First Couple Days

Ah, I arrived two nights ago and have been adjusting well. My flight was at 6:13 am Tuesday from Minneapolis to Denver, had 20 minutes then went to San Francisco, had 15 minutes then was headed to Seoul. I was nervous catching all those flight because my layovers weren't that long. I didn't have a problem though. After I landed, I met someone and he bought me a bus ticket from the airport to Chuncheon, about two and a half hours away, then another guy and the husband of the director drove me another hour to Inje. Yes, I am that far from Seoul.

Everything went smoothly and I finally arrived at my apartment. It's a small studio apartment, but there is a full kitchen, big screen TV, washing machine and a very nice bathroom. It seems very modern. I think I will like it there...accept for the pink tint of the wallpaper...I don't like that. And the apartment is only a 3-4 minute walk to the school, so I can't complain.

Not many people speak English here. The director has very broken English and I will have problems ordering food in a restaurant, taking money from the bank and any other encounter I have with a Korean. I will have to learn some of the language just to live in this town, but I don't think it will be that bad.

I am here with three South Africans. They are awesome. I think I will like it here and gaining this experience will be a real asset when I get back to the States.

People and Interview in Chicago

I wanted to write this in my last post, but I thought I would spread these out. I upgraded to a personal bathroom in our hostel that cost an extra $4, so there were eight bed and a bathroom with a shower. I think it was well worth it.

I only met two guys from my room: one guy seemed younger than me and he was looking at schools and the other guy was also looking at schools. The first guy was from Southern California, somewhere between L.A. and Las Vegas. He was looking at Roosevelt University adjacent to our hostel. It was funny because when I checked out of the hostel for the day before my interview, I told him good luck with whatever in the future. A couple hours later I randomly ran into him at the top of the John Hancock Observatory. We hung out up there for a while then I moved on.

The second guy was also looking at schools and he was from Argentina. I think this was his first time being in the States, but I can't remember. He spoke English very well. We chatted for a while then he left right away. Never saw him again or never spoke Spanish..oh well.

After finding the NBC Tower where my interview was, I met this other guy. I knew he was from Minnesota because when he was checking in for his interview, he was trying to explain his nationality to the woman at the desk. He said he was Hmong and was explaining that that is his culture, but his nationality is American. I'm guessing he was born here but, obviously, his parents were from Laos.

After he checked in and sat down, I asked him, "are you from Minnesota?" He said, "yes." Then I asked, "From St. Paul?" He looked at me, confused, and said, "yes." I knew that St. Paul has the highest Hmong population in the United States, so I was pretty confident with my assumptions. I continued to tell him that I worked in a Hmong charter school last year and I know a lot about their culture...at least more than the average person. We started talking and got to know each other.

Then we both get called in at the same time to interview. I hate group interviews. The interviewer asked us to tell him what our educational background was, why we chose Korea to teach and list some hobbies. He didn't speak English that well, and I had to repeat myself a couple times because he couldn't understand me. After we both did that, the interviewer pulled out a sheet of paper and said, "I am working on this song, you should sing it with me." So after being nervous all day and preparing for this interview, now we have to sing...WHAT!? The other guy and I looked at each other and didn't know what to do. So we looked at the title of the song and it was the Star-Spangled Banner. We helped the interviewer through the song and after we got through, he said, "have a great time in Korea!" That was it. I couldn't believe it and we both stood up slowly and left.

We made it to the elevators and were so confused as why we had to sing the National Anthem. We actually sounded pretty good though. I was also trying so hard not to laugh because as you all know, I think everything is funny and I'm always laughing. In the end, I made a new friend and we hope to meet up a couple times in Korea. Only five more days until my departure. It will be a good year!

Chicago

Alrighty, here's the scoop. I am officially leaving the country. I was contacted by my recruiter last Thursday and said my visa number had come in...the one I have been waiting for all this time. I was currently in the works with a temp agency and trying to get a job that way. It always seems to be bad timing because I hate to go that far in the temp agency process (because that's no walk through the forest) and not stick with it. Anywho, I figure this adventure is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I really couldn't pass it up.

Now that the visa number is in, my next step was to go to Chicago. I was quite nervous and that is a little strange for me. I'm usually not worried when I travel alone, but this time I was. Maybe it was the way I was doing it or because it just seems like crunch time right now. I have no idea. But, I decided to take the Megabus - not a plane, train or automobile - because the Megabus was the least expensive choice at the time. So it departed from downtown Minneapolis at 7 am Monday the 1st. So I drove to the Anoka train station that led me to Target Field. I then jumped on the light rail from The Field to the Metrodome where the bus stop was. (*Note, the Megabus doesn't have a station, it's just the street corner on Chicago Ave. and 3rd St.) then I arrived at Union Station in Chicago at 3 pm.

