Nearly Complete

Our paperwork for Korea is nearly complete.  We both received our notices of appointment and contracts today, and we’ll be sending out our paperwork for our E-2 visas tomorrow.  Instead of taking two days off from work and going to the Korean Consulate in person, we’ll be shipping the documents to New York via FedEx.  Doing it by mail takes a bit more time, but we really can’t afford to take two more days off from work, and since we’re going through S.M.O.E., we won’t need to be interviewed.  The passage of time is a funny thing.  It seems like so long ago that we decided to go to Korea again, and it seems like a long time ago that we sent our stage one documents to Korea, though it was less than two months ago.  Now we’re just 39 days away, and with any luck we’ll get our visas by the end of next week and have our flights scheduled by next weekend.  After that, all there is to do is pack and wait.  It’s pretty nice to be almost official….

First day back to work

Today was my first day back to work in more than a week, and I must admit that it didn’t seem as long as some days do.  That has a lot to do with the weather, as this summer I’m on the outside maintenance crew, and sunny days are spent outside and rainy days inside.  So, we had the normal mowing, weed whacking, and other miscellaneous tasks to accomplish.  I can say that those nine days off went by far too fast and I’m looking forward to when I can quit that job and do something more meaningful.  I’m treated well at work and it’s nice to be outside, but it’s the very definition of a dead-end job.

A lot happened today outside of work.  We got Pangu’s cat carrier for our eventual flight to Korea.  It’s a little bigger than I thought it would be, which is nice for Pangu.  I tried to get her in it, but she wasn’t in the mood, so I’ll have to try again later when she’s being more compliant.  Speaking of going to Korea, Melissa almost got her contracts and her notice of appointment today.  We were under the impression that we’d be receiving our tracking numbers later this week, and then we’d have to wait a week or so for it to actually arrive, but apparently the fed-ex guy tried to deliver it today when Melissa and I were at work.  The fed-ex website says that mine will be arriving tomorrow.  With a little luck, we’ll have our visa paperwork on its way to the Korean Consulate later this week, and have our visas in hand by the end of next week or so.  After that, all there is to do is book our tickets and wait out the remaining month or so.  Of course, we’ll have lots of loose ends to tie up and packing galore, but that’s why I’m quitting my job a week early.  All of that will take care of itself.  Also today Melissa and I registerd to take the Praxis I test.  To those of you not in the know, the Praxis I is the Pre-professional skills test, which is required to be admitted into most teacher training programs.  We don’t know when we’ll be able to start taking classes, but we know you can’t take the Praxis I from Korea, so we might as well get it knocked out while we’re here.

It feels like I’ve been posting a lot recently after quite a time off, and hopefully I’ll have something to blog about tomorrow after we receive of contracts and NOAs tomorrow.  See ya tomorrow.

It’s official!!!

Well, semi-official at least.  Melissa got her offer today, and we’re in!  All we have to do is print, sign, and fax our contracts, addenda, and waivers to footprints, and then send our paperwork to Korea, which we should be able to do this week.  I don’t really know how long it will take to get our official contracts, notices of appointment, and eventually visas, but it’s really going to happen!  I’m so excited I can barely contain it.  It does kind of seem like this summer is going to take forever, as anticipation never helps to make what you’re doing now seem to take less time.  All we can really do is try to enjoy our summer, without letting our minds be too much in the future.

I’m in!!!

I’m in!!! SMOE has offered me the job!  I found out when I got home.  I didn’t get an email during the day like I was hoping for, so I called footprints to find out whether I would be hearing from them or SMOE.  As it turns out, the recruiter had just heard from SMOE, and they accepted me!  I got the email soon afterwards, explaining what I need to do next.  Melissa doesn’t have an answer yet though, after being interviewed last night.  Apparently, you have to wait two days to get an answer, so it should be tomorrow.  After accepting me, Melissa is a sure thing.  Tomorrow, we can truly be relieved.  After receiving the good news, we went out for a celebratory dinner at Texas Roadhouse, where we both had a lovely dinner.  We’re really looking forward to tomorrow, when we can start getting our paperwork ready for Korea.

Half way there

I finally had my SMOE interview last night, and if I had to use just one word to describe it, I would have to say that it was, anticlimactic.  I had been suspecting that there would be a ton of difficult and/or specific questions, but it was really quite topical.  The guy called about ten minutes to 10:30, and asked me a few simple questions.  The first thing he did was to verify that I had in fact graduated from the University of Florida, and that I had previously taught in Korea.  He seemed most interested as to why I left Korea half way through my original contract, but seemed content with my answer when I gave it to him.  He was also concerned about our intent to bring our cat Pangu along with us.  I think he was afraid that we would just show up to orientation with our cat in tow, which admittedly would be a bad idea.  We had already though that through, and we’ll have one of Melissa’s friends that are still in Korea look after Pangu for a few weeks, until orientation is over and we’re settled into our new apartment.  Once he heard that, he sounded much relieved.  He wasn’t able to tell me if I was being hired or not, but he told me that I should be confident, and that they’ll be interviewing Melissa tonight, and we should hear from our recruiter in a few days whether we’re hired or not.  I feel really good about it though, and once they talk to Melissa, it’ll be a done deal for them.  The only thing she’ll have to do is convince them that she really is interested in teaching for SMOE, because if she really wanted to, she could probably teach at the University level again.  Once she convinces them of that, we’ll be golden.

