Today Is Okay

When I got up this morning and walked into the room where my laptop was, I found that my cat had been doing some late night internet surfing and had passed out in front of the computer.

I officially have an interview at target on Tuesday. I will have to keep repeating to myself, "this is only till Korea, this is only till Korea..." If I can pull off doing this job and Summerfest and house/pet sitting, and spend as little money as possible. I should be pretty well off when I leave for South Korea.

Moving to South Korea has also changed up my finance plans a little bit. For one, I am going to remiss my student loans until I get back so that I can pay them all off real quick with out a ton of interest. I also am determined to pay off my credit card and find out if Capital One is excepted in South Korea. If not, I will open a different Credit Card and cancel or put a hold on my Capital One card.

I am hoping to have at least $3,000 saved when I move to Korea. If I can work to fit my food and utilities into that three thousand, I should be able to return to the US with about $20,000 saved up.

I am eating my breakfast right now, and getting ready to do my 20 minute work out. Then I'm heading upstairs to sand the hallway and get it ready to varnish.  After I do that till my arm falls off, I'm going to do dishes and clean up downstairs so my mom doesn't freak when she gets home after a weekend away.  Then it's on to making dinner, another workout, and finishing the floor.

I want to work outside but I have to except that it is still to early to do that.  I tried to pull buck-thorn yesterday, but ran into two problems. The first was that I wasn't always certain that I was pulling up buck-thorn and not other things I wanted to save. The second was, the ground is still pretty frozen.

Wow, I Feel Like A Jerk

Welp, I broke up with Don.  And I feel terrible about it.  I wish that he had been some asshole, meany, person like Michael was so I would feel good about doing it but I do not.  He is a genuinely nice guy, and a great person but the timing was completely wrong.

I except partial responsibility for that although when I started the relationship I wasn't planning to go to Korea anymore.  I should have kept in mind my amazing ability to become single minded and go for something while thinking of no one else's feelings but my own.

Still, wishing to feel better about this is a silly thing to do and in the end, breaking up now is better then staying together and getting closer over the next six months only to leave then.  This is kinder for everyone involved in the end, even if it still sucks now.

St. Paddy's was fun, I guess.  I wish I cold have stayed out a little later and at the same time I am glad I didn't.  I don;t like to get super drunk at the bars anymore, especially in Milwaukee when there are about three hundred people in one bar.  It was great to see Amanda and be able to get out of the house for a bit, but being out just made me wore determined than ever to continue working out and getting healthy.

So far I have been keeping up with my exercises for the last week.  I did skip yesterday, so that will be my second skip day this week.  I am really trying to listen to my body and if I am not to sore and worn out after my first workout of the day, I have been going back to do a second before I go to sleep at night.  I am finding that it is kinda helping me sleep a little better although my back still hurts like crazy.

Got a call from target today, so I am calling them back as soon as I get off of here,  The work is for third shift which kinda sucks, even if I do get an extra dollar an hour.  Also, after the first few months I would be switched to working 4 am-noon or something like that so I don't know.  It's only for the summer so I may as well go for it and get it over with.  At nine bucks an hour 40 hours a week I would be able to make about $1,400 a month before taxes.  If they take out the $400 each month then by the time I go to Korea I will be able to make a total of about $5,000 before I go to Korea.

I better get off of here and call them!

Getting On It

Korea Here I Come!
 
Over the last few days I have working hard to get everything I need organized to turn in to the person working on my application for Korea.  I have also been trying to prep myself in general to travel halfway around the world and live for a year.  So far, this is my To-Do List:

1. Take a decent and professional-looking picture of myself to give to my Canadian contact to put in my file.
2. Have 30 minute phone conversation with my Canadian contact to get any questions I have answered and to answer their questions and find out next step.
3. Figure out how to obtain my FBI Criminal Background Check.
4. Obtain Passport.
5. Fill out the Korean Immigtration Health Survey.
6. Contact the Korean Consulate in Chicago to get my forms turned in.
7. Get 5 copies of my transcripts and have them noterized.
8. Purchase an Adaptor for my laptop.
9. Get six copies of my Passport photo.
10. Get three recommendation letters from my professors.
11. Photocopy EVERYTHING.
12. Finish TEFL Class
13. Finish Grammer certificate.
14. Teach self Korean.

Reading over this list kinda makes me feel like a spy.

Anyway, so far I have done nothing on this list.  I am working on the TEFL class and am halfway done.  I am going to sit down and do the whole class for the grammer cerifitcate in one to two days and get it over with.  I also am going to save all of it to use as a reference for myself when teaching.  They explain things in a very simplistic way that will be great for teaching non-English speakers.

As for teaching myself Korean, I borrowed Rosetta Stone Korean from a friend and I have been working on it the past few days.  The biggest difficulty I am having is that nothing is the same as English. The letters aren't even the same.  While this may seem like a "no shit" moment, it made me think of something I hadn't about teaching them my language.  They will have to learn a whole new alphabet with no similarities to their own.

