Yesterday was an exciting day. I dropped off my documents and passports this morning at the Korean embassy so that they can process my VISA. Should be able to pick it up in a week, so pretty quick to process. One thing that amazed me was that, in order to retrieve my VISA, all I need to present to them is a raffle ticket with a few Korean symbols and a lucky number on it (I'm not telling you what it is). I would have thought there'd be something more official looking, given that they're looking after my passport, but let's see what happens...
I met a few teachers-to-be at the embassy today. Everyone seemed affable enough, although much younger than me. In total, there were three teachers I met; all young, male, recent graduates. Wondering if I'm going to feel the odd one out when I get there, although I'm sure there'll be teachers much older than me. When I think about it in fact, I could use Confucianism to my advantage, commanding respect from younger teachers: could be fun!
When I get to Korea, I'll apparently be posted in a city called Daejeon. It's the 5th largest citty in Korea, with a population of about 1.5million. Situated in an idyllic location, surrounded by hills and natural park, it's only an hour away from Seoul, and has good train links with the rest of the country. I don't know too much more about the city yet, other than it's the silicon valley of Korea, where all the professionals tend to flock. Means it could be quite a rich area, so I'll be interested to see what my flat will be like, which will be provided to me by my employer. I'll post pictures later.
Not sure when I'll be flying out yet, but will be some time between the 15th and 17th. I'm really looking forward to the experience. Although I feel a sense of poignancy about the people who are dear to me back in England, I am excited about the adventure ahead of me, and curious to how I'm going to adjust to the culture shock. It's going to be interesting...
