One Month!

I feel really ashamed that this blog has just turned into a running tally of how long I've been here. It's supposed to actually be chronicling my story. Oh well, guess I'll have to do better at that.

Anyway, Descriptive Blog Title is Descriptive! It's been almost one month since I have been in Korea, and I'm still alive! Unfortunately, the last two weeks have been a little on the stressful side. After the last blog post, three of us got sick. The boys had some kind of virus/bacteria, but I think mine was just a combination of allergies and not being used to talking for 8 hours a day. I had a really bad sore throat for about 3-4 days (it wasn't strep though). The week after this was the "end of term."

Every two months, you collect the materials you have graded for the students and put it into one big file and grade them on reading, speaking, writing, behavior, etc. It doesn't sound so bad...until you realize I'd only been teaching solo for about two weeks! On top of that, the class has been in flux for the past few months due to teachers leaving/getting fired, Korean teachers taking the class, other teachers taking over, etc., so the files weren't exactly well organized. Needless to say, they got done within a few days, and now I just have to catch up on the grading I missed out on while I was filling out 70 evaluations and I'm all set until the end of October!

I finished the progress reports on Friday. Two weeks ago the new teachers were sick, this last week it was the other teachers who got sick. Add to that the joys of having the blue sheets and a new term starting, and you can believe that we were all ready for Chuseok! Chuseok is basically Korean Thanksgiving, it is a tradition from when Korea was agricultural based. Basically everyone goes back to where their family is from and makes a lot of food. Traveling in Korea during this time is basically suicide, and most of the foreign teachers stayed around Jeonju.

The Thursday before school let out, we went out for my first taste of duck!

It was a little bland, but once you dipped it in the sesame oil and put garlic and onions and some fruit on it it tasted delicious! 

After this, we ended hitting up a coffee shop which had the best white mocha I have ever tasted in my life, and by the way everyone else was drinking their drinks of choice I think the feeling was shared by the group!  Also, this was the night that I learned there is ACTUAL SHEESHA in Jeonju.  Michael was excited when we started talking about it, apparently he hasn't found anyone who has wanted to go with him before, so we're planning on stopping by after the next makgeolli tour. I will probably be horribly disappointed, but hey.

Friday, we were all exhausted (the Korean children were beyond unruly on Friday!), but felt that we somehow needed to celebrate the holiday.  We headed to a bar about a 15-20 minute walk from our apartment.  It had cool decor.  The place was massive, two levels and full colorful bottles wrapped all the way across the building.

My culinary luck continued on Friday, as I also had the most delicious Kahlua and Bailey's here.

This is a picture of my Korean co-teacher Jessie! Please note that she started the random peace sign, not I.



This night was pretty laid back as far as Korea is concerned...we were all exhausted and we were all home and in bed by 1 a.m.!  It was a good thing though because about 10 minutes after I got inside the floodgates opened.  It has been raining since Thursday and it is suppose to rain through all of Chuseok!  So today I didn't do much except go over to Jessie's grandmother's apartment and watch/help them cook Chuseok food!  Normally they do not eat it today, but her grandma was amused by Michael and I and so we got to nibble.  It was delicious!



I am hoping it doesn't rain too much tomorrow.  Michael is an avid hiker around Korea, and he is willing to take Rob and I around and show us the good spots!  Otherwise, the rest of the vacation is a lot of relaxing and getting mentally prepared for the next two months!  Until then,

Karin

Two Weeks

It's hard to believe but I've been in Jeonju for two weeks. In some ways, it feels like I've been here for a while and in others I feel fresh off the jet!  It took me about a week to get over the jet lag.  Things helped when I started work the Tuesday after I got here.  I've gotten into a nice routine.

I haven't seen too much of Jeonju yet, work keeps me pretty busy right now, I'm still trying to learn the ropes.  The working hours are a little awkward (12:45-8:30), and this is further complicated by the fact that places in Korea neither open early nor do they stay open late!  So if you want to do something, the weekend is your time.  Last weekend I went out with the director, Chris, and his wife Mary and another teacher Travis.  This weekend I went out with another group of teachers, who every weekend have what they dubbed a "makgeolli tour."  Makgeolli is a rice wine that's very sweet.  Both weekends were a good time.

