Passport almost here

I have been waiting for my passport for a few weeks now and have been some what worried about it taking so long. I applied on the 8th of December, which was three weeks ago yesterday so I was not expecting it to get done for another week at the soonest. So imagine my surprise and excitement when I received an e-mail today from the U.S. State Department notifying me that my passport was done ahead of schedule and I should have it by the 28th of December! Guess this is proof that government can work. Anyways, this is good because the GEPIK job I talked about in the last post is apparently official. I just need to send my documents, including a copy of my passport to the recruiting agency to secure my job as it is first come first serve. I had to let the recruiters know what my preferred age group and location was last night. I told them I would like to teach middle school because a friend who is already in Korea told me about her positive experiences working with middle school students. As for locations, I did some research as I wanted direct access to the Seoul subway and my three locations were Ansan, Goyang and Yongin. here is some more info about the cities and why I picked them over the other cities in Gyeonggi-do:
Ansan (안산시): Located to the southeast of Seoul, Ansan is a beach town on the yellow sea and its connected to Seoul via subway line four. One of its sister cities is Las Vegas, NV which amuses me having grown up only 1 hour and 30 minutes from there.
Goyang (고양시): Northwest of Seoul and connected by subway line three. It's American sister city is San Bernardino, CA which I think is a nice town from what I have seen of it.
Yongin (용인시): Located to the south east of Seoul, this city is farther away from the Seoul's city center then Ansan or Goyang. It is connected to everything via the "Bundang Line". I have also found out that it has an inter-city bus station near the center of the city, which is good when DevilGirl comes to visit. Perhaps the neatest thing is Yongin is home to Everland... which is like Korean Disneyland. Well if Disneyland had a water park, two museums, a zoo, golf course and multiple hotels. According to the their website the price of admission is a mere 35,000 won (about $30.00)! The price of an annual pass is only $170.00 In these days when it costs over $70.00 for one day park hopper or $430.00 for an annual pass to Disneyland it seems a little too good to be true. DevilGirl and I will be going at least once a month! Yongin's sister city is Fullerton, CA which I have never hear of, except for the fact that it is in Orange County.

Other things of note that happened today was I had an interview with a school in Daegu which would be a lot closer to where DevilGirl is going to be. I believe I did well because the principal kept saying "Ok, ok, yeah, good", so I don't know what I will do if I am offered that job also. The GEPIK job is good because it is a lot of money and it is a public school job which means I will have a Korean co-teacher, I can be sure they won't jerk me around and I will be paid on time. But it is far from where DevilGirl is going to be (probably) and I know I will miss her. The Daegu job is good because the principal seems very nice and understanding (she initially could not reach me via cell phone as for some reason there was a message saying my number had been disconnected (?!?!?), but she did not give up and I like that.) and while I will not have a co-teacher the school is for children who have lived in English speaking countries so they are at lest semi-fluent. With choices like these, what's a DevilBoy to do?

One door closes, another opens...

Today DevilGirl and I decided it would be a good idea to prime ourselves as much as possible for Korea, and that includes trying out the cuisine. According to the Phoenix Newtimes the best Asian market in the Phoenix area is Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket. While we were there we found lots of good stuff. We got asian jerky, some sauce to put on tofu and noodles and some Korea sodas (Pineapple, Orange, "regular" and Milk... see below for a video). We were going to buy some Kimchi but they only had super large jars of it and so we decided to forgo the national dish of Korea... for now. later on I got a email from a recruiter which said that they secured a GEPIK job for me in Gyeonggi-do province. At first I was not sure, it is quite a ways from where DevilGirl is going to be living in Gyeongsangbuk-do but it is a real GEPIK job and not a hagwon job so we both decided that I should try and take it and we will both make the best of it.

Milk Soda:

Prologue

After doing their "time" at Arizona State University, the day finally came when the Two Sun Devils graduated. The day was December 17th 2009; when the day was said and done they each had walked up the aisle, shook the deans hand and walked away with their Bachelors degree. While the other students had no idea their plans, the Two Sun Devils were already in the process of securing their first jobs, which was to be teaching ESL in Korea. DevilGirl had already been accepted into the EPIK program and DevilBoy was expecting a phone call from a recruiting agency that very night! And so the story begins that Two Sun Devils, natives of the south western deserts of Phoenix Arizona begin their long journey across the sea to 대한민국 (South Korea).