Change of Plans

Steps to become a teacher in Korea

1. Interview with a recruiter in the US

2. Interview with schools in Korea

3. Accept the job you want

4. Get fingerprinted and send it to the FBI

5. Drive to your state capital to get an apostille (that was 9 hrs of driving for me)

6. Pay way too much to FedEx a bunch of paperwork to immigration in Korea

7. Get approved by immigration in Korea

8. Apply for a visa and mail docs to the nearest consulate

9. Get your passport back with the visa inside!

10. Pack your life into 100 lbs worth of luggage- ugh

11. Buy a ticket!

12. Get on the plane!

So I’ve been doing really well and I got all my stuff done. I’ve had my visa for a few weeks. I bought my ticket. I’m totally packed. I could leave now if I needed to.

BUT last night my recruiter called- at 10pm. Strange. He told me that the school I was going to be working at had to cut back the number of teachers in the fall…and I was the one they would cut =/ I was bummed… really bummed.

This school that I was originally working at is the same school my friend Tommy works at- and my friend Jamie lives near by in the same city. One of the big reasons why I was going was because I would be near my friends.

My recruiter offered me another job at the next city north of Suwon (where my original school is) called Anyang City right away. I can be in Suwon in 25 mins via metro…not so bad I guess. I’ve decided there has to be a good reason behind this. I don’t really understand why yet, but I trust that it will be good. I am really close to Seoul (only like 20mins via metro) and I can still hangout with my friends.

AND I’m not teaching middle school anymore- I’ll be teaching elementary- which was my preference originally =) so I’m excited.

I knew this was going to be an adventure, and adventures never go exactly as planned, or they aren’t really adventures- so the adventure starts NOW! I’m excited!

The "A" is the city where I'll be living now- halfway between Seoul and Suwon

Downtown

Anyang City

my new home

PS- the city has mountains on all 4 sides- I'm ok with that =)