Work is going as well as can be expected...there are a few classes that are giving me trouble but they are very young, maybe kindergarten age, and they simply don't know enough English to understand what Dan (my coteacher) and I are trying to basically order them to do...add to that the behavioral problems kindergarten aged children have and it's two hours of hell at the beginning of my day.  However the school seems to be willing to listen and put the fear of God into the kids so hopefully that will improve in the coming weeks, or this will be a long year!

The weather is still very rainy and hot/humid here.  I've seen the sun about two or three times since landing here, which is a little depressing.  The city is surrounded by big hills/small mountains, and there are a lot of hiking trails which provide a nice view of the city.  I'm hoping if next weekend is nice that I can climb up the one closest to the apartment.

Otherwise, there isn't much to report! 

Karin

Made it to South Korea

Hello all!  I have finally arrived in Jeonju, South Korea.  This post is long and boring.  Much like my flight.

My departure came rapidly, as I finally received my visa (and new laptop) on Thursday.  My recruiter asked me "Can you leave tomorrow?"  and I said sure, why not.  Unfortunately the only Fargo to Chicago flight was at 5:50 a.m.!  There was a lot of turbulence on the way to Chicago, they didn't turn the seat belt sign off once.

We landed in Chicago O'Hare a little bit before 8:00.  The Chicago to Seoul flight was scheduled to leave around noon.  Once I found out I had to be in terminal 5 (there was nothing on the ticket saying it but the second the helpful United lady looked at it she knew where I had to be), I decided I might as well make my over there.  I arrived at the international terminal to find what can best be described as a ghost town.  None of the counters were open or showed any sign of workers, and there were only a handful of travelers waiting for them to open.  I stopped to get a muffin and chilled until about 9:00 before getting my boarding pass and going through security.  To illustrate just how dead this place was, I was the only one going through security at the time.  I passed by later about 11:00 and the place had a long line so it's good I went through when I did.

The plane coming in was late, so our flight time got delayed by an hour, but by the time we actually left the ground it was about a quarter to 2:00, so almost two hours behind schedule.  Nothing like a four hour layover turning into six.  I was very tired of Gate M12, to say nothing of the fact that there is NOTHING past security, just a place for pop and coffee.  Of course, the TSA agents warn you about this when you go through, but there was at least five people/families that asked the gate staff "Where can you eat around here?"  People, I tell ya!

Once we finally took off, I was surprised at how empty the plane was.  A Filipino man who was sitting the row behind me with his wife and daughter apparently was not interested in sharing space with them for 12 hours, and moved a row up to sit with me.  Which was a bummer, because not only did I almost have three seats to myself, but he slept like a log the entire flight and any time I had to get up I had to practically molest the poor fellow.  I envied his ability to sleep however, as I had only about 3 hours so far in a day.  I didn't sleep well on the plane, maybe about two or three hours.  After I gave up on that I watched Jake Gyllenhal's Source Code, which was decent enough.  It was either that or Bob the Builder for English language shows. 

About two and a half hours before our landing the flight staff started the final meal services.  It was at this point that nature decided to mess with all of us and throw some turbulence in our way.  The captain came over the intercom and explained that we were experiencing "moderate" turbulence, and they were suspending meal service until they flew out of it.  (Which didn't happen until we landed in Seoul).  His wording and demeanor reminded me of the Firefly movie Serenity.

Wash:  Well if she doesn't fix it, this landing is going to get pretty interesting.
Mal:  Define "interesting."
Wash:  *deadpan*  "Oh God, Oh God, we're all going to die?"
Mal:  [over the intercom] This is the captain.  We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode.

