Giving Thanks: Holidays, Friends and Family

It's Christmas Eve and three dog's and a cat are stirring and I am wired in the coziness of my dad and stepmom's house.  It is hard to believe that six months have gone by living here in my parents abode, warm, secure and able to sleep in.  I will be boarding the first of three planes to get me to my final destination in Korea early Saturday morning.  The wait is over, the time is near.  It is hard to believe but I couldn't be more excited.  Tomorrow is Christmas.  It will be my last full day in the United States of America for at least a year, unless I find a way to squeak a vacation stateside sometime late next year.  The journey begins the minute I board that first plane.  My life is about to change in ways I cannot grasp until I am living it.

The gratitude I feel towards my father and stepmom for taking me in and letting me invade their home and disrupt the organized comfort in which they live is insurmountable.  The money given to me is huge, in the sense that nothing can be accomplished without it unfortunately.  This is my least favorite thing about life.  It takes money to get anything done.  There is money needed to simply take the most basic first step in any process to achieve a goal and without their help none of this would be happening for me.  It irks me to even try to put it into a dollar figure, because the cash is only a fraction of the help that has been provided to me.

I have been allowed for six months, to sleep in as late as I want.  I was able to stay up late watching the boob tube (something that I enjoy but can and do live without when on my own), and wake at noon to a half full coffee pot ready to reheat at my slow rising leisure.  I maybe had a small list of chores involving yard work of some sort on a day or three here and there (which I was paid cash for), but I was pretty much free to surf the internet, stuff my face and get a little exercise if I wanted.  I was hardly pressed to keep up the room that was mine to stay in.  It got a bit cluttered with piles of clothes and stuff, but I never got too much grief about it.  The bed I'd sleep in is large and soft with more pillows that any self respecting single male needs, but I enjoyed it none the less.

I have been treated to home cooked dinners nearly every night seven days a week for six months.  If it wasn't cooked from scratch which it often was, it was still prepared and presented.  My dad is a lucky fellow for that and I a spoilt over-extended guest reaping the benefit of his wife's talent in the kitchen.  I drank vita-water and quality beers at will.  The "at will" part with the beers probably garnered me the most consistent disapproving vocalizations from my dad, granted he paid for them.  What's a guy supposed to do faced with such a bevy of beverage glory?  Not to mention the snacks!  Chips and artichoke dip, macadamia nuts and stuffed olives calling me during the late night movie watching hours.  I am lucky to have a treadmill to use as well and some weights or a fat-ass by now I would have become for sure.  Americans are assumed to be fat by other countries and I want no part in being the fat "ass" in their assumption further perpetuating that sad truth overseas.  Thankfully my metabolism hasn't shut down.

I have yet to come up with a way to properly thank them both as we part ways late tomorrow evening.  I will be driven to the airport and sent on my way.  I have tried to verbally convey it, spouting many genuine thank you's at the appropriate times and expressing my appreciation whenever possible, but I feel that they don't realize how much everything that they have done for me is appreciated.  Maybe if they could see how happy I am to have the opportunity to do what I am about to do, they will realize that I owe much of my progress as a human to their financial aid and mental support... and I couldn't have done it without them.

 One day I will figure out a way to give back.  I guarantee any family member would be happy with  artwork that I made versus something bought in a store, but I haven't made much lately and I need to feel settled to create.  I am hoping I can settle in enough to get back to making art for the love of it and maybe the content would even be fit for sharing with my gramma.  She is very supportive of me making art, but finds anything recent dark and morbid, not the kind of stuff to hang in her house.  I love her reaction when I show her my stuff.  She is like, "oh gawd... I don't know about this... maybe for a cover of a rock album or something"...  I hope to find a groove soon in Korea... I need some inspiration.  Something to inspire some positive imagery fit for gramma's walls.

