A Taste of Chaos

Do you think it's lucky or a misfortune that SeoCheongju TOPIA gives me so much to write about? After the last post in which I thought I was going to be fired, more strange events have been happening at my work place. Thankfully, this news has nothing directly to do with me.

This past Monday was a very hectic work day, because both the head teacher and another teacher were out, both due to illness. I imagine some people had to cover the second teacher's classes, and the academy owner himself covered the head teacher's classes. This doesn't mean that the owner actually taught, mind you. He just took all the classes to the second floor to have them sit in the computer lab and do their online homework. He said that teachers shouldn't bring their kids down to the computer lab while he's conducting classes there (in Korean). It wasn't until after another teacher told me directly what he said that I understood he meant me.

In this back drop, the real story happened during seventh period. By eighth period, we were told no kids were allowed on the second floor because of something that happened. While most people were teaching, apparently the father of one of our lower level students stormed in with his wife to talk to the teenager's homeroom teacher. Two teachers went to talk to him, one male and one female. Whatever they said to him must not have satisfied him, because he took one of the academy owner's trophies and cut himself accidentally while smashing it. When I came back from class to sit down and try to plan the next day, a different female teacher told me that she was commanded to clean up the blood that the father had smeared everywhere. A male teacher helped her. She said that the father was really crazy. When one of the receptionists had me leave, the father was red faced, pushing past the vice academy owner demanding to see the male teacher who had initially went to talk to him. The teacher went out reluctantly, full of fury at the lower level student.

Then I was instructed to go monitor the same class that the lower level kid belonged to. I told them that nothing was really happening, but that they were to continue to do their own work independently. When I offered to help anyone who asked, a group of three boys had me help them do a crossword puzzle that was part of their reading class homework. I led them on, giving them small hints here and there for them to figure out since they couldn't do it using the clues the book provided alone. At the end, the atmosphere of the class was much more relaxed, and those three boys finished their crossword puzzles. One of the receptionists came in to pass out the academy announcements for April, which included tuition fees information and such. When the bell rang, we were all glad that the day was over.

Today, the father came again to negotiate with the academy owner - with a friend, in a suit. According to the head teacher, he had filed a complaint to the Board of Education against TOPIA. He said that none of the teachers at TOPIA paid much attention to his son, and that none of us can teach. Therefore, someone from the Board came by to do an inspection. Before the man came to inspect, however, the head teacher ushered a Canadian male teacher, an American Korean female teacher and I into the break/meeting room to tell us that we must leave the premises until the vice academy owner calls and tells us to come back. The reason for this is that we three were, for some reason, not registered as TOPIA teachers in the paperwork for the Board of Education. So the three of us leave and head to a coffee shop to talk for an hour.

Everything is fine when we come back. There may still be a lawsuit between TOPIA and that parent. Oh, and I'm not getting fired. I pressed the head teacher to give me the details of the "final warning letter" and he wrote out that I just got the letter because the academy owner gestured and supposedly told me to go calm down a crying child who failed a test, but since he was gesturing and not saying anything, I misunderstood -  not to mention at that time, I didn't yet know why the child was crying, because I asked her and she kept crying and refused to talk to me. I only found out later because one of her classmates told me. Basically, as long as I keep my head down and give the academy owner no reason to think that I'm deliberately disobeying him, I'm good to go. They also really need people, because the turnover rate is so high.

This means that I'm going to attempt to stay for the rest of the six months and then decide what to do from there.

Cycles of the Moon

During quieter moments, I often wonder how life would be different for me if I were Korean and had to go through this school system. They study roughly sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Up until recently, that included Saturdays as well, which means only one resting day. Aside from art class, most of the curriculum is comprised of memorizing ginormous amounts of information. I have no doubt that were I in one of their places, I would be much less likely to be the writer I am today. Their legal system is completely different, so I would imagine the whole process of getting published is also completely different. I love their equivalent of Borders, though.

Nevertheless, they are who they are, and I am myself. Once more a semester has ended, and another new one has begun. Most of it is the same, but I have two new textbooks to teach to fairly low level kids. Aside from the usual grappling against altering my own style to suit these books, there are a few more challenges this semester. One of them is the familiar challenge of kids staring at me because they have no idea what I'm talking about - I'm just the strange foreigner who's telling them what to do and they're trying to figure it out. The other is that since Sean quit, everyone in the office has at least one day per week where we teach five classes in a row. This makes for really long days, and for me, they are Monday and Thursday.

