My Itinerary

So this is what my Itinerary looks like...

Leave from Portland at 7:30am and get into San Fran at 9:30am

Leave from San Fran at 1:15pm and get into Incheon at 5:30ish pm...the next day! ...thanks to that pesky little international date line (+12 hrs). Either way that's a really freaking long flight!

Take a bus from Icheon to Gimpo airport...and pray like hell we get on the right bus. Although now that I have my handy "I'm an American idiot, need to go to the Gimpo airport, please don't rob me," translation I have no fear of arriving with plenty of time to spare...lol. Ok the card doesn't really say that...although I think it could easily be implied.

Leave from Gimpo airport at 8:10pm and get into Gwangju at 9:25pm

So to recap I'll leave at 7:30am on Sunday and finally arrive in Gwangju at 9:25 pm on Monday. Traveling to Korea sux!


Now you know where the international date line is :)

Getting a little nervous

So now that I've hit the two-weeks-away mark, I'm not going to lie I'm getting a little nervous. I got a little scared when I finally got my ticket plus I was going somewhat stir crazy not working so I decided to drive to Spokane. I think the six hour drive was good for me. Plus I don't care what anyone says, I think that drive is beautiful! I actually really liked Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. I also discovered my new love for bar trivia...aside from the fact Kwiter kicked my ass...lol. Damn you Kwiter! :)

Ticket!!!

I finally got a real life ticket!!! I am officially leaving on July 8th at 7 in the morning! So basically my last day to see everyone will be that Saturday...sadness :(

Work Visa Done!

Here are the steps to get your very own Korean Work Visa...

1. Get a Korean school to hire you. This includes submitting your college diploma, transcript, resume, & copy of your passport.
2. Wait forever for a work visa number.
3. Fill out a crazy work visa form with lots of Korean symbols that make no sense to you.
4. Take your passport, another passport picture, 45$, and your crazy work visa form to the closest Korean embassy (for us Oregonians it's a sweet 3 hour drive to Seattle).
5. Wait 4 hours! (Yeah...4 freakin hours!)
6. Voila, now you have a big sticker on your passport that says you get to work in Korea for a year. Sweetness!

Here is what we did during our 4 hour wait...

Checked out the city


Stopped by the famous Seattle Aquarium...sooo cute!


Checked out a little city artwork


Hit up the pike street market




So neat & fresh!

Work Visa

Finally got my work visa paper work (OK it's not really paper work, it's more like a number or something)...none the less it's here!!! One little trip to Seattle next week to actually get my work visa and we're ready for a plane ticket!

This is especially exciting since I was starting to seriously worry about my "recruiter". Not that I'm saying I don't trust the guy...but you never know.

On a side not I've decided to try and punch up my blogs a bit. Anyone visiting from myspace might have noticed a while back I got rid of anything personal on my page as a way to avoid crazy stalker types. I figure if people liked reading the old msn blogs I wrote (which were basically me making fun of myself and crazy people I tend to meet in Portland) maybe I should switch back to my old ways. I guess we will see.

Hope everyone had a good week! Lately I've felt like a little lost puppy waiting at the door for my friends to get off work. Gawd not working sucks. :(

Gwangju the City

Here are a few pics to clear things up, in case you thought i was moving to a third world country ;)






To find out more about my city check out this website http://eng.gjcity.net/main.jsp

Top 10 Most Common Questions

I thought since I've decided to write a blog I might as well get my most commonly asked questions about moving to South Korea out of the way now.

So here ya go!

1. No I have never taught English before. I graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Psychology, not education.

2. No I don't speak Korean...and no I'm not worried about it.

3. No I will not be living close to Seoul, however Korea isn't a very big county in general. The distance from Gwangju to Seoul is about as far as from Portland to Seattle.

4. I will have my own studio apartment, no roomies. Not that anyone could top Darc anyway...except for maybe E-rod & Jason...haha.

5. Yes I'm a little scared of the food, but I know I'll survive. Kimchi is actually not that bad!

6. I will be flying over with one other ESL teacher from OSU. There is also already an ESL teacher at the private school I will be working at from U of P. So no, i will not be all by myself.

7. Yes I will be getting paid a salary...and no I won't tell you how much it is. Stop asking.

8. No I'm not scared, I'm EXCITED, I get to move out of Oregon!!!

9. Yes I will miss my friends a ton! I don't know what I will do without you guys! :(

10. Last but not least... Everyone should come visit me is Gwangju! Or...at least think about meeting up to travel with me somewhere in Asia once my year is up!

p.s. Gwangju is also spelled Kwangju

No turning back...

So it's official I will be moving to Gwangju, South Korea sometime within the next two months. Crazy I know! Originally I thought i would be leaving at the end of June, but much to my disappointment the date has been postponed to July 10ish at this time. I'm not a big fan of the ish factor! If i could, I would leave tomorrow...although then I wouldn't be able to throw a sweet going away party and that would kinda suck. Blitz in the pearl is in the works as of now :)

Back to my departure date... Once I actually have a ticket in my hand I will let you know. On the bright side maybe I'll get in some camping if the weather holds out.

Now i just have to worry about my b-day...ugh. Can I push it back to November? I'm not ready to be 24 yet. Not that I'm saying 24 is old, I just don't want to worry about it right now.