If you’re a regular follower of my work, you may have been wondering where I’ve disappeared to over the past couple of months, and why I’ve taken a minor hiatus from the comic and social media scene. No, I’m not dead, or maimed, or impaired in any way, shape, or form, so rest be sure there’s no need to call my local embassy to send a search party.
So without forcing you
to play a global game of Where’s Waldo any longer, let me introduce you to my
new home, at Geumgang University in Chungcheongnam-do province, South Korea.
Last January, I made a really difficult decision to stay in
South Korea instead of moving to Toronto. And in doing so, I want to be able to
enjoy a higher degree of language fluency in a country that’s been my home for
the past few years. Unfortunately, cracking books after midnight a few times a
week was only getting me so far. So when I applied for and obtained a full-ride
scholarship from Geumgang University, I was more than a little ecstatic to know
that I could pursue studying all day, without having to balance the workload of
two full-time jobs.
What makes this Buddhist private school so amazing, in my
opinion, is its goal of providing free tuition to every single one of their students
to pursue their endeavors. You heard this right; there’s not a single student
in this school that is paying tuition to attend, and only have to cover the
cost of housing and food to study here.
Geumgang currently offers four majors: Global
Commerce and Trade, Public Administration, Buddhist Studies, and a special
Korean Language program for individuals abroad, including people of Korean
descent. The classes themselves are also top-notch, with four
classes a week, four hours a day, with a healthy load of homework to make sure
that you’re not distracted by any chicken and beer gatherings with the average
20-year old student in this place.
And you can’t beat the location, unless you absolutely love
living a city life. The university itself inches itself up the foothills, surrounded
by vast, sprawling rice fields at its base, with ornate Buddhist temples showcased
on the mountain’s peaks.
I’ve really found a lot of peace coming out to live in the
countryside again, after being in Seoul for the past 3 ½ years. There’s
something soul-healing when you’re forced back to being involved in the environmental
culture that we tend to leave behind in our daily lives. It’s something I
haven’t been able to experience that since I used to live in a rural part of
the Philippines.
I’m hoping that, by the end of my studies, I’ll be at the
point in which I can tackle the TOPIK exam and work towards gaining long-term
residency in South Korea. That’s not to say that I plan on settling in this
country for the rest of my life, but for now, I’m happy here. And quite
frankly, I just hope in time I can give back as much to this country as it has
given to me.
