First! FAQ's! Fun! Flight!

My very first post! Yay! Hopefully if you're reading this blog you already know who I am and have some sense of what I am doing. If you just happened to stumble across my blog, Hi! Welcome to my blog! 

So what's up with me? I'm going to South Korea, the best Korea as some folks like to say. Just waiting on my visa to get processed and then I'll be off to the Land of the Morning Calm. 

The national flag: Taegeukgi

When people hear about my plans they run through a list of questions that are generally the same. I thought I'd answer many of the FAQs right here, right now. 

What will you be doing there? Teaching English at a private school to mostly elementary students. 

Do you speak Korean? No...I can say hi and thank you..sort of..

Do you plan on learning it? Yes, hopefully I'll be somewhat conversational by the time I come back. 

How can you teach English if you don't know Korean? Still working on this one. Not too worried. I have a few friends there doing the same thing who have been giving me tips and advice. 

How long will you be gone? At least 1 year. If I stay longer it will be in 1 year increments. 

It's the pink spot, in case you couldn't tell. 

Did you go through a program? Not really. I used Teach ESL Korea, a recruiter specifically for people who want to teach English in South Korea. A friend of my referred them to me and I've been quite pleased with them.

Where in South Korea will you be?  I'll be going to Daejeon, South Korea. According to Wikipedia, Daejeon is South Korea's fifth largest metropolis with a population of over 1.5 million. It has a four seasons like Michigan but with less snow and more humidity. Seoul, the capital, is about a 50 minute high speed train ride away. 

What's the time difference between Korea and Michigan? Korea is 14 hours ahead of Michigan. This means that 7am in Michigan is 9pm in Korea or 7pm in Michigan is 9am in Korea. 

How long is the flight? Total with layovers the shortest I've found is 16 hours and the longest was 36 hours. It seems to average somewhere between 20-24 hours. 

All that's left to do now is to buy the ticket, pack and wait for my visa to be processed and sent back to me. Even though the original start date was January 28th the visa won't be back by then so I've got extra time I hadn't anticipated. I have more time to pack, organize, shop and hang out. I'm excited to have more fun with the people I'll be leaving behind such as grandparents, cousins, trivia teammates, and of course, my fellow lifeguards.  

Ending my first post with great news. I have a date! January 31st. That's when I will be leaving Michigan, the United States, my friends, my family and my life here to travel halfway around the world to a new and exciting place. 

And that's my first blog post. Have to say I'm fairly pleased with myself for actually trying this blogging thing. I can't promise a post everyday but I will do my best.