I am stoked to have some really great friends too.  I feel loved and supported by these peeps who lack the unconditional family obligation of their time invested in me, yet they openly support me in this trip and everything I try to do.  I feel blessed to have peers wishing me the best on this journey.  I realize I have some lifers in my corner however brief or extended our journey, we are lucky to enjoy it together.  I don't feel all alone in this thing and am blessed to have such a great support system to reach out to when I need a morale boost.  Thanks to my immediate and extended family members along for the ride... going brah!

Officially Packed, But Am I Ready To Go?

The deed is done.  My bags are stuffed to the gills.  I have managed to pack everything I need to bring and quite a bit of what I want to bring.  Some things have been discarded out of necessity due to weight restrictions and space limitations in my bags.  These things consist of a dozen books and a few clothing items.  As it stands, my carry-on bag contains far more books than I should bring, but I can't seem to do without them.  Should I feel the need to lug around a carry-on bag pushing 50 pounds?  I deem it necessary.  I will be checking two bags that are just under the 50 pound limit and lugging my slightly smaller, yet just as heavy carry-on with my skateboard deck duct-taped to the bottom of the bag.  The trucks and wheels are packed in the carry-on.  I was going to tape the skateboard to the bottom of the bag fully assembled so that I could wheel it around the three major airports I will be spending time in, but I don't want to draw any unwanted attention.  It is probably wiser not rolling my bag through the x-ray machine at customs anyhow.

So the packing part is over.  It was a semi-stressful process, but I have packed and unpacked, selectively reduced and sorted my life's belongings more over the last 10 years than most humans.  I have lost count of how many times I have moved, but on average I would say once every six months making it close to twenty times.  It does get easier when you have condensed your life for transport like a professional vagabond.  However, there is always that ever present nostalgia that makes packing time consuming and somewhat emotional.  You realize that you only have so much room for the keepsakes and mementos that tend to take up much needed room with their often times, odd shapes.  You sort through these items and put some aside, retiring them after so many moves together and say goodbye in a makeshift memorial.  It can be quite sad.  You realize that you are human and things grow on you, shaping you in ways you never realized until it comes time to part with them... time to move on.

A new beginning should be just that.  It is probably unhealthy to lug too much old baggage to a new locale.  Shedding some of this physical baggage does actually help shed bits of the emotional baggage that is carted around wherever one goes.  To evolve as an individual one needs to adapt to their new surroundings and take in aspects of their current situation so that it can mold them into a functioning member of their new life.  A few memories of their former self is good to keep ones' roots alive, but to hold on to too much could interfere with new growth.

This openness is really important when I think about what I have gotten myself into.  This is no move to a different state in the US or a vacation in a foreign land.  I am moving to East Asia.  My sleep patterns and dreams are all over the place these days and my nerves go through cycles of excitement, calm, confidence and anxiety.  I have to admit I am psyched though.  Disappointment in the good 'ol USA has grown tenfold and life here predictable.  My surroundings lose their luster rather quickly and life seems a bit stagnate.  I am looking forward to a challenge and from everything I have read about Korea, a challenge awaits me without a doubt.  A monkey wrench thrown right in the middle of the mundane cycle of life that continues like clockwork...    

Holiday Cheer As My Arrival Date Draws Near

Anxiousness coupled with insomnia equals late nights and eventually crashing in the early morning hours around 4am these days... uncertainty about my preparation for the rapidly approaching overseas venture fills me with perpetual anxiety.  This has been the pattern over the last many nights.  Watching movies until the wee hours of the morning gives me back pains from the recliner.  My posture:  impotent and sloven as I munch on chips and dip and pickles sweet and sandwich dills, green olives stuffed with garlic and jalepenos and slices of block cheddar while my vision blurs from the bright, throbbing plasma TV barking at me in Dolby stereo.

