PDX Airport

Airports are fun aren't they?

I'm sitting at the gate with free wifi. PDX is very cool for having it. About 20 minutes before I get in my first plane to Seattle. I'm extremely tired. My eyes are in that state where they keep trying to close on me. I might try to take a quick nap on the plane up to Seattle. I'm really worried though that I will fall asleep during my layover before my second flight and not wake up for it. Three hours is just enough time for me to get into that deep sleep and pass up the alarm. Hopefully I can stay up long enough to get on the plane to Seoul. Then I can take a nice long 12 hour nap. Of course I'll be sure to take a "wake break" (I hope I can coin that phrase) for lunch. I can't miss out on that great airline food mmMMMMMMmmmmmm scrumptious.

Security wasn't bad. It hasn't hit me yet that I just said goodbye to the family for quite a while. Brings a whole new perspective to things. I don't think I'll really start to feel it for a week or two.

I'll report in from Seattle if I can get wifi again.

Packing is hard

I've discovered that packing is harder than it seems. Especially when you consider in the fact that I'll be leaving for a year. This would all be easier if I could just have a big U-Haul. Instead I get a couple big bags.

Less than 48 hours and counting!

I'm Leaving!!!!!!!

Just got my travel plans!

I leave in essentially 4 days! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I guess that means it's time to start packing.

Visiting Friends and Family

It's been odd going around visiting family and friends knowing that I won't see them for at least a year. It'll probably hit me more once I've been over in South K for a few weeks.

I still don't know when exactly I'll be leaving but I figure I'll start packing seriously in the next day or two. I don't think it will be too hard to pack though. Space is limited and when it comes down to the line, I don't think there's a ton of stuff outside of clothes that I'm going to take.

I can't wait for a good in flight movie. When I went to Japan I watched this crazy movie about a marathon runner in Japan who was trying to quit smoking. It could have been Wesley Snipes stunt double (or so he said he was although the 6'6" pound you into the ground frame was convincing) that made it interesting too.

Seattle Visa Trip

Headed up to Seattle to get my actual Visa the other day. The visit to the consulate was quick and easy. I did maybe 10-15 minutes of paperwork and then had a short interview. When I say short, I mean literally 3 minutes.

The basic rundown of questions they asked were some no-brainers:

When do you leave?

When do you start?

Where are you going?

Is this a new passport?

Why do you want to teach?

Do you have experience teaching?

Will you come back for another year?

That was pretty much it. I found the last question interesting. It wasn't 'Do you want to come back,' he said 'will you.' I don't think this was simply a vocabulary difference. He spoke very well. Judging from my pre-trip research they really want and have a need for English teacher right now. Maybe they think I'm a good one already and hope for me to stay on or something before I even start. I don't know, I think my ego is stepping up.

After the interview they asked me to come back that afternoon and pickup my Visa. A few hours later I walked back in and had my Visa in hand after confirming that I matched my passport photo which I got a little humor out of. The lady behind the glass had about 8 passports in front of her ready to hand back and simply grabbed the wrong one to hold up. When she asked if the picture in the passport was me I was staring at a photo of a good looking blonde girl. I know that saying that other races all look alike, but this really stretched the limits. I simply replied 'no' and she had a moments hesitation before she realized that she had picked up the wrong passport. After a few seconds scrambling she got the right one. We went through the exercise again and I was off.

The Visa is just a full-page sticker inside the passport. Nothing extra to carry around. 

I did meet some nice people while at the Visa office. One lady was going to be teaching in Seoul for a University and had been doing the teaching english gigs for about 5 years. There were 3 other pieces of fresh meat like me. One from Portland, one from Eugene, and one from Gladstone of all places. The girl from Gladstone was the first person I met. It's a small small world. We shared some advice and knowledge of traveling abroad and then parted. Hopefully I'll run into a few of them later on.

Now I wait to find out my travel arrangements which should be coming fairly quickly. I'm excited yet nervous. I'm not normally a nervous person, but traveling always does it to me. It's out of my comfort zone I suppose. There's only one way to deal with it and that's to jump right in.

It's still hard to imagine that in less than two weeks I will be in another country and not for a short stay.

Cheers!

Got my Visa Issuance Number

I just received my visa issuance number!

This means I'm just a couple weeks away form leaving!