It feels like it took a long time to get to where I am now. I am not speaking only about the entire paper trail I left behind trying to get into EPIK but also my studies at the University. There wasn’t a summer I had off since graduating from high school and even before finishing my BA I had special permission to take MA classes alongside them. But it is all finally done.

Yesterday morning I finally received the final confirmation from EPIK and the will be mailing my NOA soon. It wasn’t the first confirmation, nor the second or third but the final one. There’s quite a few of them and I was a little annoyed to know of it, especially since all you can do is wait for weeks at an end in between each before you get the final say, it was hard trying to not give into the urge of checking my email every few minutes.  Just about everyone in the EPIK group on facebook was loosing their mind because of the wait.

Additionally, I finally bought my plane ticket! That’s perhaps the biggest news so far and the only event that prompted  a blog entry. There really wasn’t  a whole lot to post about these days and I apologize to anyone who might stumble upon my site or comes often.  I will be moving to Korea on August 14 at 6am via Korean Air, which is a really awesome airline, but before that I have to endure 1.5 hours on an American airline, whom are total cheapskates in my opinion. They don’t even give me free peanuts, or juice…only water, and not the bottled kind I am sure.

It is my understanding that most people who teach in Korea usually do so for 1 year contracts, 2 even with a very small minority who choose to stay there for extended periods of time, some even get married and start families but probably move once the child is born and has to go to school.  English teachers are a dime a dozen now, and if one person doesn’t take the job, another one will.

I will be going to Korea with the EPIK SMOE program, and although my wishes are to teach in Seoul, another opportunity came up.  My recruiter sent me an email asking if I would be comfortable as a Trainer in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi at the XXX XXX XXX.

When I first began writing this blog, I was under the influence of what seems like an endless supply of blogs, podcasts or videos about Korea and Japan.  Since originally the plan was to move to Osaka, I spent as much time sifting through blog entries and message boards, the different communities of  foreigners living there and once my attention shifted towards Korea, I did the same with equal enthusiasm.

I noticed differences, such as the vblogging community seems to be much larger in Japan and Korea has more of a writing preference. I even was able to meet up with KansaiPJ in Osaka and almost with BusanKevin and Myargonauts living in Kansai but had some complications.  It is really amazing to see the communities and ties that these people have living abroad. Currently, I am neither in  Korea nor Japan and before I used to see that as a roadblock for having a vblog or a website but now that is no longer the case.

Via FedEx International Priority…my document packet should be in the hands of Joyce Kim by Monday evening KST.

Worth the $85.07 I spent but the road was long and hopefully fruitful in the end.

It was only a few minutes ago that I finished my interview with EPIK and I still feel a little shaky. Preparation was very useful! For anyone who is out there, I suggest reading over some of the known questions they may ask. The interview was scheduled at 2:20PM KST.  There is actually a very nice website that I used to know exactly when they were going to call KST Time.

Researching EPIK I can across Korvia Consulting around August last year and I might have misread but I believe it said people needed a TEFL certificate to teach in Korea. That really bugged me considering that I am getting a Masters degree in ESL.  Why would I need to get a certificate if a Master’s degree in that subject is way more useful?  After some contemplating I decided to hell with it to take the online course offered by ATI and to me it was a quick review of most of the basics in the University program I am in now. Cost around 400 dollars with the $100 dollars off special, I ended up completing it this January. Not that it took me long to read or do the work, but sometimes it would take my online tutor a long time to give me access to the next phase.

Part 1 of the saga where I as an American teacher became involved with teaching English in Korea.

I want to take some time and talk about where I intend on taking this website. It is something that I feel very dedicated to and would love to post a lot more and better quality posts. It may just be me but I realize the last few posts of mine weren’t particularly amazing, I had made a promise to myself that each of my posts would be prize worthy and it would make people come back for more.

Well, it seems that after so long, I finally got my website.  What makes this such an accomplishment for myself, is the fact that  that I designed everything myself.  From the background, to the pictures, even the little icons. I am using the WordPress engine though, which I find to be simply amazing!

That said! Welcome to No Kancho!