My last 24 hours in the States.

Greetings J I’ve touched base in South Korea and it feels amazingly good. I’m pretty sure it’s because my mind is still in denial and thinks I’m just on one of my normal vacations. But I’m not. I live here now. This is my “home” for the next 365 days. Anyway let’s talk about my the 24 hours leading up to my flight.

I didn’t sleep for 24 hours. My flight from Orlando to New York was set for 7am on Tuesday Feb 17^th.  Then I would be taking a 14.5 hour flight to South Korea. The night before my flight I didn’t sleep. I hadn’t planned too. I wanted to tire myself out so that I would sleep on the plane at least for the first half to try to reduce my jetlag as much as possible!

So the day before, I woke up super stressed and overwhelmed. I felt like I was having mini anxiety attacks. I couldn’t breathe. It seemed like so much had to be done in such a small frame of time. So I set out to run the last of my errands and finished cleaning up my stuff and moving things to storage. 

As the day went on my brain calmed itself down but I still had to keep myself busy to possibly avoid a breakdown. Talk about getting cold feet. It was insane. 

That night I spent my last hours with my boyfriend which was great J.  We went with some friends to see 50 Shades of Grey and had dinner. After that we headed back home and I prepared for my final hours. By the time 4:30am rolled around, life was pretty hectic again. I was still packing my bags and finishing up the BF gift and then before we knew it is was almost 5:30am and that was when I was suppose to get to the airport by. So I was running late and stressing out.

I get to the airport and it’s more crowded than normal. Everyone wanted to go somewhere Tuesday morning apparently -_-. So then I get to the front of the check in counter and of course one of my bags is over 50lbs. 53.4 to be exact. And by some miracle of God I was able to take out my 'if I get homesick' candy and stuff them into my already overpacked carry on. This allowed me to get  my suitcase down to 51.5 and they didn’t charge me overage for that! By the time I finished checking in my bags, it was 5:55am. I ran back outside to say my final see you in a long time from now to my love and then it was off to TSA.

Going thru security took for freaking EVER. My flight was boarding at 6:25 and it was already 6am. The line for TSA was ridiculously long and then because I was having the best luck of my life that day, they of course needed to search my carry on because they lady thought I had things over 3oz. WHICH I DIDN’T…. she just didn’t know how to read the screen apparently. So I get past security and it’s 6:30.  Anywho against all odds, I made my first flight thank you Jesus.

Now onto NYC. Let’s just say as of now I hate JFK airport if you have to do connecting flights in different terminals. I flew into the Jetblue terminal which is terminal 5 and my international flight was in terminal 4 so I had to walk 10+ mins from the terminal with my heavy carry on luggage just to get to the train that would take me to terminal 4. Theeeennnn I had to go back through freaking security in that terminal. It was all so much fun. Luckily I had about 3 hours between flights.

After getting to my gate, I met up with some fellow EPIKers and we chilled out until it was time to board. Boarding was quite interesting to me. They didn't have boarding zones. Apparently people just get in line and board the plane in no specific order. We didn't realize that until the line was super long. #Foreignerproblems .  Anyway boarded the plane and was hoping for a row to myself but of course I would not be THAT lucky however I guess the plane Gods were looking down on me and there was no one in the middle seat. Before I knew it, we were backing out. I text my last see you laters/I love you/ Miss yous and settled in for my 14.5 hour flight...

Next stop, South Korea...

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My EPIK Adventure | Documents sent!

Well guys the true waiting begins.  I finally got my documents sent off.  On my first post about this adventure I was waiting for my Criminal Record Check (CRC) to get back to me. Well the one I sent directly to the FBI - I'm still waiting on it!! Luckily there is an option to go through a channeler. It's more money but much quicker. Took all of a week. Unfortunately I lost out of the $18 I sent directly to the FBI. But oh well. I've come to realize, one thing about getting to Korea (or any country I suppose to teach abroad) is that it is quite expensive! With my TEFL certificate, getting my CRC + apostilled (twice), getting my degree notarized + apostille, getting transcripts, getting fingerprints done, sending documents off to places .... sigh money has gone gone gone. I don't even want to try and add it up! However, I shall not complain because this is something I want. I just hope my next purchase is my plane ticket :) - though that will be reimbursed! 

Anyway I just wanted to give a quick update for those who do care to follow me on this journey! My EPIK coordinator told me to just be patient and she will let me know as soon as she hear's something but it probably won't be until mid to late December.