Thankfully, we did not explode and landed more or less in one piece.  My red suitcase was pretty much toast before getting here, but now its buddy the old blue suitcase has, I believe, joined it.  It was about 5:00 p.m. in Seoul before I got out of customs and to the bus ticket station...I bought a ticket, made my way to the stop, where someone asked if I was going to Jeonju.  I said "Yes." Then he randomly offered me his cell phone, and I had to call the school director to let him know I had not exploded and when to pick me up.

The director talked to this guy also (who spoke no English) and found out apparently he was a Pepsi driver and he had driven up from Jeonju to Seoul in the morning for a delivery and was now on his way back and he wanted a few passengers to make it worth his while.  The director told me it would cost the same as a bus ticket and might get me to Jeonju sooner, so I figured why not.  We also picked up a young-ish married couple also going to Jeonju.  It took about four hours, traffic out of Seoul was insane.  At this point, I was approaching 36 hours with no substantial sleep, and on the car I was more fading in and out of unconsciousness than actually sleeping!  In any case, I finally ended up at my apartment around 11 p.m.  This made for a journey of almost 27 hours.  I am glad I will not have to do that again for at least a year!

My apartment is fully furnished, although maybe a little too much furniture for my needs/taste, but it's better than underfurnished.  Chris, who is a Canadian and is the managing director of Giving Tree, and another teacher at the school Travis (who has been here two years) have both been very helpful in the less-than-24-hours I have been here.  Travis took me this afternoon to Home Plus, which is a WalMart on steroids, and I picked up some bedding and a few items and food.

My new comforter and pillows!



The desk area.



Tiny kitchen is tiny.



My room with a view...not!

Anyway, I'm probably not going to get too comfortable, as Travis says there is a new apartment building that Giving Tree is going to rent out when it is completed, and we will all be moving there.  He isn't sure when that is, it might not be for a while, but even still that would be pretty sweet!

I haven't seen much of the town, since I'm still pretty exhausted (even after almost two days with no real sleep, I was still only able to sleep from about 1-5:30 this morning), but it seems like a quiet little town.  Of course, Monday is a holiday here, so I think there might be a lot of people on holiday, but even still traffic didn't seem to be too crazy.

Well, that was long and rambling enough.  Don't worry I'm sure I'll be doing something more interesting sooner or later!  :)

Karin

Leaving Soon!

As I'm sure you may be aware, my job search has ended, taking me to Jeonju, South Korea!  And thus I am happy to report this blog is relaunched as a travel blog, and not a hopeless job search blog. I will be teaching English to elementary aged students at a private academy (hogwan) called Giving Tree Academy.  I leave on August 12.

View Larger Map

It's about three hours or so south of Seoul, and has a population of about 650,000.  I think it will be a nice balance between things to do during the week, but is very well connected with other national transportation networks.  Since it is not Seoul, I think saving money will be a little easier as well.

As usual, I am probably bringing way too much crap.  I mean, I'm going to be living there for at least a year (and probably more if all goes well), I'm going to have to go to a store sooner or later!  I will most likely regret this when I am trying to make my way to the bus stop.

Although I have no meaningful experience teaching English or children, South Korea's requirements for ESL teachers boils down to "someone with a four year degree and a clean background check."  It will definitely be a learning experience on my end, but one I am looking forward to.  After the events of the "Arab Spring," I found myself infected with wanderlust once more.  Since I am too broke to go to grad school at the moment, teaching English in Korea is the next best thing.

This blog will be home to the trials and tribulations and no doubt crazy stories I will accumulate, with most of the pictures going to Facebook or Flickr or something similar.  So, sit back and enjoy the ride!

Another Two Down

Hello again.  It's been a few days.  And unfortunately, not too much has happened.  Thursday and Friday I spent looking for postings to apply to, but I did not find anything of interest.  And really there's no point in applying to something you don't want to do, because Murphy's Law says that's when you'll actually get a callback.  A few popped up over the weekend.  This morning I spent going over them, and I culled a few from my list and only ended up applying to two (again). 

