vis-a-visa

Today I woke up at 5:30am so that I could leave the house by 6 (though actually, I don't think we actually left until 6:15am). After 2.5 hours of driving my mom and I arrived at the Korean Consulate in Los Angeles to finish my visa paperwork.

Right at 9am we were allowed into the building. At 9:30 I had my interview-- if you could even call it that. Basically I went into this little room and sat down across from the interviewer. Mostly he did the talking. "Ah, you are going to Suwon? Big city. Very close to Seoul. Have you been to Korea before?"

"Yes," I replied, "Once for three days."

"Ah, as a tourist. Ok. Very nice. And have you taught English before?"

Typical me, I made my answer much longer and more complicated than necessary. "Well, sort of. I mean, I taught middle school and I taught English but it wasn't ESL it was English writing and literature and..." I'm not even sure if I finished my thought. I noticed he jotted something down on my application. A number 3 and a slash and something else.

"Ok, you are all set."

I sat there in silence for a second. "Well, um, what do I do now?" I asked timidly.

"That's it," he said.

"I... I... um... do you need any other paperwork or stuff from me?"

"Nope," he replied. "You can just go back to Window #2 and see when your visa will be ready."

I couldn't believe it. The other day I stressed over making photocopies of my resume, making sure I had a sealed academic transcript and all those other things they said I'd need on the website and the Korean consulate website. And they didn't ask for any of them! The lady at Window #2 said I could come back at 3pm for my visa.

So my mom and I spent our day in glorious L.A. As per suggestion we went out to breakfast at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles which was uh, you know, a little sketchy but ok. Then we drove down Wilshire St in search of a place to get mani/pedi's (I mean, if you're going to waste a day in LA...) but on the way we saw the La Brea Tar Pits and decided to check that out. Very interesting. We got our manicure/pedicures, then to Starbucks for Green Tea Lattes (my favorite) and back to the Korean consulate again.

When we got there at just after 2pm my visa was already done and waiting for me. After less than 15 minutes we were back on the road. By 5:15pm we were back in San Diego again, exactly 11 hours after we started.

And now... and now I catch my flight at 9:40am tomorrow, Friday September 4th PST, arriving in South Korea on Saturday September 5th at 6:30pm. And, silly as it may seem, thanks to a successful day getting my visa, and a hopeful Tarot card reading (my first ever, really), I am prepared to go to Korea with optimism, bright eyes, and a sense of calmness.

Criminal Background Checks

Right now I am really stressed out. It kills me that I did my criminal background check wrong and I have to re-do it. But the process is such a pain that I'm scared everything is going to be ruined.

First I have to get my fingerprints. This costs $20 and is by appointment only. The next available appointment is Thursday at 6:30pm. Well, of course I signed up. I had no choice.

Next I will have to send a check to the State Police for $33. There is no expedited process and it will take 5-7 days. I don't even know what kind of envelope to send this in. I should find that out.

If I send it on Friday morning it could get back to me by late that next week.

At that point I'll have to drive down to Salem, Oregon (about an hour drive away) and get it apostillized. This costs $10.

All of this MUST be done by August 25th because that is when I fly out to San Diego and officially leave Portland.

I am so scared all of this will not be done in time. I'm worried that I'm going to get delayed again which maybe isn't the biggest deal but I feel like I'm already making a bad impression on the school because my start date has already been delayed from Sept 1 to Sept 7. And what if I still don't get everything done by then?

I admire my ability to take on an idea so quickly and just go for it but this was also a terrible idea. This legal document process is so complicated that doing it in just 1 month is not really possible. There is just too much to do.

This just in: I just got a phone call that said that if I can't get all my documents in time then they will be forced to find another English teacher at that school. And as for me.....??

I'm still afraid that this is all just a giant mistake. I like adventure but am I really ready for this one?