Visa Day

It’s visa day. That basically translates into I just spent three hours filling out forms. The process still isn’t over. Things need to be printed, signed and sent to London. I can’t complain really. The agency that is processing our visas has been incredibly helpful and made things easier than they would have been with no agent. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope that nothing is wrong with any of the forms. The Mongolian form that I have to print off isn’t working either, which is annoying. I get stressed over small insignificant things. I’m going to have to get my parents to print these forms for me as living abroad when applying for these kinds of things is even more complicated than it is if you’re actually living in your home country. I genuinely can’t wait until these arduous formalities are over and Natalie and I can get on with our trip.

It’s stupidly hot. Rainy season made its first real statement yesterday. It rained flat out from about midnight on Friday through to about 2pm on Saturday. The heat dried things up pretty quickly though and today the sun has got his hat on. I’ve been inside however. Making sure I wasn’t making any mistakes whilst filling out these damn forms.

There are only three weeks left of term at school now. Then I’ll have two weeks of either camp or desk warming, and then it will be vacation, Natalie will arrive and we’ll be out of here. Time will inevitably fly by.

On Friday I had to go to Hwacheon to watch an open class. An open class is where teachers from across the county are invited to watch a class and critique it. It is designed to share teaching ideas and improve the English education program. None of that really happens though, everyone is too nice to say anything negative so all that happens is mediocre, safe, overly rehearsed classes are performed and then given cringe-worthy appraisal. I was drowning in the bullshit that surrounded me. If things are ever going to improve here this needs to change. The problems with English education in Korea aren’t going to be solved or even discussed at these open class events. I was intending to write a critique and explain away these problems but I’ve decided against it. That’s not what this blog is about and to be quite honest I just don’t care enough.

Afterwards a few of the English teachers went for drinks in Hwacheon. We convened around a gazebo in Hwacheon and played beer pong in the hot and humid outdoors. It was good to talk to other foreigners whom I don’t usually get the chance to hang out with. It was really the only note-worthy thing that happened this weekend outside of applying for the visas.

I don’t want this to sound too negative though, it’s just been one of those weekends where I’ve had to stay in and get things done. It’ll be worth it in the long run and I have my fingers crossed that everything will run smoothly. Thus far during our planning process we’ve had no major hiccups so it would be nice if we could get through this with a similar outcome. Yes, that would be very nice indeed.