Getting to Korea

It was a little under a year ago that Tom and I first started thinking of moving to South Korea after university. A couple of months later, Korea became our exclusive and definite post-graduation plan. However, it wasn't until May that we started Getting Serious about it - applying for jobs, doing a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course, getting our visa documentation together - and July had nearly arrived when we finally were offered contracts. In early August we had received our degrees and could send them to Korea for the first stage of the visa process, and by next week we should have our visas and be in the air.

We never really considered teaching in another country, because even the minimal research showed that Korea was the best place to save money. As third-year students, particularly in post-recession, newly-Tory Britain, it was comforting to have another option: somewhere else to go, where we were guaranteed jobs and enough wages to start some savings. Many of the other students we know have been unable to find work in Britain, except for those who have returned to their pre-university jobs.

However, before we can take up our jobs as teachers in the south-western Korean city of Gwangyang, we had to go through the visa process. In fact, we're still going through it, which means that our flights are not yet booked and we start teaching in thirteen days. I won't delve too far into the details now: suffice to say that my partner and I are International, and that many institutions can't accommodate people who refuse to stay in one country. In fact, they simply don't like us. Our flights will hopefully be booked this week; our visas will come through on Friday or Monday; we shall fly at some point next week.

I might write more about the entire, ten-month process at some point, but for now Tom and I are preparing to start afresh on the other side of the world.