#In my third year of a gap year
Hello. I am Jeon Yong-gil, 32 years old this year. I started my gap year at thirty and have been spending my own gap year ever since.
At thirty, I quit a large company where I had been working for three years and am now spending my third year of a gap yearI would like to share a bit of my story.
When I was a high school student, my career goal was to become a teacher. Since I was young, teaching and helping others made me the happiest and it was the most enjoyable thing. But like most students, I chose a local university and the chemical engineering department based on my college entrance exam scores.
After that, my dream gradually faded from my memory. Accepting reality, I worked hard in college and, fortunately, got a job at a large corporation. But after about three years, I began to worry about my career path again. There were, of course, various motivations.
Working around the clock as an engineer with no weekdays or weekends, structural problems in the company that were being ignored, thoughts about the future, and the feeling that I wasn't growing and wasn't living a joyful life sent me back into an adult adolescence. After months of pondering,The word 'education,' which I had wanted to pursue for a long time, flashed through my mind.
#Deciding to quit my job
And I made a decision. To quit my job. Many people tried to dissuade me: my parents, friends, and coworkers.
“Are you out of your mind?”, “Just hang on a little longer!”, “What are you going to do if you quit?”
For 30 years I felt like I had lived as the son my parents wanted, the student the school wanted, the employee the company wanted, and a person who wouldn’t rock the boat as society expected. Before living the life of a husband and head of a family, I wanted to be entirely “me.”I wanted to live a life that was exclusively mine, to seriously consider what I like and what I’m good at, and to see, learn, and feel more.
So I talked with many people and worked on convincing them of my plan, and that’s how my gap year at thirty began.I wanted to challenge myself in the field of education, and at the same time see, hear, and feel more in the wider world, so I decided to go to Australia on a working holiday.
Tip for an Australian working holiday, First: Apply for a visa
First, for young people considering an Australian working holiday, I’ll share the various pieces of information I gathered while living there for a year.
First, the preparation process in Korea before leaving for Australia. To go to Australia on a working holiday from Korea, you must first apply for a visa. This can be done through specialized agencies like study-abroad consultancies, but I applied myself on the Australian immigration website. These days, Naver users have neatly collected guides, so it wasn’t that hard. Then you can print the medical form, take it to the designated hospital for a physical examination, and that’s it!For the Australian working holiday, unlike some other countries, there are no strict quotas or tough eligibility requirements, so visas are usually issued in about one to two weeks.
Tip for an Australian working holiday, Second: Open a bank account and get a TFN
Second, after receiving your visa and arriving in Australia, open a bank account and get a TFN (Tax File Number). You’ll need a bank account to work and receive pay in Australia. AndJust like in Korea where you pay taxes when you work, in Australia each person must be issued a TFN.Australian banks include NAB, ANZ, and Commonwealth, and many city branches have Korean staff, so if you don’t understand English well you can ask them to call a Korean employee and they’ll kindly do so.
Also, there are usually not many people at bank branches in Australia. Since most banking is done online or by phone, during my year in Australia I only went to the bank to open an account. Once you’ve opened a bank account you need to obtain a TFN. Some agencies in Korea will apply for a TFN for you free of charge before you go, or you can apply on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website. Again, Naver users have kindly explained it step by step.
Tip for an Australian working holiday, Third: Finding accommodation
Third, finding accommodation in Australia. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you arrive in a new place. In my case, since I went alone, I was a bit stunned when I arrived at the airport. But if I had known a little beforehand, it would have been really easy.
Ways to stay in Australia can be divided into backpackers (backpackers’ hostels), short-term shares, and long-term shares.
Backpackersare usually places for travelers where you can meet friends from many nationalities, but the downside is that you have to share space with many people.
A share house is a form where people share a regular apartment or detached house. Backpackers are spaces used by dozens of people, while share houses are typically used by about 4–10 people.
Short-term shareis a form where you can stay for a few days temporarily before finding a long-term share or when dates are uncertain, andLong-term shareis usually a long-term living arrangement where you put down two weeks’ rent as a deposit and pay every two weeks. Backpackers and short-term shares are similar forms for short stays, but when coming directly from Korea, backpackers are preferred over short-term shares because of money issues and unfamiliarity with accommodation conditions; people often stay at a backpacker for a few days while looking for a long-term share.
And short-term shares are used when moving house in Australia and dates are uncertain, as a place to stay temporarily. For long-term shares, properties in the city are mostly apartments with gyms and pools, so they are expensive and shared by many people; the further you go from the city, the more likely you are to find quieter, cozier houses at cheaper prices.
Tip for an Australian working holiday, Fourth: Finding a job
Fourth, finding work in Australia. One of the most common questions that I and other working holidaymakers ask is about “Aussie jobs” and Korean jobs. UsuallyAussie jobThis refers to working under an Australian employer and working together with Australians.Korean-run jobIn this case, it means working under a Korean employer with Koreans or occasionally people of other Asian backgrounds.
