I know I promised all of you that I would blog about my adventures and keep you up to speed.  At first, there didn’t seem to be any time, but then it felt that I had too much to write, and that very fact was far too daunting for this teacher to face.  I think the only approach here is to write several posts at once.  Good thing I’m an early riser.

Last Minute Prep and The Flight

In order to get here on time, Rena told me that I needed to get my Visa ASAP..  This meant I had to drive from Indy to Chicago (about a 3-hour drive, so really not all that fun) in one day to drop off the passport and have the interview.  Thanks to the GPS, I got to Chicago with no trouble.  Once I got there, I found out that Rena had sent me an outdated form, so I had to re-fill everything out there.  And one of the questions was asking me my employer’s birthdate.  I just barely knew the man’s name!  I left that blank, and evidentally, doing that didn’t hurt my chances of getting my Visa.  My interview was at 10:30am, but it didn’t start for about an hour.  I was told that the interview was a 5-10 minute thing, but once I got in the room with a few other applicants, I found out why my interview was so late.  The consulate asked everyone their names and why they wanted to go to Korea.  Then he stamped our passports.  Done, right?  No!  He had a transcript of a radio program, and he wanted us to translate some of it for him.  He particularly had a difficult time with the idioms and slang we use.  That took a bit of time.  We already had the stamps we needed, so we weren’t sure if he was testing our English knowledge or if he just really wanted help with his own knowledge of English.

The passports were supposed to be ready by 3pm that Friday, and my flight was early the next morning.  Joy.  I was pleased to get there and find my passport ready.  I was sad that I couldn’t enjoy as much of Chicago as I wanted, but I needed to get back so I could pack.  I didn’t get back home until about 9pm, and then came the Ordeal of the Packing.  Trying to fit everything you think you’ll need for a year abroad, when you aren’t entirely sure what’s available in the country to which you are going.  I wound up not sleeping at all that night, as I spent the whole night putting things in my bags, taking things out of my bags, trying to rationalize what was needed and what wasn’t.  Not fun.  Everything did get packed though.

I headed out of the house, with the family in tow, at about 4:30am.  When I checked my bags, I discovered that one was 49 pounds, and one was 51.5 pounds, and the limit is 50.  Luckily, the employee at the counter decided to cut me some slack and not charge me a fee for an overweight bag.  No one in the family cried, at least not in my presence.  We said our goodbyes, and then I had to go through security.  I went from Indy to Chicago (I was JUST there!!) to Seattle to Incheon, South Korea.  The flights were long, but no longer than they were anticipated, which is always appreciated.  Since I didn’t sleep the night before, I spent most of my time on the flights sleeping.

We landed at about 6pm (Seoul time), and I spent quality time in the Immigration line.  I grabbed my bags, which luckily all present and accounted for, and then I met my driver, who spoke no English and had my name spelled almost correctly on the sign he held.  He ran a few red lights on the way, but I later discovered that all drivers do that here.  I expected to be dropped off at the school to meet my director, but he dropped me off at the 6 Motel instead.  There, the director was waiting for me, as well as three of my new co-teachers.  They were nice enough to haul my 50-pound bags up the stairs to my room.  And then the Korean adventures began!