Happy New Year - 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Happy New Year! Tonight we ate Korean food for the first time without someone who could translate for us. We decided to venture out on our own. It was an adventure. We looked around for a while and finally found a place about three blocks away. That was only after we had randomly walked around for about 2 miles. We just wanted to explore and get out of our apartment for a while. We haven't set up the internet yet and haven;t really purchased a lot for our place yet. It is kind of boring right now. I know it will be better once we get a few more things for our place. We also have a lot of planning for our classes on Monday. The only other thing that remains to be seen is whether or not there will be a foreign teacher meeting this weekend downtown. I haven't been by their facebook page in a while. We need to check it out soon.

For now, Happy New Year.
새해 복 많이 받으세요!

I know it is going to be exciting!

Hospital

So we woke up this morning and were met by Sean to be taken to the hospital so they could run tests and check out our status for our medical form required by immigration. We have to get this done before we can apply for our alien registration card. We went through quite a few hoops, but nothing to serious. They drew some blood, took a chest x-ray, height, weight, heart monitored, drug test, and a few others.

We started the process and got to the final interview when we were informed the doctor upstairs forgot to run one of the tests so we had to go all the way back upstairs strip down and have a heart monitor done. Finally after getting dressed again we went back to the original office for our interview. They asked us some questions and we left finally almost two hours later.

The upside of things is that during our tests it began to snow outside. Jack looked like a little kid. The expression on his face was priceless. My husband is a true Floridian. He has only seen snow one other time in his lifetime. He was trying to catch it on his tongue. It was hilarious.

After a full day, we are going to fill in for a few classes and then we are off to buy a few items for our place. Mostly necessities. We will get any luxury items after our first paycheck. ha ha I am nervous about the teaching as well, but I know it will be okay. :) More later.

We are here.

We arrived in Seoul early Monday morning and took a bus ride from the airport to our city. On the way we drove through beautiful mountains and tunnels, not that I was awake to witness any of it as I was completely unconscious in my seat knocked out from a Airborne cocktail and NyQuil. Apparently I have been sitting next to the sickest person in my vicinity. On the bus even the older gentleman sitting ahead of me sounded like he was going to hack up a lung.

When we arrived we were greeted at the airport by Sean, the same person who conducted our phone interview at the school. He took us out to a really great lunch and then took us to a really great hotel for the night because our apartment was in the process of being cleaned. We fell asleep at three in the afternoon Gwangju time. BIG mistake as we were up by three am and watched movies the whole night. We found a website online and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Sqeakual. We then met Sean again that next day and were taken out to another great lunch with Pizza. The pizza was interesting to say the least, but not entirely bad either. I enjoyed it along with the awesome seafood pasta. From me that means a lot because I do not like seafood, but it ROCKED!

After lunch, we went to see our school for the first time. We met the teacher we are taking the place of and got to ask a million questions. I think she was tired of us by the end of the day. haha We met our school director as well. He was really nice and we think we are going to get along very well. He and his wife were both very nice.

Later in the evening we moved into our apartment. The directors from the other campus dropped off some house warming gifts for us. They brought us some kitchen stuff as well as some nice bedding. It was very considerate of them. We finally got to bed around nine after we unpacked a little bit. It is starting to feel a bit more like home.

Goodbye everyone. We depart in just a few hours. We will arrive in Korea on Monday morning. I will update as soon as I am able to. It may be a while. I am sure we will be busy at first.

안녕 모두들. 우리는 단지 몇 시간에 출발합니다. 우리 한국은 월요일 아침에 도착하는 것입니다. 내가 마자 수있게 업데이 트됩니다. 그 동안 수있습니다. 난 우리가 처음에 바쁜이 되리라 확신합니다.



(For the above text I used Google translate. I am just hoping I did not inadvertently butcher sentence structure or use profane language by accident) haha



Farewell! 안녕히!

PACKING PHASE 2

Can i just say that Space Bags (Vacuum Storage Bags) are a gift from God. I have packed twice what i thought I could in the allotted amount of baggage for our airline and it is all within weight range. The bags are deceiving because they are small, but still heavy. It through me for a loop at first. I then began to pack them in the smaller suitcase which now weigh fifty pounds. Our large suitcase was used for our random things like shoes, makeup, some of my favorite shampoo, and a few other things we needed.

Packing so far includes:

Clothes
Coats/Jackets
Swimwear/Sunscreen
Some toiletries
Shoes
A few Hats
Camera
Laptops

Let Phase Two commence. I have been scouring through our house looking for items we have forgotten or couldn't locate. I am just about at my wits end for all of this packing nonsense. I wish could just take a t-shirt, a hoodie and a pair of tennis shoes and be set. I however know that my exceptionally girly and needy side just wouldn't stand for that. If ever there was a time I wish I, who is not very high maintenance to begin with, were even lower maintenance. Oh well, until then, the packing continues...

