Last Day at School

Ok, so here I am dusting this thing off for possibly one last post. It's hard to know how to finish these things, last posts and such. But I guess I just wanted this to serve more as a marker than a post. A statement to the time-stamping powers that be that here I am, Sean Stanhill, posting from school on my last day, August 25, 2014 (KST). Four years after I started.
Saying goodbye is hardest when said to the students, especially when they surprise me with a visit to my desk between classes!

Megan and Ben visit Yecheon

This summer vacation has been a whirlwind of excitement, welcoming friends and family to Yecheon and then saying my farewells. I cannot believe how quickly vacation came and went. Last Tuesday, I parted ways with my brother at Incheon Airport. Later that day, I took the bus back to Yecheon, took a shower at home, grabbed a coffee at Yoger Presso and then went to the Yecheon bus terminal at 5:30 to pick up my Peace Corps friend Megan and her boyfriend Ben.
Megan was a close friend of mine in the Peace Corps whom I haven't seen since serving in the Philippines three or four years ago. She and her boyfriend took two weeks to vacation in Korea and visit friends of theirs now serving in Korea with the U.S. armed forces or as English teachers like myself.
Beyond the company, I really enjoyed their visit as it gave me a chance, arguably my last before moving to Andong later this month, to see Yecheon with new eyes. Most of their time here was spent in Seoul and Busan (and therefor on the subway). They enjoyed the rural pace of things here in Yecheon, the "home-cooked" style of the food here and the fact that we could walk anywhere in town within a matter of minutes. They got to see quite a few things here they weren't able to see in the cities like traditional homes (some predating the Korean War), the Yecheon Insect Bio Expo running all month and rice fields. Well, the rice fields were exciting for Ben. I think Megan, like myself, had her fill while living in the rural Philippines during her Peace Corps service.

The best thing for me about their visit was the opportunity to actually talk about my Peace Corps service. Since I had come home back in 2010, I haven't had the opportunity to meet up with anyone from my batch (267 <3) and really talk about service in a way that would make sense to anyone else. My friends Melinda and Jason have been a wonderful source of comfort and understanding as they served in the Peace Corps in Mongolia, but they were in a different place with different people. I never really realized that I'd never had the opportunity to decompress with one of my own until Megan came. It all felt healthy, the good and the bad, just talking about it with someone familiar with the people, the places.
I had met Ben over Skype once but this was the first time I ever really got to talk to him. One of the prevailing emotions throughout Peace Corps service was loneliness; I was so glad to see Megan happy. Ben is an absolute sweetheart and seemingly an open-minded travel partner. They seem so happy together and, knowing Megan back in the "dark ages", it makes me glad she has found someone who makes her happy and can indulge her wanderlust with equaled enthusiasm.
I just took them to the Yecheon bus terminal; they fly out of Incheon on Sunday. I wish them a safe flight and all the best in their life together in Tampa.
My home has been blessed with friends and family but it'll be nice to relax this weekend and take in a movie or seven.

Transfer Money Abroad from a Nong Hyup Korean Bank Account

A lot of foreigners are concerned about transferring money from their Korean bank accounts to their accounts back in their home country. There are also a lot of rumors about certain banks being unable to transfer money, etc.

Upon arriving in-country, the EPIK orientation program opened accounts with Nong Hyup (logo above) for us with our passport numbers instead of our alien registration card (ARC) numbers as they had not yet been issued at orientation. Nong Hyup is not the best bank in the country, per se, as there are other banks with better English websites and cheaper transfer rates, but it is the most ubiquitous bank in South Korea.
To address two rumors:

• Contrary to what the folks working at the Nong Hyup branch in Yecheon told me, there is an English website
• Contrary to what most of the folks in the EPIK program would have you believe, including the people who work for EPIK, it is  possible to transfer money to a bank in one's home country from a Nong Hyop account.

I was very enthusiastic to find that not only was it possible, but it also only cost $30 to transfer online, as opposed to the $60 I paid in fees to both Nong Hyup and Wells Fargo when transferring in-person.

Assuming you already have access to Nong Hyup online to check your balance (you must visit a bank branch in order to obtain this access), here is a set of instructions on navigating the process. Big thanks to Jacky for helping through this process myself.

