Footprints Recruiting

Dave Harvey and Bennett Ho are two Footprints alumni that have recently returned to Canada and are now working with the Footprints Team at Head Office in Vancouver.  Dave returned in December 2006 after four years abroad in South Korea, India and Japan.  Bennett returned in April 2007 after living and teaching in South Korea for five years.  Both Bennett and Dave are accomplished photographers and were very active parts of the English community in Ulsan, South Korea.

Check out their stories below and their websites (they’re awesome….the websites that is)

• www.daveharvey.ca - Dave's Photography Website

My Korean adventure started much like yours- with that first phone interview with Footprints. Mine was back in late 2002 when I was convinced by a friend to go with him to Korea. Soon enough we were arriving in Ulsan at the crack of dawn on New Years Eve of 2002.
Before we left for Korea, I had been in touch with Bennett Ho- one of the current Footprints teachers at the school, and he was the first other teacher we met that day, but certainly not the last. Teaching was becoming more rewarding as time went on and I was more confident in the classroom and learning my share of Korean from the students (I had to know what names they were calling me!)

For those of you that have spent time in Korea, you know how tight the teacher community can be. Soon a group of us found ourselves looking for more than the usual bar scene and decided to start up an Ultimate Frisbee club, a scooter gang (the Hell’s Ajummas), a newspaper (the Ulsan Pear), and countless other weekend trips, events and generally staying way too busy.

In February 2003, Bennett, myself and two other Footprints teachers held a photo exhibition at one of the cultural centers in Ulsan that was enthusiastically sponsored by several local businesses (hey, we made it on TV!). Our passion for photography drove us to explore many parts of Korea and sign on for multiple years of teaching in Korea.

After staying for two and a half years, it was time for myself and Erin (we met at Ultimate Frisbee!) to move on, so we explored India for a few months and soon the teaching bug got us again, so we were off to Japan for another year of ABC with Japanese kids.

I’ve made some of my best friends in Korea, many of them Footprints alumni! Now I find myself back here in Canada and working for the ever growing Footprints team- with Bennett once again! 

• http://www.bhophoto.com - Bennett's Photography Website

  • Last stop - Vancouver - Holy Cow! I am in Vancouver!

While it is true that the expression would fit worlds better if I were in India, for now it's what best transcribes my feelings being home.

It was about 5 years ago, I recall dreaming about visiting Asia while stuck in my cubical on the 9th floor of some insurance office in Richmond, BC.  As I begin writing this, I realise that the dream did not land me in heaven when I arrived in Asia, but rather on a journey that provided necessary experience that helped me get down to Earth, grow as a person, and perpetuate the meaning of unique life experiences.

Perhaps this will be riddled with all kinds of unnecessary thoughts and naive reflections about my teaching and travelling experience in Korea.  For those who’ve been there and done it, and the friends whom I’ve met along the way, you all can relate to my text.

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  • Sweet and sour departure

All those exotic feelings about all things Asian surfaced the minute I arrived in Ulsan, Korea.  It was scorching hot already in the middle of June and I felt surrounded by Asian men and women speaking a language that sounded like an outpour of indistinguishable sounds, I was unable to understand what was going on around me. It made my mind spin and my heart race: for once I was a true foreigner!  For once I am truly unable to figure out a way to communicate in the local language!  For the very first time I felt truly dependant on someone, like one would be dependant on that bottle of compressed air when diving. And I was loving it.

Teaching wasn’t easy at times, especially in the beginning, but during those special moments when knowledge was actually transferred, it made the whole effort worth my while.  Being in front of the classroom day in day out and facing a multitude of different learners not only boosted my confidence as a person, it also forced me to go out and explore other aspects of Korean society to better relate to my students.

Outside teaching, Korea offered amazing opportunities for my other passion which was photography.  In this regard, I shall mention another footprints alumni which I met in Korea, Dave Harvey, who was equally passionate about this art medium.  We shared many adventures together in Korea armed only with our cameras and 100cc scooters.  I do not recall any place we couldn’t get to, except North Korea, in which we wanted to photograph.

If you asked me why I fell in love with Korea and teaching, I would say it was those cute kids, those dedicated students, the delicious spicy food, the genuine local people and ex-pat friends, the mixture of exotic locations from temples on mountain sides to bustling mega cities, and most importantly because of my lovely wife whom I met in Ulsan.  For these reasons, I clearly remembered having jolts while departing Korea that went along the lines of: "I'm leaving Korea for good?!  Wow... I'm going home!  It can't be... am I really leaving?"  

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  • There and back again - Footprints

My trip to Korea practically started when I met Ben Glickman, the co-founder of Footprints, through a close friend from university.  Ben was a great source of information and I recall after a few e-mails back and forth, he had found me a decent teaching contract in Ulsan so I took it.  Next thing you knew, he was in Surrey, at my buddy’s house, hanging out with my family and friends while we celebrated my last night in Vancouver.  We kept close contact during my time in Korea and on one occasion I even offered him my sofa to sleep on during his visit to Ulsan.  Since returning to Vancouver, I had the opportunity to work with Ben and Dave again, alongside the many great footprints staff and alumni in the office.  In the span of 5 years, I guess you could say that I have come full circle?

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