What it's Like to Move to South Korea

We are scheduled to leave for Korea on January 14, 2011.  We are currently going about the business of organizing our affairs and packing for our big move.  We've been through all of the necessary paperwork, and there was a fair amount of that.  We've been through the waiting and the annoying visa, apostille stamps, and criminal record check process.  Now we only need to go to the Korean consulate in New York City to get our official work visas.


We'll go there, do a quick interview, and then pick up our visa the next day.  Meanwhile, we'l get to explore New York city while we are there.

For our packing, we have come to a place where we need to decide what is worth putting in our suitcases and what we need to give away/pack away.  It really tests you and makes you think about the things that you think are so important to your life but in the end, they could be just as easily donated to Goodwill.  It helps that we don't have too much stuff to begin with, our biggest items are probably our couch, loveseat, and bed.  Our house looks a little crazy right now with boxes all over the place and giant piles of clothes (the "donate" pile, "take with us" pile, and the "storage" pile).

We have also been reading up on life and culture in Korea to prepare ourselves.  We've been reading through some informative books:  Learning to Think Korean-L. Robert Kohls,   Culture Shock: Korea-Hur & Hur,  a pocket Korean-English dictionary, and the ubiquitous Korean for Dummies (that's us :).  We are hoping that this will give us a decent preparation for what to expect, as there are a significant amount of cultural differences to be aware of.

For this blog both Nikki and I will be posting up a journal of our experiences and some photos to keep you all informed of our adventures.  We decided to start posting now, rather than when we get over there, mostly because actually leaving the country is half the battle.  It isn't easy to move across the world.  We have navigated a maze of bureaucracy and played the "waiting for the mailman" game.  So, our next step is the consulate in NYC to get our visas and then our flights will get scheduled.