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!

So cold!!

It was -8'c on my way to work yesterday! I can't describe how cold it was but my knees and face were numb after 2 minutes. The sky is still white and full of snow, so it's showing no sign of stopping. On the good side, it means a white Christmas this year. On the bad side, I will fall over on my bum soon. The pavements here are pure ice so unless you have snow boots then you are going to fall over. It was only 8 months ago since we had our last snow, in which a girl from my office fell over and broke her leg (I told you the pavements are dangerous!).

But it's not all been bad...today we collected our Christmas tree! Only 21 sleeps till Christmas! I have asked for nothing this year, as I won't be able to ft it in my suitcase, but I'm looking forward to the Christmas films on TV (sad I know!). I was so depressed when I was Japan and didn't have a real Christmas.

My office has been decorated in pink and purple tinsel...I didn't choose the colours before you ask...and we are now decorating our tree (red and gold). It's starting to feel like Christmas at last. All I need now is to hear off EPIK then it would be perfect.

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 :)

Certificate of UK residence

13.11.10I sent off a basic letter template to the tax office asking for my certificate of residence about 3 weeks ago and haven't heard anything back, so I've sent another letter today. I'll give an update when I hear anything...If I don't hear off them soon I'll phone them up.

I've read than if you move abroad for over 12 months that you don't pay UK taxes but I could be wrong.

21.11.10Spoke to a UK EPIK teacher (Thank you!!) who is already in Korea and she confirmed you don't have to pay UK taxes. Though you have to pay pension contributions, which as a UK citizen you can't claim back. You can get those transferred over to a UK pension when you leave but it can be alot of bother.

29.11.10Just phoned the dudes at the tax office up (after a 15 minute wait on the phone!) and they told me all you have to do is write a letter asking for your certificate. Mine was sent out on the 26th so it should get here soon :) I asked about leaving the UK for over a year and he said all you have to do is fill in this form... http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/p85.pdf

Injections for Korea

I went and talked to my travel nurse today about the injections I will need for Korea....turns out it's going to cost me around £280-£300!! £120 for Hep B and over £160 for Japanese encephalities. I've already had my hep A booster (I should be ok for another 20 years, yay!!) and my typhoid booster is due in May so I'll have to have it out there..I had my TB injection in primary school so I'm set for life.

I'm booked in for my hep B injections starting the end of Dec (there are 3 injections!!) and I've got to talk to her about the Japanese encephalities injection as it's not licensed, but I rather be safe than sorry! I also have to have a tenanus booster and something to prevent diphtheria (injection or liquid I don't know??). Let's just say I am glad I live in England and we have the NHS otherwise it would cost me double :O Such a problem I don't know where I'm going to be placed, as I some areas are more high risk!


Has anyone else had the Jap enc injection and what are the side effects??? Thanks :D

Update - 04.11.10Just had £280 tax return so that should pay for my injections!! Yay!!

24.11.10Had a call from the travel nurse today, saying the doctor has advised me to have the Japanese encephalities injection since I am going for a year. The injection has got to be done by a doctor and there is only one doctor at my surgery who can give this injection. This injection is starting to sound scary!!! She said it would cost around £80 for each dose and I would need 2 doses... :(

29.11.10
Just had my first injection which was the Japanese encephalities. I think the worse bit was handing the £80 over...It's going to be worse on the 29th December as I have to pay for my 2nd Japanese injection and my Hep B injections. In total it's going to cost me £280.


20.02.10Finally had my third and last dose for the Hep B yesterday. I hate that injection as it feels like a bee sting to me! I thought I was all done on the injection front but life isn't that kind to me! My nurse phoned the health authority to check I'm up to date with all my injections and it turns out I'm not :( So in 2 weeks I have to have 2 big injections with all of my high school jabs in! Well good to be safe than sorry....I just feel sorry for my left arm! She also has to check I can have the typhoid as my last jab doesn't run out until May but I really don't want it in Korea as (A) I will have to search for a English speaking hospital and (B) It's free here!!!

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!!!