TGIF

Seriously. I was ready for this week to end. Korean class is easier than it has been, but it's still pretty intense. KBS just finished filming after 3 days here, plus I'm leaving for Busan tomorrow afternoon so it's just a good time overall.

Today went well. Class was pretty good, and I ate well. Not enough as always, but well. It's so difficult to get meal timings down here. I'm usually not hungry in the mornings, but all the restaurants close around 7pm. That leaves a lot of time of course, but I'm pretty busy all day. I get a lunch window from 1-4pm which is good, but we have dinner around 5pm everyday so even if I eat right away at 1pm, it's rare that I'm hungry enough to eat a big dinner at 5pm. Then by the time we go to bed around midnight, I'm starving. I know, I know it's not all that serious a problem to have, but it's troublesome to say the least.

I stopped lifting about a month ago as well. That's something I really have to fix. I took a break because of the week I had off from class and went to Seoul, then the next week was finals week so I took that week off too. The week after that was a week off from class, but I still had to work at K-PACE so I wanted to rest up for this past week which was the first week of new classes. Then of course this week was the first week of classes so I was busy with that and the filming. It's so easy to just get caught up in life and not find time to stay healthy. I need to fix this. Monday I'll get back to the gym, hold me to it.

I also need to get a haircut and a shave, but I haven't found a place here that will do both. Then again I've only had one haircut and I don't think the lady understood that I just wanted her to take the same clippers she used on my head and just saw off all the facial hair. It's ok, I'll figure it out, it's just always annoying shaving a thick beard with side-burn trimmers haha. The life of having a beard is not all it's cracked up to be.

I don't think I really talked in depth enough about what was going on with the Christian high school here. I gave an overview of the visit, but the visa issue was the biggest and most pressing thing. For some reason it didn't register in my head that I'm on a student visa here and if I stopped taking Korean classes I would lose my visa. I'm really smart guys I promise.

Anyways, my plan was to stop taking Korean classes after this session in lieu of finding a full time teaching job. I told the principal of the DICS (Disciple International Christian School) this and he was delighted. He said he would take that into consideration, and as I said by the end of the visit he wanted to hire me full time in September but they can't support a visa.

I wasn't sure how this would effect me so I told him I wanted to look into what I could do about the visa. I went to Yoon Jong Chan who had helped me originally with picking me up from the airport and giving me a campus tour etc. He is the main point of contact for English speaking students in the OIA (Office of International Affairs) and he's awesome. He really goes above and beyond for his students.

I told him about my plan, and he immediately set me straight about taking Korean classes. (Mind you I didn't want to necessarily stop them, I just thought teaching full time would be a more stable and lasting option if I wanted to stay here after the end of the year. I figured I would learn to be fluent in Korean over time due to being immersed in the culture, and having a basic understanding of the language through 2 sessions of classes.)

This created a problem. So far I'd really like to have the option to stay here, and I need some form of income to support myself. I can't stay on a student visa forever, and it limits my working options as well. A working visa would be much more beneficial in my position I think. I also found out that they spent a long time working on my visa issue before I came here, and it wasn't due to a short turn around that I couldn't get the working visa. I had to go on a student visa due to a government stipulation that you have to be paid a certain amount to get that particular type of visa. The school itself has a policy that they won't pay over a certain amount, and that amount is less than the government sets as the minimum, therefore, no working visa for me.

This made a lot more sense, and I appreciate all the hard work they put into figuring all this out. Mr. Yoon let me know that they started offering afternoon Korean classes this session because of the influx of students. He wasn't sure if there would be an afternoon session next quarter, and I understood. There's also the possibility that they wouldn't offer my particular level needs either.

The best idea that we could work out is that I would work part time at DICS (Yes I know what that spells guys...) from 8am-12pm and then come back to school to start my Korean classes at 1pm. This is going to be a GRUELING schedule, because classes will likely be 1-5pm, and then it's right back to the dorms to help the K-PACE students. Hey, I'm here for a challenge and I'm not going to back down, God will provide.

I prayed hard about this, because I didn't want to worry about it. I got my answer 2 days later, praise the Lord. Dr. Rhee messaged me and told me that I would be able to work this exact schedule. Mornings at DICS, afternoons studying Korean, and nights with the K-PACE students. I'm going to be so exhausted and busy, but I'm really excited and I'm going to work as hard as I can.

I am so thankful for the help and hard work that everyone is putting in for me. It's really eye opening to see a world where people care about each other. Certainly this exists in the U.S. but being in a sort of helpless position myself right now, the people around me are constantly being selfless in helping me. I would be lost without them. I thank God for bringing them into my life.

That's it for today guys! As I said before I'm going to Busan this weekend so I won't post tomorrow, but Sunday night when I get back I'll update you guys on what happened! Thanks for reading!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 누구의 휴대폰 이에요? (Nu Gu Eh Hyoo Dae Pone E Eh Yo?) This means "Who's phone is this?".

TL:DR I am broken. I am blessed.