How It All Got Started

 Dear Mom and Dad

Starting a new adventure, the first step's the hardest!

I found an old letter.  One that I wrote just before I left, nearly a year ago.  Wow!  Time really flies!  Last year at this time (November) I was panicking because I still hadn't heard any definite news, and I had just filled out my third application...  I had spent so much on getting the proper documentation, and in two weeks you were about to be woken by a call from the US State Department.  Remember that one?!  The day after Thanksgiving? 7:00 in the morning?

Anyway this letter describes the process of planning, documentation, and mental hamster wheeling for the 6 months before jumping on a plane and heading over the big blue yonder!

Here it is...

     So Korea bound.  Yep, if the final details work out, I'll be in Korea in about a month.  A month!  Wow, that's not a lot of time...

     September rolled around this year, and I've been getting restless.  I love my home town, but it was getting restrictive.  Taking stock, I realized that I had the perfect opportunity to try something I had been thinking in some form for more than ten years.  It was an idea that had been bubbling in the back of my mind, but I had never really had the opportunity to actually try it.

     I love traveling, I love teaching, so what would be better than combining the two?  I had originally considered the Peace Corps.  It was a tempting idea, but not really as good a fit for me as I had thought.  So I went back to my original idea.  Teaching English overseas.

meeting new people, making new friends

     There are a lot of places to teach English, but how to get started?  I did some online research.  But I am a very real chicken (and that's probably not bad) when it comes to blindly trusting what I see.  I need a trusted, personal recommendation.  So, I knew a few people who had done this very thing, some still currently teaching, nearly all in Korea, but a couple had been in Japan, and one or two in China.  I knew that I didn't want to teach in China.  And while I like the idea of going to Japan, there are still some very serious concerns about living in certain areas of Japan, and there is no real way of controlling where you ultimately end up.  For all its other ills, Facebook is a wonderful tool for contacting the far flung.  I got my personal recommendation and a whole list of advice.  Here's how it went.

     I was recommended to the placement agency Footprints.  I applied through them, indicating my interest in teaching in Korea and got an email right away.  Footprints is the largest teacher placement agency in Korea and for many other countries.  There is no money charged to applicants from the agency (no legitimate agency will charge an applicant)  They collect their fees from the schools after successfully placing a teacher in that position.  Or at least that's the deal.

     Ok so this was September.  Looking at the list of documents I needed just to begin to apply was daunting, and the amount of time to get documents returned seemed pretty tight.  Before even hitting submit on my application to the agency, I got the documents that were easily accessible.  Copies of my college transcripts, two recommendation letters less than two years old, and began the search for a law enforcement agency that would still make fingerprint cards.  I hit apply, got accepted, went through my initial agency interview via Skype and went off to search for fingerprints.

     Ok fingerprints.  This was the first problem.  We live in the digital age, right?  Well the FBI biometrics unit wants a physical fingerprint card.  Not digital.  I called the FBI fingerprint unit at the local IU.  Nope, didn't do cards. In fact had no idea of what the document I needed it for even was. Call the local police.  Nope. Call the state police.  Nope, just digital and that was done out at the jail, but they might be able to help you.  Called the jail.  Well, he knew there was a way to do it on the machine, but he only ever processed criminal prints.  Well, the last thing I want is to come up as a criminal in my record check...  Where else?  Where?  Ah, the local sheriff department.  "Uhhh, I think we have some old cards that we can pull out.  Come in at 10 AM and we'll have a deputy help you for $10."  After some practice by both myself and the deputy ( how often do you get "hugged" by a tall, well-built, young,seriously handsome deputy, in uniform no less, whoowhee!)  I had my fingerprint card.

     Time to send it to the FBI.    Now I have had FBI record checks done before.  However, those gave me an "unofficial" copy of my record check, saying my background was clean.  That is for school use in the U.S.  Not good enough for going international.  These things have to be apostilled.  New word of the year.  An apostille is a government-issued document for a government-issued document that needs to be used in a foreign country.  An apostille certifies that the government-issued document is in fact a government-issued document.  As best as I can figure out...

     The record check takes 6-8 weeks, and don't call the FBI before 5 weeks have passed. $18 + $36 for Express Mail both ways.  Oh, and there is a customer service number for the FBI.  Pretty cool, and not much of a recording either.   For a government agency, they were fairly helpful.  Especially when you call them once a week, starting from week 4. (It Works!  I got mine back at week 5 1/2!)

don't be afraid to try new things, sometimes they're super delicious!

     Meanwhile, back in September, I got accepted to the agency (which isn't exactly difficult to do) and had to fill out my EPIK (English Program in Korea) application form.  EPIK is the major English teacher hiring group with the Korean government.  Public school teachers are considered government officials in Korea (there are also private schools - hagwons - that are supplementary to public schools. They sometimes have better salaries, but can be a bit riskier as they are privately owned and there is much less government oversight).  Well my first disappointment came.  I didn't get accepted through EPIK.  No reason given, but it is a first come-first serve situation and it seemed that EPIK was trying to push me towards teaching in primarily Seoul and Busan.  Both MOEs (Metropolitan Office of Education vs. POE- Province/Provincial Office of Education or as near as I can figure out) are highly competitive  for placement and not that many positions.

