When I was a young girl growing up in Northern California, I would sit on a special tree limb outside our home and watch the cars driving by. I made up stories about where they were going and dreamed of the day when I could travel the world.

Little did I know then that a series of fiber optic cables would make my wildest fantasies come true. In December of 1996 I was ready for a change. I started surfing the Internet looking for work. Although I have made several career changes, I wanted something that would allow me to continue writing.

For years I had put off that second part of my dream - becoming a full time professional writer, but now I was finally writing and getting paid for it. It wasn't enough to sustain me though. I began looking at many web sites that contained job search information, including Usenet newsgroups and classified ads from all over the United States. I started at: www.yahoo.com/Business/Corporations/Media/Newspapers/. I looked in every classified section that I thought might contain a nugget of gold. I saw an ad in an East Coast newspaper for teachers in Korea. It stated that a Bachelor's degree in any subject was required. I wrote an e-mail requesting more information.

The recruiter immediately answered, telling me that I could start in one month. My naturally cautious mind decided to do some more checking. I went back on the Web, looking for information about teaching in Korea. I found out that there are many recruiters who make promises that are never kept.

However, the more I read, the more interested I became in teaching in Asia as a career alternative and a way to do the traveling overseas I had always wanted to do. I spent hours reading everything I could, and I never had to leave the comfort of my apartment!

On January 24, 1997, I saw the ad that would change my life. Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, S. Korea, was looking for an EFL (English as a Foreign Language ) teacher for their employees. I wrote a formal letter of introduction and sent my resume along with it. The next morning, my e-mailbox held a surprise. They were interested! I continued to apply for jobs in the publishing industry in the United States.

Although some companies showed interest, the wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly. Meanwhile, I kept on reading information about Korea. My soon-to-be boss in Korea told me that my age certainly wouldn't help matters as far as getting a job. So, I did not want to get my expectations up too high. I found sites about teaching ESL (English as a Second Language).

Dave's ESL Cafe was one of my first stops. It's a well organized site, with message boards about teaching English, employment offers, and links to other helpful sites. Another place that I found with job listings was the TEFL Professional Network. I made up my mind. If I could get a decent job in Korea, I would go. Time dragged on. Although I did have a couple of interviews with publishing companies, I didn't have the experience they wanted. I was basically ignoring my small business, and money was running out quickly.

On February 17th, 1997, my grandson was born. That evening I opened my e-mail to find another note from Hyundai. "Congratulations" was the header. My heart stopped. I couldn't believe it. They were going to hire me!

I had less than two months to get everything in order. How could it possibly get done in time? I realized I knew very little about Korea. I knew the country was divided after the Korean War. I found a couple of great sites that were filled with information about the country, everything from climate to descriptions of places to visit.

One was the Lonely Planet site. I found out about a mailing list in Korea that was made up of expatriates. The home page is: http://www.kexpat.com. These folks were extremely helpful in answering my many questions. There was too much to do!

I downloaded a passport application from: www.state.gov/index.html. They also have travel advisories on this site. I got the numbers for the Korean Consulate in San Francisco from the Internet too. I had heard about airline consolidators in the United States. These people buy up tickets from airlines and resell them to travel agents and, in some cases, individuals.

I did another search on Yahoo! . After making a few e-mail inquiries, I found a travel consolidator who did a great job for me. Reaction from my friends and family varied. One of my friends told me to expect reactions ranging from joy to jealousy. She was absolutely right.

My parents were worried. They said, "What if you get there and it doesn't work out?" Some of my friends seemed rather distant upon hearing the news. But most people were delighted for me, including my daughter who said, "Mom, you've worked all your life for other people. Now it's your turn. Everything will work out, and I hope you have a great trip!"

I remembered those words many times over the next couple of months. I was even able to place classified ads on the Internet for no charge. Several Usenet newsgroups in the Bay Area offer readers a chance to buy and sell literally everything. I sold a few things that way, and I found the laptop I'm using to write this article in a newsgroup as well.

Is it possible to change your life as a result of the Internet? You bet it is. Nearly every aspect of the planning, preparation and research for this trip took place because I had a computer and an Internet connection. Today, five months after I arrived in Korea on April 15th, the Internet still impacts my daily life. I send my article submissions via e-mail. I keep in touch with family and friends with e-mail notes and cards.

One of my favorite places to send electronic cards is Internet Card Central. This site has a really wide variety of cards to send. Some have music, others have animations. It beats the heck out of International postage rates!

My server even allows me 10MB for a personal web page, where you can see some of the fruits of my labors and photos of this exciting country. I hope you'll pay a visit there and come back often as I update it and add more stories of my adventures in Korea!

So if you're thinking of getting a new job or relocating, I hope you'll draw some strength and inspiration from my story. I entitled my web page "Bloom Where You're Planted," and that's my basic philosophy of life. Although it's not always easy living in a foreign land, I will never regret my decision to come to the "Land of the Morning Calm."