holy crap....

well Nicole is passed out and i figured i'd kill some time and enlighten you all with a small update. As the title hints at....we have alot of "stuff" to get rid of and thats our current challenge as we have less than a month to decide what to do with it all. Ebay has pretty much rocked for us as Nicole was able to sell almost $700 worth of clothes on it last week! I know.... I listed a few things but for the most part my stuff didn't get much action. I think they could smell it through the internet. So now we're shipping out stuff which is helping to clear space.

Next up is a garage sale that will be happening at the parents place this weekend. Its actually going to be kinda rough to get rid of some of the things we have but we really can't take them with us. So other than that we both got all our shots done this week already so we'll be fit to take on whatever South Korean germies await.

Still no word on Olive but we'll have an answer this week i'm sure. Well kids that all I got. I'll have something more entertaining and earth shatteringly inspiring next time, I promise :)

we're in!!!!

its official my friends, we are goin and alot sooner than expected but as is this whole thing, an adventure the next 30 days will be. we were offered the positions at the JNS Academy schools (me and Avalon and nicole at Readingtown which are located in the same building) with the stipulation that we would be ready to pack up and ship out by the end of May. So after I changed my boxers and mulled it over with nicole, we gave them a great american YEEEEHAAWWW!!.....no, not at all. I shreaked like a little girl and said yes sir! (theres going to be an obvious difference in tone when i write these so get to lovin it now)Nicole is actually going to start her contract however at the end of June as she needs to come back to the states for a few days to be in her best friends wedding. So she'll chill for a month with me when we arrive in may so we can go through the acclomation process together. Also we'll also be fitted with a sweet double occupancy pad that I am sure is paved with gold and pad thai w/ peanut sauce. But in all seriousness, we're extremely excited and even though we've got a ton to do in preparation for the move we know its meant to be this way and every step will be as exciting as the next.

oh right, almost forgot about olive (not unusual)...i kid. So we have hopefully negotiated a plan to allow for her to come over with us which was mainly due in part to the photo I had to show the school to prove that she wasn't a huge mess of a dog that would ransack the apartment.



my goal was to depict her as the titan she is next to the cereal box which i think worked out but we'll know for sure in a few days if she's got eh go ahead to head out with us so we'll keep you informed.

Thats all for now folks but its all real and its all happenin so I hope you keep readng because it just gets better from here!!

-adam ;)

Next Steps...

I read somewhere that if you post too often, people won't read it. But, how do you not post every step of the exciting adventure??


Here are our International Driving Permits.



This past week, we had two interviews. First, Joey called us. He is a teacher at the school in Gwangju called Reading Town. He asked us basic questions like what would we do when a group of Korean children decide to test us and speak all in Korean? He also asked us why we wanted to come to Korea and told us a bit about the school itself.
The company owns two schools, one on the third floor of a building and one on the fourth. Adam and I would teach at different schools that way we would be able to balance our days off a bit better and we would have some time away from each other :) The students are mostly children of well respected people in the community, Drs., Lawyers, etc. They will most likely become exchange students or travel for their higher education.
There are 12 native English speaking teachers all together, 6 at each school. They all eat together and spend time doing things outside of school together as well. Lunch is $34.00 for the month and provided by the school. Classes average 8-12 students. We will teach either writing or reading.

Here are pictures of the school.



Adam and I were then interviewed by Sue, the director of Reading Town. I loved that her speech was so perfect. She didn't use any slang and her voice was so sweet sounding. She asked us about our religion, diet and tattoos. She also asked why we wanted to come to Korea and was happy we had done so much research. She then asked us about our family and siblings.

I told her that I felt like this whole process/ experience was meant to be. Everything seems to be falling into place so easily and the feeling that both Adam and I have is that of excitement mixed with a confident vision of our future in Korea and beyond.

Today Adam researched their baseball team and I am sure we will end up going to many games. Gwangju has the Kia Tigers who are 6th out of the 8 teams in the country.



Anyway, the next steps... Monday or Tuesday we should hear from Sue with a job offer. From there, she sends us a contract and we send her our documents which are all ready to go. Then, once she reviews them, she sends us a Visa confirmation number. We will have to drive to Atlanta to receive our Visa. It is then that this will be truly our next chapter of our lives. I really can't wait. (I honestly can't wait to tell my boss and get this heavy secret off of my shoulders)

Here are also some pictures of the bus station and the KTX (the speed train), the soccer stadium and a map of where exactly Gwangju is located.

gettin it done....

Alright, my turn to write something on this blog action. So today we got a hefty amount of paperwork done in preparation for South Korea. First we got a bunch of passport photos taken that were necessary for the international driving permits and Visa's, then we got our degrees notarized and fedex'd out to Tallahassee to be apostille'd (whatever that is, but its mandatory). So overall we got the International Driver's Permits and all the paperwork sent off so now we get the job offer, the Visa's and a plane ticket! We've also decided that a major garage sale is going to be scheduled very shortly to get rid of a lot of crap that we've got and since it all can't come with us, why not make a few bucks that we can spend on rice cookers and cheap Korean booze no? Tonight at 10pm we've got the phone interview with the head teacher from the school in Gwangju so we'll check back after that goes down and we kick some interview booty yet again!

The Beginning...

We have decided to create an online blog to chronicle our adventures overseas.

So, I guess we should explain why we have decided to take this big step.

A few months ago, Adam and I were talking about life. It was one of those conversations that go on forever and have tons of deep words and thoughts. Right now, at the age of 28 and 29, we have our whole lives in front of us and what really do we want from them? We both agreed that we want to travel, we want to make a difference in people's lives, we want to see more cultures and experience something other than the typical American life....high school, college, marriage, job, kids, car, house, nicer car, nicer house...All for what?

So, we began looking into teaching abroad. Adam and I contacted many different agencies all over the world, not knowing which ones would actually be legit. Adam read tons of message boards and I conversed also through email to other ESL teachers. There were so many different types of companies, some wanting you to pay up front, others looking for certain certification, others needing nothing. We contacted these agencies, asked them so many questions. Some would not give us the same information when we asked a question twice, others didn't answer our questions at all and still others wrote to us in very poor English.

One night we discovered footprints recruiting and everything seemed to fall into place. We have gone through the first interview stage and have the second interview Monday night. The company has all of our documentation and we are very close to being accepted.

The school we have applied for is called Reading Town in Gwangju, South Korea. The school will provide our housing and reimbursement for our flight. They will also provide insurance, bonuses and the best part is our pay is basically the same thing we make here in the states, with a lot less expenses. Other teachers have said they can save up to $1500.00 per month.

You can read more about the city here .

And, just in case you were wondering, Olive is allowed by the Korean government to travel with us!

As soon as this week unfolds, I will write again with more details

Cheers