids and I alone are a group of 3.  So we went a lot of time at home, baking, gardening, organizing, and playing board games.

Want to go with one other family or a couple to the beach or an amusement park? Want to have multiple kids over for a playdate? Nope, not allowed. I started hosting small social events at school, like family gardening or rock art, just to be able to have a way for people to get together socially. It’s allowed because it’s a work setting, and the Covid protocols are followed rather than how one might act more casually in their home. I’ve really missed hosting in my home though. We are all set up for cocktails, play dates, BBQs, and baking as soon as we can invite people over again! 

Even though it was a weird and somewhat isolating year, I have a lot to be grateful for. We continued to travel all over Korea, only having to cancel one trip due to recommended home quarantine for a few days. I doubled down on my MBA courses, completing 23 graduate credits (half of the 45-credit degree) in a 12-month period. I now only have one course left: Organizational Strategy. The kids keep asking what I’m going to do with all my free time when I finish my MBA. I’m like, “Oh, I have a LIST!” 

We have not left Korea since March 2020, which means we haven’t been able to see family back in the US. I was hoping for winter break 21-22, but with 14-day quarantine protocols still in place in Korea and the Delta variant making inroads globally, I’m not so optimistic. Many families have traveled from Korea successfully, but personally I feel the risks, quarantine with kids, multiple Covid tests, and logistical hassles outweigh the benefits. Here’s for summer 2022? I’ll be getting my Pfizer vaccine doses this week, as Korea moves forward with vaccinating teachers prior to the start of the academic year. 

Since we’ve spent all of our vacations in Korea for the last two years, we have visited a lot of the country! Check out these maps to see where we’ve made it so far, and a close up of our travels along the coast. This year my goals are to go to places we have not yet visited, and to return to favorite places we can explore more. We’ll be spending the Chuseok break in September back down south in Geoje. I wish we had a week-long break in October, when the weather is perfect and the foliage is in full force, but since we have a long break for Chuseok in September, we don’t. 

That’s our update! For more personal updates and photos, request to follow me on Instagram @expathather – If you’re a reader and we haven’t met, include a message with your follow request. All the best for 2021-2022!