After two and a half weeks of quarantine and orientation I finally made it to Gwangju! It was such a great feeling to drive into the city that I will call my home for the next year. Also, the fact that I would not be living out of a suitcase anymore had me very excited. I arrived at Gwangju on Thursday and my first two days in Gwangju were spent with the rest of the new EPIK English teachers who were also teaching in Gwangju. This was great because then I really got to know my fellow teachers and I’m so grateful that I did. They are such a genuine and kind group of people that I know will be great to have as a support group in this city.
Our GET (Guest English Teacher) coordinator arranged for us to go on a field trip around Gwangju on Thursday to get to know more of the history of the city. The first stop on our journey was the 5.18 National Cemetery. In May of 1980, Gwangju was the place of the Democratization Movement in which over 150 civilians were killed and over 3,000 were injured by the Korean military. This occurred after the previous president had been
assassinated and the military seized power. Gwangju became the center for pro-democracy and held numerous demonstrations protesting this illegal seizure of power which is why the military targeted the city. The military then tried to cover up what happened by calling it a riot and forging military documents to hide what occurred; however; a decade later, the people in power at that time were finally held responsible. Gwangju is now known as the place where Korean democracy was won. The visit to the cemetery was powerful; we were organized into lines and marched into the cemetery with somber music playing on the speakers placed throughout the memorial. When we got to the end of the path we stopped in front of this large sculpture and were facing the cemetery. One of my fellow teachers had been elected to be our leader for this event and he then placed three handfuls of ash into the fire that was in front of the sculpture. We then bowed as a song played to show our respect to those who had lost their lives. Afterwards we spent some time looking around the museum and the rest of the cemetery. We also had our picture taken there and within the hour, that picture had been published in the local Korean newspaper. The article described how we were a new group of foreign teachers doing a training and we wanted to show our respect to the people of Gwangju by learning more about it’s history. I’d only been in Gwangju for about five hours at that point and I’d already made it into the paper!
Our next stop on the field trip was a nature park. We made a quick rest stop at a coffee shop by the river and enjoyed sitting outside with a beautiful view of the mountains. Then we made our way to the nature park; it was a pretty little park with a bamboo forest, a stream, and multiple gazebos where you could sit. Later, we drove to a student center where we would spend the night. It was surrounded by mountains and was so peaceful. While we were all sitting outside later that night, we even saw several shooting stars. It was a great start to my life in Gwangju.
The next day was even busier than the day before. We had a few more presentations about teaching and life in Gwangju and then we met our co-teachers. I was really nervous to meet my co-teachers, because I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out that I had nothing to worry about, because they were both very nice! Since I would be teaching at two middle schools, I had two co-teachers come to pick me up. Once we had all introduced ourselves, they drove me to my apartment and helped me settle in there. One of my co-teachers even took me shopping for stuff for my apartment, showed me the bus stop that I would need to take to get to that school, and bought me dinner! I could not be more grateful for both of my co-teachers for being so kind and helpful. It was so nice of them and it made me feel very welcomed.
My first weekend in Gwangju was spent exploring and trying to get things for my
apartment. I met up with some friends on Saturday and we went out to eat and then shopping for our apartments. Even though I live a little outside the city, it was a quick bus ride to meet them and actually when I was on the bus to meet up with them, I saw one of my
friends! It already feels like a small city! I can already tell that Gwangju is a great city to be in and I’m thankful that I ended up here. Everyone I have met has been welcoming, the city is beautiful, and there are so many things to do here. Now all that’s left to do is keep exploring!
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