Some students leveled up, and others didn't. Every class is new, because there is at least one kid I don't know. But there is a comfort level with the kids that I do know. The other challenge is that not all the textbooks came at the same time, so there are some classes where we had to basically make up some random thing for them to do. The head teacher decided to make them write a self introduction essay and then present it. I got called in for a talking to because some kids said others were playing with their cell phones, and also some say I was under prepared. It's not just the kids who don't have books sometimes, though - we teachers don't get copies of the books for some classes.

In terms of personal challenges, sometimes I feel that maybe because Koreans grew up in such a competitive society, they get used to acting like they always have something to prove. Literally everything is a competition. Today I was told that it's common for students to put their test scores on their resumes for consideration by colleges, and then later, as graduates for consideration by jobs. Everyone seems to have a do or die attitude.

The academy owner likes to annoy me by keeping close tabs and coming into my classes in attempts to point out things that I've missed. For example, after I got a talking to about some students playing with their phones, he caught someone and took the student's phone in front of me. I'm sure that in his mind, he's trying to help and this is his way of motivating me or something, but I really just feel harassed.

Then I feel like this is the way this society works. If someone higher than you in status feels like you're not doing something that you ought to, they'll just harass and alternatively make your life miserable until you hide all your feelings of scorn and contempt for them, even if you take only the most minimalist steps in doing what they want.

From what I gather, the whole atmosphere when it comes to foreigners has become somewhat more hostile. Because another coworker is quitting soon, the academy owner is urging us to turn our documents in to him again, to make sure that the organization has hold of our visas, with the excuse that it's an order from the government. The government itself is making the contracts of even the public school teachers much more dependent on their staying for the entire duration of the contract. In somewhat related news, I just got my national criminal background check, but I wonder if it's worth the effort to find another job in this country if it means staying here for a longer period of time.

Being An Alien

Some time ago, as per immigration office procedures, my coteacher drove me to the nearest hospital - which turns out to be like two towns over. Long drives like that accentuate the awkward relationship between my coteacher Mr. Jeong and myself, because on the one hand, he doesn't want to get too friendly (it's fairly conservative here) - being a husband with a young wife and two kids - but on the other hand, it gets really awkward in silence if no one says anything for more than ten minutes.

So we arrive at some place called Siheung, and that's apparently where the hospital is. I follow Mr. Jeong around, because I can't read any of the signs or understand any of the people, so I can't sign in and listen to instructions on my own. So he asks at the info desk, and then we go up an escalator to the second floor, where he looks for the occupational health department. He fills out the form for me, asking for my blood type and other vital information.

We make small talk over food and whatever else comes to mind. It occurs to me that this guy is closer to me than my father ever will be. It makes me sad and a little wistful.

I feel displaced, somewhat lost, but not bad. First they take my blood pressure and temperature. They take an X-ray of my lungs and spine. I had to pee in a cup, awkwardly carrying it back out until I put it in a tray, where they tell me to make a fist. I watch them draw blood through a syringe, wondering why blood bubbles when you take it out like that. It's more crimson than cranberry juice, almost maroon.

Because they can't make me understand in their language, they have to show me, but pointing, poking, prodding, guiding me in the right directions. Next time, my coteacher still has to hand in my alien registration papers.

Flight and Arrival at Incheon Airport

All the secondhand knowledge from all the books in the world about South Korea couldn't have prepared me for this experience.

It was a good thing that I decided to go to Logan at least an hour early, because the line to check in luggage was long, and also, the attendant had me rearrange my stuff so that one luggage would weigh more, and I wouldn't have to pay for one extra luggage. Then there was some question as to whether I would have to buy a return ticket because of the country I am going to, but they verified that I didn't have to, and I was very relieved. Then it was time to go through security, and I had to part with Jere, mom and Annie.

I went to the right gate right away. Though I had expected to board the plane an hour later, the flight was delayed two times, so I ended up waiting two extra hours. During this time, I settled the butterflies in my stomach, drank water, ate a snack, and read a good portion of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". When it was finally time to board the plane, you can imagine my impatience.

My seat was next to two Korean American girls from Chicago to Incheon. I guess that they are going to visit members of their families who have no immigrated. It seems that they didn't know each other, because between the three of us, very few words had been exchanged. We all slept a lot, and occassionally watched the mini tv imbedded into the seats in front of ours. There was Karate Kid, Jackie Chan's version, a movie with Jennifer Aniston in it, and a lot of other not-too-memorable stuff.

The stopover at Chicago separated the gates to other American places from international places, so that I had to walk around a lot to find a whole other terminal. This includes having to take a train, and then having to eat a Starbucks pastry and waiting many hungry hours on the same bench. Starving and being very sleepy aren't a very good combination.

