Concerning News, Interview, and the Complexities of International Internet Connections

A week and a day ago I was meandering aimlessly from one day to the next, and as I was composing my blog entry, my recruiter wrote back. She gave me the encouraging update that she had received my letter and had already sent out my application package to some schools. Her expectation was that I would perhaps hear something by the end of December or early January. That was good news, I thought, and a nice surprise to hear from her.

Imagine my surprise when five days later she wrote me an email that said, "Good news for you. A school in Gyeonggi Province wants to have an interview with you. Please let me know when you are available for an interview with the school this week"! My heart felt like it had leapt into my throat as I tried to process the letter and the rest of the information about the school she had included! The school is a co-ed high school in the city of Suwon, just a little distance south of Seoul. It's farther from the city than I hoped to be, but we'll see. Maybe it will work out just as well or better as the three other locations I had stated as my preferences that were a shorter distance to Seoul. I'm trying to stay positive, while still admitting to being a little disappointed initially.

The same day I got the email from my recruiter, the FBI background check results arrived in the mail (NO ARREST RECORD-FBI)! So everything has started happening at once, as I suspected it might. My brother and I were all set to drive to Nashville on Wednesday to get the apostille for the FBI report, but I just felt like I should call about it first. I did some Googling through various English teacher message boards and used terms like "apostille for federal document" and turned up a number on Texas' Department of State website for a US.gov call center.

I used (800)688-9889, and I was glad I found the number because the lady who answered was polite, patient, informative, and volunteered information on the subject without me having to guess it. That number works for U.S. citizens' visa and passport inquiries too. I later discovered instructions at The Office of Authentications, but they don't take calls, so I was glad I got to speak to someone.

Here's what I found out (in case someone who reads this decides they'd like to pursue a similar adventure): since the FBI report was issued at the federal level, the state-level dept. of state doesn't have the authority to issue an apostille for it, so I had to send it (overnight FedEx airbill with a return label enclosed and a FedEx account number on both so they could bill me for the charges both ways) to Washington, D.C. to get the apostille from the U.S. Dept. of State. I was told it can take up to 15 business days to process the apostille request once it got there, so that was why she recommended overnight delivery. According to the State Dept's website, sending documents via USPS requires additional time for it to clear security, so FedEx (etc.) is preferable for faster processing. Something else of note: it's my understanding that the federal government won't apostille state-issued documents like diplomas; those have to go to the state capitol.

After several email exchanges over the last four days, and at least one change of interview time, I found myself preparing for an international interview set for this Thursday, Dec. 16 7pm CST, which was Friday, 10am KST (Korean Standard Time)! My family certainly put up with a lot from me as I stressed about how to use the Skype program to make calls, what to wear, what questions to ask/answers to give, and what room to sit in for the interview. The glare on my glasses was pretty awful until we played around with screen brightness and background lighting. We ended up propping some loose closet doors against the washer and dryer, and I had my interview using the Mac iBook in the laundry room where my desktop computer is set up. I used the sample interview questions mentioned last post to prepare, as well as a list provided by another recruiting company which offered Ten Interview Tips (Very helpful list, and the most important thing I learned is that interviews are almost the school's confirmation that they already want to hire you, not that you have to completely convince them from the ground up). Much fussing, followed by a time of prayer with my mother and brother, ensued.

The interviewer(s) called at exactly one minute before the scheduled time, and we exchanged some awkward greetings, while trying to figure out the Skype sound and video chat across the world. I caught a quick glimpse of three well-dressed Korean ladies looking somewhere off camera, and then something happened to the camera on their side. After three disconnects and redials to try (in vain) to get the picture back, they asked if I would be willing to continue without seeing them. I didn't think I had much choice, so I said, "Sure, that's okay! I am fine with that."

The interview lost connection about 8-12 times in all (maybe more, but I didn't actually count and I'd rather not exaggerate). Usually the signal disconnected when I was answering a question, and we had to redial and go over the "Hello? Hello?? Can you hear me?" conversation again, usually moving on to the next question and leaving the incomplete answer. I don't think they understood all my questions entirely, because a few times they talked among themselves in Korean before answering in heavily-accented English. After about 30 minutes of interviewing, which included me asking some questions about the school, they brought the interview to a close.

Their Questions:
How do you say your name?
What state do you currently live in?
Why do you want to teach in Korea?
Have you ever lived in an Asian country before?
Have you ever traveled to Asia?
What are your strengths as a teacher?
Kids in our schools are very stressed out most of the time. What will you do to help motivate kids who are stressed, tired, pressured, or not interested in English?

My Questions:
What English test or standardized test are your students working towards?
What are the school's colors and mascot?
How many days a week does each student attend English class?
What kinds of technology would I have access to in the English classroom?
Can you tell me a little about the curriculum?
Does your school offer any kind of after school programs or summer English camps?
How far is it from the apartment to the school?
What is the school's philosophy of teaching/the school's goal?

I'm not sure how I did--they will give me their answer by Tuesday (possibly my Monday)--but I'm glad this first interview is over. If nothing else I showed them that I can remain relatively calm under pressure, or that I can at least carry on, even if I lose my train of thought a little when things unexpectedly go bad. I do think I spoke pretty clearly, and I hope I didn't look too silly, talking into a camera at people I couldn't see! Flexibility's a valuable thing in an interview, whether or not they were intending to observe that in me or not. I find out more soon!