A Wistful Letter

Goodbye, South Korea. You were kind of good to me.

There's too much going on inside you, and when crowds gather, everyone pushes everyone. I'm too short and impatient for that. Being outside of your structure has its benefits and drawbacks. While we are easily forgiven for any social faux pas that we commit, we are also not considered real people. Sometimes, when some people realize we don't speak Korean, we are simply dismissed with a hand wave. The older citizens of this country tend to be very pushy - and while most are well meaning, there are those who are downright condescending - like anywhere else, I suppose. I never enjoyed bowing. I could have, but didn't care about your fashion standards. My luck with jobs in you was also not great; I know some other people had a much better time than I did.

However.

You gave me an honest living for twenty months, and I met many friends here. I had many adventures that I will hold dear to my heart for many decades. Your kids taught me more words in your language than your adults did. I would still enjoy teaching. Isolated from American politics and the Western way of thinking for a while, I realized the effects upon me from where I grew up, who my parents are, and the small actions that I took. Both apartments that you provided me with were very easy to live in, and I felt at home. You gave me a cat. I experienced both rural Korean life and small city Korean culture. Your food was great. Your citizens are unexpectedly helpful at the most surprising moments. Your country is safe. You taught me that in struggles between individual and society, sometimes it's not so bad when society wins.

You taught me to live alone. You taught me to begin to pursue what I want, or even to begin to think about exactly what it is that I want.

Thank you.

These were all the thoughts running through my head as I repacked my luggage in front of the check-in counter to adhere to the "only one" rule, and then went to the ticketing counter to pay an extra $75 for the second luggage. These are the feelings falling from my steps as I went through security, then when the personnel at immigration took my Korean identity card away from me.

If I could hug a whole country and donate my tears, I would. There are surely things that I haven't done and seen yet, and someday, I will come back and pursue them.

For all my friends I met here, you better stay in contact - I am getting a smart phone and downloading Kakao Talk for sure!

First Time in Tokyo (Part 2)

Cafes are great places to chill and be sleepy after getting out of the airport. Currently, I'm at Cafe Oven around Hongdae with a finished plate of tiramisu and an empty cup of kiwi juice before me. Life is getting better all the time. I just got back to South Korea from Tokyo, Japan.

The last post spoke of the first four days I spent getting lost in Tokyo. And so, now we continue...

Fifth day. A friend and I finished some snacks and went to a cat cafe. It was one room with about ten plus cats, so the smell was pretty strong, even though I acclimated after about five minutes. Apparently, cats in Japan can have bent or curly tails, and long hairs are considered more luxurious. The cat cafe was really also a cat shelter and adoption center, because people can catch and bring in stray cats from the street, and the owner will take care of it until someone gives it another home.

Then we went to a sushi place. I think rice in Japan is sweeter, somehow - and the fish is always perfect. The tv was on, so we commented on how Japanese culture is very brightly colored, and not very dance based. When we went back to the hostel to sit down and watch The Grudge, I met another person. Within ten minutes, he proposed to me because he said it would be great to live in the USA. When I said that I wouldn't be tied down, he said that I can see other men, but then revoked that later when I asked how soon I could ask for a divorce. Does that make me a wicked woman?

For some reason, we all decided to go out for drinks. It was a big group of about ten people, and we couldn't decide on a bar, so we went to a grocery store for them to buy alcohol, and for me to buy two packets of fruit jelly and a red bean bun. Then we headed to the river, and there were three or four conversations, but I met another person, and she is the most well read American I've met while traveling. The only other person who can match up may be one of my best friends from college.

Day six. For some reason, I had agreed to a cross city bike ride to see the part of Tokyo that is next to the ocean - Odaiba. Biking is easy, right? So I thought, but the whole day took roughly 11 hrs - there were maybe 5 or 6 hrs of biking, and I had many scrapes and bruises the next day.

It was a group of about six people, and we got brunch at this famous mall place with different dishes from all parts of Japan. I had rice with beef and some onions. The view was beautiful, the food was good, and we all have this sense of achievement for our athleticism. Then we went to see the giant Gundam statue and the mall associated with it.  Then we went to the beach, where there were pet groundhogs and watched a sandy kids' soccer game. On the way back, there was a building with a ship's mast, and a giant Ghibli clock.

Probably I should have gone to sleep right after that. Instead, I went with three friends to walk around the streets and river again, watching one skateboard around. There was this odd cup shaped statue past the boardwalk with four holes, so we stuck our heads in it, and there was a mini garden inside. There were a spider and a slug near the hole where I stuck my head in.

Seventh day. Since it was the last day, I was determined to relax. A friend and I walked to the Tsukuba Express Line, where we rode 2 stops to Akihabara - anime fans' and collectors' heaven - again. On the way, we saw a man in a traditional monster outfit dancing on stilts. We went shopping in Akihabara in a store named Don Quijote - not sure if it's misspelled intentionally. This store has everything, but I only bought a dress. I'm good with time and money. Then on the upper floor, we played some Dance Dance Revolution and some drumming game. I thought, this trip was a lot more athletically intensive than I thought, from walking to biking to drumming until my forearms hurt.

When I came back, I met up with another group of people, and we walked in a circle to a ramen store after we found that Mos Burger was closed. It was delicious, even though I got a plain ramen. It was noodles with a slab of pork, a slice of seaweed and very thick soup with chopped onions.

Ending day. I woke up at 6am after sleeping for about 5 hrs with torrential dreams. I had packed everything the previous night, but then finalized it after eating and showering, then signed out - giving back the sheets and card key. Navigation from hostel to the airport was easy, with only one transfer. I ate Subways for breakfast. The lady I sat next to on the flight was a Korean lady who can speak her language, Japanese, English and Chinese.

Almost everyone I've met on this trip is at least bilingual; I've really got to learn more to get around this rapidly globalizing world. I'm delighted to find that no one is really all that racist - at least at first glance. I think it becomes a separate comfort level intrusion for the native citizens when a foreigner lives among them, and much more when one dates among them.

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!

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!