Re-Cap

There are a few things from my last blog that I just wanted to mention. One was the Washington University Travel Clinic. The Travel Clinic carries unusual things like Japanese Encephalitus, and Typhoid vaccines - a helpful resource if you're at all concerned about exotic diseases during your travels. The only hang-up is you have to pay out-of-pocket and then submit your claim to your insurance provider. This could run you as much as $500-600 (mine was $505) depending on your insurance (or lack of).

The other thing I wanted to mention is that the paperwork for working in Korea is not exactly trivial (or inexpensive), though many sites/schools/recruiters/blogs make it out to be. In my case, I had to renew a passport, and then send a copy of my passport, my actual diploma, unopened transcripts to my school in Daejeon. What I didn’t know is that I would then have to mail my actual passport along with a number provided to me by my school to the Korean Consulate in Chicago. This is where the actual visa sticker gets placed in your passport. All told, I spent a few hundred dollars expediting all of these materials, plus a small portion of my nerves hoping everything would come though alright and on time.

That said, late in the process I discovered a very useful site that outlines exactly what a person needs to do in applying for work, and working in Korea as a teacher of English. Even if you’re not pursuing this line of work, this site is very informative and interesting: http://www.asia-pacific-connections.com/.