OH MY...

So much to do. My to do list is stacking up. I was looking over what I need to accomplish tomorrow and the list is staggering. I cannot do anything after that because most major businesses are closed for the holidays. While I am excited and thankful for Christmas, it is beginning to stress me out. haha. Tomorrow begins with another fateful trip to the dentist, a mad fury of transferring, paying, and managing bills, Cancelling phone services, and about a million other things. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I have to pack. :D What a day! Now if I can just fall asleep I will be doing good. It is 2:23 in the morning and I have to be at the dentist at 8:00 am. I can tell this day is going to be a crazy one...

Working on my Korean

Well over the last few days I have come to the realization that I have no clue as to a basic working knowledge of Korean. I have been working on my alphabet and basic words and phrases, but I am afraid I am butchering the language. Hopefully by this weekend I will have at least a little bit more down.

Here is a great site I found on another teachers blog that has been very helpful:

http://langintro.com/kintro/first.htm

Our departure is in five days. Wow. Just wow. I finished purchasing our last few necessary items for departure and will hopefully be finished packing within the next day or so.

On a side note it is also my two year anniversary today. I wonder how you say Happy Anniversary in Korean. Unfortunately, I have a dentist appointment following my checkup yesterday when I found out I had a couple cavities. I was informed by my dentist I should get them taken care of before we leave. I also need a cleaning but I figured I could get that done in Korea. Oh well, enough for now.

Consulate Interview

We scheduled our interview for next week on Wednesday. We are SO excited. We should have our visa by next thursday and are scheduled for departure on December 27th just after Christmas. I can't wait! 16 DAYS!

The Visa Numbers Are Here!!!

It seems like it has taken forever, but the entire process has not taken that long at all. We received our visa numbers today from our contact with our school in Korea. We are so excited. There are only two more steps before we can leave for Korea. We are going to have to send more paperwork, then go in for our interview. Once that is completed they mail out passports back and we leave for the great city of Gwangju. It seems like the long process has suddenly sped up a lot faster than I am perhaps mentally and even physically ready to deal with. I am getting a bit overwhelmed with my to do list over the next two weeks. All of this Korea stuff, packing, visiting my family in Atlanta, and about a million other things. Also, we got another nice surprise in the mail today. Our copy of Rosetta Stone (we ordered levels 1 & 2) came in today. We are off to buy Jack's new laptop tomorrow and when we do, we will install it and get started learning the new language. Jack keeps joking saying that I am going to learn the language and he is just going to tote me around with him as his translator so he doesn't have to learn as much. I am simply not having that though. I am going to make him do his lessons as well. That way if he needs to find a bathroom or something he can do it on his own. haha.

Crystal

I am slowly on my way to becoming an alien

HAHA Though some may debate I have already achieved that status, we are well on our way to being officially recognized as so though the SOuth Korean Government. Our School director in Korea has submitted all of our documentation to the Korean Immigration services and we should have our visa number back within the next week or so. The process normally take two weeks from when the documents are submitted. From there we will begin the second set of instructions including a visit to Atlanta for our final interview. From there our plane ticket will be purchased and our visa will be issued to us. :D I am counting down the days until our depature.

Delivered.

Well the word is our package was delivered early Monday morning to the family of the director of our school. We should be receiving our visa number information within a couple of weeks. From there, we will fill out a great deal more of paperwork plus go to Atlanta for our interview at the Korean consulate. It works out well since my parent live close by. We plan to go up and spend the week with them, have our interview, and say goodbye to our amazing dog. Jack's cousins live up there as well and have agreed to look after him while we are away. I am so sad, but we know it is going to better for him than being put in his kennel during the day while we are away at school. He will have a big yard to play in and he will have the pugs to keep him company. :)

Take that CVS!!!

We finished the first step of the process today. After collecting a massive amount of paperwork and incessantly calling our college and emailing our recruiter we are done. Today after a small passport photo fiasco we finally sent the documents off from the FedEx location in Jacksonville.

The passport fiasco began when we pulled into CVS off Baymeadows. We walked in and got our pictures taken and were then told it would be thirty minutes because the printing machine was out of order. We thought to ourselves, "Gee, you could of told us that before, but we just kept quiet and went to wait in the car."

