Goodbye New York!

Today was a very very bittersweet day. I’ve never had this feeling of leaving something and being completely ready to leave it, but knowing that its still going to continue on the same way without me. Sure, I’ll be missed (who wouldn’t miss me?) and of course I’ll keep in touch with so many people, but in the grand scheme of things my friends will continue to hang out, and go to cool things, and meet amazing people. Not that I won’t, but there’s something I truly enjoyed about going through all of the motions with the people I keep closest to me.

All of that comes out of my head at 11:40pm when I sit alone in the Jet Blue Terminal at JFK airport awaiting what was supposed to be a 10:55pm flight to Syracuse. Not only will I be leaving at the exact time I should have been landing, but once I get to Syracuse at like 1:15am, then there’s that great 45 minute drive in darkness to Auburn. At least my brother and his fiancé are nice enough to pick me up and do the driving.

Overall I’m just so ready to get back to CNY. I wish I had more time there, but I’m kind of glad I don’t. I’ll enjoy it more that way. I work well under pressure, and this will force me to get some stuff done and visit some people. The best part is the sleeping in on Friday.

My last day at WMA went way too fast. How is that I spent however many days there where time would just tick by ever so slowly, but today just FLEW? I sent out my reports at 930, had my exit interview at 11am, sent out my goodbye email around 1130 and then the rest of the day was spent replying to some of the nicest emails I’ve ever gotten from people I have come to call good friends, and some I barely even know, hell haven’t even met (in other offices). I wanted to leave around 515, but honestly couldn’t tear myself away from the place until 630. Overall a crappy place to work after a year or two of being there, but I’m ever so thankful for it as it really was a transition from College to Entertainment Business.

**Anyway, I wrote most of that in the airport at that time, but the flight didn’t end up leaving until 115am, and I got into Cuse at 2, and was home and in bed dead asleep by 330. Overall an extremely long trip for no real reason, but its nice to be home, and I’ll be out to South Korea on Wednesday. Time flies… and I’ll miss you New York.

Visa Fun

Stuff has kind of taken off since I got the job in Korea, and basically I have just been hammering out details, and just enjoying the last remaining weeks in NYC:

(the group of us before a River Rafting trip down the Delaware in early July)

Aside from all the fun, I've managed to move 98% of everything I own up to Central New York (the homelands). I'm currently crashing on what used to be my living room couch in New York City, and will be finishing up work on August 16th. Then off to Korea on August 21st by flying out of Syracuse, to Chicago, and then that looooong flight to Seoul.

Everything with my Visa is all taken care of and was pretty simple in all honesty. I sent my Visa materials off to the SLP school in Seoul in early July. The school requested my original diploma, transcripts, 2 pictures, signed contract, copy of my passport, my first born child, and a resume to be Fed Ex'ed to them instead of using the US Postal Service. Well, after going to Fed Ex and realizing that it would cost $100 to send - I opted not to. By going to the Post Office and sending the same exact package that weighed .3lb to get there in 4 days (same as Fed Ex offered) it was $25 and gave me a tracking number, just like Fed Ex would have. *So a tip from me to any of you who are thinking about mailing stuff internationally, do not go to Fed Ex first.

Anyway, it was just a waiting game after that. The school issued me a visa confirmation number last week (about 3 weeks in total waiting time), and I went to the Korean Consulate here in New York City this week. After giving them more passport pictures (the people at the Walgreen's photo department and I are now on a first name basis), my passport, my transcripts, the confirmation number, my second born child, $45, and a copy of my contract, I was told to come back the following day to pick it up. The first thing to ever enter my passport is now a really fun looking huge sticker that says the Republic of Korea on it. Not too shabby.

Other than that, I'm just wrapping up life in New York. It's so hard for me to believe that I've been here for 3 full years, at the same job, and that I'll be leaving it within a matter of days. BUT the way I look at it... is if you don't go big, you might as well go home. And I think I did a pretty good job of coming up with something bigger than New York.

So... I'm Going to Asia...

Well, its taken a few days, but I've come to grips with the scope of this whole thing. Obviously I knew this was coming, and I've been preparing for it, but there's something to be said for when this kind of thing officially happens. Reality sets in and a '!!' becomes a '...'.


I signed my contract today, which was 7 pages long, and faxed it back to the recruiter. Figuring out how to work a fax to send something internationally took me a minute, but I added in a few extra numbers and it seemed to have worked. When in doubt, push extra buttons - if it doesn't explode, you win.

I thought for a second that I'd scan it to show you, but there's really no point to that since its pretty basic. I will be paid 2.0 Million Won each month (whoo hoo I'm a millionaire!) which works out to be about $2,000 USD, 10 vacation days, free roundtrip tickets, 50% health insurance, a pension plan that SHOULD get refunded to me at the end of the contract, a month's bonus at the end of the 12 months, an orientation/training time of 3-10 days and be paid 40,000 won each day during that time, and be set up with my own studio apartment which they will pay for. My expenses will be minimal, as it consists of electricity/gas/water/phone/tv (if i want it, and I probably won't) which should, rumor has it, come out to be $100-150 total per month. I'll also be using Skype as well (more information to come).

I will be working for the SLP school in Suji Gu, Yong In Si which is about 25-30 minutes from downtown Seoul. My leave date is August 20th and the details are still a little fuzzy as far as if I will be flying out of Syracuse, NY or if I will be flying out of Newark, NJ. Syracuse is easiest since I'll be home, but Newark will allow me to spend my last night in New York, have less connections, and meet up with my friend to fly out together from the beginning. It's up to the recruiter/school at this point to figure all of that out. More on that as things develop.


So what happens next? The visa process. I will be receiving an E2 visa, but generally E4's are what is needed to travel in and out of an asian country, but for some reason Korea is exempt from this. I now have to Fed-Ex all of the following materials to the school in Korea:

- My Original Diploma (I'm assured I will get this very expensive piece of paper back)
- A sealed copy of my official university transcripts
- A copy of my resume
- A copy of my passport picture page (copy only)
- Signed contract
- 2 passport-sized photos

After I take care of that this week, basically all there's left to do is wait, pack, and go. I'll be researching more things like Banking, Phones, US Tax information (like, do I have to pay any?), and then making lists of everything I'll need to bring and such.

Other than that, all that's left to do is officially tell work I will no longer be an employee here. As exciting as it is (I've had dreams of running into the HR office, jumping up and down, and saying, "PEACE OUT SUCKAS!") , it really is bittersweet.