Leta Lohrmeyer shares EPIK experience of Korea adventure

Editor’s Note: Long-time ANR readers will have seen Leta Lohrmeyer’s name and face here before. In 2017, as a senior at Aurora High School, she served as a student columnist, writing several pieces that were published in the paper. On April 26 of that year she wrote a column titled “A passion for traveling, seeing the world” in which she talked about her love of traveling and her desire to see more of the world. 
She wrote: “I want to travel across the ocean, look at all the other countries with their different cultures, adventure to cities I’ve only seen in pictures, do the things I can only dream about. After all, the possibilities are endless.” 
As readers will see in the following article, Lohrmeyer’s experience in Korea has not only been a fulfillment of that dream, but it has given her an appreciation for her Nebraska home as well. 
An Aurora High School grad recently returned home to Nebraska following two years of teaching English in South Korea. Leta Lohrmeyer says her desire to become a teacher goes back to her childhood playtime. 
“I think when I was really little, I had my stuffed animals out and I would play teacher,” she said, “and I think I was like, ‘I kind of want to do this’ and I’m now I’m actually getting to be a teacher.”
After graduating from high school in 2017, Lohrmeyer studied journalism at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO). However, when COVID interrupted her final year at UNO, she was left in a quandary as to what she wanted to do after college.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know what I want to do with my life,’” she said. “I knew I didn’t want to do journalism anymore, so what should I do?”
The answer came to her through a newfound interest in Korean culture.
“During that time I was getting into K-pop (short for Korean popular music), K-dramas and things like that,” Lohrmeyer explained. “So just randomly in my YouTube algorithm, there was ‘A day in the life of a teacher in Korea.’”
After watching several videos about teaching Korean students, Lohrmeyer decided to apply to become a teacher in a program called EPIK (English Program In Korea). But before she could begin teaching, Lohrmeyer had to get a certificate called TEFL (Teaching English Foreign Language), and went through an extensive screening process.
“There was just a lot of paperwork; background checks and all these things and I had to get my diploma notarized and I was running through all these paper trails and I had to get documents together,” she explained. 
Although Lohrmeyer was accepted into EPIK in 2021, at that point there were no open teaching positions.
“Right as I was finishing school, I got accepted and then they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re out of space; we can’t send you,” Lohrmeyer stated. “So I got a job working at the Omaha Library and I got a job teaching  online for a company in China. So I’d wake up at 5 a.m., teach classes back to back and then go to my shift at the library, all while waiting for the next term of EPIK to open up so I could reapply.”

Teaching in Incheon
Lohrmeyer was finally able to begin her South Korean teaching career in February of 2022 and moved to Incheon, a major city south of the Korean capital of Seoul. There, she taught both students and staff at Dongyang Middle School.
“I would have three different lessons each week, one for first, one for second and I worked with co-teachers, they’re the native Korean teachers that are also English teachers,” she explained. “They would have their class once a week with me.”
Lohrmeyer taught over 400 students each week, using games to help create a memorable and enjoyable learning experience for her classes. 
“It was a lot of fun just being able to play games and teach them in a casual comfortable way, because it’s conversational,” Lohrmeyer said. “I don’t want to make it seem super scary. They love playing rock paper scissors. Any game that had rock paper scissors was so intense for them and it was so much fun.”
Her time in Korea was a learning experiencing for Lohrmeyer as well. In addition to improving her command of the Korean language, she also received an education in the differences between American and Korean customs. For instance she quickly learned that older Koreans greet one another with a nod of the head as opposed to the American practice of a friendly wave of the hand. 
“In Korea waving to someone who’s older than you is considered disrespectful,” she said. “For students, they wouldn’t typically wave to an older teacher, and I wouldn’t normally wave to older coworkers. But everyone at my school would wave to me and I would wave back since they knew I was from a different culture where waving was accepted!
She also discovered “Hoesik,” a company luncheon where employees enjoy barbecue and drinks with their employers once each semester.
“Everybody drinks at this company dinner and I’ve never drank alcohol with a boss before,” she said. “One teacher got really confident, because he had a couple drunks and he says, ‘Leta, tell me, why are Americans so happy?’ I was like, ‘Good question, I couldn’t tell you.’ He’s like, ‘You smile a lot.’ I have no idea, but it was a fair question.”
Lohrmeyer said she enjoyed the fun atmosphere with her students and staff, and noted how she had bonded with her students. 
“They’re so sweet,” she said. “They like hanging out with you and saying as much as they can. Their vocabulary is limited, but they’ll be like, ‘Leta-teacher,’—that was my title, ‘Leta-teacher,’—‘So beautiful. We love you,’ or that kind of thing.”

