Interviewing Myself- Pre-Departure

When I was in 7th grade, my mom never let me have a myspace (see my 7th grade selfie above). I used to fill out those surveys and post them from my friends’ accounts because I wanted to hint at everyone that I liked a boy. It was like the 2007 version of subtweeting.

Anyways, here I am interviewing myself with questions gathered from the internet as well as from some of you! I want to answer these questions for myself. All these answers are completely truthful and raw. I think it’s important to share my real actual feelings about a matter of things with you all because social media can be so deceiving these days. Mostly, I want to re-answer these question in a years time to see how my answers change as a result of my experience in Korea. Enjoy!

1. Where are you right now? What are you doing?

Currently, it’s 6:53 am. I am in San Diego sitting on the couch of the family I nanny for writing this blog post and drinking a venti iced coffee with soy milk. I’m wearing a YMCA half zip sweatshirt, blue striped workout pants, two different socks, my hair in a bun, and zero make up.

2. What does a day in your life look like?

Right now, a day in my life is waking up at 5:30 am, running out the door to make it to work by 6 am, sitting on the couch until the girls wake up at 8:30, and doing nanny duties (such as cooking and going to the swimming pool) until about 4pm. I usually sit and talk with their mom for about 30 minutes before driving home and throwing together a dinner (last night was PB&J). Then, I sit in my bed and watch Youtube until I fall asleep around 9:30 and do it all over again. On the weekend, I typically wake up around 7 am, make myself banana protein pancakes with peanut butter, go to my parents’s house, play with my dogs, watch my brother’s basketball game, and then go home and watch Youtube.

I watch a lot of Youtube.

3. What is your relationship status? How do you feel about it?

I am currently and newly single. At first it was easy, I was in Peru experiencing some of the most magnificent things of my life. Then, I came home to the apartment where we used to live together and it hurt. I very much still live in our space which I think is the hardest part. Some days the fog takes over and I start to forget why I ended things and essentially inflicted this horrifying pain on myself. Most days I am clear and feel good. Even when it hurts, I know I made the right decision for my life right now. I have been focusing on me and picking up old hobbies I used to work on before I got into a relationship. I am trying to focus on the present instead of past or future.

4. Are you happy?

Right now, I feel content. I have been feeling as if I’m living for the future which is to be expected because I’m moving across the world and can’t stop wondering what it will be like. I feel like I’ve been distracted and seeing this question has really caused me to think about it. I am grateful and blessed therefore in this moment I am happy. I think happiness fleeting; I am searching for joy and peace which I feel that I have.

5. What interpersonal skills would you like to develop?

The three skills I would most like to more fully develop are being flexible, listening more frequently and attentively, and accepting feedback more graciously. I think I have become more flexible recently, but I know that going into my new job in Korea I will have to be very flexible. The culture of business is much different and will take time to adjust to; therefore, I will have to be patient and understanding. Secondly, we all know I am a talker. I love filling silence with my own sound. I am working on only talking when necessary because I think a lot of my loudness comes from insecurity and need to be felt. I want to be a good listener. Finally, I have real trouble accepting feedback. I hate to be critiqued. It makes me very uncomfortable to hear someone telling me I can improve; it sounds like “You’ve failed” to me. I want to be able to hear from a different perspective. I know we can always and should always want to improve.

6. What are your beliefs?

The number one belief I hold right now is that everyone (the vast majority) of people are doing what they think is the right thing to do. What I mean by that is nobody is trying to hurt other people whether it be politically or personally everyone operates on their truths. Truth is subjective obviously. We create our truth and truths can change. It helps me to keep positive and respectful when dealing with others who may have differing truths from mine. Everyone is doing what they think is the best thing for their lives. The second belief I have, which goes hand and hand with the former, is the only thing we can control is our own feelings. We will never be able to control what happens to us or what others say or do. We can simply only control our reaction. It is a lifelong practice.

7. What are you most proud of in your life?

I am most proud of myself. Over the past few years, I have done so many difficult things and grown so much. I have lost over 60 pounds, completely changed my mindset to a more positive one, created so much opportunity for myself, done uncomfortable things, spread more love, surrounded myself with a more positive peer group, and I WALKED ON FIRE. I just could have never seen my life where it is now. I am proud that I am learning to embrace change and fear.

