Day of Traveling

6:00 AM (on the 7th, Pacific Time)
Goleta wakes me up and I am unable to fall back asleep.

8:00 AM
Ken Lee calls and informs me that he convinced the Adventure Teaching guy to meet me at the airport. Huzzah!

11:30 AM
I board a plane to Seattle. There are many screaming babies on this plane.

12:10 PM
Plane lands in Seattle. We were only in the air for 30 minutes, and we never got high enough so that I couldn't see the cars on I-5. What a pointless flight!

12:50 PM
I finally find Asiana airlines and get my boarding pass. I buy snacks and water. I wait.

3:20 PM
I board the plane for Korea. Still not really freaking out. I'm too short to put my stuff in the overhead storage, so a Korean-American dude helps me.

3:50 PM
Plane takes off. I'm sitting in the middle row of four seats. No one sits next to me, so I get 4 seats to lay down and sleep! Yay!


3:55 PM
An elderly man slides into the seat next to me and starts speaking Chinese. He shows me two tickets and points to the front of the plane. I smile and nod, and then he leaves and comes back with his wife. I finally realize that I'm being kicked out of my seat. Fortunately, they had a window seat, and I still have two seats to myself. Still, how boring.

4:30 PM
Dinner time! I have to choose between the American meal and the Korean meal. The American meal is steak so I choose the Korean. It is bibimbap. I have to read the instructions on how to eat it... :D

5:00 PM
I watch Pirates of the Caribbean. The new one. It sucks. I fall asleep.

????
I wake up and we are flying over Japan. I guess I slept for about 7 hours.

????
Second meal. It is dry pasta with dry chicken and flavorless pasta salad...and 4 small pieces of Melon. I eat it and feel sick.

7:05 PM (on the 8th, Korea time)
I get off the plane. Korean-American dude helps me not get lost. Customs is fast and easy.

7:20-ish PM
I exit into the lobby. I look for signs that say Taren, but no luck. Then I see a sign that say 'Karen (or Taren?)'. I awkwardly go stand by it. Suddenly a man is there! It is a Mr. Choi! Hooray!

He drives me to Seoul. It is a pleasant drive.

In Seoul, we get out and look for a place to eat. Mr. Choi informs me that I'm acting like a 4-year-old by the way I keep pointing at Korean letters and trying to read them, and that this somehow makes him look like a pedophile. This is entertaining for me, so I do it more. Poor Mr. Choi.

Then we eat hamburgers!

9:50 PM
He takes me to the bus station. There is an 11:00 bus to Jinju, but the only seat is that awkward middle on in the back. I buy a ticket for the 11:40 bus, the last one of the evening.

10:00-11:20 PM
Mr. Choi and I wait. He informs me that it is hard to get Koreans to make eye contact with strangers on the street. I attempt to disprove this theory by staring at the eyes of everyone who walks by. It seems to be pretty true, but I definitely got a lot of quick glances disguised as looking at the building behind me. It's entertaining because I'm tired. And weird. Mr. Choi smokes 13 cigarettes. I tell him he will die.

11:30 PM
Asian toilets. I don't know why I was surprised. But all went well.

11:40 PM
I get on the bus and say goodbye to Mr. Choi. He says the bus ride will be about 3-4 hours. The driver does not speak English. Gulp!

3:something AM
I think I'm in Jinju, but am not really sure. I ask the bus driver when I am supposed to get off. He cringes away from me and says 'next.' Geez.

The bus stops again, so I get off. I am instantly surrounded by Taxi drivers speaking Korean to me. I stare at them bewildered. One of them takes my suitcase and says 'where to?' I look around for Mr. Lee (not that I know what he looks like) but do not see anyone looking for an American. I take my suitcase inside and sit down. The taxi drivers keep looking at me. Then one of them says 'telephone, telephone!' Another one comes over to me with a cell phone. I show him Mr. Lee's number and he calls it. Then he points at me to stay. I am a silly American. It was nice of him though.

A man calls 'Taren?' across the bus station. Relief! Mr. Lee drives me to my apartment, which is huge and amazing even though it is very obvious a boy lived here before me.

4:00 AM
Mr. Lee leaves me to sleep, and says he will show me around tomorrow. He says he likes my positive energy. I actually am pretty positive when I am tired.

