OK, so we are not flying on a plane to South Korea yet, but the adventure certainly has begun. There is a lot of preparation and planning involved in taking a four member family to a foreign country. Before I get into these details though, let me explain how we got here in the first place.
Compliments of the V.A., I am a recent graduate. I got a BA in Computer Science, but as the economy has shown, getting a job in this field with no working experience is not easy. Sure I had interviews, and I even thought I had landed the job a few times, but always the results were "We need someone with more experience." This was OK though, in some ways. About a year before graduation I had a change of heart anyway. Rather than be a computer programmer, or network administrator, I really did like the idea of being an educator. Furthermore, I really had a burning desire to teach within one of my church's schools. But as the V.A. was footing the bill, and my eligibility was nearing end, I could not change my major. I thought surely there was a place for me, teaching young people how to use a computer productively, and perhaps sparking their interest in technology as well as broadening their knowledge.
OK, so now I've discovered that I was getting nowhere with my degree. So much for the idea that an education leads to success. Rather, getting my degree cost me my business. Before going to school I was the owner of a local courier service, and although I was not getting rich, I had steady business and happy customers. I had a purpose and focus, and if business was getting slow, I had an idea how to drum up more customers. But, as a full time student I could not satisfy my customer's needs, and could not find enough dependable help to maintain the business while I was in class. Rather than cost my customer's money by providing poor service, I bowed out and encouraged that they find a more dependable service as I had to focus on my education. After all, I basically had a free ride scholarship. I would be stupid to turn this down for what little money I was making. But now .... now that I am "educated" .... I don't have enough experience to do what I went to school for. A BS in BS might be just as valuable.
Back to the adventure. After months of disappointment, and sitting at home filling out applications and emailing resumes across the nation, I finally remembered what I REALLY wanted to do. I wanted to be an educator, not a programmer. Furthermore, I wanted to teach in an environment that allowed me to share God's love with my students, and where I could help them to discover this love as well. I paused for a few minutes to pray, and ask the Lord for his guidance in discovering where he wanted me to be. I also asked him to take charge, and to make it crystal clear to me when I found what he had in mind for me, as I had followed many leads in the past that "I" thought was best, and none had panned out. I returned to the church's educational employment site again, expecting to find nothing as the school year was well in progress. Sure enough, the only remotely attractive position advertised was a position teaching English to children in South Korea. I had seen this listing before and gave it no thought. After all, how could this possibly be the job for me? I have a wife and two children, and they were advertising a studio apartment and one round trip flight to South Korea.
This time it felt different though, something was driving me to call the number in the job posting. So I called, and proceeded to tell them I was probably not who they were looking for, as it did not appear that I fit their criteria. The response I got was far from what I expected. I was soon to discover that this was exactly where I belonged. Not only was there a school that wanted me, but I was informed that my wife would have a job as well, and our meals would be provided through the boarding school cafeteria, and my children would not have to pay the private school tuition, and they would give us a larger apartment, and fly all four of us round trip to South Korea. Now if that is not enough to convince you that the Lord is behind this decision, read on.
Wow, so it really looks like we are headed to Korea. I was informed that before a contract could be drawn up, I must first be able to show proof that I possess a Bachelor's degree, as well as providing a copy of each of our passports. The degree was no problem, I simply contacted the school and requested two sealed copies of my official transcript, and will provide them with notarized copies of the diploma. The passports, on the other hand, proved a little more difficult. My wife and I had expired passports from back when I was in the US Army and stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. Because hers was a military family member passport, it was issued for only a few years, and had long expired. In order to get a new passport, she must provide her birth certificate, and this had apparently been misplaced in one of our moves. She contacted the county of her birth in California and requested a copy be expedited to her. Expecting a two week wait for it, we were startled to find it in the mail the very next day.
Now for the passports. Oh wait....that will cost around $800 for expedited passport requests and priority mailing to get them within a few weeks, to have time for visa requests to meet our deadline of flying in mid February. When we discovered this tremendous cost, with me not employed, I had a brief sinking sensation. I had gotten my hopes up, and apparently had tried to make something happen that was not meant to be. I immediately prayed to the Lord, asking him to take control and make it happen if this is truly where He wanted me. When I contacted the recruiter for this job to inform him that I simply could not afford this cost, he asked "What if I were to put $1,000 in your account?" Well in two hours our account had an additional $1,000 in it, which we will reimburse over the first few months of employment. All I could do was praise God, and thank him for making it blatantly obvious that this is where He wants me to be.
Tomorrow, well THIS morning we go and submit our passport applications. I will save this story for my next comment. Hopefully by then we will have our immunization needs met as well. Be sure and check back if you want to see how this goes.
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