It is official! I just got a flight booked for Seoul Incheon International. I arrive there at 6 pm on Sunday August 21st. I leave American soil the day before, Saturday the 20th at 2:40 pm. That's eleven hours and 20 minutes of travel. I will be traveling to another country! I will be living in Mungyeong, South Korea, a smallish town in the very middle of South Korea located in the mountains. It is about three and a half hours away from Seoul.
If anyone is interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungyeong <------ is the place that I will be living. :)
It's very difficult to start something (a blog) that has been going on for several months. I've been putting this off, but I guess now is better than never. I've finally decided to make my first blog and tell everyone how I ended up deciding to travel and teach abroad.
The vision that I had for living and traveling abroad was far different from the process that I've actually been going through: Oh, I'll apply, I'll go, and within no time, I'll be off in another country! Just like in the movies! If the people in the movies decide to go travel somewhere...they do it. People just up and go...right? Wrong!
It's been a long and tiring process. One that forces me to repeatedly question if this is what I really want to do. If traveling, going to a foreign place where I wont know anybody, wont know the culture, and being all by myself...is really what I want to do...well, this process certainly has me thinking about it.
The first thing I should talk about is how the idea of going to South Korea came to me. As many know, I graduated WWU with a degree in English Literature. My main goal career-wise is being able to get my masters (possibly my phd?) in English and being able to teach at college level. I was about to graduate with a degree where you either go to grad school to apply it or jobs are very scarce and rare. I was determined to come out of my undergrad career with a job in mind. I did every little thing that I could, I went to career seminars, panels, and fairs. That was the one good thing that I remember about being an English major. I was fortunate enough to have many professors help me with a career in mind and enable myself to apply my degree to a job. During spring quarter, I went to the annual Western spring career fair. I dressed up nice and walked around with my resume, looking at all the different opportunities. I ended up applying to several jobs (I had two job offers after the fair, it was nice!) and found out about the program called Adventure Teaching.
Adventure Teaching is a program specific towards recruiting English teachers and sending them to South Korea to teach English as a second language. I spoke to one of the recruiters at the job fair and took a pamphlet home with me. I remember thinking that this sounded like the perfect opportunity. Something inside of me kept going towards the pamphlet, I kept doing research about studying abroad, and living life in South Korea. I instantly fell in love. I wrote a cover letter, filled out the application, sent in my picture, along with my resume. Afterwards I was interviewed by one of the placement coordinators at Adventure Teaching. We talked for a bit and it seemed like the right fit for me.
After accepting the job offer, it was time to get the ball rolling. It's a bit of a process for a visa. First thing I had to do was get my fingerprints done for a criminal background check. I went to the sheriff's office for that and sent that in May. I had to wait until July for this to come back. When July finally rolled around, I had to get both my criminal background check and bachelor's degree notorized and apostilled. Notorizing something means creating an authentic copy, then I had to send it somewhere to get it apostilled, which means that it turns the authentic copy into a document that is recognized overseas. Instead of having the actual document, they are just copies that are recognized and can still work in another country.
Meanwhile, as I'm gathering these documents, my placement coordinator, Reuben, was sending me packets of how to prepare to depart, what to expect, learning Korean, Korean etiquette, culture shock, anything that you can think of to prepare me to go live in another country. Also, he was busy trying to find openings for teaching jobs for myself. He found this really nice boarding school called Global Vision Christian School. I interviewed with the principal and let's just say that we were on the phone for two whole hours talking about life in Korea, why I wanted to teach there, and how I could be a good fit. He really liked me! He offered me the job instantly...with two letters of recommendations. Those I got from my manager June and my professor from my senior seminar. I even emailed two other teachers that currently work there and they said that they really like it, which made me even more excited to go. Also, I get to create my own curriculum. Can you imagine that? Creating your own curriculum. I already know what books I'll be teaching. :) Ahhh!
So back to my visa...I had to gather the notorized and apostilled copies of my criminal background check, degree, application for E2 Visa (a working visa), my resume, two passport photos, a photocopy of my passport, and a health statement...all of these together sent to South Korea to immigration to get my Visa Issuance number. This took the most time...which was a bit stressful considering that when I accepted the job with the school the principal had said that they wanted me to start by the 22nd of August. Usually visas take at least a month to process. I had to do all of this within two weeks! Needless to say, I somehow managed to do it. Once I got my Visa Issuance number from Korea, I went ahead and sent in my application for a Visa with my passport, resume, my university transcript, another passport photo (I had to take a lot of these...), and money to the Korean Consulate of Seattle. I sent this in earlier this week and I JUST got my passport today with the fancy visa attached to it. It looks so cool!
So I feel like I sped through all of this process...but believe me, it's long and stressful to get out of the country. Let's not forget expensive! My parents have been very helpful with the money and my new credit card is getting quite the dent.
It's very difficult to imagine that I will be leaving the country for a year. When I packed my clothes on Monday with my mother, it was so hard to decide what to bring and what not to bring. Both the school and Adventure Teaching sent me a packet on what to pack and what not to pack. Clothes for an entire school year with all four seasons. Believe me, I realized that I didn't have many clothes to wear that's 'business casual' or 'professional.' The dress code at the school is three days out of the week is 'business casual' while two days the kids wear their uniforms and I have to dress very professional. Ugh, let's just say that I had to buy a lot of new clothes. I TRIED my hardest not to pack too many clothes since I hear that the shopping there is awesome. I can't wait to see what clothes they have there in South Korea!
One of the main reasons why I wanted to do this is because I hear that it's very easy to save up money. I want to pay off my credit card and my loans from school. When I go there the school will be paying for everything (they reimburse me for the flight) including rent and they set me up with my own furnished apartment. The only thing that I will be paying for is my own cell phone, any other extra shopping such as clothes or cosmetics, and 30 dollars in utilities. If I complete my contract, I get an extra month bonus. So it just seems so smart to do!
I guess it is just starting to sink in that no matter what, I know I will never be able to fully mentally prepare myself for what is to come on Saturday. I will be traveling by myself to another country and it will be a huge transition. I will be creating my own curriculum and teaching by myself. Everything will be twice as hard. There will be culture shock. But you know what? IT WILL BE WORTH IT! It will be an adventure. I am very determined to make the most out of this year I will be in South Korea. I graduated with a degree in English. I WILL use it. I guess what I kept thinking in my head is I wanted to do something with my degree. That and combined with the dreaded feeling of going back to Kitsap county. I didn't want it. I didn't want to be reminded of my ex-boyfriend, I didn't want to go back to the mall. I was hellbent on it. Even it that means going to another country. Even if that means growing up and being an adult in a foreign place. I will take lots of pictures and write on this often.
I just hope that I get to see my family once over the year I am gone. I will miss them terribley. The holidays will probably be the worst, but it's okay...I have skype. I have their love and through their strength, I will get through this. It will be awesome!
So this is the start...I hope to continue and keep up with this. Until next time, I will probably be blogging in another country! Woaaahh!