I shower because I smell of sweat (because it's humid here!) and cigarette smoke (from Mr. Choi :P ).

5:00 AM
I lay down on my sheet-less mattress with only the one blanket I brought and Cammy (because I am a child). It is so hot it doesn't really matter.

9:00 AM
I wake up and cannot for the life of me fall back asleep.

11:00 AM
I blog.

11:30 AM
I discover air conditioning. Maybe I can sleep more now?!

But probably not.

More updates soon.

Meows!

Adios!

I don't know how to say goodbye in Korean yet.

I'm getting on the plane today!

I'm not too nervous at the moment. I was nervous two days ago when I received my vague instructions from AT, but my dad's Korean logger friend apparently called them all and now someone will be at the airport? Maybe?

We shall see...

If no one is there then I have to somehow get two hours south to Jinju. Yayyyyyyy...But I'm just not thinking about that yet. I'm still worried about my suitcase being too heavy.

I'll probably start freaking out once the plane starts to descend though.

I'm assuming if I curl up in a ball at the airport and start to cry someone will help me. :D

...Wish me luck!

1 week to-do list!

I BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET!!!!

I think. The nameless Korean man on the phone said I did. $790. Sheesh. All because my parents wanted me to fly out of Portland instead of Seattle.

But no worries, I'm out of here in one week! There are four main things I want to accomplish in that time.

1. Get my suitcase under 40 lbs.
Yes, I know the rule is 50, but you musn't forget that I am very small, and 50 lbs is more than half of my weight. In Mexico my suitcase was only 45 lbs, and I was running alongside the conveyor belt trying to pull my suitcase off until someone decided to help the poor tiny white girl. I do not want that experience again, especially with my permanently damaged wrist.

So yeah. One suitcase, 40 lbs. I'm not really bringing anything anyway.

2. Learn Korean
This may come as a surprise to you, but I do not actually know Korean. Pretty much all I can do is say hello and type my name in Korean (Xpfjs). I apologize for deceiving you all.

However, I recently learned from watching Korean dramas that 'YAH' is HEY. So I know what to say if a creeper follows me home, or when someone emotionally turns and walks away from me.

3. Get taller
One of the reasons I went through AT in the first place was because of the career fair at my university. A man was there recruiting for Hess schools in Taiwan, and as I was asking him questions he eyed me up and down and condescendingly asked if I would be able to control a classroom full of students. I informed him that I taught teenagers in Mexico and did just fine (although 'fine' may have been a bit of an exaggeration).

I decided that man was a jerk and said goodbye. I headed to the next stall where there was a girl with a simple poster board that said "Adventure Teaching in Korea." She was nice, and kind of short too. I talked to her, and she told me I would be amazing. So I applied. :)

I have a lot of worries spinning through my head right now, but one that is probably unique to me is that people (aka, my boss and other teachers) will judge me on my lack of altitude. As always. I am terrified that I am going to show up and they will wonder why this teenage student has come to teach for them.

I don't think height really has anything to do with how well a teacher can control a classroom. I mean, the intimidation factor only gets you so far. If I have trouble controlling these kids, it will be because I'm a bad teacher, not because I'm short. :D

Still, it would be nice to reach 5' within the next week.

4. Remember how to teach children
Hahahah....so Mexico was over a year ago, and I have been out of school for what feels like forever. At this point I am entirely convinced that I have forgotten everything I ever knew about English and how to teach it. I don't even know where my textbooks are, although supposedly I do not need any.

For this, I don't really know if there's anything I can do. I just hope that when I'm in front of the class with a textbook in hand, it will all come flooding back.

I hope they listen to me. :/


At any rate, I leave September 7th. Wish me luck!

Concerning Time Travel

Making travel arrangements is a bit complicated with the changes in time zones.

Korea is 18 hours ahead of Washington State. I think. If I'm wrong about that, don't hate me.

But basically, if you add four hours to our time and change the A.M. to P.M., that's what time it is in Korea. Tomorrow.

So while AT is trying to make travel arrangements for me, they essentially have to send messages back in time to me, so the message arrives a day before they sent it.

Contrarily, when I send an email to Korea, it goes to the future, meaning in a split second it arrives 18 hours after I sent it!

This can be problematic for making deadlines.