I applied to a HR position with a nonprofit that helps women in post-conflict regions.  Even though it's HR, at least it's a mission I find interesting and would want to work towards.  Also it could be a way "into" the organization. 

The other was what my friend Charlie likes to call "pie in the sky" jobs.  This position was with the Council on Foreign Relations, and is basically assisting a Senior Fellow with their research.  All the stars aligned in the posting, it was issues related to development and the Middle East.  Everyone applying to that job is going to have experience and research in the Middle East, so I decided to focus on personal traits and work habits in my cover letter.  Essentially, not only can I write well as evidenced by graduating with honors and a high GPA, but I'm actually a good employee who will be on time, do what they're told, eager to learn new skills and people, and help out in other areas when they can.

I sent out an inquiry letter to a nonprofit in New York which covers the Israel/Palestine conflict and works to give coverage to mainstream views of the issue on both sides.  They posted an internship ad with Idealist about a month ago (which is a long time), and their website was unclear as to whether or not it was still available.  I haven't heard back from her yet, but if it's still open I will apply for it.  I'm not spending a lot of time looking for internships, what with the whole "unpaid" thing and all, but if it's with an organization with a mission in the Middle East or international development, I think it's probably worth it.

LinkedIn is kind of schizophrenic and can't seem to make up its mind if I've had people trying to look me up.  On its main sidebar it says one view in the past 90 days (ouch..), but once I open up that panel it shows two views for last week and two appearances in the search.  This would be a good sign if it's true, since I applied to two jobs last week.  But since LinkedIn can't make up its mind, I guess I'm continuing to play the waiting game for now.  It also has brought up the question of whether or not to provide a hyperlink on the resume or cover letter to a LinkedIn profile.  Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

Not very productive

The first day of my new job search got off to a late start.  I had lunch with a coworker from Pizza Hut, and woke up late, so the morning was shot.  Before lunch I at least resolved to find jobs to apply for after I got home.  I scanned over 15 pages at Idealist.  That gives me a little bit of hope, because I searched under "full time" and "four-year degree."  I didn't get nearly that many pages when I did this last year (and those 15 pages were all posted within the past three days).  Even though I only found 5 of which I would be remotely interested and qualified in, and only actually applied to 2 of them, maybe things will be better this time around.

Going forward, I am not going to rely on Idealist like I did last summer, but rather make the round every week or so.  I also hope to send in four targeted and well written applications a day--considering I only did about a half day today and sent in two, I think it's a feasible goal.  I've also started a Word document to keep track of my applications, so I don't mistakenly apply to something twice, which would be pretty embarrassing.

Today I was musing about the suggestions job search advice boards put forward.  They include addressing your cover letter to a real person, calling to make sure your application was received, etc.  While all this would be good advice in theory, or even ten years ago, it is not practical.  It makes me wonder if these "job coaches" have even applied for a job in the past five years (though as I also mused today, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.").  Let me walk you through the most common job posting you will see for a nonprofit industry.

JOB TITLE:  Something really fancy and professional sounding, but translated means "Secretary." COMPANY:  Organization Name That Really Doesn't Convey What We Do

JOB DUTIES:  Basically we want you to run the office and get us coffee and send our mail and get our mail and answer our phones and update the website and be a team player but know how to work alone and be a self stater and know how to prioritize tasks while at the same time multitask and have a sense of humor because everyone is going to secretly hate you even though you are the least paid girl in the place and you got a Bachelor's degree and the closest you'll come to a real job in the nonprofit industry is to be our secretary.  I mean "administrative assistant."

JOB QUALIFICATIONS:  Master's degree and 8 years of experience, or a mix of education and experience.  Because we all know you need a Master's degree to plug in a coffee machine in the morning and to babysit some CEO.  Amirite, ladies?

