A geography lesson

"Your package will be picked up and arrive in South Korea within 2 days". Well, that's pretty fast, and by using a renowned professional courier service, we had no qualms with the shocking £50 fee.

However, that was on Thursday, and at this point in time, our original degrees and university transcripts, signed contracts, and copied passports have left Miami and are doubling back over our heads right now. This was all brought about by DHL confusing Seoul, South Korea with Santiago, Chile. Professionals indeed!

This is probably going to result in us taking the flight on the 4th (rather than the 2nd), and arriving feeling like utter shite the day before we are introduced to a class of hyperactive little maniacs.

Hopefully we can harass some compensation out of them, and use bloody Fed Ex next time.

And no, I doubt they do wear top hats in Chile, but he looked a bit naked next to his hatted oriental mate. What are those peaked hats called anyway? Answers on a postcard!

A good idea at the time....

I was just getting all my documents ready for the DHL people to pick up, and had some concerns over my passport photo. Due to my UK passport needing renewed, I'm jetting off as a Canadian, meaning I have to flash this photo whenever necessary between here and Ilsan.

Surely, as a kindergarten/primary teacher, you are required to be warm, approachable, and trustworthy. I don't know if these qualities are well conveyed in the above picture. For a start, what twat voluntarily has a mohican? Hopefully this picture doesn't get circulated in advance to the throng of protective parents expected to hand their precious 5 year olds over into my care!

I don't think I actually mentioned that we have definitely got a job, and the travel agent has even been in touch regarding flights. The DHL people finally turned up just now, so all our documents should arrive in Korea in 2 working days, ready for Visa application. It doesn't seem real yet, but once the plane ticket arrives in the post it sould all come thudding home!

Dentist: The sequel

Whatever you do, when the receptionist suggests seeing a different one to the one who has tended your pearly whites all these years, just say no. At first it seemed fine, a sweet older lady, probably loved by her grandchildren and brilliant at crosswords. Until, she rammed a cotton bud up into the still bleeding void left by my sorely missed wisdom tooth. And she did this, not in a tender way, but like an embittered chimney sweep dealing with a stubborn chimney. Or Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors with a blue rinse and a Mecca bingo card. Fucking nightmare. Can I swear on this thing? I guess so eh. Anyway kids, brush your teeth.

In Korea related news, the travel agent called to book our flights. But I missed the call, so nothing to report there. Signing the contract tomorrow we think, so things will start hotting up soon. Me, Lynne and Northy are thinking about a joint going away night out a week on Saturday so hopefully everyone can make it.

Pass the Colgate

Well, I don't want to speak prematurely, but I think we have finally settled on our new home for a year! After much deliberation we have 98% decided on the very crappily named Britain School, located in Ilsan (formerly Goyang City). Ilsan is considered a suburb of Seoul, and quite a high-end desirable place to live, as it is very modern and lively without the overcrowding and pollution of downtown Seoul. It is also known as a city of parks and green spaces, as illustrated above in the picture of Ilsan Lake Park, which will be 10-15 mins from our apartment! The suburbs, while providing an excellent area in terms of living, can be somewhat lacking in action and nightlife. However, the subway system acts as an umbilical cord linking Ilsan directly to Seoul, so it will not be too far for some hardcore partying at the weekends.

Another plus point, is that while we are on the outskirts a little bit, we are in the NorthWest corner, meaning we are closest to the nightlife district we consider to be more "our style", Hongdae & Sinchon. This is a sprawling university district, frequented by artists, musicians and eccentrics, where you are most likely to catch live bands, and something just a little bit different to the ubiquitous nightclubs and hip-hop DJ's rampant in Korea right now. And definitely preferable to most Westerners "name-drop", the "American Ghetto" of Itaewon, a hellish concoction of U.S. Military, sleaze and violence.

Worryingly, after speaking to a lot of recruiters we have gone through the one who speaks the least/worst English, so we could be getting screwed over big time. A sample sentence from Peter "Fantastic" Kim is...."Oh yes, fantastic contract, fantastic position, fantastic area,....ummmm fantastic position,.....fantastic!". So if the contract we sign mysteriously doesn't match the contract that greets us in Korea, I'll not be massively surprised, but shit happens.

Finally, in the preparation before leaving I braved a trip to the dentist and had to have a tooth pulled. It was fucking horrible, and I resolved that from this day forth I will brush my teeth properly and use the sand timer that Lynne's ten year old brother used. Depressingly, his teeth-brushing skills have since progressed, so this helpful tool was handed down to me. The dentist was kind enough to capture this moment for posterity (extracted wisdom tooth out of shot). Bye for now!

