#epik program

From what I can gather, Korea has four distinct seasons with distinct weather, which is great because, where I live, so do we! So I already had a lot of clothes for cool, hot, warm, cold, and everything in between.

Let’s start with tops:

I’m bringing a fair amount of sweaters/sweatshirts because I read that a lot of times public buildings aren’t heated, and after three years of working in the inner city I’m used to school buildings being unpredictably cold or hot. So three cardigan style sweaters and three large pullover sweaters for work and four sweatshirts for everything else.

Then I’m bringing a bunch of blouse-y tops for work that are nice and breezy for when it gets hot because I think it might be very uncommon to have aircon in schools? It’s hard to tell...and it’s considered a bit immodest to have a lot of shoulder or chest showing so....thin fabrics are a must. And then just some long sleeve and short sleeve t-shirts to wear around and camis for layering. Fun fact: the mont dinosaur t-shirt was belonged to my husband when he was in 4th grade...

Moving on to bottoms:

I’m bringing one pair of jeans, three pairs of jean shorts, a pair of suede pants for winter, a pair of linen pants for summer and then all the leggings. Yes. That is four pairs of the same leggings (Express black cropped to be exact) because I cannot live without them.

And then literally just a ton of skirts. Apparently short hemlines don’t really raise eyebrows over there, even in a professional setting, but since I have clothes for an American school setting most of my skirts are maxi, but I also have two midi skirts (the blue one was made for my by one of my student’s mothers) and two pencil skirts.

I’m also bringing a bunch of dresses that can be worn in multiple seasons and two sets that are a little more fancy in case the need arises (the purple and green dress in the top left of the picture was made by the same student’s mother). And a mermaid sequin dress because I want it.

So, I don’t know if I’ll be able to join a gym or if my building will have one or what...but I’m also bringing all my workout clothes (well most), and then two bathing suits and some pjs.

I will have a few months before it gets really cold, but I have no idea if I will be able to fit into Korean clothes (5′2, 125 pounds..two inches shorter than their average but 5 pounds heavier! lol), so I’m bringing a warm vest and a wool coat and a giant fall sweater coat made by my mother-in-law. And then a bunch of scarves, including one I got in Russia, and two gloves and three hats, the owl one crocheted by my sister in law!

Shoes were even harder to figure out, because online accounts are so confusing about what sizes you can get in Korea, and on top of that many places require you to remove your shoes so super strappy sandals and heels are impractical. I’m a size 7-7.5, so I don’t have massive feet but I think that’s relatively big for over there.

So I’m bringing two pairs of sneakers, plus running shoes and hiking boots, snow boots, three pair of work flats, although I think I wear “inside shoes” at work, and a few pairs of heels.

And that’s it! I really don’t regret anything I’ve left behind and don’t feel like I want to bring anything else...of course I could keep packing and packing but this is a solid start!

Actually, there is one more thing I would pack if I could...

Check out my YouTube for a video talking about what else I’m packing that isn’t clothing...link in my bio.

Until the next adventure...

After I got through customs at the Gimhe airport, it was Sunday, 12:00 PM Korea time and I had been traveling since Friday 9:00 PM New York time, so suffice it to say I was a zombie. I checked in with the EPIK counter and after about 30 minutes of waiting we were loaded onto a bus and taken to Daegu Haany University, which was another 2ish hours away. Then, more checking in. I was handed a name badge and a key and sent up to my room. The rest of the day was free as people slowly arrived and I tried to the campus explore a little bit but I was so exhausted, and I didn’t have a roommate like everyone else, so I called it a pretty early night. (I fell asleep at 7PM with my clothes and the lights on).

Daegu, and especially the university, are all super mountainous, which made it hard to walk anywhere but made every trek twice as worth it. Even a place as mundane as the laundry room had views that rivaled the best of back home.

The following day was Monday and we were taken on a tour of the pertinent buildings we had classes in and had a welcoming ceremony where a taekwondo team performed for us (make sure you go check out my YouTube video to see all of this!) and we got a rundown of what the rest of the week would look like. After that I went out and explored the surrounding area by myself because my roommate had never shown up. During my wanderings, I found these stone steps leading up into a higher ridge in the mountain/hill. 

