While in Korea I only had three days a week where I had to go to class. This, obviously, left me four days a week for myself. My original plan was to travel all four of those days. This, however, did not work out too well because everyone else had Thursday classes. So I decided that I should do something productive with my time. I started looking for volunteer opportunities. I came across an orphanage in Anyang (just south of Seoul,) that was looking for volunteers to hang out with their kids on a weekly basis. It just happened to work out perfectly for me. Myself and a friend ended up volunteering there every Thursday night. We were paired with three kids that came regularly, and others came on occasion. Their names were Scott, Jayden, and A Rim (Scott and Jayden were their English names.) Scott was a grade 9 student who had excellent English skills, Jayden was in grade 11 and he could speak basic English, A Rim was in grade 10 and spoke very little English (about as much as I spoke Korean.) It was so great to have a chance to see these kids get excited about hanging out with us weekly. The highlight of my time as a volunteer came on December 23rd when the orphanage held a Christmas concert. The kids, ranging in age from 1-22, put on quite the show. They sang, acted, danced, and just generally put on quite the show. Scott happens to be quite the musician, playing both the drums and trumpet at a high level. To cap off the evening I was invited to the front to introduce myself, since I was the only foreigner in attendance. I got quite the positive reaction when I introduced myself in Korean (the few phrases that I had memorized.) Unfortunately that was my last night with the kids I had spent 3.5 months volunteering with. It was such a positive experience, and I would recommend anyone who is teaching English, or traveling for an extended period to look into volunteer options within your new community.
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