I am taking my photos today to send in for my file and I am going to get my passport today or tomorrow.  I have an appointment to talk to the person handling my application on monday to get some of my questins answered.  Otherwise, everything will hopefully fall into it's own time.  Anyone want to take a trip to Chicago with me if I have to visit the Korean Consulate?

In Other Parts of My Life....

I have been working out like a fiend and I will be posting two food entries on my food Blog today about the great, healthy meals I made the last few days. Every couple days I have to take a break and eat up all the leftovers I have.

My goal is to work out two times a day, five days a week and drop about twenty pounds by my birthday, May 16th.  If I succed in this, I am giving myself two of the items on my wish list from Mod Cloth.  After my birthday, I want to continue to get healthy over summer so that by the time I go to South Korea, I am within twenty to thirty pounds of my goal.  I bet I will be able to loose the rest while I'm over there.

The weather is finally warming up and I am more and more excited to get out in the garden to get started on planting and weeding and clearing.  I really hope that the next few days of warm will get rid of the snow and let me start clearing out the back woods.

I am halfway done with my spring cleaning housework and I have my full checklist of things that need to get done this spring drawn up.  I am not putting that up here because it's over four pages long, but I'll let you know when I finish something.

I have applied at target for third shift and I am applying at walmart today.  These are just to get me through the summer and to help me pay my expenses and have some spending cash over in South Korea.

I am also starting a "picture and song of the day page" on here, made up of pictures I enjoy at the moment, followed by a song that I am particularly in love with that day. 

Back To My Future

Well, Epic fell through.  Not a surprise.

I have offically turned in my application to teach in South Korea, and I am getting a simple, lame job to pay my expenses over the summer and I'm heading out (fungers crossed) for the fall semester.  Later, after I fugure it all out, I'm going to post exactly what I need to do and my expenses but for now, I have no real clue.

I do know I need a passport, and an adaptor for my laptop so I can give updates to my lovely fans.  I also know that I get paid airfare, a rent-free and fully furnished studio appartment within walking distance of my job, and a cool 2.8 million won a month (conversion).

Not too shabby.

Other than that, I have started on my spring cleaning, soon I will move on to stripping and finishing the upstairs hallway, and then I will get my garden going.  I have all the seeds ready, and a grow light.  I just need to get some paper cups to plant them in and we will be good to go.

Yay, Its March!

Well, after the first excitment of the weather warming and stuff melting being killed by the additional 16 inches of snow that was recently dumped on us, I feel that March has promise.  First off, I have decided on a backup plan if I can't find a real job soon.  I think that Culinary School could be a great fit for me and it has more job oppotunities then my current degrees.  Also, Kim and I have located two very good opptions for living aragments come june.

That being said, I woke this morning to an email, requesting I turn in an application at Epic Industries, which is located in madison.  The jobs they have available sound amzing and they actually follow what I went to school for as well as actually requiring a college degree, two big pluses in my recent job serch experiance.  However, they would require my relocation to madison if I get the job, so maybe Dana and I can move in together....

The description of this pace did make me giggle a bit and I have included their little explanationa dn a photo or two... Enjoy:

We love our 800-acre campus — it's a blend of pastoral and urban, of Midwestern charm and a quirky sensibility that's uniquely Epic. Located on picturesque farmland 20 minutes from Madison, it's somewhat difficult to describe.

Epic uses sustainable materials, obtaining them from local sources whenever possible. We recycle approximately 65% of our construction waste, and the geothermal system we use to heat and cool our buildings is one of the largest in the country.

And we still have a working farm. With cows.

Since we need to look outside ourselves and to the future, we've named our buildings with astronomy in mind. Who wants a cubicle in "Building A" when you can have an office in Andromeda?

And with this many people and buildings, it's easier to find your way with unique themes. If you're in the jungle, you know you're in Deneb. The springtime garden tells you Ganymede, and the New York subway takes you to Fomalhaut.

Some people even get to work in Heaven - the theme is High Tech Toys!

Artwork in all of our buildings is hand chosen by staff members during Madison's annual Art Fair on the Square, with some bonus finds from garden stores and flea markets. It's less expensive, more interesting, and a lot more fun than having professional designers choose for us.

Park here. Or, rather, under here. This is the top of our underground parking garage, covered with green trees, garden beds, and a meandering stream. The walking paths get us between buildings on nice days.

No car? No worries. You can take a Madison Metro Transit bus, which will drop you off at our front door. Or, hop on your bike and ride the Military Ridge Bike Trail directly to our campus. Even in winter, the trail is cleared by 4:30 am.

One of our many hangouts, The Black Dragon is a French café in summer and an English Tea room in winter. We offer locally roasted coffee, a variety of loose teas, and pastries from our own kitchen.

And it just gets more awesome....

If you need a place to escape or do some serious project planning, take the rope bridge over to our tree house. It's made of leftover construction material, and it looks like kids built it because, well, kids did. No pagers allowed.

A hub of activity, Grand Central Station is a place to post announcements and read about community events.

It's also home to Turner's General Store, the New York Sock Exchange, and Epic's Outpost. Grab some munchies, drop off your laundry, join a club, or book passage on an adventure trip.

Like I said, Sweet.  Or should I say Epic?