It’s a little under 36 hours before I get on my first flight to begin my trip to South Korea, and I couldn’t be more uncertain about what’s about to come for me.
Earlier today, President Trump announced that the talks with North Korea in Singapore on June 12 would not be occurring due to hatred from the DPRK. Just as I am unsure of what’s to come this Summer, the future of the two Koreas remains uncertain as it seems all diplomacy between the US and North Korea in the past few months have fallen apart. Although I remain hopeful that something special may happen this Summer that brings North Korea back to the rest of the world, there is no certain prediction for the future.
However, all of the gloom of these news shouldn’t affect what I’ll be doing in South Korea: interacting and teaching migrant youth. As of right now, I’m a little fearful that the language barrier will greatly impede my teaching ability, so I’m frantically trying to brush up on my Korean. I’m hoping this experience not only gives me a better understanding of marginalized communities but also serves to better immerse myself in the Korean language in order to improve.
The two groups I’ll be working with are non-Ethnic Korean children and North Korean refugees, so I will get the invaluable opportunity to interact with students who have been through unimaginably unique circumstances. Ultimately, I believe that there will be lots to learn from working with these students, and I can only hope that my English teaching will be as useful for them.