One more year in Seoul!

I've just re-signed my contract for one more year in South korea. So far the process has been easy. My school just got me to sign the application last month and today my contract came. They are now sending it off to get stamped. I have to get my medical checks next month and then get my visa. There are a group of us who need medical checks so we will probably go together.

Day 4 and 5 of Orientation

The last two days I have had lecture after lecture after lecture…. They have been useful but some contradict each other. I’m not going to bore you with details about my lecture so I’ll keep this entry short and sweet.  In fact, it might be very short as I went out for a ‘few’ drinks last night and can’t remember much. Friday and Saturday were packed, so much so, I forgot which day it was a few times.

Anyways….Friday – Start at 9pm and have 4 lectures and Korean class until 8.15pm.  I went out with some people from my class and class 4 for a few drinks. The bar had the best drinks ever!! 5,500 won and it was like a strawberry vodka slush puppy!!  Amazing!! Some of the guys had an arm wrestling match with a Korean girl. Guess who won???? The Korean girl kicked everyone’s butt!

Saturday – Same as Friday L After classes I went out with some really cool people from my class. I was talking to them through lunch and I’ve never laughed so hard!  The drinks menu was in Korean so I just pointed at any drink and ended up with a double vodka with a splash of coke! Don’t worry mum I ordered more cola to put into it. Then I had the best cocktail ever (I pointed at some other girls drink at the end!) See the picture!! It was like a fruit drink with sugar on top! Yummy! Needless to say, I got a bit tipsy…

End of blog fact – American cookies at the convenience store – 6,500 won. Korean cookies – 1,000 won. It’s crazy!! Glad I’m sending myself a food package.

Goodbye Stafford

With 17 hours left until my flight, I'm all packed and ready to go!! I said goodbye to my grandparents today which was the most sad I have felt so far.. :( My suitcases are by the door and I've checked in online. All I have to do is sleep and tomorrow morning I'm off to Manchester airport....I now have butterflies in my stomach!!

See everyone from EPIK in Korea and I'll keep everyone in Stafford updated! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ^-^

4 weeks....

Today, I received my contract from EPIK, after what feels like a lifetime of running around like a headless chicken. I practically ran to the post office before the day's last post collection (a whole extra day of waiting would feel like a lifetime!!). I had to spend even more money on this process for the special delivery envelopes...I'm going to be bankrupt after all the money I've spent on documents etc.

I came home and the first thing I did was book my flights, but not before my bank phoned to check I wasn't some dodgy person trying to steal my money....! My flights were quite cheap considering it's a good airline. It is costing me £363 with Qatar from Manchester to Seoul via Doha. I will only be in Doha for 1.5 hours, so the stopover is not that bad and I read they transfer your baggage all the way through so that will be one less thing to worry about.

On other news I had my final trip to the dentist for a checkup before my trip and my teeth are fine...thank goodness as I really can't afford the dentist at the moment!

Now to wait for my visa.....

Korea be scared! Laura is coming!!!!

Well you don't have to be scared but I would but a good pair of ear plugs haha!

Below is what my agency emailed me yesterday:-

"Arrival date - February 17th at Incheon International Airport (ICN) - Incheon, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan, Chungbuk, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Jeonbuk

Orientation will be held at Jeonju University

Arrival date - February 17th at Gimhae International Airport (PUS) in Busan

- Busan, Daegu, Jeju

Orientation will be held at Pukyong National University

Arrival date - February 22nd at Incheon International Airport (ICN)          

- Seoul

Orientation site to be determined

At both locations, EPIK will provide a free pick up service on February 17th from 7:30am-10:00pm on this day only.  You can arrive any time during these hours, and a shuttle will take you to the orientation site. 

They will also provide a free pick up service for SMOE teachers arriving on February 22nd from 7:30am-10:00pm on this day only.  You can arrive any time during these hours, and a shuttle will take you to the orientation site."

I'm so excited!! I can't wait for my NOA to come through my letter box so I can skip all the way to the Korean Embassy (well the post office at the end of my street who will send my papers to the embassy..) and send off for my visa!! Fingers crossed the visa process goes well!

Tomorrow is my last day at work. I'm half happy (no waking up in the dark!) and half sad as I love all the people I work with and will definitely be keeping in contact with them. In fact they are making me take a teddy from work around with me so I can send them pictures of it in various countries!

 

SCC bear!

I'm going to Seoul!!

Just had an email off my agency confirming that the Seoul MOE have accepted me for the February intake. Yay!! :) So excited and happy!! Now all I have to do is wait for my NOA, apply for my E-2 then book flights.....

Where is my contract???

First of all I would like to say Merry Christmas (yes, I know I'm 3 days late..:p) and a happy new year to everyone who reads my blogs!! We decided to get a real Christmas tree this year and within a week it look like something from a Tim Burton film. My parents have already got a plastic tree in the sale for next year haha.

I've got a week off work, so I have nothing to keep my mind off waiting for my NOA or even a email to say I am 100% going to Korea. I've been quite good so far and haven't been thinking about EPIK or Korea but now I'm off work it's a different story....... On the EPIK February 2011 Facebook group people are writing they have received an email off their POE!!! I finish my job in 2 weeks and will be jobless so I really need something in concrete! I'm also nervous about obtaining my E-2 visa in time for the middle of February.

I don't think it's helped that Seoul as cut the number of positions from 200 to 100 so it's made me even more nervous as I really want to live in a city.