On this night a few beers has allowed me to digress into some crude Photoshop Christmas card making.  Sending these juvenile creations to my friends via the internet has made me happy.  Bill Maher pasted next to Paris Hilton and Tiger Woods with the phrase Merry XXX Mas! at the top and HO! HO! HO! placed under each image complimented my demented mood as I sent it off to many a buddy.  I used the paint tool to write the words in Xmas colors and haphazardly cut out the images of the celebrity sex addicts using the magnetic wand.  Cut and paste, technology, minimalism.  What more do modern day artist's need?  I feel a similar satisfaction with the end result of this 15 minute defecation as I do when I finish a piece after 120 hours or more of labor... my blood and sweat in charcoal.  Instant imagery is all the rage no?  One need not make art by the skilled hand any longer, ability is trumped by accessibility.  Appropriation saves the day with some whimsical negativity... Fine art is dead and so are our idols... true or false?

Blogs I Like and Why

It finally dawned on me after months of dropping by certain blogs to add them to my blog page.  Not only is it easier to visit their site from mine, I can see whether they have updated their blog.  Also, if I want to read something I am now logged onto my own page where I might possibly do some writing myself.  That is the point of this blog thing isn't it?  It makes sense to display others' blogs as well, because the ones I keep reading are the ones that keep writing.  That is motivation for me to stay on it.  Sometimes I struggle with the self starter in me and need a little reminder from the others out there to not be so damn lazy.  We all struggle with this on some level in some area in our lives and need a little kick start.

I see it a bit like a healthy competition.  Blogger (a ) and blogger (b) have completely different styles compared to blogger (c) and myself.  Each blogger is responsible for maintaining their unique approach to their blog.  I visit these blogs because I like their differences in format and the way that they read.  I don't compare one with the other because I get satisfaction out of each blog in various ways.  Some may have a rigid structure, or personal system of rules that they apply to each post and others may be a bit more off the cuff.  I like different writing styles.

For instance, so far I have chosen to follow four blogs.  Each blog satisfies a different personal interest or taste.  My friends Kahi and Louise are galavanting around the world in search of surf and sights.  Their blog 'Scribbles Abroad' allows me to travel with them and read about their adventures while looking at beautiful photographs throughout.  They actually changed the format of their earlier entries that consisted of way more writing and a few pictures, but decided friends would rather see wonderful pictures with detailed captions describing the photos.

Then there are the three Korea based blogs that I consistently enjoy.  I will be joining the likes of these three bloggers in a different part of Korea teaching English and documenting my journey, so naturally I wanted to read up on others experiences.  There are so many to choose from, but I find these three, out of hundreds- if not thousands, satisfying in their own unique way.  I am attracted to their writing style and personalities for whatever reasons that seem to please me when I read them.

'An Idiot's Tale' is one blog that I get a kick out of.  The author reminds me of a married Bukowski type character who is blunt, foul and witty with no filler.  It is a light hearted blog that reflects his daily routine with the antics that come with being a "white devil" married to a Korean woman with two little half breed spawn.  He writes in short sentences like Chinaski and makes me laugh.

Another Korea blogger who I enjoy is a Scotsman who pen's 'Korean Rum Diary'.  I was instantly drawn to his critical views and detailed, introspective writing about why he finds Korea wrong in many ways.  He is satisfyingly negative at times.  There are photos here and there as well.  I feel the need to read him so as to remind myself to lighten-up once I am in the thick of things overseas.  I relate to him in so many personality traits.  I read him to prepare myself and not freak out when I run into the well documented scenarios he rants about that seem inevitable in Korea.  I want to keep my wits about me, keep my job and do my best to not rock the boat.  This is something that I have a history of not being good at.  I am a critical, cynical bastard myself and I am trying tone it down a bit.  If we met in the streets of Daegu, I imagine we would raise hell together.

The third Korea blogger I find to be very informative writes, 'Sorry I Was Drunk'.  He is a native Korean who has attended school and lived in the US and Korea.  His unique perspective of life growing up in both places provides introspection about Korean culture that a white Westerner might not understand.  Also, he is fluent in both languages and he writes well thought-out comparisons of East and West.  His posts are very long at times, but I enjoy reading so this is a plus.  He posts some very interesting links relative to the topics he chooses to discuss, as do the the others.

