Gwangju or Bust!

Well, it's coming down to the final hours, or should I say days? A week ago today I had a fabulous going away party. Is it bad that I think the parties I throw are the best? Well technically Amelia/Franna threw it, but I'm really only saying that because everyone that comes I love and it's a damn good crowd (at least in my opinion). We had tons of tasty food (thanks again to all the friends who brought/made stuff) and a keg of Minnesota's best, Grainbelt Premium. I took a ton of pictures, but haven't quite decided how I'm going to be dealing with pictures on my blog, so I've posted a few.

Now it's really time to get to business. Unfortunately I'm procrastinating on that business by typing this blog entry, woops. I'm not worried, I work best under pressure, which can be emphasized by the fact that I have to do all my packing, and move everything out of my apartment by Sunday night. Then I've got two days of work, one day to relax, which I'll probably spend shopping, and then I'm on the Megabus. My dear friend Amelia has offered her company on my 8 hour long bus ride to Chicago on Thursday morning to get my Visa. Then I come back late Friday night, and then we just wait (probably 3-4 days?) before flying out. We still don't have the ticket, but I figure they're waiting until after I get that Visa process taken care of.

So, stay tuned. Hopefully this blog does its job and keeps me connected to everyone back home, and maybe provides some insight for people just like me who are planning to do this. Now it's time to get to work!!

And I'm hired!

So I spent last night before the "interview" stressing and I had no reason to! I spoke with the director of the Academy and the first thing she said was "I'm sorry, I do not speak English well". This meant that trying to impress her was the least of my worries, trying to communicate was way higher on the list. We spoke briefly about the school and the culture and she informed me that she will be cooking me many homemade Korean meals and helping me learn Korean. If this wasn't great enough, I got my contract today (oh yah, because I was hired) and it looks fantabulous. I'd just like to point out some of my favorite parts:

1. The teacher will enjoy 15 days of paid vacation (in addition to all Korean national holidays, weekends, and the school’s summer and winter vacation). The teacher can’t take more than 3 days at a time, and he or she should inform the date at least 2 weeks ago.

2. The employer will provide furnished living accommodations and electronic utilities.

3. Severance Payment: The employer will pay 2.3 million won to the teacher after the completion of this contract. It will be paid by bank transfer along with their final monthly payment. Tax will be withheld.

4. One class is 40 minutes.

5. 35 classes a week. (at the maximum)

6. The teacher will work from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (except lunch time- 1 hour)

Not that the job I have now is terrible, but really, 15 days paid vacation plus holidays and winter/summer break? Only having to work 7 hours a day, free housing, as you can see this is AWESOME!

My recruiter has been very helpful, assured me that they will be there in the event that something could go wrong and also said that the non-English speaking director is super sweet and excited for me to come! Hallelujah. Now just to send out the rest of my paperwork, get confirmation for my visa number and head to Chicago for a day to finalize it all.

I'm so excited and scared and nervous and I literally spend my days daydreaming about how this will be so much more exciting than what I have going on here (not that I don't love a lot of what I have here, I'm just over it). It's just crazy that I'm FINALLY doing this.

So it begins.

After literally spending years dreaming about traveling abroad to teach English it's finally happening. As many people know my original dream was to head to Japan and try my luck there, but as my finances got worse and worse back home that dream faded. I've always read about South Korea and the great pay and amenities their schools offered and now I'm in all the way.

In the last week I've finished my application process, taken my picture and made a video to introduce myself (hence the picture on the right), been set up with a school, put in my 30 day notice for my apartment, mentally given away all of my stuff, and of course had a blast celebrating Halloween. I have my interview with the school that already wants to hire me tonight via Skype and then I have to wait for my transcripts and criminal record check to come to do the paperwork and head out!

A little bit more about my possible job... I'd be teaching English in Gwangju, it is Korea's 6th largest city in the Southwest region and has about one and a half million people. I'd work from 2-10 everyday (way different than my 7-5 here) and make 2.3 million Won which is right now at 1,948.165 USD. I'm basically taking a pay cut by about 100 dollars a month but I'm going to have my housing paid for and the cost of living is wayyy cheaper than it is in America. Even Gwangju will be cheaper than in Seoul.

I have to actually go do work at the job I still have now though. I'll keep everyone updated!