John assumes duties as Area Coordinator of CTC in Yongan (2002)

I arrived in Seoul, Korea and I did not know what to expect as far as what I would do or even how would I make it in the land of the rising sun.

I came over without guaranteed employment and I had just finished up my graduate program in Arizona. What am I going to do, God? Is something I asked myself quite often. I prayed and when out on a mad journey to find anything and work my way up with hard work. This sounds good in writing, but I had to tell myself this, I was scared of the unknown. But, you know.... I was living in a foreign country...this was so cool.
I was not going to leave a failure. One day I got a call for an position at Troy State University...went to Japan for in processing and had a job that I could use my organizational skills and learn about managing something. Things happened just like that... And 3 months later, I interview for a better position as Area Coordinator of the entire Central Texas College Region in Yongsan,K-16, Camp Casey and was accepted...the Director was aware of my hard work at Troy State in the short time I worked for them. I now was running an office with my own employees, hiring and dismissing instructors, developing programs, and coordinating with the U.S Army on education issues. Great experience. Best of all is my office mates...Mr. Warren was disgruntled all the time, but he was endearing and Ms. Yi was the anchor of the office, and my favorite person, who was my age, was Ms. Rose. She brought pastries to the office when she could and I was in heaven...Her good spirit and devotion and confidence made our operation not just good but one of a kind- a great place to work. Note: We had some the highest enrollment number for the college at the time.