Oh yeah I have also begin working on my korean language learning. I even have a skype tutor that I skype with twice a week. It has been helpful but my difficulty lies with speaking. I plan to start recording myself and my progress. I just want to be able to speak enough to help myself get around and / or ask for help. Holding a simple conversation would be nice too. :)

Oh and I changed my placement request location from Daegu to Gwangju. But like I said before, I am flexible. I'm hoping for a city though but I know wherever I get placed, I will survive and find happiness there :).

Timeline.

August 6 | Submitted application

Oct 1 | Received email that I passed the first phase and would be schedule for an Interview

Oct 7 | Had interview

Oct 9 | Received email that I had passed the interview!

Oct 16 | Application for CRC received by channeler [nationalbackgroundcheck]

Oct 28 | Received CRC back from channeler

Oct 28 | Sent CRC to get apostilled through US Legalization
Oct 30 | US Legalization emailed that CRC had been received and would be return on Nov 5th.

Nov 7 | Received Apostilled CRC

Nov 12 | Sent documents off to EPIK office.
Nov 14 | Email that documents had been received {quicker than expected!)

Okay time for me to get my day started!
안녕히 계세요 [that's bye in Korean :)]




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My EPIK Adventure | Teaching English Abroad Spring 2015

I can't recall if I've mentioned this on my blog before, but I am pursuing an opportunity to teach English abroad in South Korea. This entire year I have been preparing myself and though I wanted to go this Fall, things happened that made it unable to happen. But that is all good because everything happens for a reason. Anyway the next opportunity is in February and I have a feeling this is my time.

The decision to teach English abroad wasn't decided lightly but I know this is something that will change my life for the better and allow me to experience life outside of my comfort zone which will allow me to grow into a better person.

I chose Korea because I quickly fell in love with the culture and history and just felt this was the place for me. I also thought it was a good location that would allow me to travel around Asia and still save some money to help pay off those dreaded school loans of mine.

Anyway, after not being able to go this Fall I applied for the EPIK program as soon as the applications were released which was August 1. EPIK which stands for English Program in Korea is very competitive being that it is the most popular way to become an ESL teacher in a public school in South Korea. So I wanted to make sure I applied early.

The EPIK process is long and can be very tedious and involves a lot of waiting and for me anxiousness. This has been my timeline so far:

August 6 | Submitted application

Oct 1 | Received email that I passed the first phase and would be schedule for an Interview

Oct 7 | Had interview

Oct 9 | Received email that I had passed the interview!

They only started interviewing on Oct 1, and I was told I was apart of the 1st 100 applicants which is great. EPIK is all about first come first serve. So my next steps is to submit my documentation to the EPIK office in Korea. This is where things can get tedious and maybe even frustrating for some. Not that waiting to hear back if I had received an interview wasn't causing me to be a nervous wreck. Anyway, documents have to be perfect or you will have to resubmit them and I can only imagine that having to send documents to Korea multiple times is not financially fun.

Documents that have to be submitted are: EPIK application,  Passport photo, Copy of passport, 2 recommendation letters,  TEFL Certificate or Teaching License, Apostilled copy of your diploma, Apostilled CRC, Transcript,  and any additional documents like Tattoo declaration form. I have to sign that form to say I will kept my tattoos covered while at work or work related functions.

Of all those documents the CRC can be the most frustrating just because of how long it takes because for us Americans getting our FBI Criminal Record Check can take up to 12 weeks. So if you don't send off for it by mid August then you can really get anxiety about when it will get back and all that good stuff. Which is where I am at. I sent mind off 9/10 and it will still be another 6 to 7 weeks before I get it back. Ridiculous I know. & you can't send off for it too early because it is only valid for 6 months after the processing date.

Anyway this is where I stand. Waiting for my CRC so I can send my documents in. Right now I have everything else done and ready to go. Once I send the documents off to Korea, then there is only more waiting. The last of the waiting kind of. Once my EPIK coordinator receives my documents and makes sure they are perfect she will then submit them to the education office for where I want to work (which is Daegu) and then I have to wait until I get a placement. I might get a placement in Daegu or I might get it somewhere else. I just want to get a placement! So really I can't really breathe until I get a placement. Once that happens then it will be official that I am moving to Korea for at least a year.

So stay tune & send me your positive vibes.

I hope this post wasn't too confusing, long, or boring LOL!

I will keep you guys posted on this next chapter in my life.



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