A trip to Busan
Lohrmeyer remarked that she enjoyed how easy it was to get from place to place in Incheon and other cities in South Korea.
“I never had a car there,” she said. “I would take subways, buses and trains all over the place.” 
The ease of travel also allowed Lohrmeyer and her friends to visit other cities in South Korea, including Busan, a city on the southwest coast of the country.
“It’s just covered with blossoms and I got to be with my really good friend and just run around Busan and everything worked out,” Lohrmeyer said.
While there, they were able to watch a production of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ the second night after its opening.
“I have it memorized and so hearing them sing it in Korean was just a whole experience and it was so much fun,” Lohrmeyer commented. 
“I got to have a lot of spending money, so I got to go to concerts,” she said. “I think I went to 12 concerts in two years, which is crazy. I finally got to see those K-pop acts that I really enjoy seeing.”

Returning home
Reaching the end of her second year at Dongyang, Lohrmeyer faced a decision regarding her teaching in Incheon. 
“It was a harder decision to leave than to go,” she commented. “I was talking to some of my friends and they were moving back and then (the program) asked me to make a decision quickly. ‘Are you going to stay or leave? Tell us by the end of the week.’”
Lohrmeyer said while she enjoyed her time in Korea, it was her struggles with understanding the language that influenced her decision to return home.
“While I knew some Korean and I was trying to learn, it’s really difficult to participate,” Lohrmeyer stated. “I would be at lunch—and we all sit together for lunch—and they’re having a conversation and I felt like I was just sitting there like a cardboard figure. I pick up something, they’re on to the next topic.”
She said it was also difficult being away from family and friends back home.
“I didn’t get to see my best friend’s first child until he was about one and a half,’ Lohrmeyer said. “I thought, ‘I’m missing out on a lot of milestones and things like that.’ It was really hard and sometimes I’m regretting it, but it was the choice I needed to make at the time.”
At the same time, Lohrmeyer knew she would miss the students in Korea she had grown fond of. 
“It was interesting being at their last graduation just feeling like crying out loud,” she commented.

Reverse culture shock
Upon returning home, Lohrmeyer said it wasn’t long before she was experiencing reverse culture shock. For instance, on her first weekend back she attended a monster truck rally. 
“So I’m sitting there and there was a redneck wedding in the back of a monster truck and people were doing the YMCA and I’m just siting here like, ‘Where am I? What’s going on?’” she said. 
While saying she is recovering from the initial whiplash of being back in the U.S.A., she has noticed much has changed in the two years she was away. 
Since returning, Lohrmeyer has been caring for her mother, Nancy, following her recent surgery as well as searching for a new job closer to home.
While saying she is trying to keep all avenues open and has considered moving to someplace like Chicago, she also is thinking about going back to Omaha and is really hoping to stay in Nebraska. 
Where ever she finally settles, Lohrmeyer said she will always cherish the time she spent in Korea.
“I feel more connected to myself because I know that I can do that and even though I feel like a part of me is still in Korea with my kiddos and our games, I feel happy that I took that random chance just clicking a button,” she said.
Furthermore, she encourages others to try living and working abroad. 
“I understand why it’s scary to go outside of your little comfort zone, but I’ve gotten to meet amazing people,” Lohrmeyer said. “I know a bunch of foods that I had never tried before that are delicious. I’ve gotten to see performance arts. I’ve been to a ton of museums and I just feel more connected globally.”
Lohrmeyer is the daughter of Eric and Nancy Lohrmeyer of Aurora.