8. How do you picture your life a year from now?

A year from I picture myself writing this in my studio apartment maybe on the 17th floor of a tall building, in the middle of a bustling city. I will have almost completed one year in Korea as a new teacher. I will probably be exhausted but be sad at the thought of leaving my kids. I picture myself with new friends from around the world and possibly a new relationship. I think I will have committed to another year abroad. If not, I think I will be applying for graduate school for linguistics probably not in San Diego, maybe a different country altogether.

9. How easy/ difficult do you assume the assimilation process will be? How long will it take?

I think the assimilation process will go something like this:

First few month: This is a fun vacation!!!
Second/third month: I have it all figured out.
4-7 months in: WTF am I doing here?! I know nothing.
8-12 months: Can I stay another year?

It may also go nothing like that but this is my assumption.

I think certain facets will be easier than others. I assume language will be the biggest barrier and hurdle. In Portugal, I felt that I assimilated almost immediately despite the language barrier. Peru took me longer because of the poverty level and safety concerns I had. Korea will be different because there is no Roman alphabet and I am not coming home after one month.

10. What will you miss the most about home?

In all honesty, I am most sad to leave my dogs. I know this sounds crazy but hear me out. My family will know where I am, why I have left, and I can still communicate with them. My dogs have no idea. I hate the idea that they might think I’m gone forever or even worse that they could forget me!

I will also really miss lazy weekends with my family and going to my brother’s basketball games.

11. What do you want to discover about yourself in the next year?

Like most people my age, I am going through the post-grad “Who the hell am I and what do I want?” phase. I think the biggest struggle I’m currently dealing with in that realm is marriage vs. single and free life. I know this seems crazy since I’m 23 and not in a relationship but it’s something I want more clarity on. Part of me wants that perfect family. I want to bring breakfast in bed to my husband and babies, be the perfect stay at home mom, wife, etc. I know it’s unreasonable and there is no perfect family, but I want it so badly. The other part of me and my wild Sagittarius heart thinks that no two people can actually be happy together forever. No one can promise infinite love without knowing the future and what lies ahead (which none of us do). This part of me wants the adventure, the experience, the infatuation stage forever with as many people as possible, never settling. I’m trying to focus on not rushing and taking it one day at a time, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want clarity for myself. Especially since whatever I decide is ultimately something I need to bring to the table and be upfront about in future relationships. Of course, I could fall madly in love any day, and my views on this could change immediately.

I’m sure this is all part of the becoming an adult thing – thinking I have to have it all figured out.

12. What advice would you give yourself one year ago?

Trust your instincts EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO EVEN WHEN IT’S THE SEEMINGLY HARDER CHOICE. You can fight so many things but not yourself. It is the most tiring battle. It will take more work to undo what you’ve done to yourself than doing what you are trying to avoid. Once it’s done you will feel peace, don’t delay that relief just to avoid pain. Trust yourself.

13. What is the biggest thing you’ve learned in life to date?

1.That you have to work on yourself. If you don’t like something about yourself, you can change it.

2. If nothing ever changed, we would be just as unhappy. In the past, I focused so much on trying to keep things the same because change scared me, but imagine if nothing ever changed. We would be so bored and probably more unhappy. It’s because happiness comes from growth, and growth comes with pain! They go hand in hand.

I just blew my own mind I think.

14. What do you want to have achieved one year from now?

In one year, I want to have stayed in Korea for one year. I know that seems repetitive and self-explanatory but what I really mean is: I don’t want to give up. I want to fight through the pain and the loneliness. In situations of fight or flight, I tend to be a flight-er. This time I want to be a fighter. I want to have seen many more countries, made new friends, successfully have taught my own class for the first time. I would also like to have kept up with this blog and really document my experiences!

15.Write the words you need to hear.

Don’t fear failure. Fear being in the exact same place next year as you are today. Embrace uncertainty and change. Nothing will ever stay the same forever. Learn to roll with it. Take each day as it comes and be grateful for what it brings. Live one day at a time.

Que sera, sera!

Moving to Korea (The Process & My Experience) PART 1

Hey everyone!

Soooo if you didn’t see in my last post, I announced that I will be moving to Changwon, South Korea. Moving abroad is a long and tedious process. I know you could easily google it and find out for yourself but I think for my readers, friends, and family it might be more fun to hear my experience with it all: the good, the bad, and the horrifyingly hysterical. I’m gonna do sort of a Q&A format with myself for this one. This post will be split into 2 parts. The first part (this part) will be everything up to me getting the job and the second will be everything after.

