Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Our Visa Numbers Have Arrived – Next Stop, Chicago!



Yesterday we got word from our recruiter that the school in South Korea has processed our documents and our visa numbers have been issued. We have an appointment to go to the Korean consulate in Chicago next Tuesday, where they will finish processing everything. Then we will officially have our visas and all we’ll need to do is confirm our flight details for the trip over! (well that and pack for a year, get our immunizations, and a long list of other preparations).

It’s taken almost a year of research and preparation to get everything going. A website called Dave’s ESL CafĂ© has really helped us plan. It has some great discussion boards about life in South Korea – even down to specific restaurants to eat at or places to get a haircut! It’s also where we found a list of all the documents we needed to live and teach in South Korea.

The package of documents we sent to the recruiting office, Kim & Joe, included:

Original copy of Bachelor’s degree
• Official set of college transcripts (signed and sealed)
• A copy of the first page of passport
• A color photo (passport size)
• Criminal background check (notarized and apostilled)
• Health statement form
• Work contract signed and dated

It’s not a terribly long list of things, but it still took us months to get it all together! Neither Bob nor I had passports, so we both had to apply for those back in February. (that in itself is a chore!) In between work we made trips to Lincoln to gather our transcripts from UNL and our criminal background checks from the State Patrol’s Office. Finally, we sent everything to the school in Busan via Fed-Ex. Then the school processed our paperwork at their immigration office and issued our tracking numbers. So here we are!

More to come on our (short) trip to Chicago next week!

***Bob and Lindsey***

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Where is Busan?



Busan, South Korea is a port city in the south east part of the Korean Peninsula (about as far from the DMZ as you can get!) It is the second biggest city in South Korea, second only to Seoul. The population is about 4 million, so it’s certainly a big step up from Omaha! Busan also recently announced its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, so maybe in 10 years we’ll all be seeing a lot more of Busan on TV.

We’ll experience all four seasons in Busan, but not quite as vividly as in Nebraska. It doesn’t get much hotter than 80 degrees in the summer or much colder than freezing in the winter. There are mountains to our north in the interior of the country, and yet the beach will be just a half hour subway ride from our apartment. Japan is also our neighbor to the northeast. It’s only a short plane ride, so we plan to visit there during a school break.

So how exactly did all of this come about? It’s been quite a process and we’ve been planning for almost a year now! We’ll cover that story next time.

What else do you want to know about Busan? Post a comment and let us know!

***Bob and Lindsey***

Our Journey Begins


Before we begin our life adventure in South Korea, we had to get married! April 9, 2010 was the big day. We couldn't have asked for more - we had beautiful weather, all of our closest friends and family were there and every detail of the day was just perfect.

Two days later we jetted off to Kauai, Hawaii for our honeymoon. We took a helicopter ride around the island with no doors! It was an awesome experience. We would have done it twice if we could.

Once we arrived back home in Omaha, NE it was time for me to move in with Bob and his family. Our stay at the O'Brien household will be short-lived, however. We are making arrangements to move to South Korea to teach English to schoolchildren for a year.

Boy is there a lot involved with getting a work visa and moving halfway across the world! More to come on all the details...


***Bob and Lindsey***