Well the month of June has been a great month and I have barely spent a penny... :D
We kicked the month of June off with the Busan sand festival... This festival really did show how Korean festivals are so family friendly. It was a great day out for the little kids and the big kids :D. Ok so it was a little crowded, I dont know what took up more room, the people of the massive cameras...... The sand pieces were very impressive though and there was a stage set up for music and a parade on the street... great times all round...
Next on this list was a trip to King Munmu's underwater tomb.... If you are looking for a nice traditional and quiet beach this is the place to go.... The 40-50 minute trip from Gyeongju was amazing in itself, with the winding roads through the mountains.... The tomb itself was pretty but nothing amazing, I think its more so the peaceful beach that attracts me... It will be a great getaway spot when Haeundae is swallowed up with umbrellas
Last but not least... IM FAMOUS.. I was interviewed by a Korean television crew at the wonderful Lotus pond in Gyeongju... Obviously the interview was ridiculous so I will say no more, but you may be lucky enough to see the video in the near future... over and out :D
Well, since I found out I was going to Gyeongju I have been seriously excited for the cherry blossom. Gyeongju is famous for it and the city starts it off with the famous cherry blossom marathon. People travel from all over the country to check out the blossom in this city and I am one of the fortunate people that live here..Unfortunately, due to cold weather, the cherry blossom was not at its peak during the weekend, so myself, Cherie and Josh headed on Tuesday night to check it out... No words or pictures can describe the beauty of a long street being swallowed up by the amazing cherry blossom. Huge LED lights have been placed along the street to light up the blossom. As the lights change from red to yellow to blue you can only be hypnotized by its beauty. Here are a few pictures.
ok so its been a while since I have put something up on this... I went to Busan on my first weekend in Korea with two other foreigners.. It was a great day. we took teh KTX (bullet train) which was reaching speeds of 293 km/h... I know I was pretty afraid too but you dont even realise how fast its going....
When we arrived in Busan we were greeted by an amazing city from the get go... full of amazing buildings, scenery and sculptures... Soon enough we were toddling on our way to the trick art museum.. we purchased an all day subway ticket for 4000 won (4 usd). We could use it to go anywhere in Busan for the whole day... BARGAIN... When we eventually reached the trick art museum we were nothing but impressed... You could genuinely spend hours in the place with hundreds of things to see... after the trick art museum we headed to the lotte department store, where we went to the roof to check out the night scenery of Busan from a height... one word.. WOW.. no photo in the world can do it justice, with the view of the city on one side and the lights of the port on the other...
To top off the day and evening we went for a spot of shopping at the night market where we purchased a phenomenal amount of fluffy cute trinkets...
So the verdict- A day out in Busan... YES :D
Well I arrived in Korea on Saturday morning after a long ass flight... When I got to Incheon airport I was met by a man that was to put me on my bus.. Unfortunately he didnt speak any English so I didnt know whjat was going to happen once I got to Gyeongju. While I was waiting for a bus, a man and his lady friend told me they were going to Gyeongju too and theyd make sure I would get on and off the right bus, the woman even gave me a bit of her Hershey bar. Well I thought it was sweet, yay.
Once I arrived in Gyeongju I said goodbye to my first Korean friends, and waited and hoped for someone to come and collect me. After 15 minutes of waiting I decided to try and find an internet cafe so I could get the phone number for my school and attempt to ring them (yes I wasn't organised enough to bring the number with me). I got the number and managed to make a phonecall from the internet cafe, the school assured me that someone was coming and told me to go back to the bus station and wait. As I was walking back I was met by a very friendly face. The teacher collected me and apparently she had been waiting for ten minutes, if only I stayed and waited a little longer ha. Anyway, she brought me straight to my new house, and left me to it.
On Sunday, I met up with an American couple and had the most amazing lunch ever at this Shabu Shabu place.. AMAZING!!!!
First day of school was on Monday and it was all fun times. The teachers were all soo nice and the kids were great too, apart from one or two :P
and now we have come to today, my day off :-) but nothing is that easy, today was my medical check day so in exchange for a day off I had to pee in cup... Give me crazy kids any day :-D
cool chat to yaz soon
Sooooooooooooooo, today is Thursday. I am flying off on Friday morning- which means I am setting off on my travels tomorrow :-o Scary times.
Everyone knows that the day before a big adventure always means chaos. Well I can safely say I am so laid back I am almost lying down.. I did sign off though which was a very exciting time in my life ha.. Right packing begins as soon as Ellen is over.. Next time I write on this I will be in Korea..
Over and out
Apostilled Degree- Ok so you have to get your original degree and photocopy it. You then need to get your photocopied and original degree notarised. For a list of places that can do this within your locality please click this link http://www.notarypublic.ie/finding_a_notary.html This should cost you around €25. You then need to bring the notarised photocopy of your degree to the department of foreign affairs to get it apostilled. This will cost you €20. Finding the department of foreign affairs is very easy. When you are standing at the end of grafton street, Dublin, and looking directly at Stephens Green cross the road towards stephens green and turn right, keep walking that street until you come to the corner of stephens green and you follow the pavement around the corner onto the next street. The department of foreign affairs is literally at the end of this street on the opposite side in a grey building.
Apostilled Garda Certificate- Ok this was the hardest part for me anyway. Hopefully you wont have the experience I had - gardaí were telling me one thing and the department of foreign affairs were telling me the other. You need to go into your local Garda Station and ask them for a police certificate- apparently these are for adopting and stuff so you need to explain to them that you need it for teaching english in Korea. The top of it will say "Police Certificate" and there should be a header- in that header you should request them to write something similar to "this certificate is issued solely for the information of consular authorities" . It should then say your name, DOB, Addresses and must be ink signed by superintendent or someone of a similar role. Make sure this is the one you get as I got a nationwide check (which one would only assume would be better than a local check) and they sent me packing. Then go to the department of foreign affairs with you notarised degree and get it apostilled. This will cost you €20.
3 sets of Sealed University Transcripts- So I don't know what other colleges are like, but I was able to order my transcripts off the Waterford Institute of Technology website. When ordering them make sure to ask for them to be sealed. Mine did't come sealed so I just went to the humanities office and they put them in a sealed envelope for me. (sealed: in an envelope with a stamp and/or signature on the seal)
Academic and Personal reference- This is quite basic... don't think I need to explain this.. :P
CV- also quite easy- has to be ink signed
photocopy of info page on passport
4 x coloured Passport photos 2"x2"- sam mccauleys didnt have a clue what I was on bout when i said 2"x2" but if you say its like the ones for America they kinda get the idea haha
right I cant think of anything else... there is a checklist and medical list that you will need to send off along with your contract, but that will be sent to you closer the time.
hope it helps lads, and if you have any questions just ask... I am a bit of a scatter brain so I probably forgot something :D
oh ps. just so everyone knows... I know it says everywhere that you need a BA university degree.. but dont worry, IT's are ok... Well WIT was anyway, and im quite sure Carlow IT is aswel... I think its just a culture difference so people dont really recognise IT's. Check it out for your own individual college though :D