Q: First things first, how did I choose Korea?

A: Originally, I really wanted to move to Europe. I thought a lot about Spain since I wanted to practice my Spanish or Portugal since I had already been and loved it. Ultimately, I decided that these choices weren’t for me for a few reasons.

Reason #1: MONEY

Salary and benefits aren’t that great in Europe or at least in those two areas. Most teachers just breakeven which is great. You get to travel around for a year and don’t lose any money. For me personally, I was looking for more than that and I knew I could get it elsewhere. After researching countries in Asia, I decided Korea had the best benefits including: paid airfare, paid studio apartment, good monthly salary, severance, pension, and low cost of living. This would help me to pay of my student loan debt while still living abroad and having extra money to travel around. SOLD.

Reason #2: EXPERIENCE

To be frank, everyone goes to Europe. It is beautiful and amazing and I hope to explore it in much more depth one day. But this was my one real chance to do something crazy and completely out of my element. I wanted an experience that many people don’t get to have so I started searching countries that seemed a little more “extreme” for lack of a better word.

Also, my grandparents worked in the military and lived in South Korea for many years. I had always been fascinated by their stories and their positive experience. They really embraced the culture, learned the language, and loved every second of it so Korea came into my mind quickly once I started thinking of Asia as an option.

Once I decided on Korea, the 3rd reason came into play.

Reason #3: RESEARCH

I did a shit ton of research. Like soooo much research. And by research I mean I locked myself in my room for one month and watched every vlog I could find of people who were/are teachers in Korea. THANK YOU INTERNET. I found so many cool ladies who were living in Korea doing their thing, living their best lives. It inspired me so much that I ultimately decided on Korea before then entering the next phase which was researching specific cities to see which ones seemed like a good fit. This phase was exhausting and tiring. I didn’t go to the gym for weeks. My eyes were glued to my computer screen. I wanted to be so sure of everything.

Here are two Youtubers whose videos I found the most useful:

Melody on the Move

Jessica Moy

I found few cities I was interested in and then went on to the next step!

Q: So, after you decided on Korea and a city, what did you do?

A: There are two general ways you can go about working abroad in Korea.

EPIK PROGRAM: EPIK stands for English Program in Korea. This is the public school teaching system for expats. I will spoil the surprise: I did not go this route (so my knowledge is limited). From what I understand, this is the safer route because it is more regulated by the government, but they also pay less and you seem to have less control of where you end up. I believe you tell them your top location choices and you don’t find out where you are placed until you are actually in Korea for your 10 day orientation.
Hagwon: The alternate option (my choice) was a private school. The process here is different. Most people go through a recruiter. I looked online at Dave’s ESL Cafe and responded to multiple listings there where I was then matched with recruiters. I am working with JAKS and have had a positive experience so far.

Q: What is the process of working with a recruiter like?

A: Okay, here is goes. Long list of steps to follow.

Step 1: Initial Interview + Documents

You will have an initial interview with a recruiter. They will ask you about your work experience and your resume. Note: You do not need experience teaching to work in Korea. You just need a BA degree in any field. They will also ask where you want to work and if you have your documents prepared.

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF PREPARING DOCUMENTS! CAN YOU FEEL THE FAKE EXCITEMENT IN MY TYPED OUT WORDS?

PRO TIP: As soon as you decide what country you want to work in, begin preparing your documents.

I decided last minute and in the peak of hiring season, so I had to act fast (which was costly). The two main things you need to have are your:

FBI Background Check & BA degree

The FBI check was the easier of the two. I got a live scan with an FBI Channeler, which I recommend. You usually go to get the live scan and then have to send it to the FBI, which takes weeks, but doing it with the Channeler allowed me to have my results immediately. Once you have your results, you have to send them to be apostilled. I paid 50 something dollars to have my apostille expedited because it can usually take around 6 weeks if not. So basically don’t do this last minute, if you don’t want to spend extra money to make it happen fast.

Then you have to get your degree notarized and apostilled as well! Woo hoo! There went another 60 something dollars of my hard earned cash. Since I had just graduated, I didn’t even have my physical copy of my degree yet. It took about 4 weeks after graduation to come in the mail so the whole process has been rushed.

I can not reiterate enough to start the process as early as possible.

