The One about the Visa

Ok, so Michelle pretty much covered it all in her post, but for the sake of equal contribution, I'll try to add some new identifying details.

It was strange that the Korean Consulate was in the same building that housed a mall. I was definitely expecting an imposing office high-rise structure, complete with an imposing sign and possibly armed guards, not a Starbucks and a food court when we walked in.

The hardest part about the interview at the Korean Consulate was trying to understand what exactly the interviewer was wanting to know. Between his accent and the unusual question format, I think more than a few things got lost in translation, but obviously, everything turned out just fine. No harm, no foul.

However, if you--the reader of this blog--ever happen to go to a visa interview at the Korean Consulate, remember this: Respect is very important to Koreans. Be sure to throw in the word respect at least once every two-three minutes in your interview. Because if you don't, believe me, the interviewer will.

The Korean Consulate was very organized. So organized, it was almost like magic. The front desk worker had our paperwork, the interviewer had it, then the front desk worker had it again. All within the space of 5 or so minutes, without any discernible changing hands. Truly a wonder.

So, with all of that done, now we're just waiting for our visas to get mailed back to us in a couple days, and then the next step is our plane tickets.

Viva la Korea!!!

~Christina

Visa Time

Yesterday Christina and I journeyed to Atlanta to have our interviews at the Korean Consulate. We needed to do this so we could get our visa's of course... We got there without any problems, parked and set off to find the consulate. Fortunately I forgot the directions in the car, along with my wallet, so we were going off my memory. Basically failed. Christina had to pull the directions up out of an email using her handy-dandy iPhone. Then it started to rain. Turns out the Korean Consulate is inside a mall... We eventually found it and rode the elevator up to the fifth floor. After signing in we sat down and prepared for our interview. While sitting in the waiting room we met a few other people who were also headed to Korea to teach. One guy, the one from West Virginia, had been to Asia multiple times and told us stories about his adventures, and shared tips on travelling on the plane for long periods of time. The other guy had never been, but you could tell from his eager face that he couldn't wait to go. So we waited and waited.
Eventually Christina was called in for her interview. Within seconds of leaving she was back and just as I was thinking that it had been the shortest interview ever she told me that I was going to interview with her. So I gathered my stuff and followed her to the interview room. A friendly Korean man peppered us with questions about why we wanted to go to Korea and if we would be able to live on less than $2000. We assured him we could and it was all over. The interview lasted maybe 7 minutes. Back to the waiting room and shortly the lady at the front desk called us up. She told us that she would be mailing our visa's to us in the morning. Ahhh, success... and WE ARE GOING TO KOREA!!!!