***DISCLAIMER - Some people actually believed they were my teeth, so now I feel the need to point out they're not!! ***

I felt a little prick

Well I am officially immunized against typhoid, polio, tetanus, hepatitis A, and diptheria. And, I am two thirds immunized against rabies and hepatitis B. Which probably means I am safe to walk down Lochee High Street, if the urge takes me. Best wait for the final rabies jab to be safe I should imagine. Another day, another round of 3-way interviews with Korean directors and American recruiters. More and more, I find that my pronounciation of the place names I have read about for months, is complete bollocks, and they don't have a clue what I'm talking about. Haha better get used to that!

Korea Trek III : The Search For Wok......

Well, it turns out choosing a job can be quite annoying, even stressful! The aforementioned Tropical Island Dream fell through, partly due to our wonderful Scottish accent, to a Canadian couple. Don't be shocked by this mild discrimination however, as you will soon find out that Koreans have the potential to be quite racist, to some degree, and it is prevalent in many corners of the country! Indeed, there are numerous stories of coloured teachers being left stranded at the airport once their skin colour was noted, and signs such as "No Foreigners" on the threshold of many city stores. But we're prepared for this stuff, and the majority of Koreans are reknowned as being some of the most warm-hearted and welcoming people on the planet.

The actual search, which has been going for about 2 weeks almost, has thrown up about 100 different jobs, all of which have had something wrong with them. There's no point taking a job for a year, only to spend the whole year regretting not holding out for another few days for a better contract. The amount of different locations we have been offered has been staggering, and before even touching down on the peninsula, I feel my Korean geography is pretty decent! Off the top of my head (so excuse any spelling mistakes) we have had the chance to work in.........

Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Cheongju, Daejeon, Miryang, Yansang, Gwangju, Jinju, Incheon, Pohang, Ilsan, Mokpo, Ilsan, Bundang, Jeju-si, Ulsan, Masan City, Gumi, Guri, Suwon, Yongin, Uijebonju, Yeonsu, and Ansan.

Our dream of a beach looks to be over, as there are an oddly disproportionate amount of job offers for Busan, the 2nd biggest city (pop. 4.5mil) , and home of about 6 beaches.

So if we can't be by the sea, there's no point accepting a medium sized city, so our attention has turned towards Seoul. A ridiculously huge cosmopolitan metropolis, Seoul prides itself on being an international monster of a city, while still playing host to the vast majority of cultural landmarks and historical items. As with most Korean cities, it's vast concrete jungle is still literally shoulder to shoulder with endless forested mountain ranges and important temples. So even though we may add to the 12million populace, it will be very close to the countryside also.
And it goes without saying, in terms of nightlife, attractions, and activities, Seoul is well known to be at the top of it's game.

So then, we continue to look! A position in Ilsan seems promising, and it is a mere 15-20minute cab ride from the nightlife district of Seoul that most appeals to us, Hongdae. Fingers crossed!

The far, far east.....

As most of you reading this will know, Lynne and I are desperately trying to get ESL teaching positions in South Korea. I thought it would definately be a good idea to keep a Blog to document all the madness that is bound to ensue. I was away to write just a little about some of the positions we were applying for, when an American teacher from one of the schools phoned. The job in question is actually on an island south of the Korean peninsula, a sub-tropical island called Jeju-do, which is basically one big volcano! If going to South Korea wasn't isolating ourselves enough, choosing this island would take it even further. It would at least be in the biggest city on the island, Jeju City (pop. 250,000), so there will still be some form of nightlife....I hope! But living on "the Hawaii of South Korea" for a year surely wouldn't be bad, with over 12 beaches at our disposal, tropical temperatures, and numerous attractions, not to mention the assortment of outdoors pursuits such as scuba-diving, windsurfing and hiking up Halla-san (the volcano). There would be very few foreigners apparently, and it might be a challenge, but that's half of what this is all about. I think we are 90% certain, and if agreed, we would have to fly out in as soon as 2 weeks!!! Crikey! I should point out that choosing these jobs is a minefield of deceit and lies, and after doing a lot of research we knew how to approach it and hopefully not get screwed as many have in the past. We contacted altogether around 40 recruiters and schools and spent the last couple of weeks knocking back offers where either the contract sucked, or I had dug up a lot of negativity about the school! Any job we did like the look of we demanded to also speak to current foreign teachers to get the real dirt. I tell you how careful we've been, because in the end we are close to signing with this school that belongs to the notorious Wonderland franchise. The reason for this is, while the franchise has a terible reputation, it is never applicable to every school, and this American teacher seems very genuine about the position (his old one) and that the school's director is a very nice, reasonable guy. Added to that, the contract is normal, and the location of course is very attractive. Sooooooo, if it all goes tits up, then we were extremely unlucky. But you gotta take some risks in life. Well I'm off to think about what may need done before we leave. Even though this is a boring first Blog post, I am sure it will be a fun-filled, action-packed extravaganza full of the eating of various raw meats, dog soup, temples, mountains, and most of all those crazy Koreans and the things they say and do!I'll update regularly with lots of pictures so kep on checking!