Hi there!!
I was just wondering if you had booked the vietnam internship?

Oh that's not long at all. Thank god! I hate waiting. That's a great idea, always good to have a backup plan but hopefully you won't be needing it :) I don't know what my backup plan is. I would have loved to stay in China for at least the rest of the year after my internship, which was the plan initially, but applying for the neccesary visa in China isn't possible apparently, i'd have to travel back home, which I don't want to do. I may just go on to S.Korea anyway, it was my first choice before China but I wanted some teaching experience first. I'm just worried I'll get to China and not want to leave hah. Lets just keep our fingers crossed that things will work out for both of us!  

Yay, no worries! Where there's a will there's a way, you'll get to EPIK on way or the other-feck Footprints ;)

I think the interview process is in October-we don't have to send all the documents for a visa until we hear back from them whether we got through or not. I have to apply for my visa in China so I'm a bit worried about that. You should be ok to apply for it before you go travelling. I don't know how long it takes to hear back after the interviews in October but I'd say we'll have to send our visa documents at the end of October or start of November, plenty of time :) 

I decided not to apply for Seoul because they don't recruit for high schools and I'd prefer to teach in a high school. 

What?!!! That's ridiculous! Don't let it stop you going for it though. Try ESLstarter. They guy I've been talking to, Phil, is really nice and helpful! I didn't have to do an interview. I had a chat with him, but if it was an interview I had no idea and I'm moving on with the application now. http://www.eslstarter.com/
Get intouch with him anyway and see what he says :]

That's going to be amazing and a month gives you plenty of time to explore each country. Is your boyfriend going to teach in S.Korea too?

I got my references today. I got them a lot quicker than I thought I would actually. I just need to get passport photos taken to attach to the application then I can submit the first part. At least we have lesson plans already done for the TEFL course, one less thing to worry about! 

Any word from Footprints today? 

I know!!! Fingers crossed we get an interview and all goes well :) 

I don't really have a preference for location but I think I'll put in an application for Seoul as well. I wouldn't want to be in a very rural area but then again it may be a great experience. I think i'll just say I'm flexible with location and let them surprise me haha. 

What are your travelling plans beforehand? Are you travelling solo? I plan on travelling when I finish my term in China on Jan 15th and then I'm travelling back to China for CNY on Feb 10th so I'll probably fly directly from there to Korea. We should stay intouch and we may be able to meet up at some point a long the way! I just talked with my friend tonight and we were talking about all the places we'd like to visit but nothing is finalised yet. She's from Bangkok so Thailand is a definite and we're heading to the full moon party so if you're around then you should join :D We're thinking Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Phillipines and anywhere else our budget will allow for! 

Oh and if you get intouch with the records office at your university you should be able to get copies of your transcripts. I've lost count of the no. of transcripts I've had to get. I emailed the records office at my uni and asked them to send a sealed copy of my transcripts to my home address. I had them within 2 days which was great.

Hey!

Woooo we may end up meeting each other in Korea then :)

Yeah it's better getting everything sorted before you go because then you won't have to worry about getting the documents sorted. As far as I'm aware the CRC check needs to be no more than 6 months old so I have to wait to apply for that. You'll be able to apply for that before you go travelling though?! Yeah getting the documents apostilled is going to be annoying. I'm not going to be officially graduated from my masters until december and I'll be in China by then. I've already told my mum she'll probably have a list of things to do for me when I'm away hah. It'll all be worth it though I'm really excited.

I am working with ESL starter. I didn't have to do an interview but I had a chat with one of the advisors the other day-it was really informal but he didn't mention anything about being accepted with them first. He sent me an update afterwards so I'm assuming I'm all good to go :/ Keep me posted on how you get on with Footprints! I've heard good things about them. Have you had a look at the EPIK application form yet? There are so many details required! Do you have any location preferences or age preferences?

Hey Emma :)

How did you get on with your Footprints interview? I'm in the process of applying for EPIK for the Feb intake. It's a bit early yet but I've been advised to start early because I'm going to China in August. How are you finding the whole process so far? Are you aiming for the August intake? :) 

Hi Emma,

I'm more than happy to tell you about live in Ecuador and Cuenca in specific ;). I love it here, if it's up to me I'll never move back to Europe! 

Do you perhaps have an e-mail address I can send a message to?

Chau,

Marieke