Travels of an Introvert

Kim, 23, wanderer I follow with learnallthelanguages

[kachi-kachi]

【有馬温泉と電車】Arima Onsen and Train 

■instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSNbD-MAbs0/?igshid=5vi47dvyr32y

■tumblr 存在と連続 | Presence and continuity

https://sonzaitorenzoku.tumblr.com/post/158953423546/%E8%B2%B8%E3%81%97%E5%88%87%E3%82%8A-chartered-train

[funny-tik-toks]

[lee-e]

Not realistic he got a reply after submitting his résumé

[inqorporeal]

Not realistic: his resume actually touched the hands of a living person

[nubbsgalore]

the remote, secluded and little known rice terraces of yuanyang county in china’s yunnan province were built by the hani people along the contours of ailao mountain range five hundred years ago. during the early spring season, the terraces, once planted, are irrigated with spring water from the forest above, reflecting sunlight to create these stain glass like landscapes

photos by jialiang gao, hai thinh,  javarman, isabelle chauvel, chaluntorn preeyasombat and thierry bornier

[kiaandcia]

Teaching in Korea Part 1: Visa Documents

Required documents needed for Visa Application (USA and Canada)

1. Notarized or Apostille Certified PHOTOCOPY of your university degree - (do not submit your original degree)

-Canada doesn’t have Apostille Certification so Canadians will have to get their documents notarized by a notary public or find a lawyer that can notarize your diploma. 

- For Canadians you may also need a sealed copy of your transcripts

2. At least 5 Passport sized photos 

- You need these for your Alien Registration Card (ARC), Health Check Form (2 photos), and visa application form

3. Korean Style Resume

-This follows the style of a basic resume, so it should have a brief self-intro, relevant work information, name of post-secondary school(s) attended and certificate(s)/diploma(s) received

·        The top of the first page on the left hand-side should include: -Full Name (First and Last names), Marital status, email, contact number, Skype id

·        On the right hand-side of the first page you should have a picture of yourself

4. Criminal Background Check

-This can’t be older than 6 months old, and it MUST INCLUDE YOUR FINGERPRINTS! You should probably get this done about a month before you start applying for jobs. It takes about 10-15 business days to have your digital background check completed and the results sent to you.

For both USA and Canada, it is faster to get a digital fingerprint check done.

USA: FBI Check

Canada: RCMP background check and must include your picture. You may be able to get this done at your local police station, but you’ll most likely have to use a private company. 

5. Your recruiter may ask you to fill out a Medical Check Form

-This asks about any disabilities, diseases, and mental health problems

6. Valid Passport

- Your passport must be within 6 months of it’s expiry date.

[thestudyingnightowl]

So Saturday was my very first Korean class ever. Sookmyung Women’s University @sookmyung_koreaneducation provides 2hr korean classes on Saturday’s (3hrs on weeks that have conversation class ) that cost about $1 usd per week with the only additional cost being $4usd for the text book. There are 5 levels of class and they are taught by teachers who are trained or training to be Korean teachers. I was given the choice of taking level 3 or level 4 classes and after looking over the material decided level 3 was the perfect fit. I absolutely loved it. The class size was small (10 students) and it was completely in korean. Completely. Grammar and Vocab meanings were all explained in Korean and at first I thought I would be lost but the teacher was so good I understood everything. What I like about the class is my teacher walked around and checked our exercises individually and corrected our mistakes on spot. There was a writing section (which you know I struggle and need the most work on) and it was really nice to get instant corrections on my mistakes (I only made 3 in a whole paragraph and not a ton like I thought I would). There is plenty of chances to read out loud, and speak/ask questions as well. This program has sessions that start every 2 months and you can easily get here by subway so if you’re in Korea and want to take an affordable class while you’re here I would definitely suggest this program. I learned a lot yesterday. It also made me want to work harder on using korean only to understand grammar and vocab. I do it sometimes but self doubt gets me sometimes and I switch to default English. Any questions my dm is always open

#studygram #koreanlanguage #learningkorean #sookmyungwomensuniversity #koreanstudygram #한국어공부 #한국어배우기 #공스타그램 (at 숙명여자대학교 Sookmyung Women’s University) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxD4nIJBy6n/?igshid=bm5nnrty36a7

[kimsvoyage]

H-1 Visa Process for US Citizens

I wanted to make this post since I couldn’t find a lot of information about applying for a working holiday in South Korea as a US citizen when I was researching. Plus it seems like most people don’t know that this is an option for Americans. Of course this isn’t a definite guide but it is what worked for me. Hope it helps!

What you need:

Passport (obviously)

Visa application form (on the consulate website)

Passport photo (taken within the last 3 months; get multiple copies because you’ll need it for your  ARC)

Activity plan

Proof of round trip ticket

Proof of financial support

Sealed transcript or notarized copy of diploma

$45 cash or money order

A folder (not necessary but helpful)

Priority express flat rate envelope (blue) (shown in helpful guide linked below)

Priority express flat rate envelope (red) (shown in helpful guide linked below)

Helpful links:

Working Holiday website

Atlanta Consulate

English Spectrum info page

Korean Embassy in DC

Tips on writing the activity plan

Visa form

Boston Consulate

Chicago Consulate

Honolulu Consulate

Houston Consulate

Las Angeles Consulate

New York Consulate

San Francisco Consulate

Seattle Consulate

Hagatna Consulate

Helpful guide on sending visa to consulate/embassy

Tips:

For the proof of financial support you need to show that you have enough for at least 6 months. I believe I showed $7000 for mine.