When I finally arrived at Incheon airport, checking in was easy because I had all the documents ready. Then baggage claim was also relatively easy, mainly because an old man decided that he will help me arrange the luggage on the cart so that they won't fall. Then I found my way outside to the next area of the airport. The next few hours will be pretty much spent waiting and anxiously hoping that there will be someone to pick me up.

Visiting the Consul

Hello! Visiting the consul comes only after you've gotten your VISA number from your recruiter. He may also have given you a form to interview with the consul and instructions on where to apply for your proof of residency. The proof of residency is for tax form purposes, but you can worry about that later.

After you fill out the form to interview with your consul, prepare:

• some money (about 60 dollars is a good bet)
• another copy of your university transcript
• your passport, and
• a passport photo

to include with the VISA application. If your recruiter didn't give you the address for the consulate, you will have to look it up on Google - type in your home city, the target country, and "consulate" (eg. Boston South Korean consulate) and search results should show their website, if not their address. Their address should be found either on the Home page or the Contact Us section, though there's a good chance that the site may be in a foreign language.

Since I reside in the Boston area, the Korean consulate that I went to is in Newton. This is their website. Because it's all in Korean, I could not access any of the forms that were on the website, and had to go visit in person to get anything done.

I had to make two or three trips. First, they had me fill out an application on site. Then, when they realized I didn't have an appointment, they sent me home with a health form to fill out and come back the next day at 10:30am.

2nd trip: When I did that, they asked for the passport photo and $45 in cash that I didn't know I was supposed to have, but decided to interview me anyway, because I sincerely apologized for being late as it was a really rainy day and the bus (there were only 2 bus routes to that address) ran 15 minutes late. So the interview was very short, where the consul asked pointed questions about why I wanted to be in Korea specifically, why I wanted the job, about my experiences, my family and my health. Then they sent me to the nearest CVS - with a Google map as a guide - to take a passport photo and obtain $45 dollars in cash to pay them for this procedure. When I returned with the desired items and dripping from the rain, they gave me a receipt and told me to come back 2 days later to pick up my VISA.

3rd trip: When I successfully did that, my quest was finally completed, thankfully.

I felt like I spent a lot of money, because each bus trip one way was about $3 in cash so I had to go to the ATM a lot, having gotten used to just using the debit card. Overall, it was $18 in bus fare plus $45 for the transaction, that's $63, plus $10 for the passport photos, and $2 for the ATM fees when I didn't have cash on me, the total rings up to a solid $75 dollars. However, most of this was because I was drastically unprepared for this visit - my recruiter didn't tell me anything about how to get a VISA, just sent me the form for interviewing with the consulate, so after reading this, you should come by fewer obstacles!

College Diploma and Transcript

It takes a college degree to be an official teacher. That is, if you're going to be paid for being a teacher, then you're probably going to need a college degree. I'm going to assume you have a college degree, and therefore a diploma. Now we're going to talk about how to get a duplicate diploma if you lost yours, and how to retrieve an official academic transcript.

I also just realized that I wrote the previous entry assuming that everyone would know where their diplomas are after they graduated. But if you couldn't get the copy of your diploma notarized and apostilled as suggested in the previous entry, here's some information about how to get a duplicate diploma.

Your college or university registrar takes care of all the information regarding diplomas. They have records involving when you were there, what courses you took and when you graduated, so getting a duplicate should be no problem as long as you pay the fee and fill out the right forms. For everyone who went to my alma mater Umass Amherst, you can contact them through the information to be found here.

The same office also takes care of your transcripts, so this is a one stop shop and you don't have to go far. There's also usually a form involved when requesting transcripts as well. They ask for your name, address, date of birth, student number or social security number, and when you attended school. The transcript request form for Umass Amherst students is here.

It takes about two weeks for them to get copies of your transcript and mail it to you. When you get it in the mail, DO NOT OPEN IT. For the purposes of applying for your teaching program, you may notice that they ask for an official sealed transcript. I made this mistake once - if you open it, the record is no longer valid, and you'll have to send for another one. They probably just want to make sure that you didn't tamper with the courses you took, your GPA or your grades to satisfy their requirements or something.

Notarization and Apostille

As mentioned before, this entry will be about your state level criminal background check and the documents you will need from your college and university as part of your recruiter's application for an E2 visa for you to teach abroad in a foreign country.