1. Go to banking.nonghyup.com in Internet Explorer 6 or 7 on a Windows machine.
2. Click on "Global banking" at the top right of the page, click English
• If you have checked your balance before, you should have already installed any necessary security software
3. Click "Log-in" at the upper left hand of the page. Find your digital certificate and enter in your password as if you were checking your balance.
4. Click the "NH Bank" logo at the very top left of the page. You will remain logged in.
5. Again, click "Global banking" and select English.
6. Locate the box towards the bottom labeled "Foreign Exchange"and click the link "Information of Overseas Remittance"
7. On the left hand side, in the navigation menu, select "Overseas Remittance Request"
8. Remittance Type: 1: Small Remittance
• Small remittance is anything less than $1,000. Anything transfer over $1,000 is reported to the U.S. government. To diminished snags and hassles, I recommend keeping transfers under $1,000 and doing multiple transfers over time.
9. Maintenance Branch
• Here, click "Search" next to the field. A new window will pop up. Enter in the town of your closest NH branch in Hangul. If you don't have a Hangul keyboard, use this. For example, I enter in "예천".
10. Foreign Currency: select USD
11. Amount: enter in 999.99 (or whatever amount you wish to transfer)
12. Account Pin: NH Pin
13. Foreign Currency Account Number : Leave the drop down and Amount field blank
14. Beneficiary Name: Your Name
15. Bene Account: American Account Number
16. Bene Address: the billing address registered at your bank in the States
17. Bene Phone: leave blank
18. Bene Email: optional
19. Option: Make sure the "Bank information direct input" radio button is selected
20. Bene Country: Select USA from the drop down
21. Bank Name and Branch: Enter in the bank name and local branch nearest your billing address
• example:
• Wells Fargo
• 2200 W DIVISION ST.
• SAINT CLOUD, MN 56301
22. Bank Code or other info: Enter in your American bank's routing number.
23. Under the Customer Information area, enter in your contact information while in Korea.
24. Leave the "Additional Information" field blank.
25. At the bottom, click confirm

You will be asked to enter in numbers corresponding to the card you received when signing up for online banking that has a bunch of random numbers on it. If you are alerted that you have not selected an NACF option, select the "gift card" radio button. I have no idea what this does but it worked for me.

I have done two transfers and both have shown up in my American account within 24 hours of processing the transfer online.

Gravy.

*Please note all denominations are in USD and regard transferring to an American bank account.

My Apartment

Due to overwhelming demand for a glimpse into my apartment and living conditions, here is a post on the apartment in which I live. But first, a disclaimer: my living situation is not typical and I have been very fortunate; I live in the building owned by my coteacher. It is a large two-story house wherein he lives on the second floor and there are three apartments, including my own, on the bottom. Most foreign teachers live in studio apartments, meaning that the bedroom, kitchen and living room are one room, the only separate room being the bathroom. That said, we are guaranteed certain elements such as a fridge, washing machine, microwave, a gas or electric range and bed, to name a few. See below for more details, after the pics.

My kitchen

My dining area

My den/living room

My bedroom

My bedroom

My deck and chair

Moving into a place of your own, for the generation who grew up on video games, feels a whole heck of a lot like playing The Sims, without the rosebud cheat code (much to my chagrin). I have spent the better part of my last paycheck amassing and coordinating things. A friend of mine on Twitter, who served with the Peace Corps in Cameroon once said that Peace Corps makes one more materialistic. I'm indeed discovering the legitimacy of this observation with a paycheck and a place of my own.

In the beginning...

Well, today must be the first day of the adventure. I FINALLY received my E-2 teaching visa in-passport from the Korean consulate in Chicago. This is the very last document I needed to get off the ground (literally) and over to South Korea. I leave Monday the 16th at 9:40pm and have a 12 hour or so layover in Detroit where I'll be meeting up with a a Peace Corps friend and pulling an all-nighter of sorts. I fly out of Detroit at about 12:30pm on Tuesday and will be arriving around 3pm Korean time on Wednesday, anticipating a long flight. I'm actually going to be on the same flight as another English Program in Korea (EPIK) participant, also named Shaun. It'll be nice to have some company on such a long flight, a rarity in my past travels.
This being Wednesday, however, I still have a lot to get done. I'm a groomsman in a wedding for my dear friends Brian and Kari, two of my best friends in college, on Saturday the 14th. Fortunately, my dad will be flying in from Tampa to go to the wedding in Fargo and I'll get to see him, as well as my mom, the weekend before I leave, which is to say I'm lucky at best.
Today is my last day working at Casey's General Store and gas station making pizzas in the back kitchen. Tomorrow will most likely be set aside for packing, making phone calls, collecting some last minute things (like deodorant), etc.

Google Image Search for Gyeongbuk Do

I still don't know where I'll be teaching other than in the Gyeongbuk-do (also known as the Gyeongbuksangdo) province. I know it is one of the most rural and underdeveloped provinces, but I am thrilled with this. When I was in the Peace Corps, Philippines, I lived in a very underdevelped and small rural village on the island of Leyte. Having grown up in urban centers, I have come to love the country and the quality of life that comes part-and-parcel of that experience. I may wind up teaching at more than one school, which is sometimes a condition of rural teachers, but that's fine as long as it's not going to bust my chops.
Anyway, I'm up for anything they throw at me. I am going abroad to teach for a number of reason, but one is to place myself in unfamiliar settings: adapt or falter. And I intend to adapt. It's going to be a lot easier for me to say goodbye this time around, compared to when I left for the Peace Corps in 2008 as I am not leaving college, friends and community. I am living in my mom's basement, for the time being, working at a gas station. While it will be difficult to leave my family, there is far less to feel sentimental about considering I'll be gone for at least 12 months. But we'll see. I guess it's hard to know for sure until you're away and homesick.