I followed them up and found this gorgeous painted pagoda with a giant bell in it at the top, with almost 360 degree views of the surrounding area, right as the sun was setting. Finding that little discovery really helped allay some of my worries about not having a roommate and feeling like everyone was younger than me and making friends without me. 

Day three was a mandatory medical check. We couldn’t eat or drink after 9 the night before and had to get our eyes and hearing and height and weight checked, have two vials of blood taken, give a urine sample and take a chest X-ray. That took up most of the day and by lunch everyone was starving and there was a line for lunch out the door. We were also organized in smaller numbered groups by region this day, so I was in a group with all Seoul people and the only other two Incheon people we knew about. 

Being split into a class actually helped with my feelings of isolation, because I was able to meet some people also going to my area, as well as the only other person out of over 200 other orientees who was from Connecticut!

The fourth and fifth day were dedicated to taking classes that were geared towards helping us become more understanding of Korean culture and better teachers. We got a free taekwondo lesson and broke boards, which of course I did wrong and severely bruised my hand. They wanted me to get it checked by the nurse but I was too embarrassed. (It’s fine now)

During the lesson, the master had us write a goal on our boards and then visualize conquering it as we broke it...so hopefully this mojo actually stays with me!

We were also given the opportunity to put on a traditional Korean dress called a hanbok and participate in a formal tea ceremony and paint paper fans. Being my very extra self, I chose to take an optional kpop dance class after dinner, too. 

Play Where’s Waldo and see if you can find me. Here’s a hint; look for the most awkwardly posed person in the group.

At the end of day 5 I finally got a roommate! She had already been working for EPIK for two years in a different area and was transferring to Incheon! I found out she was from New York and we hit it off right away when I saw her Charizard keychain and Harry Potter luggage tag.

Day 7 and 8 were dedicated to preparing for the lesson demo we each had to give, which turned into a bit of a fiasco because there was only one printer for over 200 people, so if I had to pick a stressful situation, that would be it. But my partner and I presented our lesson with minimal mistakes and got good marks so it all worked out.

Day 8 was also closing ceremony and when we finally got to meet the representative from our district and find out where specifically we would be teaching and at what level. I was a bundle of nerves the whole day because I went straight from doing my lesson demo to meeting my MOE to performing the dance I had been practicing in front of 200 people plus representatives from the college and every district.

I couldn’t focus on what anyone said before hand and was almost nauseous by the time my group got onto the stage but everyone was cheering like crazy and I saw my MOE filming me with a big smile on her face, so I finished out my last day of orientation feeling exhilarated.

And then just as quickly as it began, it was over and before I knew it, I was on another bus off to the city I’ll call home for the foreseeable future. Make sure you check back for the blog post about the field trip we took on the 6th day of orientation, because it was so amazing it needs it’s own post, and as always check out my YouTube and Instagram (linked above) for more details about my life in Korea!

Until the next adventure,

September 1st: Get assigned a recruiter at Korvia

October 2nd: Submit my EPIK application to Korvia

October 10th: My recruiter shoots me some suggestions about touching up my application which I do and send back immediately

October 12th: Korvia then submits my application to EPIK

November 8th: I pass the first round! I'm offered to schedule my Skype interview with EPIK

November 17th: I have my EPIK interview at 12am

November 19th: I find out I passed the interview! Phew

December 7th: I finally have all my documents in order and send them off to Korea

December 12th: EPIK confirms they have received my documents

The great placement waiting period begins. Everyone and their mother receives their placement before you. You feel like you’ve been forgotten. You’ll never get a job in Korea

January 17th: Placement! And in my preferred city, too. See, there was nothing to worry about

January 23rd: I receive my NOA packet. They sent it on the 22nd (their time) so I received it practically the next day (my time)

January 25th: I send off my visa application 

February 10th: I receive my visa