First Full Day- June 23 part 1

My apartment doesn't have any U.S. outlets (some of the other teachers have them) and I didn't bring any adapters.  Duh, kinda important! Because my phone only had half a battery and I wasn't able to plug in my alarm clock I was nervous to oversleep.  So after going to bed just before 1 am, I woke up at 5:30.  I'm guessing it was the jet lag because I was wide awake and felt great!

I had plenty of time before school so I unpacked some more things.  I took a nice hot shower with plenty of water pressure!  Other than the stuff that Matt bought for me, there were a few things left by someone.  I'm not sure if it was the school or a previous tenant but there was a large bottle of water, large bottle of tomato juice, hot and spicy Pringles, grape tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas.  For breakfast I ate a banana and a pb&j sandwich.

After I finished getting ready, I met Matt outside at 8:45.  We walked to the school together and he explained some of the neighborhood.  Right next to our apartments is a little clump of stores.  Within this are two "corner stores," a dry cleaner, a fried chicken place make that two fried chicken places (apparently very popular here,) a drug store, and some other little shops (two hair salons).

Ok, so I'm writing this from a PC Bang (internet cafe) and there are a bunch of Korean men playing online video games and chain smoking like crazy!  I want to post a little for ya'll to read but I'm going to have to finish this later because the smoke is driving me batty.  Later gators!

I Made It!

Well, I've still got a few posts prior to this one that I need to publish, but I figured it would be best to catch up later.  I'm pretty jet-lagged so cut me some slack on the grammar and spelling ;-)

I made it safely to Korea last night.  Around 11:30pm a coworker named Matt and his wife Je Yun (sp?)  met me at my apartment and got me set up.  Matt even brought stuff for pb&j, toilet paper, and a huge bottle of water.  The apartment is not nearly as tiny as I was expecting.  It has seperate areas for the living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.  For now my bed is in the living room.  I asked Matt if I should move it into the living room but he said it's best to keep it where it is for now because of the "air con" (I don't know why but I love that they call it that!)

Matt and Esther (coworkers) explained that because my apartment is newly acquired by the school, they are still doing some work on it. When I got there I had a bed (with super cute comforter and pillows!) a tv and stand, table with four chairs, stove top, a wardrobe for clothes, and a cabinet by the door for shoes (already full hehe).  I'm still missing a refridgerator and washing machine.  My apartment has a shower...yay!!! I'm posting this from the school so I'll need to post pictures later.

Now Matt says that everyone needs a funny first day in Korea story so I guess that's why he helped with mine!  When we got to the aparment, the doors to my balcony were not installed.  He said "I'm a kindergarten teacher, not a handyman, but I think I can give it a whirl."  On the first try he put the doors on backwards.  I was unpacking some of my luggage when I heard a loud crash.  When trying to install the second door, he had accidently knocked the first one to the floor!  Luckily the door has two pieces of glass, one in the top and one in the bottom.  Only the bottom piece was broken.  Matt and his wife cleaned up the glass and even taped some plastic bags into the hole to keep the bugs out. 

After they left, I did a little more unpacking and went to sleep just before one.  Well, I'm off to get my health check...more to follow!

You are Pre-Approved for a Visa...

Last Thursday I finally got a visa that allows me to legally work in Korea for one year. Here is the process in great detail:


• Gather visa application documents:

1. transcript and sealed transcript from the university

2. criminal background check (this one was a pain because after I did the required fingerprints I had to wait for the paperwork to come back to me. THEN, I had to overnight the paperwork, a form, payment, and a return envelope to Austin to be certified by the apostille.)

3. copy of the passport info page

4. signed employment contract

5. Health Statement (hilarious!)

6. original diploma (I wasn't too thrilled about sending the original, but oh well.)

7. passport size photos

8. I also threw in a copy of my teacher certificate in case they decided later that they needed it.

9. I had to mail all of these documents to my recruiter who looked them over and gave them to my employer. I mailed the documents on April 28 (expedited shipping). My recruiter received them on May 4.

• Next, my employer looks over the documents, adds some of their own stuff, and submits all of my information to the Korean immigration office.

• Then, I wait for the immigration office to produce a visa issuance number.

• and wait

• and wait

• My recruiter finally e-mailed the visa issuance number to me on May 19.

• On May 21, I mailed the visa application, payment for the visa, another passport-sized picture, my PASSPORT (super nervous about that one,) and another sealed transcript. The woman on the phone at the consulate told me that she would call to schedule a visa interview once she received my application materials.

• On May 25, I had a voicemail on my phone stating that my interview was scheduled for May 27. Wait, what?!? Yes that's right, May 27, in Houston. Seeing as how I live a one-way seven hour drive from Houston, I was pretty freaked out. With only two days notice, none of my friends were able to get off work to drive with me. So I decided I would need to fly. I called to ask for the days off work. I then frantically searched for a flight that would leave San Angelo in the morning, get me to the 2:30 appointment on time, and then allow enough time for me to make it back to the airport. Easier said then done. So my brilliant friend Erin gave me the idea to fly out of Midland (1.5 hour drive away.) I was about to book the flight when I thought hmmm maybe I should call the consulate to confirm my appointment first. Thank God I did! I called to tell the consulate lady that I would be able to make the appointment on Thursday at 2:30. She said "Okay, and your visa issuance number is wrong." I said "What? What do you mean the number is WRONG?" She said "Well when I put the number in the computer someone else's name pops up. Just get the correct number from Korea and let me know." Sigh. There was no way I was going to book a plane ticket without knowing if I could keep the appointment. At this point I had to e-mail the recruiter to ask about the visa issuance number. The only problem was that it was 2 am in Korea.

