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...