One hour later we walked back in to check the status. We were told it would be any minute. Another twenty minutes later we quietly walked out and crossed the street to go to Walgreens (why are these two always across the street from each other?) Upon arrival we got our pictures taken and told it should only take ten minutes. About fifteen or twenty minutes later, we walked back up to the counter and no one was there. We just assumed she was still working on them. Five more minutes passed and the manager came up shocked and asked us if we were still waiting. He went behind the counter and fished out our pictures. Finally we had finished gathering all our documents! The pictures only took and hour and forty-five minutes. We were so glad to be done we just said thanks and left. From there we drove a block down the road to the FedEx/Kinkos to send our package. When we walked in, we realized there was a photo background to the side. We could have done our photos there and sent the package all within a few minutes of each other. Wow. Finding it a bit comical at this point, we briefly explained our laughter to the sales clerk. She replied, "Almost two hours! What were they doing? Sketching your photos by hand?" Thanks for that. :)

One more short set of paperwork and about seventy dollars later we sent our documents.
The most empowering moment was during our twenty minute drive back home the original lady from CVS called to inform us our pictures were ready. (This was almost two and a half hours later) We quickly informed her we went somewhere else and she could toss them. She then sounded frustrated like somehow we put her out. So rude. Jack promptly hung up without another thought. Take that CVS. :)

and thus our E-2 visa is well on its way...

Raging hurricanes cant stop us...

Today we made a fun drive to Tallahassee. By fun I mean we drove three hours through hurricane and then tropical storm "Ida." Why you ask? We did so because we had to go and pick up our Criminal Background Check. Normally we wouldn't have to, but we found out this week that the US Postal service is still re-routing our mail to North Carolina. Once we picked up our form we stopped by Wachovia to get it notarized. When the notary looked over he realized the FDLE had already notarized it. From there Jack got the idea that it had stopped raining so maybe we should walk the block down to the Secretary of State. Little did we know that it, among the next two places we walked, were the incorrect offices. After one fall in front of the capitol and a near slip on a storm drain we finally made it to another branch where we were informed it was actually more than ten miles away to the correct location. AS soon as we heard this we had to hoof it back to our car because our meter was almost out. Once we finally made it back to our car and were covered in sweat because of the terrible Ida induced humidity.

Finally, we drove down past the capitol building and found the official office and got our C.R.C. apostilled. We finished and decided as a reward we were going to go to Olive Garden. Two bowls of pasta, a salad and a soup, and a desert of Zepoli (Awesome donuts and chocolate sauce) later we headed back home. We are finally finished collecting our initial documents!

A tank of gas: $30.00
Snacks for the road: $5.00
Criminal Record Check: $28.00
Apostille: $20.00
Olive Garden: $35.00
Having all our documents together: PRICELESS!!!

Our Contract.

So it is officially official. haha We are definitely going to Korea. We signed our contract and we are on our way in the process. Now we are just waiting on our background check to come back from the F.D.L.E. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement). We have had some weird mailing issues so the department is actually going to hold it for us. Apparently when we filled out a change of address almost two years ago for something else, it never left the Postal services computer records. Thus, we have been having all of our mail re-routed to an address we haven't lived at for four months without our knowledge or consent. When the background check is finished, we will pick it up in person. Then, we will quickly get it notarized and have it apostilled and sent out from there. I am so worried about this whole process. I just don't want to screw up any of the details. :) There are so many things that have to be done just so and I am even more OCD about these than ever before. Our poor recruiter. Cindi from Teach ESL Korea has been helping us through the visa process. The other day I sent her an e-mail that was comprised of about twenty questions. haha She will be glad when we do go to Korea I imagine so we will quit blowing up her inbox. :) Thanks Cindi! Sorry for my obnoxiously long emails.

On another note I am starting to get tickled by the fact of how excited Jack is about the whole process. He has been running around in an almost giddy state the last few days. I am glad to see him so excited about something. When we left our last job due to some varying issues we were just not doing well. It is nice to see the fire back in his eyes again about being able to do something he both enjoys and loves.

Done.

It is done. We have accepted a position in Gwangju, South Korea at the Hans school. We are so excited about the opportunity. Now the real work begins. We are going to be scurrying around like crazy for the next two months. We have most of our visa documents in place and are waiting on our background checks to come through. Luckily we live very close to the state capitol so we may just drive over and get them apostilled in person to speed up the visa process. :) I am thinking of all that is going to transpire over the next month and it is crazy. We are most likely selling our car, iphones, etc. Figuring out a way to pay the bills from across the world. As well as about a million other things. Korea here we come!

Phone Interview Part 2

Finally the call came. We are thinking that it went pretty well. It was very informal but not entirely short. We talked for some time about the school, class control, planning, etc. Overall, I am freaking out still, now just in a different way. Our interviewer ad to get in touch with his boss and tell him how things went. I hope that we made an ok impression. I am very please with the new recruiter. I haven;t sent a single -mail yet that hasn't been answered within the hour of me sending it. In comparison to others I have worked with, that is ridiculously amazing. With others it has been a week, days, etc.