     Footprints emailed,  not to worry, we have several other places in Korea and we really like your application.  Not sure what that meant, but it was vaguely reassuring.  I think they told everyone that.
I sent back applications for two more provinces and a third was forthcoming.  One of these required a YouTube video introduction of myself.  That didn't go well...  Six hours to make a three minute webcam video.  I am NOT doing that again!

     As an aside, I had to get my passport, and I had to get it in a hurry, for that pesky little passport number.   That number is essential in the process of obtaining a visa.  I've had a passport before, so I dug it out and sent it in.  Getting my passport expedited meant I got my passport in about 2-3 weeks, but it cost.  $170 for the passport, and $18 for Express Mail.  Express Mail gets documents mailed in 1-2 business days rather than 4-5.  Expensive and it adds up fast, but so does time.

Catching the sites, taking everything in

     FBI record check came in, now it was time to send it the the U.S. Department of State to be apostilled and to take my certified copy of my degree to be apostilled at the PA Department of State.  Ok, here was another mistake that cost me time and money, because I mis-read my information packet.  I thought I had to get a certified copy of both my degree and the official FBI record check. $5 a piece, at the local notary.  I traveled to the PA State Department to get my degree apostilled.  What I thought would take forever took less than 10 minutes (I went first thing in the morning and no one else was there) $15 in person.  I sent my certified copy of my record check to the U.S. State Authentications office at the US State Department.  (The Pa State Dept. apostilles state-issued documents only, and the U.S. State Dept does federal-issued documents only) $8 +$36 for Express Mail.

      It got sent back.  Undone.  Phone calls out the wazoo to the US State Department.  Three times.  Twice I was told I would be called back that day.  Twice it didn't happen.  They also have strange phone hours.  Something in the range of 9:30 AM to 11:00 and 2:00-3:30 and only one number actually reaches a person.  Third time I stayed on the line and I got my answer.  It couldn't be notarized.  It had to be the original (that doesn't feel good, sending off an original that takes forever to get)  This was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  7:00AM on Black Friday morning I received a phone call from the U.S. State Department, returning my call, whether it was from either Monday or Tuesday, I was too muddled to find out.  Turns out it is "technically illegal to photocopy the original FBI record check."  I wonder how they get around the fact that I have to have at least four "copies" made in order to accept my position?  Once again $8 +$36 for Express Mail.  They destroyed my first check. A week later, I got my apostille.

     Third application got sent out, and finally a fourth application for a region called Jeolla.  I didn't actually have to fill out an application for that one.  They used the same form as the very first one I'd filled out.  A week later I got e-mailed by my coordinator to see if I wanted to accept an interview for Jeolla POE (JPOE) through EPIK (which I hadn't been accepted into previously, for the metropolitan areas).  I said, yes!!!!!!!

     My interview time was set up for 9:00 PM Wednesday, on one early December evening, on Skype.  I was house-sitting at my sister's, so I got everything arranged, checked my lighting and sound, etc.,  and waited.  Putzing around on the internet around 7:30 PM I decided to check my e-mail.  A very frantic couple of emails from my coordinator said that the interviewers' Skype was down and that they'd call on my home phone, please email us back!!!  Run home, check voice mail, email my coordinator, then panic if they actually get their Skype working, where will I set it up?  My parents were out and I needed to set up a sign for them that there was an interview in process, etc, etc...  I don't deal well with interviews; there is an interview butterfly that sets up residence somewhere around my diaphragm.  Its relatives set up residence in the vicinity of my heart and throat.  A couple of them lodge between my ears...

     The interview went by quickly.  Fifteen-twenty minutes.  Another reason to panic afterwards.  It felt fine, but too short maybe?  If it's by phone instead will it affect me?  Again etc. etc.  A week went by.  I passed!!!

     Now to mail my documents and wait for an answer.  The documents got couriered by UPS (not USPS, it doesn't translate well between postal services)  $120 + photocopying fees $5.  Wait for the answer.

     And at the moment, my final documents are on their way!! Next up is applying for my E2 visa at the Korean consulate, then finalizing flight details and a few other minor things.  Of course all the personal paperwork that goes into being out of the country for an extended period of time! (This was the easiest part!  The Korean consulate was the most helpful agency I dealt with.  Except that I couldn't contact the consulate in DC, but that didn'

 peacefulness

t matter.  I had to use the one in NY anyway)

     If the final details in paperwork work out like it's supposed to, it looks like Korea's where I'll be in a month.  Five months ago at my lowest moment, when I made the decision to apply, while wrapping silverware at Perkins, it seemed like this day was so far away.  Now it's looming closer and closer.  The whole process has been incredibly educational.  And not just for procedures!


     Let's see.  Total cost of documents and postage.  Not everyone will need a new passport, and some fees might change.  And some were unnecessary.  I won't list those!


Documents
Fingerprint card  $10
FBI Check         $18
Notary               $5
Apostille (PA)    $15
Apostille (US)   $8
Visa projected  $45
 Total              = $101
+ Photocopy    $5
Total               = $106

Passport  Only necessary if your passport is expired or has less than 6 months left before departure
Passport         $110
+ Expedite     $ 60
Total              = $170

Postage
Express Mail 2-way   $36 x 2 = 72
Express Mail 1-way   $18
UPS Courier             $120 UPS World Express Plus
Total                         =$210

Total = $316 not including passport.