 Now maintaining my blog is a different animal.  My writing might pull from various places from where  these favorite blogs of mine derive, but it is up to me to keep at it.  The pressure one puts on one's self lay in the format which one has chosen to manage their own blog.  But the competition factor stems from seeing the commitment that others have made to their blog regardless of what the subject matter is.  That having been said, I would like to thank the bloggers who have inspired me to take up such a commitment oriented task that I now feel obligated to maintain, because of their commitment to the craft.  I do plan to make my blog more appealing, adding pictures and possibly links when I see fit later as well.  I appreciate the inspiration people.  Mahalo.

It is also important for me to clarify statements made in earlier posts regarding how I am going to handle life in Korea once I am over there.  While it is completely necessary that I believe in myself to handle what comes my way in the most mature and calm manner, it is a well known fact that in the face of such situations, it is easier said than done.  There is no real way to prepare myself for life in a foreign country that is so blatantly different to the West.  Of this I am aware.  I simply needed to outline my approach on how I should handle myself as a reminder.  I probably should print and paste a "Rules of Engagement" manifesto to my studio apartment wall upon arrival.  Smile, nod your head, keep your mouth shut, breathe...   

Mentally Packing, Not Yet Packing

My flight overseas to the land where kimchi curdles is rapidly approaching.  As I count down the days, I mentally prepare by doing absolutely nothing.  While I feel that I should be practicing Korean using the various forms of media that I have purchased and that are available to me online, I find that it is extremely difficult to focus on any task Korea related.  Also, my dad has a dish and a 47" flat screen that I stare at like a cluster of bugs on the hallway light at a cheap motel.  

 I have visualized packing numerous times, yet have failed to physically pack my bags.  Piles of clean, folded clothes stare at me from the end of my bed.  I need to separate the mountain of wardrobe and trim the fat substantially to pack efficiently and save room for things more oddly shaped than clothes.  The discarded clothing items are going to be donated to the Salvation Army.  I am determined to let go of clothing that I will not need, the excess shirts that have long since faded,  items that only get worn on dirty laundry days.

The last thing I want to do is bring too many clothes overseas to pile up on me in my tiny studio apartment.  It would be embarrassing to have new acquaintances relate the odor in my studio to that of a filthy, musty gym sock or worse.  My nose isn't the best, so the possibility of another form of stench lingering and plucked from the air by a keener sniffer could create an unwanted stigma attachment, an awkward moment for both parties.  I hope to reduce my clothes pile to necessary work clothes:  slacks, dress shirts, ties and also my boardshorts,  two jeans, a few weeks worth of teeshirts, boxer briefs and socks.  Two jackets, two hoodies, a few beanies... the desire to fit everything in two bags makes this a daunting task.

Another dilemma is sorting through my book collection and deciding what to leave behind.  This is not fun.  I need to bring the ones I have not yet read and feel I should bring those I have finished to possibly trade or lend out.  I'd hate to only bring the unread books and have inquiries from visitors and me feeling selfish for not wanting to lend them out because I still plan to read them.  I will see how many I can fit once the necessities are accounted for and not go over in baggage weight.

All this mental sorting for weeks and not doing it is getting me nowhere.  I need to do a dry run to see what fits...

The language barrier dilemma is a whole-nother ball of kimchi.  I have tried to sit down and focus on a few language items, but beyond the basic hello and thank you, I am useless.  The chances of retention and the possibility of successfully using any Korean right away is unlikely.  I have managed to learn to pronounce and write the basic hangul alphabet, which is no grand fete I promise you.  I rely on the idea of emersion being the only way for me to learn the language and hope to deal with any initial language struggles calmly, as they are to be expected.  I have experienced that discomforting feeling once before in Europe, so I am familiar with the sting of ignorance during a period of adjustment.

 I have been researching etiquette however, knowing that a cultural understanding about how one should act in Korea proves to be far more valuable than speaking the language initially.  I find these differences to Western ways charming and I am not the slightest bit frustrated by these different ways of doing things.  I am not the stubborn foreigner who feels there is one correct way, unwavering in my stance bound by Western logic and look forward to a cultural awakening through observation and assimilation.

 Until the novelty of newness wears off, I will be alive with wonder.  When I feel I have seen it all and become opinionated one way or another and let my pride interfere, that is when I will need to step back and evaluate the situation and make a decision.  I am smart enough by now to know that an adventure like this has no room for snap judgments. My livelihood is at stake and I am excited to go with the flow even if it looks like it is headed up a morbid, stinky stream of hateful piss and vinegar.  All I need to do to get over whatever comes my way is think back to the archives of lows I have survived before and laugh.  There is plenty of material in the back catalogs of my often tragically humorous existence to pull from and I welcome any experience that has the balls to try and top my greatest hits so far... i better get packing.      

Research: A Limited Venture

This morning I decided to brew a second cup of coffee, because I knew that my intentions for the day consisted of staring at the computer browsing the same sites that I always visit.  This weather has made going outside less than appealing and I am under the assumption that there is no limit to the amount of research one should conduct before making a move overseas.  The wealth of information on the superhighway should last me until the day I depart for Korea, or so I thought.  I found that my ability to come up with different word combinations to feed the search engine has stifled my attempt at finding anything new.  Can that be possible?  Have I found all that there is to know about the place I am going, or just not the right wording for the search?

I have tried an umbrella search on Korea and there is a million pages of information on Seoul and North Korea, but I am not moving to Seoul and I have no plans yet to pay a visit to Kim Jong Ill.  He is not ready to meet someone like me.  Entering the specific province in Korea, I am greeted only with your basic government tourism pages, hotel reviews and travel writer forums.  A search narrowed to the city in the province I am moving to yields much of the same.  I have even bothered to sign up for a yahoo group specific to the location and have had limited success in response to my questions.  It seems the hippies are more interested in organizing an Ultimate Frizbee game.  Dave's ESL site people have been useless too.  Maybe my antagonistic responses to others' posts has made me a bad guy that nobody wants to play with anymore.  Oh well, thanks for nothing.

Upon more creative investigation, I turned to the blogosphere in hopes of finding a similar soul who has travelled to and posted about the place and the kind of information that interests me.  A nibble here and there is provided by a few visitors and resident bloggers, but with hardly the right amount of detail and gusto.  Not quite Mark Twain enough for me.  They chart the path commonly travelled by those who have bothered to write before them, probably unaware of their boorish similarities.  Unaware and without a care, they most likely satisfy whatever intent they had in their diarrheic appraisal of "one more place visited".  Like a notch on their belt, a check-off of their list.

 I imagine the people that follow, friends and family, for whom they have bothered to create the blog for, disappointed by their loved one's inability to convey anything about what it is like being there.  The kind of writing that allows the reader to imagine a place that they will most likely never see with their own eyes.  It is safe to say that what I have read so far won't be convincing any reader about making travel plans, ever.  Worse, I cringe at the notion that the author looks back fondly in their old age at the feeble attempt made at documenting their travels and feeling a sense of accomplishment.  Different levels of self critique I suppose, and who am I to judge.  I am only sad because I had high hopes before reading some of these blogs and feel let down.  

I have yet to find one blogger who satisfies that attention to detail and wonder that one should feel in a place so new and magical and different.  So far I have read a bunch of Book Report blogs and Tourist Guide blogs, Comparing This To That Which We Cannot Understand In Our Narrow Mindset blogs, Penny Pinching-Dirty Hippie Hiker blogs and the always popular, Look at Me and My Girlfriend/boyfriend Happily Traveling Together blogs.  Yuck!  So bland, so similar and all of the photos are exactly the same no matter what kind of blog it is.  Even the blogs that have been posted to help out Foreigner's who have moved to work there are sterile.  Is it inevitable that anything I write will turn out only a slight variant of the same?  Can there be only one collective POV possible about the subject matter?  I pray this lack of original thought doesn't infect my being upon arrival.

If by narrowing my search to specifics limits the amount of different and useful information these searches come up with, I may have something to contribute to the web once I get there and investigate for myself.  Maybe there is a job in it for me, or some money even, for contributing to the available knowledge about this place I soon will call home?  Maybe I will get the attention of some publisher or magazine and win the Pulitzer Prize of blogging?  Find my inner Robert Louis Stevenson perhaps?  Is it even possible that these questions have not been answered and information published somewhere in Web-land?  I seriously doubt that I am the first who wants to know the answers to these questions I have entered into my Google searches.  I must not have the right word combinations...

The Job Search-Dave'sESLcafe (English-speaking Sleazeballs & Losers)

-The title of this post reflects my interpretation of the overall sentiment of the message board on this informative and useful site. Do yourself a favor and avoid the Off-topic and General topic message boards and only use it for the Job search. The job board is updated daily and I abused that thing like a red-headed step child. Before I digress into the subterranean stench that lay in the chasm of dave's message board, I want to vent my anxiety and frustration that consumed me during my 2 month long job search.

While 2 months doesn't seem like a long time to look for work, it was a full time job in essence, without pay. Recruiter's will hook you up... or give you the runaround, or ignore you. I applied to many a recruiter who promised instant interviews and the best paying jobs in the best schools according to wherever you want to work in Korea. Then the job market crunch, thanks to the tanking economy, had recruiter's telling me to be open to less popular locations. As the weeks passed and many a resume sent to schools answering ads on dave's, I started to sweat the possibility that these jobs were getting filled by more qualified applicants. I got a few nibbles from schools and a phone interview. I got rejected by 4 schools in 4 weeks and all of the sudden it was September. Word on the message board was that fewer schools were hiring.

I abandoned my hopes of working in Busan by the ocean and started applying to schools everywhere in Korea. The sticks, industrial cities, places I knew would eventually kill my spirit but a foot in the door as I saw it. Contracts are only a year long, so I figured better to just get over there than face a frigid, dark winter in the states waiting for a perfect job that might never arrive. With my hopes dwindling as the jobs seemed less available until the hiring period of February and March, I began to panic a bit. I had no fall back plan, no money and no way to get around once this land froze over in the nearing months ahead. Just when panic and misery was about to sink its claws into my dwindling life force I got an email.

Weeks prior I had applied to a different school in a location that had earlier been a source of jubilation turned disappointment. I had gotten a great response from an owner of a school saying he thought I was perfect for the job and that he would call me the following Monday. When Monday came and went, I sent an email checking in with him. He responded that two teachers who were leaving are renewing their contracts and that he was sorry. I was seriously bummed as it was too good to be true. I was prepared to be let down by now as I applied to this other school and countless others. Then I got the email that changed my life.

As I courted the owner of the school, trading emails for 3 weeks, finally a contract was offered to me. Subsequently, I signed it, mailed it with my passport and transcripts. 8 days later I was issued a Visa and soon after a flight booked and paid for by the school. Knowing that I will be in Korea at the tail end of December, I laugh in the face of winter as it mocks those who hate it at -10 degrees F. I will be leaving at the peak of its wickedness, three months before Spring takes over and not a day too soon. Had I signed with a school earlier out of desperation or been offered a contract from some middle of nowhere town, my lack of patience would have betrayed me once again. I must have done something right to have things work out the way that they did. Now all I can do is pray that I have a cool boss and that I am well received by the school and community... and prepare as much as possible for the unknown.

