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I will cut the ribbon on this new subforum. This is something I wrote recently. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

The camera shutters clicked, capturing the image of the monument that looked both culturally significant and visually pleasing, though the glass covering was too bad. It was some sort of big pagoda, but exactly what it was and its importance she had no idea. She didn't even know exactly where she was. That was okay. It wasn't as though she had a plan. She had wandered into this little park in search of a place to eat breakfast and it had turned out to be interesting. That, in her opinion, was exactly how travel should be.

She picked up the take-out bag and coffee cup that she had left at her feet and wandered down the cobble path to find a good spot to sit and eat. There were benches in the sun, but she ignored them. Out of the pleasure of walking through the trees she covered the small park twice before settling in the shade on a low wall that enclosed an enormous bell. She didn’t know what that was about, either. For someone who had lived in this country for five months there was a lot that she was ignorant of. Not that it was totally her fault.

After sampling the muffin and sipping the coffee she slipped her daypack off her back and fished out the almost new guidebook. When she'd bought the book before leaving home she had expected it to be well worn by this point. Amazing how expectations never reflect reality.

She thumbed through the pages to find the subway map. After some effort she located the station that she had stopped at and flipped to the correct set of pages. She nibbled more muffin as she read, brow furrowed, elbow on the book to keep it open. A flock of small brown birds swarmed around, asking for crumbs.

Ah! That sounded like where she was. Tap Gol Park, site of the declaration of the Korean constitution, and where the independence movement had started. That must be what all the marble statues at the entrance were about. The pagoda was important mostly because of its age and size, which were both impressive. There was nothing about the bell.
She tossed a few fragments of food to appease the birds, glanced appreciatively at the flowering trees, and flipped the pages to figure out what else was to do. It was a long list, even just in this area. She could easily spend the next two days just around here and there was so much else she had wanted to see. If only she had been able to get up here sooner and more often. If only her boss had let her.

Her hand reflexively tightened as she thought about the last five months; crushing what was left of breakfast. Tears pricked her eyes and her face grew hot as the image of her boss sprang to mind. Her now ex-boss, she reminded herself firmly, trying to calm her breathing.

At the beginning, she had been so excited to find out about this job. Teaching in South Korea! What an opportunity! Although she was committed to teaching she was most excited when she thought about her possible weekends and holidays. It meant a chance to really see a new country, experience a different place.

Her expectations about what the teaching would be like were crushed within the first week. It took somewhat longer for her traveling dreams to follow. Of course, she hadn't known that the school was watching her until after the first month.

She had gone out on Friday night with some other ex-pats for dinner and a few drinks, celebrating her first paycheck. As was bound to happen, dinner and drinks turned into an extended session at a Norebang and more alcohol than was strictly necessary. After they had butchered the entire English song list, it seemed pointless to attempt the trek across the city. Plus, she was a bit drunk. She accepted the offer of a spot on one of her friend's floors.

The next Monday, her boss had cornered her and lectured her at some length, in his poor English, about moral standards. He had accused her of being a slut and drunkard, and had informed her that if he heard of her spending another night away from her apartment she would be out of a job. That was when she found out her apartment manager was paid by her boss to spy on her.

She had been frightened enough. Even though she knew he drank more in a week than she had in the past year, he held the power. She didn't want to leave and her work visa was tied to that rotten little man's good graces. At the time she couldn't afford a flight home, anyway. For the next month she didn’t do anything outside of school and her apartment. The laptop she had brought from home was her only company.

The month after that, she began to cautiously venture out again, always making sure to be home before midnight. She tried having a couple friends over to her place, but even though they were all very quiet she still received a second warning from her boss. She stopped trying and quietly fell into a holding pattern.

She was paying off student loans at home, making money hand over fist, but she wasn't really doing anything else. The occasional movie or early dinner out was what she looked forward to at the end of her weeks. She tried to keep a happy face on things for the benefit of those back home. She told amusing stories from the classroom and shared the few cultural tidbits she discovered, always insisting she was just fine. The majority of her free time was still spent alone in her apartment.

Until two weeks ago.

She was grocery shopping when she randomly ran into another foreigner. He had obviously just gotten there and was full of that eager, wide-eyed excitement that she could almost remember. Grabbing the opportunity to hear fluent English he struck up a conversation and she humored him. He asked question after question. How was her school? How were the students? What did she do for fun? Did they really eat dog here? Had she done much traveling? She did her best to sound positive for his benefit but refused to lie outright.

"Wow," he'd commented, "you're a bit bitter, aren't you?"

She froze in the middle of the aisle, hands on the handle of the cart, staring at him. She had never thought of herself as a bitter person, had always been an optimist. Were things really that bad?

Having noticed she had stopped, he looked back to figure out what was wrong. She pulled her mouth into the fake smile that had become so natural these days and continued on.

Back in her apartment she sat in her single wooden chair and stared at the four dormitory-style walls of her one-room prison. What was she still doing here? What held her? The money? She could get that other, happier ways. Maybe not as much as fast, but it was possible. The culture? She hated what she had seen of it. The international experience? She wasn't getting that anyway.

What was she doing to herself? There was no reason to stay. No reason at all.

She flipped open her computer, logged on to the Internet, and bought herself a ticket home.

The flight left in two days. She had packed up her belongings and hopped a train to Seoul late the night before. It was a gorgeous weekend and she intended to use it. She had come to see Korea, and one way or another she was going to see at least some of it before she left.

She shook her head to clear the ugly memories and wiped the angry tears out of her eyes. This wasn't the time for that. She was going to have fun. She was. Breakfast was now unsalvageable, so she tossed the remaining crumbs to the eager birds. Returning to her guidebook, she picked a target at random and planned a likely route. She tossed the book back in her bag, gathered the garbage to throw out when she could, and went to find a good adventure.

I taught in Korea. This isn't me, I had different problems, but it is from personal experience.

I agree with everything above. And unfortunately have nothing to add. . .