• So the next morning after the tenth time of frantically check my e-mail, I had the correct number. Apparently there was a problem with communication between my recruiter and the school and one letter was wrong. So I called the consulate and the woman said that I could still have my appointment the following day.

• I booked a plane ticket to fly from Midland to Houston.


More to follow...

It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast. -Julie Burchill

Decisions

Ok, so after I decided that I wanted to be a teacher in Korea, I had a few decisions to make:

1.  Hagwon (private school) or public school?-  I chose the hagwon for several reasons.  Namely smaller class size and higher salary.  Public schools tend to be more stable because they are regulated by the government and they also have more vacation time.  I just felt that a private school was a better fit for me.

2.  Which city?- I pretty much knew that I would end up in Seoul.  I know that there are some advantages to the smaller cities.  For one thing, you get a bonus just for living in a rural area.  I have never lived in a large city.  I don't even want to move to San Antonio because it's too big.  Seoul is different though.  The thing that worries me most about a large city is the driving, but in Seoul I will use public transportation to get everywhere.  I can't wait!
I've lived and visited overseas before and I know just how overwhelming it can be to not speak the local language.  At least in Germany, I knew some words!  In Seoul, many more people will speak English than in the outlying areas.  The resources alone make the city a better option.  I know that if I ever get homesick in Seoul I can find an Outback Steakhouse, Starbucks, Dunkin' Doughnuts, Pizza Hut, KFC, and COSTCO (!!!)

3.  Which Recruiter?-  I actually could have gone without a recruiter, but I decided it would be a little bit easier to find a job through one.  There are dozens that advertise on Dave's ESL cafe.  None of these charge the teachers for their services either.  I had researched several recruiting agencies and had narrowed it down to a couple.  How did I choose the winner?  Well I was thoroughly exploring the website when I clicked on the Contact Us page.  There was a little map that explained how to get to their office.  Turns out that they are around the corner from a store called...drum roll please...."LOTTERIA!"  Lotteria is my favorite Mexican game.  It's really like BINGO except that it uses pictures rather than numbers.  I used to love to practice my Spanish while playing this game.  So I figured it was a sign from the heavens and sent WorkNPlay Consulting an application!  Yes, I really AM that cheesy :)

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”   - H.L. Hunt

Why KOREA?!?

Para mi Becky:

This is the question that I am constantly getting asked and to this I answer:

Seoul at night (National Geographic)

Seoul again.

Jeju Island- Korea's "Hawaii" off the southern coast

cherry blossom trees!

beautiful detail on Jakwangsa Temple, Daejeon, South Korea (national geographic)

*None of these pictures are mine (I'm not in Korea yet duh!)

WHY NOT?

     I finally finished school and received my Elementary Education teaching degree and certificate in December and had to make the decision as to what to do next. My parents live in Germany and my mom had mentioned several times the idea of my teaching there. I was interested in one of the high-paying teaching jobs at an international school in Frankfurt.

     One day while at work at the hospital, one of my coworkers asked me where I was going to get a teaching job.  That conversation changed my life.  You see I am a firm believer that EVERYTHING happens for a reason.  I'm sure that some of my friends are sick of hearing me say that hehe.  Well, anyway at this point I mentioned the Germany thing.  Without skipping a beat, Chris said "You should teach in Korea!"  She told me about how she had a friend who had been living in South Korea and absolutely loves it.  I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "Um, no thank you!"  I had never really given much thought to Asia before.  At Chris's insistence I friended* her friend Erica on Myspace. 
    
     Erica was super sweet to respond with all of the information I needed.  At this point I still had doubts and thought that I would more than likely try to teach in Germany.  Erica had given me the link to her blog so I read the whole thing from beginning to end.  I'm sure I wasn't even halfway thru when I decided I wanted to seriously look into being an English teacher in Korea.  You can and should read her blog here:

http://www.ericaleavesamerica.blogspot.com/

     Ok, I could write loads more on this topic and I'm sure I will in future posts but I think this is enough for this one!
*(Spellchecker doesn't like my use of the word friended, but I'm sure that one will be added to the dictionaries soon enough.)

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. -Walt Disney

Testing...testing...First Post!!

So here goes nothing:  As you all know I will be moving to Korea very soon.  I wanted to write a blog to document my entire journey...good, bad and everything in between.  I decided to start before I leave so I can play around with some of the settings on this thing but I'll probably need my friend Erin to teach me a bunch of blogger secrets.  There are many, many steps to getting a teaching job in Korea and yesterday I completed one of them:  I signed my contract and sent all of my Visa documents to the recruiter!  Many more posts to follow (this is fun, might have to write another one tonight!)

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth