The Prince of Jejudo part 1 (제주도의 왕자)

Hey ya'll,

So I just did the most spontaneous thing I've done in my life. I just hopped on a plane to meet someone I've never met in person. In America, I would certainly never do that. It's shady and could result in death. But, all that logic and sensibility just kind of flew out the window. It's kind of a long story. I'll start from the beginning.

A while I ago, I was doing some chatting online. I was looking for someone to help me with my Korean and in turn, I'll help with their English. Language exchange. I was talking to this one Korean guy who lives in California. We'll call him Jiho. Jiho is really cool so we exchanged facebooks and what not. He's a student so I guess he's really busy cause I don't here from him for a while. One day I get a facebook message and it's Jiho, asking for some help with his work. I help him. Then I don't here from him again for a while. He's cool and I want to keep in touch so I send a hello everyone once in a while, creep on his facebook. You know, the usual things everyone does.

One day I go to creep on his facebook and it turns out he's coming to Korea for winter break. I comment saying, "wow, let me know when you get here so we can meet up." He says sure, will do. Times go by and I get a message from Jiho. The covnersation went like this:

Jiho: hey ^^
Me: hey, you've arrived
Jiho: yea, I'm here. wat are u doing?
Me: im on my way to the electronics market. u?
Jiho: drinking tea at caffe bene.
Me: cool. where are you staying?
Jiho: wat r u gonna buy? 
Jiho: Sinchon.
Jiho: where do you live?
Me: (insert place where I live). we're close.
Jiho: line 2?
Me: yup. 
Jiho: yea close. did u eat dinner?
Me: no. im meeting a friend later to play video games and have dinner.
Jiho: ah really??? I am leaving tomorrow morning ㅠㅠ
Me: realy??!??!
Jiho: timing isn't good. haha
Me: You're welcome to join us?
Jiho: really??? is it ok??
Me: yea it's at my place. we r just eating meat and playing video games.
Jiho: if your friend doesn't mind I'm happy to see u.  ^_^

Yup. I invite strangers to my house. But it doesn't matter cause he couldn't make it. His hometown is Jejudo (the island of Korea), so he will be there until he has to go back to America. Later I get a message from him again:

Jiho: Come to JEJU ^^ I will be there
Me: lol haha until when?
Jiho: Jan 18th haha
Me: wow lol, I don't know what I wud do there lol
Jiho: kkk sightseeing
Me: you're there by urself?
Jiho: with my family^^
Me: i want to go to Jeju but it seems like couple island so I dont wanna go by myself
Jiho: haha don't worry. I will be your couple a few days
Me: hahhahah
Jiho: ^&^
Me: I only have tomorrow and the day after for vacation. where are you staying?
Jiho: I'm staying in seogwipo ^^
Me: i dont know. Im thinking if i should go or not. but you are with your family so it will be difficult to meet up.
Jiho: im ok if you come, i can be with u.

So I tell him I'll go. I wasn't sure about the whole thing but that's what I said. I just said that thinking I can turn it down later. So I'm looking online to see how much a roundtrip flight to Jeju costs. Pretty cheap. I'm checking my bank account and funds are slim cause my family was just here and I paid for everything we did.

I don't really know this guy, I ain't got no money, I got English camp coming up so I should prepare for that, did I mention I don't really know this guy. All accounts tell me that yo, this is a bad idea but for some reason, while I'm still weighing the options in my head my hands have already booked a flight. Well shoot. I can't get out of it cause I'd have to pay money to cancel cause the flight is in like 5 hours.

Next I look online for a place to stay. I find this guesthouse that got really great reviews so I book a room. I'm all set. I send my flight details and the place I'm staying to Jiho. Cool. I'm good to go. I look at transportation to the airport so I can catch my 6:55am flight. Options are slim. I don't have money so taking a taxi in the morning is out. The only alternative is hoping on the last train and sleeping at the airport. Ok, cool I can deal with that.

 I get an email from the guesthouse saying they'll be closed for winter break starting on the day I booked. I got catch the last train in an hour and I haven't even packed yet. I message Jiho and we're trying to find a place for me to stay. Nothing. I find this place that has only 1 room left and I book it and then start packing. While I'm packing I'm just like "stupid, stupid, this is so stupid, this is so stupid." But yet I pack and leave my house.

I hop on the train and everyone's drunk. If this is a sign for me to go home I completely ignored it. Airport closes at midnight. I get off at my stop at 11:50. I got 10 minutes to get into the airport. I get there and it's 11:55. It's all dark and no one is there. Just me and some security guard. I grab a seat and prepare to camp out for the night. Security guard was like, "yo what are you doing?" I explain to him that I have a really early flight in the morning so I want to stay here for the night. He was like "you gotta go to the international side." I head over to the other side and again, it's dark and no one is there but me and a security guard. Security guard says "yo what are you doing?" Again, I explain my situation. SG says "you can't sleep here." I was like, what? He says "yea this ain't Incheon international airport but what you can do is go upstairs and wait in the theater. It closes at 3am. Wait there until it closes and then just see what the other security guard says."

So I go up there and wait in the lobby looking like a homeless person. I'ts like 2am now and some employees walk by and say, "it looks like we got a resident living here."  So I'm like man forget ya'll. I go into the bathroom and sleep for like an hour. I wake up to some janitor like mopping my shoes. Look at the clock. 3am. I go back out, everything is closed so I just sit on the benches trying to get comfortable. Janitor keeps watching me and she seems really uncomfortable about my presence so I leave.

I'm walking around looking all clueless. I go up to the SG and I tell him I want to take the train. SG says "everything is closed and locked up. the doors won't open." I say oh no what should I do, pretending to be lost knowing full well that I'm trying to stay here. SG says "just sit over there and wait." So I wait.  I wait until 5am when all the lights come back on.

I got no sleep that night. All this to go meet someone I don't even know. Stupid. I hop on my plane and land in Jejudo. I go to the caffe bene and call the place I'm staying to see if I can check in early. You know what they tell me? "Ah no, we have no rooms." You ain't got no rooms? Of course you aint got no rooms cause I booked the last one! I just was like ok and hung up.

So now I'm stuck in Jeju international airport with no place to stay.

All this to meet some guy I've never met.

.....to be continued....

Seoul Eats: Butterfinger Pancakes

Hey hey~!

I haven't decided on a regular post day so for now I will just post as I feel like it. From the title you can tell I'm going to talk about food. I definitely want to make this a running segment. I've been to some really good and really bad places. But, I'll only talk about the good ones unless you want to hear about the bad places too.

Two days ago I met up with one of my close friends. I had told her about my recent troubles and how my family left after spending two weeks with me for the Christmas holiday. She wanted to cheer me up so she took me to a place that she thought would remind me of home (I love her she's so sweet.). That place was Butterfinger Pancakes in Gangnam.

Talk about good eats. I haven't eaten a waffle or pancake in a loooong time. Actually I don't even eat an American style hot breakfast anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love 한식 (Korean food) but sometimes the taste of home is what you need.

We ordered the "waffle lovers' special" and a fruit salad. It was aaamaazing. It was so amazing I dug right in without taking a picture first. lol Sorry guys. When I go again, I will make sure to take pictures. Everything was delicious. The dish included 2 waffles, eggs, fried potatoes, 2 slices of bacon, 1 regular sausage, and 1 Italian sausage. I was full after we were done. No itis, just a comfortable feeling around the belly.

This place is definitely for groups. It has a couple vibe with the mood lighting and service. They brought us a water glass with two straws in it. We had to ask for another glass of water lol. So yeah, unless you're just that brave don't go by yourself. And besides, that's too much food to eat by yourself anyway. Share the calories.

This place is amazing and I highly recommend it.  5 stars.

How to get there:

Gangnam station exit 10. Walk straight out and take your second left. Walk straight until you see it. It is near the 3rd cross street on your left.

Becoming New for the New Year a.k.a. Obligatory New Year's Post

Happy New Year Everyone~!
새해복많이 받으세요~!

우와~ 벌써 1월이네요. It's already January. Many things happened for me last year but I don't want to reflect on the past. I want to talk about the here and now, I want to talk about the New Year!
I don't know how I feel about New Year's resolutions though. Everyone gets so pumped in the beginning of the year, sets all these goals, and then forgets about them come March. So I'm not making any New Year's resolutions. You know how in college we had to make a four-year plan right? And then you have to revise it or check it at the end of the year? Well, that's kind of how I live my life. I use the new year to evaluate the goals I have set for my life. Am I closer to reaching those goals? Have my goals changed? Do I need to set new ones? These are the kinds of questions I ask myself.

But since I'm in Korea now, I have to do a lot of goal changing. I usually set a long term goal and smaller goals to put me on the path to reaching it.

Back in the day, my long term goal was to become a journalist and have my own magazine company and be a beast. Well, things have changed. I've been a beast for quite some time now so I can scratch that off my list. My new long term goal is to become an English professor at a Korean university and be fluent in Korean. In order to get there I need a master's degree in TESL education and I should study Korean. Well, I'm looking into programs and I'm already taking a Korean class so I'm moving in the right direction.

But honestly, I just want to live my life. I don't know the future so things can change even tomorrow. I seize opportunities as they come. I try to create opportunities for myself without missing the ones that just pop up out of the blue.

What about you all? What are your goals? How are you living your lives? Feel free to tell me about them in the comment section below!

Sorry About the Hiatus

Hey ya'll, sorry I've been gone for so long. ㅠㅠ
Actually I'm not really sorry. lol I wanted to just live my life and get settled before I continued blogging. Now I think I can do that.

Instead of starting from where I left off, I will start from where I'm at. And right now I'm in Busan.

Oh! Merry Christmas~!!

My family is has been here for the past week and we had Christmas dinner together. My mom and sister cooked, asdlkfja;sdkj DELICIOUS~~!!! I love Korean food but there is nothing like the food mom makes. It was a good Christmas. I will post pictures of my charlie brown tree and apartment later.

But right now, I am in Busan with my dad, mom, and sister. We will be here for two days and one night. We are staying at a guesthouse. I really like this place and I want to recommend it to others so I will make  separate post about it later.

So, I'm back everyone and you can expect regular posts from me from now on. Unless, something happens.

Wow, the new year is almost here. What a great time to make a comeback. ^^

Officially Seoul Livin'

Dear Chaerim,

Congratulations!

I am so excited that you are coming to Seoul !

Thank you for your hard work Terri, we are such a great team =)

You are one of the 170 SMOE teachers who are coming to Korea for Fall 2013!!!

Myself and our whole team is all proud of you! =)

Designated Office of Education : Seoul

You passed the final evaluation and have been offered a position with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Enough said. 

But really, I am so thankful that I will be in Seoul. I found two churches there that I can possibly attend.  Being in Korea without a place to worship would have been so hard. But I am sooo glad the Lord has answered my prayers! Now to wait for my contract!

Once I arrive in Korea and get settled, expect me to put out a YouTube channel!

Teaching in South Korea

So back in April I applied to EPIK because I wanted to teach English in South Korea. Everything so far has been successful thank the Lord. It is now June and I'm waiting to hear about placement. It has been a really long process. I mean, it's not really that long, it's just that there is a lot of waiting involved. All this waiting is making me crazy~~  @_@. But, with the help of Korvia Consulting, the recruiting agency I applied through, and Ciena, my Korvia recruiter, the whole process is passing by smoothly. Both EPIK and Korvia has a facebook page where you can ask questions or just let everyone know where you are in the process. It is really encouraging to read and everyone is really nice. It helps make waiting easy.

I'd like to share the timeline of my application process. Everyone's timeline will be slightly different but I know I like to have a general idea of how long things takes so I'm sharing mine.

If you have any questions about any part of the process let me know in the comments below.

Best wishes to anyone applying!

March 5- Mailed FBI CRC 

April 1- Submitted EPIK Application (Korvia sent it. I sent it to Korvia 2 weeks earlier so that they could check for any errors in my application. Errors in your application causes delays in the process. For that reason I decided to apply to EPIK with the help of Koriva.)

April 2- $18 posted to my account. (The fee posting to your account means that your CRC has been completed and it will be on its way back to you. They only process your payment after the check is done.) 

April 10- Received CRC in mail! yay~~

April 11- Skype interview with EPIK at 8pm. (Ciena, my recruiter, skyped me 30 minutes before to help me prepare and give me words of encouragement. She really helped me relax! Thanks Ciena~~ ^^)

April 12- Dropped off my FBI CRC at the US Dept. of State Authentications Office. (This is the place where you get your CRC apostilled. I did walk-in. Walk-in hours are 8am-9am only.)

April 16- Received interview results from EPIK via Ciena. (I passed!!)

             - Picked up my apostilled CRC. (Pick-up hours are 8am-9am only.)

April 17- Shipped all of my final documents to Korvia via. Fedex.

April 19- Korvia received my documents and sent them to EPIK. EPIK received my documents in the afternoon. (I didn't need to make any copies because Korvia made all the copies I would need and sent them to EPIK. But, I made copies for to keep for myself.)

April 26- Paid and faxed my US Residency Form 8802 to the IRS. (This could take a really long time so I applied early. This form is needed so you won't have to pay US taxes and Korean taxes as it exempts teachers for 2 years from having to pay Korean taxes. It is best to have it in hand when you arrive in Korea. Make sure you request 2-3~~~! I heard that a school told a teacher that they lost her certificate.)

April 28- Passed EPIK document screening!! (EPIK will now recommend me to a MOE/POE).

May- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. (Nothing happened in May. My process went by pretty quickly in the beginning. I had finals for university in May and my graduation so I had things to keep me busy.) 

June 4- My degree posted on my transcript! (This is relevant to current students: Even though you sent in your current transcript, EPIK still needs your final transcripts. Once your degree information posts, you can request your final transcript.)

June 7- Received e-mail with placement information. SEOUL!!!!!! (My recruiter is sooo sweet, I love her so much. She went out of her way to email me my placement information. Korvia is beast! Especially Ciena!!)

June 12- Received diploma and 3 notarized copies of diploma. (My school has a notary person? lol that works in the diploma office so she made copies and notarized them for me.)

June 14- Got diploma county certified. (It was only $3 for my 3 copies so I'm assuming each copy was $1.)

June 15- Got notarized certified diploma copy apostilled. ($5/copy. I only got one apostilled now and will send the others later.)
             - Shipped final documents to Korvia (Fed ex $55)

June 19- Final documents delivered to Korvia.

June 24- Final documents approved by EPIK.
             - Residency certificates received in mail.

July 15- Took visa application, contract, and NOA to Korean Embassy in DC. ($45. They told me to come pick it up on Friday.)

July 19- Picked up passport with VISA.

So nothing's going on right now. I'm just working and trying to save money for my plane ticket and the first month I'll be in Korea. If any of my friends in Korea are reading this, know that I will probably be poor for a month so feed me!  

I'm still waiting for placement information, my diploma, and my US Residency certificate. Lord willing, I'll receive some good news this month! The Lord has answered my prayers!

아빠! 어디가? Dad! Where are we going?

I stumbled upon this MBC variety show today and I am totally captivated! The kids are soo cute~~!! I've watched a few clips and the first episode and the show is great. Whoever's idea this was, they deserve a raise or something. All of the dads are great and the natural chemistry they have with their children is so adorable. These kids are little stars in the making! My favorite so far is 이종혁 (Lee Jonghyuk) and his son 이준수 Lee Junsoo. He has a habbit of saying "왜?" whenever his father asks him something or tells him to do something. (See video below.) You all need to check this show out if you aren't watching it already. If you are studying Korean and your level is about low-intermediate, you should be able to watch it without subtitles! Try it. If you've seen it, leave comments below!