For instance, I spent all day refreshing my email to see if they had decided on my plane tickets yet, forgetting that most of my day is their early morning. Not until 1:00 AM my time, which is late-ish afternoon in Korea did they send me a travel itinerary.

The payment for this itinerary is due September 1st. At first I thought, that's fine, I have a couple days. Then I realized that if it is midnight oN the 31st now, then in a few short hours, it will already be the 1st in Korea!!!

AHHHHHHH!

So, without having time to see if I will even be able to get a ride to the airport on the day they chose, I hastily replied saying it looked great!

I don't even care if they're making me take a 50 minute flight from Portland to Seattle. Whatever!

18 hours later (2 minutes) they praised me for my speedy reply and informed me that the traveling agency would call to make payment arrangements early in the morning.

...But if I hadn't been awake at 1 AM to reply to their email, what would have happened? September 1st would be long gone before August even ended!

:O

Time travel is dangerous.

Use it well!

(sorry for the sleepy ramble...)

VISA UPDATE

I have it.


I'm not sure what I imagined a visa would look like, but it turns out it's a sticker on the first page of my passport.


A big sticker.


:) <---- (Happy for sticker).


Now, I am merely waiting to hear about plane tickets. Could be leaving in 1-2 weeks!


:D <---- (Happy for no more Battle Ground).

How much does it cost to go teach in Korea?

On websites of agencies that recruit English teachers overseas, there are 3 main points they advertise:

1. Gain Teaching experience!!
2. Adventure! Travel!! Experience Culture!!!
3. MAKE MONEY with ANY DEGREE!!!!!!

While those first two points are what attracted me to teaching overseas, the third one is what steered me towards Korea.

Things that KOREAN recruiting agencies advertise:
You can go teach overseas with NO EXPERIENCE!
You will receive FREE HOUSING.
The school even pays for your PLANE TICKET!
Korea also offers new teachers more than ANY OTHER COUNTRY!
You can even save enough to PAY OFF YOUR LOANS!


However, what they do not advertise is the financial investment you must give to the process.

I really hate the process.

Here is a summary of what I have spent so far. It could differ from state to state, and would have been slightly less if the FBI hadn't messed up.

Gathering visa documents
Notarized copy of diploma.......................................$40
Apostille for diploma from WA Sec. of State.....$15
4 Passport Photos......................................................$10
Fingerprint cards......................................................$20
FBI Background Check..........................................$18
Apostille for FBI Check from Dep. of State........$8
Official transcript...................................................$10
The visa itself...........................................................$45

Mailing this crap around the country
USPS Priority.........................................................................$25
USPS Express (for when I was running out of time)....$80
UPS my documents to Korea.............................................$65

Oh, and by the way...
You need to buy your plane ticket, which will be reimbursed with your first paycheck.
Also, since you won't get paid for a month, you should take $500-1000 in cash (converted to Korean won) to survive the first month (buy cell phone, apartment supplies, etc).

So, is teaching in Korea a good way to pay off student loans as advertized? Only if you can scrape up enough cash to actually GET THERE! :)

Taren's Korea Trip FAQ

You all ask me the same things.

Q: What are you going to do in Korea?
A: I will teach English to small children.

Q: What grade will you be teaching?
A: Theoretically I will be teaching ages 8 to 12 in small evening classes outside of their normal school day. Yes, I am aware that this could be very sketch.

Q: Why Korea?
A: Why not?

Q: North Korea or South Korea?
A: I hate you.

Q: Where in Korea?
A: Jinju. Yes, I know you've never heard of it.

Q: I bet Koreans will be the same size as you, huh?
A: No. I am still miraculously short. (see below)



Q: Can you speak Korean?
A: Yes. I can say 'My name is Xpfjs,' and also that I am not an elephant.

Q: How long are you staying?
A: One year. No, I will not be coming back for Christmas.

Q: Won't you be lonely?
A: Yes, because you will all forget to email/skype/im/facebook/google+ me. :'(

Q: What made you want to do this?
A: I forget.

Q: Do you like Korean food?
A: Dunno. Never had any.

Q: Who else is going with you?
A: ME!

Q: When are you leaving?
A: DAFsdkfahsd;fklasdjdklfjsi;whsdflydas;dlkasjdaskldja;dwijioyqen,cvnxuoieyqwiyqiuwbsk