Scelfo describes two years in South Korea to Rotary

Kate Scelfo, daughter of Rotarian Tony Scelfo, met with Rotarians Tuesday at the weekly meeting of the Franklin Rotary at the Forest restaurant.
Scelfo spent the last two years in Seoul, South Korea, teaching test-taking via English comprehension to Korean youth ranging in age from 11 to 15 years old.
She worked for a private after-school program for six hours per school day, and on most Saturdays.
She says she learned of the opportunity to teach in Seoul by “googling”, “best teaching jobs in South Korea.”
She chose the country after becoming enamored with South Korean culture through watching a S. Korean movie and thereby gaining an appreciation for South Korean pop music and culture.
The safeness of Seoul appealed to Scelfo, as well, as opposed to various other lucrative opportunities available in places like Vietnam and the Middle East. “It (Seoul) is very modern and very safe,” Scelfo said. “I would usually go running and exercising at midnight. It was just me and the little old ladies. We were safe there.”
When asked about the capital city’s proximity to North Korea and the threat of North Korea’s burgeoning military and nuclear capabilities, Scelfo said that Seoul’s relative closeness to North Korea, in terms of proximity, gives the people of Seoul comfort rather that fills them with fear. She says that if Pyongyang were to attack Seoul with a nuclear device, “It would be like they were bombing themselves.” And thusly, North Korea does not loom so large over the imaginations of the citizens of Seoul, according to Scelfo, as one might have thought.
Scelfo says that in South Korea, children are taught at a young age to value the attainment of a good job. They took her after-school course, to prepare them for the English comprehension portion of their country’s version of a college entrance exam, to further their educations and snag the most lucrative jobs available.
Scelfo also says that in South Korea, there is a custom that dictates that a child, once finished with school and set on their chosen career path, is expected to financially support their parents, and in some cases, even their grandparents. She says that it is customary for the youngster to return home after venturing forth to seek their fortune, and live with their nuclear and extended family in the same house in which they were raised, even if that youngster has managed to find their significant other along the way. For this reason, it behooves the young South Korean to have an eye toward financial stability and a plan to attain such stability from an early age. Though, she did admit that one could still always count on overeager parents pushing obstinate kids into the English course.
Seoul is the 14th largest city in the world, and Scelfo attested to the city’s sprawl in terms of the length of a subway ride from one end of the city to the other end. She said that it took her 1½ hours to cross the city by subway. She cited the population total as 9.7 million people, and described an “underground mall” comprised of a “huge network” of kiosks and subway tunnels, that is the size of several city blocks.
Aside from her descriptive presentation, Scelfo handed out two ceramic figurines for the audience’s perusal. The couple was dressed in what Scelfo described as “traditional ancient royal attire” and afforded the attendees a glimpse into what Scelfo said was her love for all things of antiquity from South Korea, especially the ancient royal palaces.
She closed the presentation by handing around examples of denominations of the Won, South Korean’s monetary currency.
When asked if she would ever return to South Korea, Scelfo stated that with her total of three years of teaching in Seoul, she thought she had appeased her appetite for living abroad, but that she did wish to go back and visit, given the opportunity.