TO APPLY:  Please send your resume to genericHRlady@company.com, or apply on our website, where we have a list of senior employees but not the HR manager or the manager of the department you are applying to.  Please send applications only on the 2nd day of the winter solstice after a harvest moon, and please be sure the subject title of your e-mail reads "PR8JK2" and ONLY "PR8JK2."  This is to test if you are able to follow directions.  Please include salary requirements, as we are going to hire the cheapest sucker out there, so shoot low boys and girls!  ABSOLUTELY NO PHONE CALLS.  EVERY TIME YOU CALL US, JESUS KILLS A KITTY.  THINK OF THE KITTIES!

Okay.  Maybe I took a few liberties there.  But not many, I assure you.  The point is, when you apply to a job, especially in the non-profit industry and I'm sure pretty much every where else too, you probably have never heard of them before.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing , but it also means if you don't have an "in" with the organization, you have no choice but to submit your application to "genericHRlady@company.com."  Their websites, if they even exist, and if they aren't filled with 404 errors, either have limited or no information on employees, either because (1) They are a large organization (2)  Security reasons and (3) Does anyone besides job searchers really care?  Sometimes you can get lucky and find a name, which at least shows that you can do research, or that you are a stalker. But for the most part, you're at the mercy of the job posting.

The other thing about job coaches advising you to follow up with phone calls at every point in the process is ridiculous.  As mocked in the "To Apply" section, a good 90% of job postings specify "no phone calls."  The reason for this is not a mystery.  With a national unemployment rate at 9.1% for May 2011 (Source: BLS updates its sidebar monthly), and depending on who you talk to, the unemployed + underemployed + stopped looking is approaching 20%, their phones would be ringing off the hook with each job posting, and they wouldn't get any work done.  Ignore the company's request at your own peril.  I have never been so bold as to call an organization which blatantly stated no phone calls, but have read anecdotes on line from various hiring managers who have been badgered this way.  Getting yourself to stand out from the crowd is a good thing, but not in the obnoxious and crazy way.  So again, until you get that first phone call or e-mail from a living, breathing human being with a name, you have all your money rolling on your resume and cover letter.

Which, brings me back to the moral of the story, is that instead of using standard resumes and cookie cutter cover letters, you need to tailor each to the application you are sending in.  In short, it's quality over quantity in order to get yourself noticed.  Some job search blogs out there get it, most, unfortunately, don't.  So that's why I'm aiming for four a day.  As long as the postings keep the same pace I'm seeing now, there should be plenty to pick from.

A Year in the Life

Truth be told, I am slowly losing my mind.  A year after college graduation, and I have had absolutely no success in landing a full time job.  I am currently $43,000 in debt with student loans, give or take, which at its height was around $48,000.  Last year after graduation, I spent the summer applying to anything from entry level business positions with large corporations to small nonprofit offices.  Anything that was full time with benefits.  I received one telephone interview from Target's corporate office in Minnesota, which did not result in an in person interview.

One.  Phone call.

By this time, it was late July. I had moved back in with my parents to the middle of Nowhere, Minnesota, and I didn't even have a part time job to show for my efforts.  Countless hours, and all it resulted in was one telephone interview.  I rarely even received messages saying my application had been rejected in favor of other applicants.  To say I was--and still am--jaded, depressed, bitter, angry, and pessimistic is an understatement.

With my savings account not growing any larger, I decided it was time to at least get something in town in order to save up some money in the event I had to move somewhere.  I ended up as a waitress in town, whose clientele shall we say was less than tolerable.  I managed to grin and bear it for ten months before I handed in my two weeks.  At the time, I was anticipating teaching English in South Korea. 

While that opportunity is still a possibility, I have pushed it to the side in order to try my hand, once again, at finding a "big girl" job.  I'm hoping to use this tool as an organizational tool, and also maybe to keep myself accountable to "readers" if any of them ever show up and stick around.  Maybe some networking, if I'm lucky, and hey maybe even a job before I die!

Tomorrow starts the process of searching, revising resumes, writing cover letters, and finally hitting "send."  Please hold while your blog author attempts to gather enthusiasm. 

--

"My banker said I'd have loans until I was 47.  'Forty-seven?' I said, 'Let's aim for dead.'"
CollegeHumor's "A Real Grad School Ad."