The First Notch

I made it three months in this marvelous country, answered countless questions about my experience (happily of course), and now the time has come.  Behold, ladies and gentlemen, my obligatory "life abroad" blog.  

I'm sure many exist.  In fact, I'm sure many are more scholarly and penetrating than this. However, none can offer what Hyundai Propaganda can: unfiltered access to the observations, ruminations, and pontifications of one Bradford B. Miller.  If you're into that kind of thing, then consider yourself at ground zero.  If you're not, then you should check out melaniegriffith.com to see a more professional layout of my past achievements.  

So here's my deal in brief:

I graduated from the University of Vermont in May of 2008 with a bachelors in History.  Nothing really led me to believe that I would get offers for a board spot at Berkshire Hathaway, so I did what any other reasonable guy my age would do... I split the country.  I followed the example of a friend/former UVM grad and took a job teaching elementary school English in South Korea.  My flight landed August 21, and I can safely say that it's been a very pleasant and engaging experience since.  

No, I'm not in Seoul.  Nor did I ever want to be as a matter of fact.  Seoul is an absolutely phenomenal place (I've now visited twice), but I had designs on locales with more manageable numbers and more accessible communities.  Busan is where I wanted to be.  Fate, or my employer, thought otherwise.  

So I ended up in Ulsan, and despite what it looks like on paper, this is a great city (It is the city on the southeast coast between Pusan and Pohang on the map above - feel free to click that sucker for a better view).  Ulsan's claim to fame is that it houses the headquarters of Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Heavy Industry (think freighters, ship engines, construction vehicles, and most other things that are enormous and industrial).  It's a blue collar city.  But with it comes this blue collar mentality that has made its people at once mild mannered and accessible.  You certainly won't find any of the ego or aloofness that you might find in a bigger city.  Call me an apologist if you want, but I'm genuinely enamored with my little hamlet of 1 million Ulsan-ers.

Mipo Elementary school is my touchstone in the Ulsan scene.  It's a small public school of about 500 children, grades 1 to 6.  I teach all the english classes in grades 3 to 6 between Monday and Friday.  The kids like me, I like them, and there's nary a day that I don't arrive home feeling good.  Ah yes, I co-teach with a marvelous marvelous woman named Lee Sun-Jung (or Sun-Jung Lee to the uninitiated Westerner).  She has been my rock for the last three months and I can't even imagine the dire straits I would be in without her calm, guiding presence in my life.

That's the gist.  That's the bare bones intro to what is going on with me so far.  But here's a promise: NO POST WILL EVER BE AS BORING AS THIS ONE.  I promise from here on out to inundate this blog with lurid rants and raves that will keep my readers (read: my mother) entertained.  Cheers.

Always,

Bradford