Step 2: More Interviews

Your recruiter will match you up with private schools based on the area you wish you work in and then you will interview with the director at the school. They will offer you the job. The best advice I received was: Don’t feel forced to take the first one. There are so many jobs and so many schools waiting for you.

My first interview was great so I was instantly called to take it. I probably would have until they told me the person I would have been replacing decided they wanted to keep their job after all.

So, it was back to the diving board.

The next interview I had was AWFUL. They couldn’t Skype with me because their computer was broken and they asked me approximately 3 questions.

‘What’s your work experience?”

“Have you ever been to Korea?”

“Are you Asian because your last name is Lee?”

Oh, and a fourth question “Do you have any questions for us?”

Which I did, lots of them.

“What does the daily schedule look like?”

“What kind of breaks will I have?”

“Will I have prep time?”

etc.

The lady couldn’t answer any of the questions because she was new. Fine. Then she asked the director of the school who refused to answer my questions and told me to ask my recruiter (who doesn’t work for the school). She told me “She hoped she would see me in Korea,” and that was that. It’s was a HARD no (hard meaning BIG) from me.

But minutes later I had another interview with a different school that was great and ta-da I have a job in Korea!

TAKE YOUR TIME.

PRO-TIP: MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ASK

CAN I TALK WITH SOMEONE WHO IS A TEACHER AT THE SCHOOL!?

They will give you a point of contact and you can ask them the real stuff you want to know and get a real not sugar coated answer. One of my coworkers stayed on the phone with me for nearly an hour as I asked her tons of questions and I still message her now with any questions that come up. LIFESAVER.

Okay that’s it for now! If you read this far please leave a comment or a like on this post, I want to thank you! I hope I explained thoroughly and entertainingly. Like I mentioned before, I will be releasing a part 2 to this post once I finish all of the steps for my visa!

Peace & Love,

Anna

UPDATE: WHERE I’VE BEEN AND WHERE I’M GOING (Moving Abroad)

So I’ve decided to put finger to keyboard once more. I recently started a Youtube channel to document my travels and my experience with finding a job abroad. I am loving it but I know I can express myself best and most fully through writing so I thought the (Youtube & blogging; visual & written) would make a good pair.

If you’re already following this blog, you will have noticed a change in content. This used to be my fitness blog. I plan to keep streams of that coming as I integrate and adjust to my new life abroad. If you are both a traveler and a health junkie, check out my Youtube channel where I just posted a video about how to stay healthy while traveling!

To answer a few questions you may already have at this point, I am moving to Changwon, South Korea in approximately one month ( approx. because I don’t have my ticket yet because trying to get a visa is an extensive process)! My first day of work is in exactly 32 days but I want to head over a little early to allow myself time to adjust before getting into the craziness that will be teaching kindergarten (Does that answer the second question?) Yes, I will be teaching a group of little munchkins for one year abroad. I will have a Korean co-teacher in my classroom who will help with translations and talking to parents since I do not speak one lick of Korean. Okay I actually know two words: “breakfast” and “thank you” but you can see how that would not last me long in a classroom setting.

To answer what I am assuming is your most burning question: “Anna, WHY would you leave San Diego the city you’ve always lived in with perfect weather, a cheap apartment, an ocean view, and a job offer to go somewhere else that doesn’t even have a Roman alphabetic system and is most known for the grilling of large amounts of meat when you are a vegetarian?”

To be short, I have no fricking idea. To be long, I have lived in San Diego my whole life and although it is without a doubt the most perfect place one can live. It’s time. One day you wake up and you’re 23 and 1/2 and realize all your friends stayed in the cities they went to college in and you are the only one left and somehow you start to feel bored and alone in your own hometown. One day you wake up and you’re 23 and 1/2 realize one day you won’t be 23 and 1/2 and you are going to want to settle down with a family and cute babies so you have to get this shit (shit=travel) out of your system now. Lastly and most importantly BECAUSE I’M SCARED. Staying in San Diego isn’t scary to me anymore which means I’m not growing. I’ve done what I can here in this city- kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, moving out, working. At least at this point in my life, I don’t feel like I can grow here anymore. I’m learning to fall in love with the unpredictability of life. I try to imagine my new life in Korea but I know it will all go differently than I imagine. It could all go horribly or perfectly but it will be a new experience either way. I’m chasing it whole-heartedly.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this lengthy post about my crazy life.

If you want to follow along feel free to join me on any of my social media below ❤

Instagram

Youtube