Rant over! Back to waiting...... Fingers crossed!

EPIK Update

My recruiter just sent me an email with an update about EPIK....

"As of yesterday, EPIK has received 1,684 applications. Of those, they have interviewed and accepted 951.  Only 262 applicants have actually sent documents to Korea however. It's great that you sent your documents already!  You’re in a very good position at this point!!!!

If you don’t hear from us in awhile about your position particularly, take this as a good sign.  It means that EPIK has not found anything wrong with your documents and your application is being processed.  This is usually the longest waiting period. 

.

My Cat Henry

Here is a breakdown of the positions available in each location:

 

Location


Positions Available



Seoul
200

Busan
130

Daegu
250

Incheon
7

Gwangju
15

Daejeon
55

Ulsan
6

Gyeonggi
20

Gangwon
50

Chungbuk
50

Jeonbuk
11

Gyeongbuk
185

Gyeongnam
10

Jeju
18"

I sent my documents in at the end of October!! Fingers crossed! I'm getting really nervous now..hopefully we will find out before Christmas, so we can enjoy the holiday in peace :)

Now the long wait....

Just had an email from my agency saying that my documents seem fine and they have passed them on to EPIK, Yay!!! They gave me a list of the stages my documents will go through before I hear off EPIK:-

-          EPIK receives your documents, they review them.

-          EPIK sends your documents to the province/city of your choice space permitting.

-          The provincial or city education office reviews your documents.

-          The provincial or city education office issues you a Notice of Appointment.

-          Your Notice of Appointment is sent back to the EPIK office.

-          Your Notice of Appointment is couriered to you. 

They said it could be up to 2 months until I hear anything and no news is good news. Now the long long wait....

My dog Willow :)

I passed my Interview!!

13.10.10
I've got accepted!! WOOHOO!!! I'm missing some forms to fill out, so I'm just waiting for them and then I'll send all of my documents out!! :) Trying to get everything done as soon as possible so I can get my first choice. So happy, excited and nervous!

14.10.10All of my documents sent via DHL. Cost me £32!!!! Managed to fit them all in to a small envelope otherwise it would of cost me £50 :o I hope all my documents are okay, as I don't want to pay that much out again or miss out on my first choice. Now the wait........

18.10.104 months!!..

 

25.10.10
My documents arrived in Korea last Sunday night (16.10.10) and I'm slightly worried as my agency 'Footprints' told me it should take around 4 days until I hear if they are okay to pass onto EPIK. It's now 7 days and I haven't heard a thing. I hope it hasn't been delivered to some random person...... Or maybe my documents are all wrong...Or maybe the envelope has gone missing!!! Has anyone else with an agency heard anything back?? I can't help but worry as I really really really want this job (as you can tell by the amount of times I wrote really!). I'm sure it's fine but I am a worrier and the ladies in the DHL office couldn't fit the agency name on to the envelope. I've asked my agency to confirm they received the documents and some random person somewhere in Korea hasn't got them instead, so hopefully I'll hear back tomorrow.

On another note... I noticed a few people were looking at my previous blog 'EPIK interview', so if you are going to the March 2011 EPIK, let me know as it would be great to talk to others going beforehand :)

EPIK Interview

08.10.10

I've just had a email from footprints saying I've got an interview on Monday at 2.50am!! I've so nervous!! This weekend I'm going to prepare possible interview questions and practice speaking clearly. Fingers crossed ^-^

11.10.10
Had my interview last night at 2.50am! I thought they might ring late but the phone rang not one second past 2.50am!! After a quick dash to the phone, I heard a kind sounding Korean lady on the other end. I was so nervous throughout the whole interview and couldn't stop shaking >-< She asked me a few questions about my application (be prepared to say yes and no a lot!). Here are a few examples of the questions:

What do you know about the Korean Culture?
Why do you want to teach in Korea?
What do you know about EPIK?
Would you be happy co-teaching?
Why did you submit a lesson plan for this grade (I applied for SMOE)?
Questions about my private teaching in Japan (I made sure they knew it was legal!)
Cultural differences I had experienced in the past.
Cultural differences between Korea and the UK.

Some of the questions I had prepared, but for some of the questions my mind went blank. I did my best 'Queen's English' accent but one or two times my Midlands accent came through, but there is nothing I can do now. If I don't get hired because I'm not American there is nothing I can do but go to a hag-won. Be positive!!! :)

EPIK Application

I finally finished my application form for SMOE/EPIK and got it approved by my agency, footprints recruiting. It took me 7-8 hours without lunch to complete as I kept changing my lesson plan for the SMOE application and then my agency sent it back 3 times, as I forgot some details. I don't know if I'll get an interview or get accepted as I heard Korea prefers the North American accent and my accent is a mixture of Stoke/Wolverhampton dialect. When I went to Japan they expected me to speak the Queens English but only 5% of the population of England speak the Queens English!! I can only speak clearly on the phone, if I get an interview, and pray! Fingers Crossed!! If I don't get a job with EPIK I will apply for private schools so I am not worrying too much but I would prefer to work for EPIK.

At the moment I am trying to learn some Korean so I can communicate with the locals when I go to Korea. I am not a great language learner, nothing seems to go into my head and I get bored easy, but I will try my best. I have just ordered Pimsleurs Korean beginner 1 so I am waiting for that to arrive. At the moment I am sticking post-its to everything and reading a book about Korean Grammar (I am on page 3 and my head already hurts!).

Fighting!!!