***

What can I say about daveseslcafe.com that hasn't been said in the blogosphere already? Nothing new, nothing positive and nothing surprising. Living in isolation and spending time searching for jobs on dave's, I couldn't help but sign on to the site. I was going to milk it for all of the information I could get out of the thing. Signing on to the site would enable me to post questions and get feedback from this online community. What I didn't realize was what a smack-talking, smart-assed, know-it-all, hating bunch of regulars I was about to join in wasting my time voicing my opinion about stupid topics for the sake of argument.

I like smack-talk as much as the next guy, but it is a whole new ball of wax in cyber-land.  Face to face, I can tell in 15 minutes of spending time with someone if they will annoy the hell out of me eventually or instantly.  The thing about the internet is, half of these kooks are such geeks, the likelihood of meeting them in a social setting is slim to none.  In between Warcraft and D&D or whatever, they get on their dave's soapbox flexing their nerd muscles.  Before I offend all of Nerddom, I have friends who do that thing at night and i don't hate because they are cool people.  The thing is, you can tell the socially inept by the way they write or respond to others' posts.  I have nothing against geeks, because they aren't confrontational in the day to day, but cyber geeks turned bullies can piss-off.  I guess it is their chance at seeming cool in a world that veils their being in anonymity.

 All I know is that out there in the real world, these clowns would think twice about voicing such opinions in person. I must admit though, I lose my cool a tad on the board because I don't have to pretend to be nice or bite my tongue like I would in the face of these people, so I just let 'em have it usually. I swear it is because I am trapped in this frigid, isolated home, basically alone.   My active participation on dave's should cease to be necessary once I make my move overseas, but I might be addicted for arguments sake...

Documents

Having completed the TEFL certification and feeling all the more prepared to teach my native tongue to foreign students, it was time to organize my documents. It was by now the end of July and the summer was in full swing, sunny and warm. I phoned my University and requested multiple sealed transcripts, checked on the status of my diploma being delivered in the mail and rummaged through my bags, not yet fully unpacked, for my elusive passport. It had expired earlier in the year, but it is much easier to apply for a new one with the old one. I managed to space it back in Hawaii... where I left my brain saltwater logged and surfed out. Feeling pumped up about asking my dad for extra money for a new passport as apposed to a renewal at half the cost, I decided to call my buddy and see if he could locate the old one in my unorganized life now stored underneath his house. No luck (insert grief from father here).

Hey dad guess what? You get to foot the bill for the new birth certificate that I ordered online so I can send for a new passport. You are the best. Once I got the birth certificate I would be able to send it off with photos and completed forms for a new passport. In town I needed to get my CBC from the police, take it to the bank to be notarized and then send to the capitol to be apostilled by the Governor. Organizing, waiting for and obtaining documents, apostilles, Visa's, photos and notaries, is a stressful and time consuming process to say the least. It requires more running around than one might think. News flash: It isn't a cake walk trying to leave the country.

My certain plan was to escape winter. The reality was far from what I thought as totally do-able. I figured that once all your documents are in order you apply, get a quick interview, hired and two weeks later a Visa. Two weeks after that you are on a plane headed to the Far East. I thought I could, without fail, start a job by mid-September or October 1st. It was only August 1st and 6-8 weeks seemed like plenty of time. A plethora of job offers were just a right-click away on any job-site. I wasn't sweating winter in the slightest and my calculations were only off, give or take a few weeks. A November 1st starting date would be just fine and maybe a little time in the snow a beautiful thing before I go?

Certification: Prepping for Adventure

Come to Korea and teach English! Free flight and housing! No experience required! Any degree will do!... What a sales pitch. I must admit, Korea was not my first choice, but became the logical choice for these reasons and others. Being a person living below poverty level, Korea is the obvious choice. Sprinkle on top the modernity and slight-western influence and you have a clear winner for a first year teacher. I had been investigating my possibilities of places to go prior to graduating college and the relative ease in finding a job in Korea and the safety of the jump made more sense than trying to find work in Vietnam.

