After almost two and a half months of being in Korea, it seems as though my computer issues might finally be solved! (Although I hesitate to say so, for fear of being jinxed...) I now have my computer back in working order, and I think it's cool as all get-out that my new keyboard has Korean characters on it in addition to the traditional English characters (:
The last two weeks have been pretty awesome. Two weeks ago we didn't have actual class because the students were preparing for mid-terms. The students still came to our English class, but we gave them 'free-time' to study whatever they wanted. That meant I had a lot of time to catch up on correcting essays and to read. You'll notice I've started a list of books that I've read here in Korea on the right side of the page.
Last week we only had 'class' for one day, since Monday was a holiday and Wed-Fri the students were taking midterms. This weekend, Brittani and I went to Seoul after numerous plans fell through (which I'll describe below) and it was a great time. We got to see some pretty cool things and meet some pretty cool people, and you can see PICTURES HERE.
I'd now like to chronicle the evolution of Brittani and I's legal status in Korea, and how it has affected our leisure plans and sanity:
For me, it started with needing a certified criminal record from the State of Texas in order to fulfill a visa requirement. I ended up driving 900 some-odd miles for it, and thought that the worst of my troubles had to be over. That was followed by a trip to Japan to get the actual visa - only to discover that Brittani and I's diploma's had yet to be certified by the Korean consulate. We were first told that we'd have to return to the US in order to get that certification, but were blessed with the news that we did not, after all, need to take the 20+ hour trip back home and would only need to return to Japan again in a couple of weeks.
On our journey to Japan for the second time, we encountered our first challenge when we missed our boat. That meant that we had to take a boat leaving 3 hours later, and since the trip takes approximately 3 hours, we were in danger of not making it to the Korean Consulate's office in Japan before they closed for the weekend. After cutting in lines, racing through the port, and exchanging currency, we arrived at the consulate 20 minutes before they closed... to be greeted with the news that MY diploma had not been certified. And after an hours wait, and some haggling by Mr. Choi, we finally - after 6 weeks of trying - got our visas and were legally able to work in the country.
Then our attention turned to getting our Alien Registration Card, and planning out what we'd do over the huge break we had during mid-terms. We went to the hospital to get a medical check-up to submit to the immigration office for our ARC's, and made plans (which were all scrapped for various reasons) to go on a trip to the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Jeju Island (a Korean island).
What should have taken 5 days to get our ARC's in fact took 3 weeks. And because we had to submit our passports in order to get our ARC's, Brittani and I had to cancel any plans of leaving the country over the large break.
But we still had high hopes that we'd be able to at least take advantage of the last 3 days of our break by going with a travel group to another part of Korea, since we would 'for sure' have all of our required documentation back from the Korean government in time. However, with 3 days to go until we left for our trip, and without any form of ID having been returned to us, Brittani and I took matters into our own hands and got everything taken care of. After weeks of miscommunication and middlemen, Brittani and I got things handled in 3 days flat.
Which brings us to last Friday: We finally had our passports back, we had our ARCs, and we were packed and ready to go to the coast and relax on the beach all weekend, just waiting to board our train that left in just over half an hour. All of the problems that we'd faced in our 80 days in Korea had finally been resolved and as we took our first sigh of relief - Brittani's phone rang. In typical Korean style, we were regretfully informed that our vacation (the one that we'd been planning for weeks and were desperately looking forward to) was being cancelled by the travel agency because of expected bad weather.
We couldn't do anything but laugh. We had surmounted so many obstacles with the inefficiency of our information sources and the Korean government, only to be put back in our places by mother nature. That's the way life is in Korea - and while I am at times less than amused with it, I have to admit that I enjoy the ever-changing environment and my inability to even remotely predict my immediate future.
My closing advice: If you haven't given somebody a hug today, do it. And if you have, give another one. "Hugs are good, they feel nice, and if you don't believe it, try it." - Leo Buscaglia, teacher and author.
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