So I have had a few (a lot) of requests to start a blog.
Mainly for the reason of seeing how I will survive in Korea. Don’t lie, you know its the truth. =P

Heres the jist:

Sept ‘09: After having been crazily drawn to Korean dramas (thanks to all my obsessed friends), one friend in particular, Jin, had a conversation and she had mentioned that she was going to Korea to teach english. OMG! She got me interested. She didn’t think I was serious, guess again… =]

Jan '10: I applied thru a recruiting company called Aclipse. They liked me, so they set up an interview. Before the interview, they had me do this mini English exercise that comprised of 2 multiple choice questions and 2 short answers. Got interviewed, they liked me still. The interview was your typical interview with an additional mock teaching. I had to figure out a way to “teach” my students the difference between stare and glare. Stare is when youre emotionless and just looking out into space. Your brain is not thing, nothing is going on in your head. Glare is associated with emotion, mainly anger. Your eyebrows get furrowed and you feel mad. It was a pretty long interview, 30-45 mins. After that I had to wait a week for my results.

A week later: My recruiter, Nicole, congratulated me on getting accepted! yay! then she suggested I teach in the local schools. We talked about the pros and cons and so in the end I decided on the local schools. Which lead to EPIK.

Feb '10: What is EPIK? English Program In Korea. It is the ONLY school that is backed up by the Korean government. so if war broke out, I’d be taken care of. =]

Nicole suggested I get all my paperwork taken care of, at least the ones I could at the time. So I basically had to fill out the EPIK application and attach an essay so that she could forward my app and essay to their main office, which is in Boston. After that I had to get these done and mailed to Boston:
- FBI background check with an Apostille
- 2 Letters of Recommendation - the originals
- Copy of all University transcripts
- Diploma photocopy with Apostille
- Photocopy of passport
- Proof of teaching experience (If applicable)
- Photocopies of advanced degrees or certificates (if applicable)
- Original application with handwritten signatures

Mar-Apr '10: After the Boston office looked over my EPIK app and essay, they sent it over to EPIK which is the office in Korea. I had to wait to see if EPIK liked me too and if they did then they would schedule an interview time. If they didnt like me, Nicole said that there were others schools i could look into. but gladly, EPIK liked me and my interview was at 11pm! it was 3pm in korea. the interview lasted for an hour! it was pretty nerve wracking. haha! they told me i had to wait a few days for my results.

3 days later: Nicole said that EPIK liked me and that they wanted to hire me! YAY! so i just had to get my paperwork done and sent to Boston and i would be set! i wish! i had to apply for another passport bc i had misplaced my passport that i just got last year! i wish that was the only problem i ran into… the hardest part to get was the background check apostilled! i had to go to UPD to get my fingers scanned and after that i had to wait for the results to get mailed to me. then after that i had to mail it to Sac to the Sec of State and get it apostilled, which is basically just a stamp. somewhere along the way, someone messed up (UPD). somehow i ended up with the wrong type of background check. i needed the state wide check and got something else. so the Sec of State sent back what i sent them and i had to play phone tag with the dept of justice (DOJ), who were in charge of my scanned fingers and the Sec of State. FINALLY the DOJ corrected the mistake (he was pretty nice) and my results arrived in the mail in 2 days.

May 7, 2010: i am currently waiting for my background check to come back in the mail with it apostilled. once i receive that, sometime early this coming week, ill be able to send ALL my paperwork to Boston and from there they look it over and then send it to EPIK.

Since i wanted to be placed near where Jin is at, i told Nicole i wanted to be in Gyeonggi (pronounced: Konggi), if possible. Epik does not recruit for Gyeonggi but GEPIK does. GEPIK is part of EPIK but they only place in Gyeonggi whereas EPIK places people all over Korea. So, i had to fill out an additional application for GEPIK. sighhhh… all this paperwork… but its ok bc i will be in Korea by mid aug and living in an apartment that i dont have to pay for! :D