Fukuoka Visa Run

Well, I officially have a new visa. I won't go into too much detail, but last year I quit my job with the promise of a release letter. I was recruited to be the manager of another school. The original school decided that they did not want me to work in Korea, so I took a little vacation till my contract expired with them. I was very nervous about the new E2 regulations, but I got the criminal history check done with the apostille in America and had no problems. Now, I just have to get my ARC.

I left on January 17th about 5:30 a.m. I was so nervous about oversleeping that I only sleep about an hour. I got a call taxi to take me to Hotel Castle were I caught the Limousine bus to ICN. My flight was on Asiana and was relatively stress free. Immigration leaving Korea and entering Japan was super easy. There were not that many of us lined up and took about 5 mintues in each country.

Getting to the Embassy in Japan and getting the visa were super easy thanks to a few different sites. Chris's photo log, Dave's ESL Forum on the Fukuoka Visa run, Lao Ocean Girl's post, and Galbjim's page on the topic

I did meet some interesting people during my short stay in Japan. I met:

1. Mr Park/Lee (can't remember exactly)

He was traveling to Japan with 24 members of his family. They were celebrating his mother's 84th birthday. They were going to spend 4 days in and around Fukuoka. He is a math teacher at a highschool in Seoul. He spoke pretty good English. We sat next to one another on the flight over and he was quite perturbed that I did not finish all of my Asiana snack. His oldest son goes to school in Vancouver and he told me his experiences from his visit to North America.

2. Claudia

I saw Claudia walking to the Embassy. She looked like an English teacher and she looked lost. I knew exactly where I was going thanks to the handy dandy information posted on the above sites. Well, Claudia ,23 years old, turned out to be a model working in Korea. She is Danish and was going to get a C4 Visa. She told me that she has worked in Japan, L.A. New York, London, and Paris and that this was her first time to be in Korea. She never did tell me exactly what kind of modeling she does, but she did say that she leaves with a group of models in an apartment. She said that there 5 of them living there a Russian and Czech girl, a Brazillian guy, an American guy and her.

3. Christian

I was drinking coffee at Starbucks when this guy probably in his late twenties and a Japanese girl sat down next to me. He was carrying on a conversation in Japan. He was white and seemed to me to be speaking perfect Japanese. The girl left and some random guy started speaking to him, again in Japanese. The guy left and he spoke to me in heavily accented English. It seems that he grew up in Michigan. His dad was killed in the first Iraqi war and his mom who is half-Japanese moved the family back to Japan. He commented on the job market in Japan. He told me that it was super hard for him to find a job. That his Japanese was great ,since he has lived there for about 11 years, but that looking like a foreigner has hurt him. His English was ok, but for some reason he loved to say GD, so much so that I thought that was the only swear word he knew.

4. John

Met him near the embassy. He was from Vancouver coming to get a E2 like me. He was working for a big school in Japan for awhile and now decided to go to Korea. I am not sure if he was able to get the visa or not. He was living in Japan and this was his first trip to the Korean Embassy.

5. 25 adjummas

I was waiting in the airport in Fukuoka to be cleared to check in. I sat down on the benches near the ticket offices waiting. Well, out of no where, this group of Korea ladies sat down beside me. I scooted over, so they could all sit together. They were loud and one lady who spoke no English was trying to tell me "thank you". She asked her friend exactly how to say it and then told me. I responded by saying "아니요 괜찮아요" This really got them going. I told them that I lived in Korea and was an English teacher....blah blah..The usually conversation I have when I met random Koreans. They were full of energy and were having a great time in Japan.

The only down-side to the whole trip was that it took me about an hour and half of walking to find my hotel. My map was wrong(hahah). I finally found the hotel and crashed out about 7. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see that much of Fukuoka.

I am know living in Dongtan. It is a very new city and there are really not that many people here. I am working at a great school with a very good boss. I am still trying to figure out all of the bus routes and where to get this and that. I really like the area. It is very open. The streets are wide and it seems to be cleaner here than in other parts of Korea. I still miss being in Yeongtong, but I am only about a 20 minute bus ride away. I am working on taking some pictures of the area as soon as I do, I will post them.