The interesting thing was our interviewer was brand new to the phone interview ordeal. We were his official first interview. He was very kind and we seemed to get along pretty well. I am anxious to hear back from him once he contacts his boss. :) We should know whether they are interested within the week.

The morning interview-Part 1

Well some things have halted our progression with Alphabet Street School. We are still interested, but there has been a delay of communication with them as they were on break last night. During our waiting period, we were contacted by a secondary recruiter and have been put in for a position in Gwangju, which is farther to the south than Seoul. We are right this moment sitting on the couch waiting for the call from the school director at the Han. I never really expected things to progress this quickly in this process. In all honesty, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I know it is going to be worth it when we make our way to Korea. This morning we woke up, put on some laid back music and are just trying to relax as best we can. It is about ten minutes past the time we were originally told that we would be getting a phone call. That is even worse for all the suspense I am currently feeling. What if they don't call? What if everything falls through? What if they just hate us? haha My mind is freaking out.

waiting...

Still waiting. We should be getting the call today or tomorrow to see if the school is interested. We are so anxious. We have been checking our e-mail religiously the last few days. The suspense is getting to us...

Paperwork, then more paperwork... (and then some more)

So apparently my blog was bugging out so I had to delete my previous posts and re-post them, thus they all share the same date however the others are from the past few days. Sorry.

Today there was a long process that began to unfold that I don't think I quite prepared myself for. I began the morning ordering numerous copies of our transcripts. That was followed by a series of about fifty phone calls to find out where to go to get our fingerprints taken and how exactly to get a criminal background check on a federal level. The next set of calls and a fax came when trying to obtain a copy of Jack's diploma. He has somehow, in the midst of moving, lost his original copy.

The process seems to be going along pretty well as of now, but I am a bit overwhelmed by all of the work that is going to have to go into getting our visas. I am most concerned about our puppy at this point though. I am sad we may have to leave him in the states. We could make arrangements to take him with us, but we are afraid it may not be in his best interest. I want to make sure he will have place to run and have someone to take care of him during the day. We are afraid our hours during the day would be so much that he wouldn;t have anyone to watch over him during the day. We are currently accepting applications to puppy sit for the upcoming year. We will provide funds for his food and vet exams/shots/etc. Let us know.

Getting there...

Getting there...

Today we finished the second of three interviews with our recruiter to go to Korea and teach. He informed us of a great couple position at a school in Seocho-Gu, Seoul (which is basically South Central Seoul). So far we are really pleased with what we have heard about the position. We have looked over the specs and so far so good. The salary is fair and the benefits are very nice.  We are awaiting our individual interview with the school itself. It is called Alphabet Street School.  You can check out the school's website at: Alphabet Street and you can check out the location of the school at: Seocho-gu

I have been researching information on the school and I have found some really positive reviews as some really negative. The negative reviews all seem a bit jaded. I think a problem for many people who decide to teach ESL is that do not understand they are integrating themselves into another culture, not the other way around. You cant expect to be treated the same way you would here. The structure of leadership, expectations, and simple manners are all inexplicably different than in the states. My point is this: You get out of most experiences what you put in.

Lets just say we are ready to get started.

And so it begins...

My name is Crystal. This year has been one that has been marked by transition in both my husband's life as well as my own. We have moved around frequently, changed jobs several times, and have even added an addition to our family (a puppy named Eli). You thought I meant a baby didn't you. :-) Along the journey we decided we were pretty much up for anything at this point in our lives. We began looking for options around September when we lost our jobs up in NC. We looked into every possible opportunity. These ranged from going back to school to possibly getting work locally in Jacksonville.

We came across the idea of becoming a teacher directly after we graduated from Southeastern UNiversity n 2008. We toyed with the idea of teaching ESL in Japan, but nothing serous ever really came from it. Recently we contacted a friend from school who was currently in Korea teaching with his wife in Seoul. We began to look at the options in Korea and decided it would be a great opportunity for us. We have begun the process. We looked online at a few different websites about locating jobs for ESL in Korea. Dave's ESL Cafe, ATC recruiting, and several others.

We decided ATC was the way to go for our family. We have been pursuing different options throughout Korea and have possibly loacted a few that appear to be perfect for us. As we embark on this journey, this blog serves to be a future reminder of our travels as well as possibly a guide for others who are looking to get similar work in Korea. We are so excited about getting the opportuniy to travel for a year of our loves doing something we love with each other. Keep us n your prayers, as this can be a very confusing and long process.  Thanks. More to come in the near future.