Contract in hand, awaiting visa, flight booked !

Yesterday I got my contract and necessary paperwork directly from EPIK Seoul - FedEx had a delay so I had to pick up the documents myself. Everything is becoming a reality now, I feel kind of nervous all of a sudden - early this morning I went to the Korean Embassy to apply for my visa. I had my first taste of Korea and the representative of the embassy was very friendly and helpful indeed. She approved all my documents and the 1 year E2-visa cost me only €40. If everything goes well I will have it by Friday afternoon.

Now to talk about the flight - Although I did not get my visa yet, I was afraid that prices may go up if I don't book as soon as possible so I got a very reasonable one-way fare directly through Emirates' site and I booked it last night - Dublin-London Gatwick-Dubai-Seoul Incheon - leaving Dublin at 06:40am on 17 Feb and arriving at Incheon Airport at 16:00pm on 18 Feb. It looks worse than it really is because there is a 9 hour time difference between Ireland and South Korea. The best part is - I will have my first flight onboard the new Airbus A380 on the Dubai-Seoul flight so I am really looking forward to that.

Today I started with the required EPIK pre-orientation course which must be completed online before we arrive for orientation on 18 Feb - as most of my things are sorted already, I should have sufficient time to complete this.

Watch this space ... André

Awaiting EPIK contract

I thought I will start this blog while I am still in Dublin awaiting final confirmation for the position that was offered to me last Friday. For those of you who don't know, I applied late in 2009 for a GET position (Guest English Teacher) with EPIK (English Program in South Korea) for teaching in public schools. The programme is open to English speaking degree holders from either South Africa, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As I was made redundant from my job as Quantity Surveyor in 2009, I was instantly attracted to this opportunity after a friend from Bloemfontein in South Africa, introduced me to the programme. I applied, passed the screening interview and subsequently the final interview and just for the record - it was the longest, nerve wrecking telephone interview I ever had and lasted for about an hour - at 06:40am in the morning due to the huge time difference. A few days later - somewhere in Nov 2009 - I got an email confirming that I was accepted.

However, I only got confirmation of a location last Friday, which is Daejeon, a big city with a population of about 1,5 mil people, 1hr by train south of Seoul. By the way, Daejeon was not on my top 5 preference list, but its really looks like a nice spot, and I am looking forward to live there indeed - watch this youtube clip about the city:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYcgCUuyns

I had a problem with my Police Certiticate but that is another story. Fact is, all the required paperwork is now luckily approved and currently I am waiting for the formal contract and visa information from Seoul in order for me to apply for my E2 visa through the Korean Embassy in Dublin. It is not a long process and only takes 4 working days to process. Upon receipt of the visa, I have to book my one way flight to Seoul. I was told I am due to arrive on 18 February just in time for the 10 day orientation course to be held in Seongnam city, just outside of Seoul - that is 3 weeks from today but still, as we speak, I did not sign on the dotted line ...

I still have to do a few things before I leave - most importantly I have to sell my car. The current market is not great so hopefully I will get rid of it and get something for it. So thats on the agenda for my last week in Dublin so I can make use of the car until the last minute at least. As for the rest, I am pretty much sorted and prepared - stuff in storage, work clothes, lesson plans, TEFL manuals and running shoes packed, what else do I need?