Interview with a Consulate

Yesterday, I overcame my final obstacle in getting into Korea. I know, it was a long and arduous journey, but after a series of Herculean tasks of mental, physical, and spiritual fortitude, I have it. Behold! The Visa!!!


(not sure what's sensitive information, so covered up a few important-looking things)

What final, death-defying hurdle did I overcome to receive such a fabled treasure? The INTERVIEW!!!

Essentially, the interview consisted of a person from the consulate reading my application form and then posing that which I had already written in the form of a question to myself, i.e. "So you're working for the Chung Dahm Institute?", to which I would reply, "Yes." Again, "Wow, so you went to school at Berkeley?" "Yes." "What did you study?" "Psychology." As it clearly states in the section marked Major. Again, I ask, What purpose does this serve? Maybe if I were an ill-prepared shape-shifting alien or a tripped-out serial killer in an Erick suit, this interview may have fulled me, and I stress may. But as it turned out, they were foolish enough to grant me entry into their country, and now I shall subjugate them all!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Also, the other day my sister was watching a show about disgusting foods that other countries eat (because our foods are far less disgusting. I don't feel like crap after eating a drive-thru burger, oh no! anyways...), and it referred to the Korean way of eating octopus, called sannakji. If you haven't seen it, go check it out on YouTube, but essentially, what they do is take live octopi and pull them like taffy and chop them up. And since they're crazy cephalopods, they keep twitching for something like 2 or 3 hours after they are diced. A little grossed out, yeah, a lot intrigued, uh huh.

Almost there!

The paperwork's done on their end, and I've got my visa pin number! Now I just need to submit some paperwork to the consulate here and get an interview. I wonder what sorts of questions they ask. "Do you plan on teaching well, or will you sabotage our kids' English-speaking abilities?" The answer is ALWAYS sabotage.

In other news, a Google News search turned up the following Korean news articles:
South Korea Lifts U.S. Beef Ban Apparently, this is a huge deal, as it's everywhere this morning.
Lee Promises U.S. a `Business Friendly' South Korea
South Korea fights worst birdflu in four years Awesome.
South Korea Says 'Critical' Nuclear Talks with North Should Resume Soon Double Awesome.
MySpace launches in South Korea
Korean astronaut set to return to earth
A royal flush: Toilets a big deal in South Korea
Cloned Sniffer Dogs Report for Training "'Toppy' is a compound name meaning 'tomorrow’s puppy'" 'Nuff Said!

Just the Facts

I've started listening to some Korean language podcasts in the hopes of gleaning some morsel before being thrown to the wolves. I'm terrible at learning languages, so if I can know enough to order a coffee without starting an international incident, I'll be happy.

Spent the day doing some basic research on Korea. I'd rather not be one of those douchebag Americans that can't even tell where Korea is on a map or what language is spoken there (it's Korean!). So here are a few things that've come up:

-The currency, the Korean won, is worth .001021 U.S. dollars (as of 4/14/08).
-South Korea is 38,492 square miles, which is somewhat larger than Maine.
-The land is mostly mountainous, with lowlands only constituting 30% of the total area.
-There are approximately 49,044,790 people there, and it's the 12th densely populated country, although it has the lowest birthrate in the world.
-46.5% of the country claims no religious preference.
-South Korea's economy is the 12th largest in the world and the 3rd largest in Asia (it grew so quickly up through the 90s that it was known as one of the Four Asian Tigers. Grrr).

The area I'll be in, Busan, is the second largest city in Korea, next to Seoul (it's the capital!), 3.65 million people strong, and it's located on the southeast coast of the country, right across from Japan. It's a port city, mainly known for freight and transportation, along with its beaches and seafood. It's divided into 15 gu (districts), and I'll be working in Busanjin-gu (or Jin-gu). It's known for an area called Seomyeon, which is a major business and shopping place. There's also a Free Economic Zone in the area, which sounds intriguing...

Anyways, that's the lowdown so far. Got plenty of time to continue the research, so sally forth!

Visa-a-go-go

Grrr, I'm antsy to leave. A month is a long time to wait, especially with nothing else to do! Well, almost nothing. To get my working visa, I had to compile a few documents.

1) Your original diploma
2) Sealed transcripts from your university (1 copy minimum)
3) 2 passport photos
4) The front page of your passport (the pages with the picture)
5) The criminal records check with the Apostille notary
6) The attached medical/health statement signed & filled out

Now, some of these are pretty obvious; passport, photos, transcripts. But my original diploma? I mean, what is this going to prove that the transcripts can't? I mean, sure, it's got a shiny gold seal, but why not a copy? I guess I'm just bitter because it took forever to get my diploma and now I have to send it off.

