This is a conscious flow word vomit:
I am leaving the country to move to South Korea for at least a year. I know less than a hand full of people in my new ENTIRE COUNTRY. Which is terrifying, also it is very exciting, I feel like I will grow so much through this journey.
I am mostly shocked at how fast everything happened. I started my application to teach in South Korea in October, I was accepted in the CIEE teaching program at the beginning of December. In a very short time I was accepted to start teaching. Completion of my application probably took a little over a month and once that process was done I knew I was accepted within days. Upon knowledge of my acceptance, I knew that I technically wouldn't have a job until an interview with schools but my chances of a job was very likely. After acceptance I had to accept entrance into the program and also pay program fees within ten days.
During this process I was constantly checking blogs and pinterest to see someone else's similar experience, but I found nothing. I want to show my step by step process with a timeline in case anyone is interested in doing the same thing.
After the first ten days of acceptance into the program, I payed my dues (which they are very flexible and if you need to pay with multiple cards or do something interesting with payment they will work with you). The people at CIEE are very kind and will always be willing to work with you and take you step-by-step. I regularly emailed them with stupid questions, and they were always quick with an informative answer.
The next step after that is to get an apostille copy of your college diploma and an apostille FBI background check. The apostille college diploma might take you a day or two, but the FBI background check apostilled takes at the soonest 2 1/2 weeks. To give you a time line I was accepted to start teaching at the beginning of December for a schoool year that starts on March 2nd. You want to get your apostilled documents completed as soon as possible. It took me till the first week of January to finish these documents. Once I had these documents finished, I had a skype interview with an actual school. The interview was very similar to most interviews I have had in my life. They asked the usual questions weaknesses/strengths and goals. Within two hours of my interview, I heard from my in country CIEE recruiter that they LOVED me and that they wanted to offer me a job.
After the interview, I received a contract within 24 hours. I carefully read over the terms of my contract and accepted the contract within 24 hours of receiving it. At this point, it was the end of January and I had multiple documents to send my new employer. Then the waiting began.... FOREVER... It took two weeks to receive from my new employers my Visa Issuance #. Without this number, I couldn't even book my flight. By this time, it was February and I knew that the first day of school with my new job was less than a month away and I still didn't know my leaving date. THIS DROVE ME CRAZY. Apparently this is normal with teaching in South Korea. They hire their teachers (in my opinion last minute) right before they need them which makes the final month before you leave the country feel rushed.
I just sent today (February 5) to the Korean Consulate my visa application. Hopefully I will receive my visa back within 5 business days. Pretty much right after I get my visa I will leave the country. So now during the time while I wait to leave the country, I am pairing down my belongings to the bare minimum, learing essentiail Korean, and earning my TEFL certificaitn (teaching English as a foreign language).
It has been a crazy few months and everything has been moving fast. If you are considering teaching in South Korea, know that it will move fast, and check out this blog soon with the next update in my journey. Also check out CIEE with info about their teaching abroad programs. Feel free to comment with any questions.
www.ciee.org
www.gofundme.com/eucx6hc4
I am leaving the country to move to South Korea for at least a year. I know less than a hand full of people in my new ENTIRE COUNTRY. Which is terrifying, also it is very exciting, I feel like I will grow so much through this journey.
I am mostly shocked at how fast everything happened. I started my application to teach in South Korea in October, I was accepted in the CIEE teaching program at the beginning of December. In a very short time I was accepted to start teaching. Completion of my application probably took a little over a month and once that process was done I knew I was accepted within days. Upon knowledge of my acceptance, I knew that I technically wouldn't have a job until an interview with schools but my chances of a job was very likely. After acceptance I had to accept entrance into the program and also pay program fees within ten days.
During this process I was constantly checking blogs and pinterest to see someone else's similar experience, but I found nothing. I want to show my step by step process with a timeline in case anyone is interested in doing the same thing.
After the first ten days of acceptance into the program, I payed my dues (which they are very flexible and if you need to pay with multiple cards or do something interesting with payment they will work with you). The people at CIEE are very kind and will always be willing to work with you and take you step-by-step. I regularly emailed them with stupid questions, and they were always quick with an informative answer.
The next step after that is to get an apostille copy of your college diploma and an apostille FBI background check. The apostille college diploma might take you a day or two, but the FBI background check apostilled takes at the soonest 2 1/2 weeks. To give you a time line I was accepted to start teaching at the beginning of December for a schoool year that starts on March 2nd. You want to get your apostilled documents completed as soon as possible. It took me till the first week of January to finish these documents. Once I had these documents finished, I had a skype interview with an actual school. The interview was very similar to most interviews I have had in my life. They asked the usual questions weaknesses/strengths and goals. Within two hours of my interview, I heard from my in country CIEE recruiter that they LOVED me and that they wanted to offer me a job.
After the interview, I received a contract within 24 hours. I carefully read over the terms of my contract and accepted the contract within 24 hours of receiving it. At this point, it was the end of January and I had multiple documents to send my new employer. Then the waiting began.... FOREVER... It took two weeks to receive from my new employers my Visa Issuance #. Without this number, I couldn't even book my flight. By this time, it was February and I knew that the first day of school with my new job was less than a month away and I still didn't know my leaving date. THIS DROVE ME CRAZY. Apparently this is normal with teaching in South Korea. They hire their teachers (in my opinion last minute) right before they need them which makes the final month before you leave the country feel rushed.
I just sent today (February 5) to the Korean Consulate my visa application. Hopefully I will receive my visa back within 5 business days. Pretty much right after I get my visa I will leave the country. So now during the time while I wait to leave the country, I am pairing down my belongings to the bare minimum, learing essentiail Korean, and earning my TEFL certificaitn (teaching English as a foreign language).
It has been a crazy few months and everything has been moving fast. If you are considering teaching in South Korea, know that it will move fast, and check out this blog soon with the next update in my journey. Also check out CIEE with info about their teaching abroad programs. Feel free to comment with any questions.
www.ciee.org
www.gofundme.com/eucx6hc4