The Process

I decided that I was going to apply to teach in Korea after a minor failure applying to Japan and finding out that I wasn't a total reject as a candidate on my own merits. When I applied I called home and asked my Mother to find my birth certificate. She couldn't so I ordered a new one from the State of New York online. They sent it to my house and I hastily had my Mom fax it to Raleigh and I sent it to the Japanese Embassy in DC to be considered. Well long story short my number wasn't on the list so I moved on slowly at first but then with more pace. I ordered another birth certificate so I could get a passport and when it arrived I actually looked at it and saw that it was a transcript and not an actual copy.

So all that happened in the last quarter, except the getting a new certificate and passport thing which was around February/March of this year and it was coming up on recruiting and application time for teaching abroad since most everyone starts in August. I contacted a recruiter and they took me and said I was in their program and they would help me find a job, well I turned in an application and got an interview a few weeks later knocked that out and at the end of it they offered me a job where I requested, Chungcheongnam-do, which will be referred to as Chungnam from now on in this blog.

RIght now, I am in a big league holding pattern, as I said I sent my documents to the ROK. I had to get some things done to do this like go to Raleigh and visit the Secretary of States office but also a chance to see some friends which is always nice. I also bought a handful of Transcripts from the school that I needed to send in my packet and also to the Consulate in Atlanta to get a visa. Anyway back to the original point of this paragraph, my recruiter says that I shouldn't expect to hear anything for "a couple of months". That was 2 weeks ago but I haven't heard anything and oh by the way that 2 weeks has felt like 2 months, I've kinda got a job that is awesome but wearing me out. I'm ready to go I just wish it wasn't still 14 weeks and oh 2 days or so until I could possibly step on a plane then the 18-30 hours of travel and arrive in Incheon for orientation.

I truly get giddy thinking about it and even my brother-in-law keeps saying "it'll be here before I know it", which would be true if I could sleep walk my way through the next 3 1/2 months.

Oh well.