When you work, you usually have wages, tax, and superannuation (pension). However, many Korean employers operate by paying wages in cash without tax or superannuation. But of course there are also many Korean employers who do not do this, so don't worry too much.The types of jobs working holidaymakers can do in Australia are surprisingly varied, and they are divided into full-time and part-time. If you work part-time, depending on your ability, it's common to hold two or three jobs.
#Tips for an Australian Working Holiday, Final
Finally, you can find all this information on various portal sites' online communities.Australia has Korean communities in each city, such as AustraliaNara and SunBrisbane, so most information is shared there.In addition, Australian websites includehttps://www.gumtree.com.au,https://www.seek.com.auetc., which can be useful while you're abroad. However, since you are leaving Korea to live in a foreign land, if you steadily carry out the plans you made while preparing for your Australian working holiday and live each day diligently and joyfully, I am confident that the one-year working holiday will be a great experience that allows you to reflect on your life and see, hear, and feel many things.
#First goal:Self-reflection
Now I'd like to talk a little about my Australian working holiday life. Rather than the work or travel experiences, I'll talk about how I spent the one-year gap year and what changes occurred. First, the three goals I set while preparing for my Australian working holiday, in order of importance, were self-reflection, experience, and English.
First, I quit my job under the title of education and took a gap year. But in a new place like Australia where no one knows me, I wanted to seriously and deeply think about who I am again. I spent a lot of time wondering, 'How can I unravel the story of who I am?'
Then I came up with various methods on my own, found them, and put them into practice one by one. I probably spent many evenings sitting alone on the terrace, looking at the night sky and quietly thinking. This time didn't feel lonely or solitary, and I gradually began to find the process of discovering myself enjoyable.
For example, I rewrote my bucket list, wrote memoirs about my childhood self, jotted down various random thoughts, and gathered information on fields I liked, practicing expanding the scope of my thinking.I think I wanted to rethink who I am from a blank slate.
I spent about half a year expanding my thoughts, and the remaining half year sorting through them little by little. While I am still a person with many shortcomings, my dream of 'a life of teaching and serving others' in September 2014 changed in April 2015 to 'a life of listening to others, empathizing, sometimes giving advice, and serving,' and finally, reestablished in November 2015, into the dream 'a life of continually finding and developing the work I love and, furthermore, educating and giving my abilities to others.'
#Second goal: Experience
Second,I thought that to work in the field of education in the future, I would also need to have abundant experience.Although I graduated from engineering and worked extensively as an engineer, education as a discipline is so broad that I wanted to see many things first. So during my one year in Australia, I experienced various jobs on a strawberry farm, cleaning, restaurants, and at a car wash; in the early part of the working holiday I even did two jobs to save a lot of money, and from the middle of the working holiday I traveled a lot.
I think travel is great because you can see and feel so many things. It costs a bit of money... And I also enjoyed talking about how other people think about life. Listening to stories like how they came to Australia, what their dreams are, what they want to do, and so on, ...Hearing many other people's thoughts had the positive effect of making my mindset more flexible.
#Third goal:English
Third, although it was third in priority, this was the part that made me most uncomfortable about coming to Australia. I wanted to travel to many countries in order to have many experiences in the future, and I thought that English would need to support that to some extent, but it didn't improve as easily as I thought.I think that most working holiday makers probably experience a slump once or twice, and it's likely because of this English.
I didn't attend a language school in particular; I studied on my own with the English I used in daily life and English books, and I sometimes talked and chatted with foreign friends. Personally, in the beginning I tried hard to live with foreigners and confront clashes, but because the difficulties that arose from clashing would have interfered with my top priority—self-reflection—I didn't want that, so I ended up living with Koreans who led a stable and peaceful life, and from then on my English skills seemed to fall by the wayside. However, I haven't rushed it and I'm still steadily studying English little by little.
#I also experienced a slump
As mentioned above, it seems that most working holiday makers experience a slump once or twice. I was the same. The things I had planned at first became something I settled for as I adapted to life in Australia...One of the things I did then was record myself every day saying 'Cheer up!', 'Fighting!', 'Don't get tired!'.
For about three months, every morning I put my phone close and recorded encouraging words to myself. Doing that increased my confidence, and I didn't notice it in the first day or two, but after three months when I saw that the number of recordings had reached 100...The joy of having achieved another small thing seemed to give me the courage to keep going.
#A No-regrets Choice: Gap Year
Spending a gap year, the year I spent in Australia was entirely time for myself, and whether there were results or not, whether good or bad, it was a precious time that put a brief pause so I could take another step forward as an adult, and also...It was meaningful because I think I learned how to truly love myself.
Of course, taking the initial courageous step to challenge myself was hesitant, anxious, and difficult, but looking back a year later, I think it was truly a choice with no regrets. The initial courage was a bit hard, but once I climbed that small hill, the many scenes that unfolded before me made my heart race more.
I still have many things I want to do in the future, and though they are not grand, I will grow little by little each day and feel small joys within that, and..."I will live diligently to continually find and develop the work I love and, furthermore, to teach and give my abilities to others."
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