I got a hostel for the night that wasn't too far from Millennium Park; so it was right downtown. About one mile between Union Station and the hostel and another mile to the NBC Tower where I had my interview. Had just enough time to see the sites, walk the Magnificent Mile, tour the John Hancock Observatory, stroll through Millennium Park and get 'high in the sky' in the sky deck of the Sears Tower (now it's the Willis Tour, but I will always call it the Sears Tower). It was a blast.

I hope to go to Chicago again and spend more time there. I only took a few pictures but here is a link to a Facebook album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3102559&id=13932786&l=450491de9c

Thanks for reading!

Still Waiting...

it is ten minutes before Jeopardy starts and I have been looking for jobs all day. I have slowly given up on this Korea adventure. It has been pushing three weeks since my documents have been at the immigration office in Seoul and I have yet to hear from them with my visa number. I figure I would continue applying for jobs because this unemployment is killing me.

I really want to stay in a school, but I will take anything now. I told my recruiter I wanted to leave ASAP, but now I will take the first job that's offered to me. I can't watch my life pass me by waiting for this opportunity. I have to move on. I will keep you posted on the news I hear.

Thanks for all the support

The Next Step

So my first round of documents are finally at the immigration office in Seoul. Great news. They were received last Tuesday (Monday our time) and it takes "a minimum of one week, a maximum of two weeks" as my recruiter told me. Hopefully it is closer to the one week instead of the two weeks. If all goes according to plan, by the end of next week I'll be in Chicago for my interview.

The interview asks some pretty hard questions: Why are you interested in South Korea (versus another country)? How will your major help you become an effective teacher? How is South Korea different from America? (be specific). What do you know about Korea? What’s your career plan after a visit to Korea? If you don’t have any teaching experience, how do you think you can manage?...just to name a few. I already know what I'm going to say and I already have my examples ready so I don't think it will be that bad.

I am still very excited to embark on this journey. I will finally be able to live on my own (which I've been wanting to do for one year now) and experience that. The apartments are fully furnished with a full kitchen and all appliances, a bed and living room furniture. Usually it's a one bedroom or studio apartment within walking distance of my school. Since Inje is so small - a population of 34,000 - I'm assuming my walk will be minimal.

The apartment is free as well as the round trip airfare. That's a pretty good deal as they pay you a monthly wage on top of that. I think I will be able to do some traveling (hopefully to Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo) and I'll still be able to save money and bring it home. It seems like there are lots of advantages to this program, so I am eager to get over there and start working!

Until next time...hopefully the next post will bring photos of my trip to Chicago!

It's Always a Production!!

If you have started reading my blog again, you must know that I will be teaching English in Inje, South Korea for one full year. Honestly, I have been applying for jobs since May 2010 because I knew my contract with AmeriCorps would be ending in August 2010; so I thought I would get a head start.

I had four interviews: Bilingual Paraprofessional with the Hmong Charter School I worked at, Associate Educator in Minneapolis Public Schools, Student Learning Advocate in Anoka School District and Manager of Education at Junior Achievement. Needless to say, no one offered me a job. I continued looking, trying not to be discouraged, but the feeling was there nevertheless.

I thought of applying to banks or back to Subway where I worked in college for two years, but neither of those seemed appealing. I want a job in education. I stumbled upon this job of teaching English in South Korea and applied immediately. The only qualifications are having a college degree and fluency in English. Seeing as I graduated and am American, obviously I met qualifications.

I met with a friends of mine from high school that taught one year in Korea while she was back on her break. She loved the job and the experience so much, she decided to renew her contract for one more year. We met for coffee and discussed her year of teaching. She continued to say that there is still an opening with the company she went through, so I also applied to that one. A couple days later I had an interview.

The interview lasted only a 10-15 minutes, just like all the others. To my surprise, at the end the recruiter offered me a job. I accepted.

Now, I'm in the long process of gathering documents, interviewing with schools, more accepting, sending paperwork, waiting, going to Chicago, more waiting, packing, booking a flight, then leaving. I'm right around the first waiting period, then road tripping to Chicago, which is exciting because I have never been there.

That's all I got for now. I will keep everyone posted as it comes. Thanks for reading!

An average day for a Promise Fellow

I have been volunteering for AmeriCorps now for two months and it has been exciting and challenging. I do my best to help students improve their grades and involve them in service-learning projects.

I've created a grading sheet for each student so they can ask their teachers what their grades are and track them on a weekly basis. They then report their grades to me so I know how I can help them whether it be by: recruiting volunteers for in-class support, one-on-one tutoring or assisting in hoework help during our after school programs. Most of my interaction with the students is after school and in that time we do homework help, creative writing, talk about service learning and reflect on our service-learning projects and our partner SEACC visits and presents on leadership.

I love the students here and I'm gaining a lot of experience being in a school setting and having a teacher role. I hope these experiences will help me decide which career path I want to travel down after my year of volunteering. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life and this experience has had a major impact and opened my eyes to new careers I have never thought of before.