We Have a New Job!!!

It's been too long since I've written. We've been on the go and focusing on family mostly the past few weeks and I hadn't put much stock into writing. I hope those of you who check this regularly aren't too disappointed. We uploaded a counter to show how many people have been checking. I'm pretty amazed at how high it is already. I didn't think we were that interesting.

So the big news is that we have a job now! We had been applying to all sorts of jobs that were listed on Dave's ESL cafe, getting a few responses here and there. We almost got a job at a university near the place we climbed mostly last year. We had an interview that went well and anticipated an acceptance email, but after a couple days of no word, we followed up only to find out that one of the positions we were to be filling had been retracted. One of the people leaving decided to stay longer, so the university only had one job open until two.

We had gotten our hopes up and then were let down unexpectedly. So we were more reserved about getting our hopes up after that. All the other jobs we applied for seemed to pale compared to that first one. But I knew we needed to continue searching regardless. We started getting a few responses here and there, and we even got desperate and sent our information to a recruiter. One of our responses was at a university called Kwandong. They arranged an interview with us, which lasted over two hours and now I think Rebs is best friends with the recruiter. But it paid off and they offered us a job.

Details: Kwandong University is located on the east coast of South Korea in a city of about 400,000, called Gangneung. The train runs to and from Seoul, taking about 3 and a half hours. You can see the tracks in the picture above. There are 2 beaches within the city limits, as well as one that has bouldering in the next town south of us, about 20 minutes away. There is also rock climbing 30 minutes to the south and 45 minutes to the north in Seoraksan, which you may have seen pictures of in our earlier posts. It's the most beautiful national park in Korea. We're told there are running trails as well as mountains for hiking in and nearby the city.

As for work, we are contracted to teach 16 hours a week over 4 days. Anything beyond 16 hours counts as overtime pay. We're not sure if that extra day off will fall on a Friday or Monday, but if it did, that would mean 3 day weekends! We each get a housing allowance that should more than cover our costs for rent and utilities each month. We really feel amazed and blessed to have such an incredible job in such an incredible location.

So right now, we still have to get criminal record checks and then on to the visa process. As long as it all goes smoothly, this will be where we are and what we're doing for the next year. If you'll keep us in your prayers that everything works out, we'd appreciate it.
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Resting

What a beautiful, restful day. Dusty and I are staying in Tulsa at his parents' house. Everyone is at work except us. We have the house all to ourselves. It is cozy and quiet. Our time at home is finally starting to feel like a relaxing vacation. I've accomplished next to nothing today. I'm practicing being still. It's a hard thing for me since I'm so used to being busy. I get restless when I don't have an immediate purpose or goal to work towards. I'm so used to the busyness of life with noise and distractions all around me. But I think it's healthy to slow down, listen, and reflect on my life sometimes. Dusty is outside doing yard work and I'm getting ready to go for a run with Legend. Tonight Dusty is taking me out on a date but is surprising me with the details.

Despite the crappy exchange rate, we still plan to return to Korea. The Korean won is predicted to strengthen again against the American dollar by this spring. We continue to look for teaching jobs. In Korea, the beginning of the school year starts mid February/early March after the Chinese Lunar New Year. We're hoping to have jobs lined up in time to secure our work visas and return to start work around that time. We have turned in several applications. So far, we have one interview lined up for this Sunday evening. The University interviewing us said they usually don't consider foreigners living outside of Korea however, they wanted to make an exception for us due to our "exceptional resumes and references". It would be an amazing job opportunity and is one of our top picks of where we'd like to work. But we're trying not to get too excited yet. There is still a long way to go in this process. We'll keep you updated.

(Posted by Rebs)