While the process varies by the state you live in, you can retrieve your criminal background check for Massachusetts at the Criminal History Systems Board. If you scroll down to the middle of the page, there is a subtitle that says "Requesting Criminal Records" and then under that, "I Want to Request My Own CORI". Whether you click on adult criminal history or juvenile criminal history depends on your age. (I knew someone in high school who went to teach English in Mongolia for a summer, so this job opportunity is available to minors - the main difference is that younger people are only allowed to do this in the summer for school reasons.)

Either link will take you to a form, which you will print to fill out. The second page on of the form for adults is titled "Affidavit of Indigency" which basically means a fee waiver, so you only need to print those pages and fill that out if you cannot pay the $25 dollar fee. Again, specifics vary according to state. IMPORTANT: DO NOT sign the form yet. This note does not apply to the juvenile form.

After you filled it out to the best of your ability without signing it, you will prepare a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE). SASE means that you take a long white envelope, the kind for business letters, and write your name and address in the center of it, then put a first class stamp on the top right hand corner. Write a check or money order for $25 if you can afford it; if not, the Affidavit of Indigency will waive it. Put these aside in a safe place.

Now, do you have your diploma on hand? If not, then you should contact your college's registrar for them to pull up your information and they should be able to print another one for you. You'll need to prove your identity with a license or student ID, as well as pay them. The information for Umass Amherst alumni is here.

If you do have your diploma, take that and your filled-but-not-signed criminal background check form to the local town or city hall. Show the clerk your form and ask for notarization. You will swear an oath as per her instruction, and then you can sign your form, and she will stamp it with something like this. After she is done with the form, you can ask her to photocopy your diploma and then notarize the copy. In Massachusetts, each notarization costs $3.

When you are ready to mail it, write your name and address on the top left corner of a manila envelope. Then address the envelope to your state's criminal systems board; the address should be on your criminal background check form. Now put your signed and notarized criminal background check form into the envelope, along with that SASE and your check or money order (unless you filled out that Affidavit of Indigency, then no payment). Send this out. With first class or priority mail, it should take them about a week or two to send back your criminal background check using your SASE.

When you get your notarized criminal background check - if it's not notarized, make sure to call or email your criminal systems board - it's time to apostille both the copy of your diploma and your criminal background check. You can do that in your public records building, which is usually located in the capital of your state. The specific addresses are right here. An apostille is a gold stamped sticker, and should look like this. For Massachusetts, it costs $6 to stamp one document.

These two documents are now ready to be sent to your recruiter. It's up to you and your recruiter whether to send all the documents at once, or to send them one or two at a time. I sent mine in all at once to save on postage, but mistakes are less noticeable and harder to correct if you do it this way.

Official Documents

So we were talking about the decision making process up through the point where we initiated contact with a recruiting company for a specific program. Once you've received a response from the recruiter, your application process has officially started.

There's going to be a list of official documents you'll need to procure. While there may be slight variations based on the country and program, most of it is fairly similar. The recruiter will need all of this information to get you an E2 visa; while you're busying putting together this portfolio of your identity, he will be effectively marketing you to various schools associated with the teaching program, based on your resume and photos. So here's a list:

resume

casual photos, 2 or 3

passport photos

passport

college transcript(s)

copy of diploma

letters of recommendation

criminal background check

application

contract

The smart way to edit your resume would be to Google some tips. Action words are encouraged. Put relevant experience first. Keep everything up to date in terms of locations and contact information. Make sure the layout looks neat. Check your grammar.

If you need it, the passport should be the first thing you work on, because some countries take a really long time to process one. According to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, it takes about six weeks. However, since there's so much paperwork involved, I would suggest giving it more time in case something gets written down wrongly. The same site I linked to has instructions in terms of what kind of passport services you need. The recruiter will need you to scan the passport's first page once you receive it, and send it to them.

Then, I suggest going after the letters of recommendation. This all varies depending on how much experience you have, which dictates the number of coworkers or supervisors who would be willing to write you one. The program where I applied, EPIK, required official organizational insignias at the top of the letters, so I had to relay that to my professors. There are also some organizations that plainly don't write recommendation letters - Target Corporation is one of these. This step comes in second, because it's the least structured, and depends mainly on your contacts.

Your college or university website should have instructions regarding how to retrieve copies of your diploma and transcripts. Criminal background checks vary by state, so you can Google your state's official website for that information. I'll dedicate the next entry on just these two documents alone.

While you can usually get the application and contract of your chosen teaching abroad program on the site, sometimes these forms are subject to change, so you should ask your recruiter about when to submit these.

Thanks for reading me!