I committed to researching Korea after running into a girl who I had a class with the semester prior, at the supermarket. Her name is Heddi ( I imagine this spelling might be incorrect) and she is a stunningly beautiful Korean girl who convinced me I would love it. Sold. As shallow is this may sound, I had long before developed an affinity for Korean cuisine and have been eating kimchi out of the jar for a good 7 years. Her insistence that I would have a great time was merely icing on the cake and what incredibly delicious icing coming from Heddi.

***

The idea of teaching in a foreign country with no experience or background in education sounded like a bold thing to do, bordering on stupid. I am no spring chicken and unlike most fresh out of college graduates, I have lived on my own in a few different places. I have felt that sense of anxiety of things new before. It takes getting used to. I am also different than most recent college graduates who, young and eager and ready to conquer are somewhat delusional because of their newly acquired knowledge and sense of ability that has been fostered by college professors. College has, in a sense, made me more jaded. So instead of assuming I knew what it takes to teach a class (I had attended many) I thought it wise to get a certificate from TEFL. I paid for the expensive, most intensive online course available because it seemed the most in depth and worthwhile. It might even bump up my first year salary according to the program salesman.

This course was worth it. Maybe the cheaper course would have been just as good, but I found that more information and in-class hours needed to complete the course, very beneficial. I could not believe how little I knew about what goes into teaching. Grammar? My god, I need to learn it so I can teach it. Classroom management? Thank you for that chapter. It is entirely possible to find everything you need to teach on the web, but I felt the need for some structure and this course was super helpful and to my liking. Not to mention the actual classroom observation. It was humbling getting up in front of English learners for the first time.

 I wasn't expecting the course to be as difficult as it was, or as detailed and heavy in the work load. My online classmates were feeling in a similar way by their comments, some were obvious over-achievers and others were plain stupid. The worst part about the course was peer responses. Shoot me if these clowns are supposed to be my peers. College really cranks out the trite. Halfway through I realized that little effort would get you the pass after reading garbage lesson plans by ding-bats and dip-shits. I made sure to get the most out of it though, knowing that I paid for the course using student loans and I am essentially paying more for it as the interest accrues. I worry about the livelihood of the Liberal Arts Major who assumes their drama experience will suffice for running a classroom. Good luck!

Revival: From the ashes and darkness, this blog

I wasn't gonna do this. I had forgotten about this blog months ago. I had no intention of maintaining it once I had re-read my first posts. I just deleted them. They were pointless. I was in a bad place at the time. My girlfriend of two years and I had split and I was taking it badly to say the least. No need for details because this is more about the future and the present than processing the past. What I have learned in the 5 months since my last post now deleted is, don't dwell on the past and try hard to move on... I found out recently that she had no problem with the latter. Nevertheless, I still care for her deeply and I don't imagine those feelings leaving my thoughts at least until I am able to interact with people on a regular basis.

My situation has been agonizing in regards to "moving on". They say you need to surround yourself with people, get out there and sorrow will gradually leave you. The problem for me is, I am stranded 3 miles up a mountain road and the nearest town is 10 miles away. I don't have access to a car and this state has the worst guy to girl ratio than any of the 49 others and I am living with my parents! Let's just say I have had a multitude of sober time to process my feelings... a true test of self and faith in one's self. The worst has been weathered and my situation has been looking up.

To my credit, the plans and goals that I had set to accomplish as mentioned back in June have come to fruition. In a little over 6 weeks, I will be on a plane heading off to South Korea to teach English and experience life overseas. It is safe to say that any grief or longing for my ex-girl will have no choice but to evaporate, as I imagine my senses overloaded with the unfamiliarity of my surroundings, new job, language and culture. In the following posts, I will explain the process I underwent in successfully landing a job in Korea.