And the criminal check, that was a serious pain. Here's the deal: so you first have to get fingerprinted for a criminal check, pretty standard. They do this fancy Livescan thing too, where you have your prints put directly into a computer and sent to Sacramento for processing. You're instantly put on the grid! So then, when you get your check in the mail, you're supposed to get this Apostille stamp on it, which sounds easy enough. It's a stamp, right? The person just needs to stamp it right on. At least, that's what I thought when I showed up at the Department of Justice in downtown LA. I get to the counter and the lady pretty much laughs in my face. Silly me! It turns out that it's not enough to get this goofy stamp to approve my official criminal record check; it first has to be notarized, then approved by the county clerk (I'm still not sure what that was about), THEN I could get this stamp. Three hours later and I've got a bright new document approving me for, what again?

Ah well, it's all been compiled and sent out, so I'm on my way! Did I mention it cost $80 to send it priority? Yay!

The Inaugural Post!

Smash a bottle on this sucka, cuz it's ready to roll!

I guess a little explanation is in order here. I intend for this to be more of a journal/update center for friends and family, so it'll be treated as such. Still, for anybody not in the know, here's the story:

About a month and a half ago, I broke up with my long-time girlfriend. I know, tragic, kind of a bummer to start off this journal, but there you go. I had moved across the country with her the year before in an attempt to "try something new." See, after college, I knew that I wasn't ready to jump back into more school. I enjoyed the hell out of it, don't get me wrong; still, four years was plenty, and I was ready to get out and actually do something. So I took up various teaching jobs and tried my hand at something that I really enjoyed and thought I could find a career in. I worked at a charter school in the Philadelphia and at an after school program. During the summer, I worked at an environmental education camp (Riverbend represent!). After a year of living outside of Philly, we moved to State College, where she started grad school and I desperately searched for a job.

Now, I've always been a lucky bastard when it comes to finding work or school or whatever. I tend to fall into things quickly, which could be some reflection on my abilities, but I think it's more likely just good luck. So when I got to State College, it was the first time that I wasn't able to find something nigh instantly that I wanted to do. Still, a couple of months in, I ended up at an amazing job running an after school program. It was a rough start, but I found a purpose, and I made some fantastic friends there. Life was good. Then the other shoe dropped, and I won't dwell on that stuff too much. I feel like I've bled my friends' ears dry talking about all the shit that comes part and parcel with a major breakup. But it definitely rocked my world, and I decided instead of sitting around there moping in the middle of nothing-PA, I would pack up and move back to California.

About a week and a half ago, my mother came to visit my sister, who I moved in with here in LA, and me. It was great because we got out and did stuff, we went to all our favorite restaurants, took walks on the beach, and just enjoyed ourselves. We also got to talking about what had happened and what I was going to do. My mother can really irritate me sometimes when it comes to stuff like this, but talking to her then was revelatory. Somewhere along the line, she said to me, "Didn't you apply to some program after college to teach English in Japan? Why not do that?" And I thought to myself, yeah, why not? Just leave the country, spend a year somewhere else completely. I'm not attached to anything here at all, and when else am I going to do something that crazy and different? So that night, I looked up programs to teach English abroad. I sent out a few resumes to see what was what, and continued on with my normal job search. Literally the next day, I received four or five responses, and within three days, I had a job offer.

Like I said, sometimes I'm just damn lucky. I just finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and he mentions (more than a few times) that when you are searching for your personal goal, the whole universe conspires to help you. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it's funny how things just work out for the best in spite of everything. The best of all possible worlds, eh? Anyways, here I am, set to leave the country less than a month after I moved back home, battered and confused. And I couldn't be happier with how things are working out!

So the breakdown is that I am off for South Korea. Specifically, it looks like I'll be in Busan, which is in the southeast, right across from Japan. The leave date is set for May 18th, barring any problems. Things I have to account for:

-housing is taken care of by the company I'll be working for
-salary has yet to be set, but should be around $2500/month U.S., which I've been told is more than enough to live off of comfortably
-travel arrangements have yet to be made, but the company offers reimbursement
-my stuff is already pretty much packed, since I just moved anyways, so that's at least a positive!
-according to my contract, I'll be there for a year from my start date

Oh, yeah, and I don't know a lick of Korean.

Wish me luck!

Erick