Our next guest for Free Spirits Friday is not actually one person. They’re originally from Seattle, they’re married and they live in South Korea as English teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Eric and Grace, the Wandering Ravens.
I got to know Eric because I stumbled upon one of their articles when their blog was still known as Seattleites Abroad. I left a comment because I loved the way the article was written, and a friendship gradually grew from there on out. Since then, we’ve been sending messages and emails back and forth, and I’d actually call Eric a friend now.
Either way, I asked them if I could ask the Wandering Ravens a few questions for this series, and they gladly agreed. Here’s what they told me.
Can you introduce yourselves to us and talk us through how you ended up teaching English in Korea?
Hi! We’re Eric & Grace, a married couple from Seattle, USA. We moved to Korea two years ago and work here as English teachers.
Eric – When I was young, my family hosted a lot of foreign exchange students in our home. Of these, the ones I seemed to connect with the best were the Koreans. For this reason, I grew up always wanting to visit Korea for myself one day.
Was it a sudden decision to move to Korea or did it gradually grow on you?
Eric – It was a gradual decision. I always told my host-brothers & sisters that I would go visit them in Korea one day, but it wasn’t until I started University that I made an official decision to move here. Then Grace and I got married, and Korea seemed like a good launching pad since both of us really wanted to travel together.
Grace – Yes, to be honest, I hadn’t really ever thought about Korea before meeting Eric. But he talked me into jumping into the unknown with him, and so that’s what we did! We moved here without knowing the language or food, and it’s been a pretty wild ride 🙂
In general, would you recommend moving abroad? Why (not)? Would you recommend it to everyone or only to some people with specific interests?
Grace – I would recommend it to everyone! Moving abroad is something each person should experience at least once, and you gotta do it for at least a few months. So much of your personality and who you are gets unlocked when you travel. It grows you, stretches your mind, and opens you to new beliefs and possibilities. So much of who I am is a result of the years I’ve spent traveling — the years here in Korea, and my time in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Eric – I definitely agree with her. There is no faster way to “grow up” than to drop yourself into a new country where you don’t know the language or culture and have to learn to survive in it. It involves constantly stepping outside of your comfort zone, making friends with people you never thought you’d connect with, and bonding with sights, smells, and sounds that you have never even imagined. Should you move abroad? I say it’s a resounding yes!
Before you moved to Korea, you lived in Seattle. What’s the one thing you miss the most about life there?
Eric – Good coffee! And I do miss the mountains.
Grace – I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but what I miss most is my family. Especially when we miss a holiday due to travel. The road can be lonely sometimes.
What about the paperwork? Is it difficult to get into Korea as an American citizen?
Eric – I can’t speak for other nationalities, but for American tourists it is extremely easy to get into Korea. All you have to do is fly here and you’ll get a visa at the Korean airport.
Grace – Of course, if you’re coming to work here, then you’ll need to get a special visa from the embassy in your country.
Do you intend to stay in Korea or will you move to another country (or even back home) in the future?
Eric – We’ve been away from home for a long time, so we’re planning on moving back to Seattle this winter so that we can spend some time with family and friends.
Grace – Yes, we’ve missed a lot of weddings, births, and unfortunately some deaths, so we have a lot of catching up to do with your friends and family back home. We do have some crazy awesome travel plans for 2019 though, so you can expect us to be back on the road once Spring comes.
Do you still travel a lot?
Eric – We’ve been stationary in Korea for the last two years, so even though we’ve technically been traveling, it does sometimes feel like we’re living a “settled” life. We’ve considered this time in Korea a launching pad though, so have been working on a lot of projects for the future. Our blog, Wandering Ravens, and our YouTube channel has been one project, creating our savings has been another, but the project we’re most excited about is the SEO content writing business we’ve been building for the last year.
Grace – We’re really excited about our writing business because it means that we’re able to work from wherever we have an internet connection! No more year-long school contracts! We can truly experience the open road!
Eric – Yes! I just have to hop back in here and say how excited I am to finally graduate from English teacher to Digital Nomad. So while we haven’t traveled a lot outside of Korea in the last two years, we’re going to start moving really soon. If you’re curious to see what we write, here’s the link to our site: Writing Ravens.
What advice would you give to people who want to travel or move to Korea?
Eric – Learn as much as you can about the culture before coming here. Learn how people act, what is considered polite and impolite, and get used to eating kimchi! If you’re curious what Korean customs you should know before visiting Korea, check out this blog post I wrote about it on Wandering Ravens.
Grace – I agree. Make sure you read up on Korean culture and social norms before coming here. I wish I had been more prepared for how much Korea’s standard of politeness differs from what we consider polite back in the USA. Read my answer to question #11 for more on that topic.
Have you ever been to North Korea? Would you ever want to properly visit North Korea on a government-organised tour?
Grace – Technically, yes, we’ve been to North Korea! We visited the DMZ last year and were able to explore the Joint Security Area while we were there (that’s the border crossing with all those blue UN buildings). The blue buildings are built directly on the border, with half being in North Korea and half being in South Korea. We got to go inside one of the blue buildings, and so we can say that we have walked into North Korea! 😀
Eric – Would we ever want to do a proper tour of North Korea? On the one hand, I would like to, because I’d love to visit every country in the world. But, I don’t think we’ll be visiting the North anytime soon because we believe in traveling in a way that is healthy for our planet and its people. Supporting the government of North Korea through tourism isn’t healthy for the people living under the dictatorship there.
What are the biggest similarities and differences between the United States and Korea?
Eric – Oh gosh, so many differences. The biggest one for me is food. Korean spices and flavors are completely different from anything we use in the States, so moving here was a big shock for my stomach. I’d never eaten Korean food before moving here, so it took me a couple months before I was used to the food. I love it now, of course, and will probably be craving Korean food for the rest of my life!
Grace – The biggest difference for me is the different standards in politeness. Korean people will shove you out of the way and steal a subway seat from you even if you were about to sit down in it. They don’t acknowledge you when you make eye-contact on the street and no one smiles in public. Old ladies here are notorious for cutting in line — if I had a dollar for everytime someone has cut us in line, either at the mart or while waiting for the bus, I could stop working and retire right now. The different standard of politeness took me a while to get used to.
Eric – In terms of similarities….there aren’t that many, culturally. Except for appearance. Korea looks like a modern 21st century society, with skyscrapers, advanced public transit, etc. But besides that, I can’t really think of any similarities. The USA and Korea are very, very different in terms of culture and values. You have to come experience it for yourself!
Is Korean a difficult language to learn? Is it even necessary to know Korean or can you survive on English only?
Grace – The Korean alphabet is one of the sexiest alphabets ever created. It is SO easy to learn, that you could do it in a week if you really pressed yourself. If you move to Korea, you should at least learn how to read, because you have no excuse not to. As a tourist though, you don’t need to worry about learning the language, because Korea has A LOT of English. There are English signs and menus everywhere (especially in Seoul) and if you need help you are almost guaranteed to find someone who speaks English around you.
Again, I’d like to thank Grace and Eric for letting me ask them all kinds of questions about their lives in Korea. I gained a lot of valuable insights and it was very interesting to read about their experience.
If you want to follow the Wandering Ravens, you can do so on their blog, on Facebook and on YouTube.
