Kate Spence-Ado ETA :: 1999-2000 Kwangdok Middle School
W
hen I stepped onto an airplane bound for Seoul from Burlington, Vermont, via Cleveland and Los Angeles, it was the first time I had been on an airplane. Now I had traveled internationally, if I counted a car camping trip with family across nearby Quebec province; however, as a rural country girl who attended college at a slightly more suburban, small, liberal arts college in central Pennsylvania, I knew that embarking on a journey as part of the ETA Program would broaden my life experiences more than I could even imagine. Initially, I applied to the ETA Program in Korea for practical reasons. I knew I wanted to teach and the ETA Program in Korea had no language prerequisite and it was someplace I felt safe traveling to as a single, white woman. I had no idea that I would fall in love with the country, the culture, and the people when I made this pragmatic choice. I also was unaware of how the short 13 months I spent in Korea would shape my personal and professional trajectories. The hot, humid days in Chuncheon, with afternoon excursions to taekwondo class brought an introduction to both the basics I would need to survive—language classes and learning to eat with chopsticks and to some of the cultural phenomenon I still miss most— ddakalbi and noraebang. My teaching assignment was at Kwangdok Middle School, an all boys middle school in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, a part of the country renowned for its excellent food. My host mother was no exception to this rule and I soon looked forward to her cooking each night.
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| Fulbright ETA Program 20 years in Korea
