Seth's Goodbye BBQ

One of the unfortunate things about working these kinds of jobs abroad is having to see people go.  There are people that stay for one year, two years, sometimes more, sometimes less.. but it is inevitable that you will make friends here who will leave long before you do.  That is true with Tom soon, maybe with Keenan, and it was true for my friend Seth who had his going away party just over a week ago.

Here is Seth (the other guy standing up).  

He thanked us all for coming and we gave him a round of applause for being so cool  :) 

We had a nice little BBQ for him at a river near Pareaso Falls and Gaji San (both places I have done posts about before) which was about an hour and a half journey of buses from my apartment.  It was so beautiful and far from the city, making it very worth the trip out.  Over 20 people came and enjoyed some music, sunshine, drinks and my buddy Karl's grill, which he used to cook some amazing burgers.  A really nice way to spend a Sunday.

Here's a great photo of my friend Ross in the back, my friend Bryan and me.  (Bryan is the guy waving, and that has given me most of my info about Taiwan, as he lived and worked there for a year and a half.)

Here are my three British friends Stacey, Nicola and Ross.  Good peoples :]

Here you can see the little water fall (that doubles as a water slide!) and my buddy Pete.  He is the promoter and DJ who put on our big Inter-Galactic themed party (as well as many other awesome ones).

Here is a foreign family (who I have not made the acquaintance of), a Korean family having a picnic and Ross.

While it was a great time, it was sad to see Seth go. Seth was a really nice guy who I actually just ran a 10K with 2 weeks ago (along with Julia and a few others). Seth used to be involved with Teach for America (http://www.teachforamerica.org/). He had an amazing experience teaching underprivileged children through that program and is a licensed teacher (so we have a bit in common). Next he will either be going back to the States for Graduate School and/or Teach for America again, or he will go to Saudi Arabia to teach in an international school!  A big thing Seth and I have clicked on is discussing international school teaching opportunities. He informed me that since I am a licensed teacher from the US I am qualified to make a lot more money in a much more prestigious position at one of these schools, which can't hurt if I'm going to continue teaching abroad.  Most of them require 2 years of teaching experience, but they are all over the world and would amazing to work at. Search Associates (http://www.searchassociates.com/) is a website that he has recommended me to for finding a position at an international school. This particular website has a 1 time, life-long membership fee of $200, but many of the potential employers will only hire through this website and the job fairs advertised on this site. Right now I see this as a good investment, but I haven't yet decided to sign up since I still have a lot of options. I am really starting to explore those different options for where else I want to teach before returning home to a 'normal' career, but that's a-whole-nother post entirely.


Anyways, Seth is a good guy, and it's too bad to see him go, but he has had his fill of Korea (and kimchi), and is looking forward to whatever else comes his way.  I do gripe about technology an awful lot, but I really appreciate it these days, in the sense that I can keep in touch with the cool people I meet along my journey.  I did just talk to Seth last night and he is still waiting to hear back from the school in Abu Dhabi, but he is definitely enjoying a little vacation time back home.  (Can't wait for mine in less than 7 weeks!)

Side note: after the BBQ my friend Becky and I walked to a nearby temple that sells great little bracelets and trinkets.  It's always nice to buy a bunch of cool stuff that adds up to just 10,000 won :)