Earlier in the day, we went to Bushkill Falls, and boy oh boy, did we have a time.  When we got there, it was thunder and lightning all around, but no rain, so we began our hike.  It was really pretty, and we got a lot of good pictures and video.  Here is a good example.  Be careful though, the predominant sound is the roaring of water, so don’t have the volume up too loud.

About 2/3 of the way though the hike, it started to sprinkle.  Then it started to rain.  Then it started to POUR!!!  Complete with little hail stones that stung when they hit your exposed head.  Of course, we hadn’t thought to bring ponchos or umbrellas, so we were quickly soaked right down to our underwear.  It rained like that for quite a while as we finished our hike.  Check out these before and after pictures.

Before the t-storm

After the t-storm

Just about as we finished, it stopped raining, of course.  We bought ourselves a couple of souvenier t-shirts to wear on the hour long ride home, and we headed out.  It was really uncomfortable wearing soaking wet jeans all the way home, but we survived.  Some would think that the trip would have been better if it had not rained, but I say, not so!  Sure, it would have been more comfortable, but not nearly as memorable.  We won’t think back to our trip to Bushkill falls and vaguely remember how pretty it was, we’ll vividly remember getting soaked, however.  That’s the sort of thing strong memories and strong relationships are made of, shared adversity.  Just a little dab will do though, no need for any real strife, our marriage doesn’t have to be that strong. lol.  Overall, it was a very pleasant day.  I hope today is as nice (though perhaps not as memorable).

SMOE Interviews!

We finally got our SMOE interviews!  We’ve been waiting for about five or six weeks to hear about our interviews, and we finally got the news yesterday.  Melissa’s will be at 9:30 on Sunday, May 24th, and mine will be 10:30 that same day.  We had been getting pretty anxious about it, and Melissa called Footprints Monday evening, wondering if we should be concerned that it was taking so long.  Again they told us that we needed to be patient, that there were only two people at SMOE interviewing hundreds of applicants.  I feel really confident that we’ll be offered positions, as I have stated before that Melissa is an outstanding applicant, and they’ll have to take us as a couple or not at all.  I suppose I’m a decent candidate, but they just can’t let a teaching couple like us slip through their grasp.  Even though I know it will make it seem longer, I’ve already calculated that we have 94 days until we leave, assuming we leave on August 17th.  I’m pretty sure that orientation won’t begin until the following Monday, so that week should give us a chance to get Pangu settled in with Melissa’s friend, get over jet lag, and see some friends and do some sightseeing before the 16 hour orientation days start.  I’m so excited to get started with our new life that I can hardly believe it.

We went to Hershey Park for Melissa’s birthday with Howard and Shannon like we had intended last Saturday, and we had a great time.  The weather was perfect, pleasant without being hot, just cloudy enough not to have to worry about sunburn, but without a drop of rain.  We rode a bunch of roller coasters, ate a bunch of unhealthy food, and generally just had a kick-ass time.  We’re so fortunate to have friends like Howard and Shannon.  How lucky that my wife gets along so will with my best friend’s wife.  Melissa again said that the Hershey area is the only place in the states she can see settling down, so perhaps we’ll be blogging from there one day.  I certainly wouldn’t mind that myself, but hopefully we’ll get a chance to teach around the globe first.  That’s still the plan, at any rate.

Work has been going really well, and I’m really enjoying being outside on these glorious spring days.  Today was about 70 and sunny, and I was outside all day, mowing grass and pulling weeds, mostly.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, but Friday and the weekend are supposed to be nice, so you’ll hear no complaints from me.  On Saturday Melissa and I are going to my nephew JT and his fiancee’s engagement party.  It’s kind of like a shared wedding shower, but its going to be a pig-roast/barbeque, which I’m really looking forward to.  I’ve never been to a shared wedding shower, but JT’s pig roasts are always a good time, so I’m sure I’ll eat way too much pork and a little too much beer, and generally have a great time with my wife and other assorted family members.  Unfortunately, earlier that morning Melissa feels the need to run in a 5k, which I will not be running in.  I’ll be there to support her, though. (I’d rather be getting my hair cut, but if not for support, what am I good for?)

I guess that’s enough for now.  I’ve been lazy in getting pictures and video posted, and I’m not going to do it now, but hopefully sometime soon. (Don’t hold your breath though)