If you plan on staying the full year and a half a one way ticket will work.

You’ll want to send off your application at least a month before you plan on leaving just to be safe and just in case you have to resubmit it. I did mine about a month and half before and it was stressful because I had an international trip in between the time I sent it off and my departure date.

This guide is focused more towards those mailing in their documents but it’s pretty much the same if you plan on dropping them off and picking them up in person. You would just skip the getting the envelopes

Of course when in doubt it’s best to contact the consulate for more information

Steps:

1.       Start gathering materials listed in what you’ll need; purchase plane ticket. This is where the folder would be helpful; as you collect all your documents you can put them in it so you’re not running around looking for everything once you’re ready to go to USPS or the embassy.

2.       Locate which consulate you’ll be sending your documents to

3.       Fill out activity plan. For this it doesn’t need to be super detailed and of course you don’t have to follow it exactly once you land. They just want to see that you’re actually interested in exploring around Korea and not just Seoul and that you aren’t using the visa to get a job.

Here’s what mine looked like:

4.       Fill out visa application

a.       Section 1: Personal details- self-explanatory

b.      Section 2: Details of visa issuance confirmation- skip as you don’t have this

c.       Section 3: Passport information-self-explanatory

d.      Section 4: Contact information- self-explanatory; your contact info and an emergency contact

e.      Section 5: Marital status- self-explanatory

f.        Section 6: Education- choose the highest level of education completed and fill out school info; ex: if you’re taking a gap year during your undergrad you would choose high school diploma or other if you already have your associate’s degree

g.       Section 7: Employment- self-explanatory

h.      Section 8: Details of sponsor- you’ll most likely check that you don’t have anyone sponsoring your trip (unless you’re doing it though one of those gap year/internship programs but I’m not sure about those)

i.         Section 9: Details of visit- I checked other and wrote in ‘working holiday’ because I plan on working and taking language classes along with tourism. Fill out your intended length of stay, entry date, address and phone number in Korea (I used my airbnb’s information), any country you visited outside of Korea and your home country within the last 5 years and whether or not you’ll be travelling with family

j.        Section 10: Funding details- I put $7000 for estimated travel costs and myself as the one who will be paying for my expenses

k.       Section 11: Assistance with the form-check ‘no’

l.         Section 12: Declaration-sign and date the form!

5.       Double check that you have everything and bring your documents to the consulate or USPS. I won’t go any further about the process of bringing them in person because I’ve never done that. At USPS grab a blue flat rate envelope (12.5 x 9.5) and put your documents in but don’t seal it as you’ll need to put the red envelope in to receive your passport unless you plan on picking it up in person. Grab a priority express mail form and fill out your information in the ‘from’ section and the consulate’s info in the ‘to’ section

6.       (Skip this step if you plan on picking up your passport in person.) Grab a red flat rate envelope and a sticker label and fill out your info in the ‘to’ section and the consulate’s in the ‘from’ section. Stick the sticker label onto this envelope.

7.       Bring the blue envelope with all your documents inside it and the red envelope (if you did this step) to the counter and checkout. Tell the worker that you need to make the red envelope prepaid. If you decide to do a money order now would be where you do that as well. Let the worker know that you want to make a money order of $45 dollars and fill out the money order form making it payable to the Korean Consulate General. Pay for everything and stick the money order and red envelope inside the blue envelope, seal it, and hand it to the worker.

8.       After a week or two you should receive your passport back hopefully with visa inside it. I’m not sure how they contact you to let you it’s ready if you plan on picking it up in person but you can call or email your consulate to find out.

[love-those-languages]

Teaching English Abroad

I thought I’d post a little guide/some things to think about for teaching English overseas for anyone who is interested. I taught in Beijing for 1.5 years at a training company so that’s the only place I have direct experience, but this is just a general guide that I think can be applicable for anywhere.

SEARCHING

Finding teaching jobs online is super easy - you can just Google ‘ESL teaching jobs in (city/country)’

You can use third party sites or apply directly through a company’s website

What kind of place do you want to work in? - Private school? University? Training company?

What age level do you want to teach? - Young children? Older children/teenagers? University students? Working adults?

Where do you want to work? - Any specific country or city?

Keep reading

[kimsvoyage]

Naksansa Temple, January 2019

[kimsvoyage]

현산공원, January 2019

[kimsvoyage]

Momore Pension

[kimsvoyage]

Dongho Beach, January 2019

[kimsvoyage]

Urban Space café, December 2018

[kimsvoyage]

Legon Botanical Gardens, November 2018

[kimsvoyage]

Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, November 2018

[kimsvoyage]

Independence Square, November 2018

[kimsvoyage]

Getting clothes made in Accra, November 2018

[kimsvoyage]

Kakum National Park, November 2018