A Japanese and Chinese Major

Well today was the day I’ve been waiting and planning for for a long time, my Korean visa interview.  I woke up around 7:30 to write out the driving directions to my next hotel and to shower and pack everything up.  Actually pretty much first thing I did was pack the pizza and pop I ordered the night before into my backpack and brought it out to the car.  Even though it was early in the morning the streets were still busy with people.  When I exited the hotel I stood at the front of the entrance momentarily to look around and re-orient myself to see where I was at, while two cute jogger girls bumped into me and said, “oh, sorry!” while they giggled.  Another odd-surprise, the Red Roof lobby was dripping and soaking wet for some reason, looking like a whole part of the ceiling caved in.  It was odd because the earthquake yesterday caused the water piping above the lobby ceiling to break at a Californian airport and that looked eerily similar.  I kept having to remind myself that it couldn’t have been the earthquake in California that caused it.

Well I wore my new bright red button shirt and gray golf pants to the interview.  The building was really really close to my hotel, just a block or two away.  The building was huge, golden, and pretty, you couldn’t miss it what with the huge NBC logo and all.  I walked by a couple of Koreans in office uniform, a girl and a guy sitting outside for a break and I knew I was in the right place.  There were really expensive cars and valets at the front door, I think even a limo.  The first floor was bare, nothing but a office clerk and a security guard in the back, and everything made of marble which made it look really cool.  I asked her, “ok first is there a bathroom in the building?” and she answered robotically as if she had said it a thousand times “this is a public/commercial/? building blah blah… there is no restrooms” then I was like “OK where is the Korean consulate?” and she was like “27 floor take the second set of elevators to your left you can have the something something use the key something if you like”, and I was like OK.

Well I get into the elevator with an American and a Korean guy and we wait while it goes up.  I didn’t have to press the floor button because we were all going the same place.  Inside the elevator was a perfectly clear mirror and I saw that my collar was a little crooked because of the huge weight of my bookbag pulling my shirt back.  I tried to fix it a little without the two others noticing but they were, so I just stopped and said, ah oh well no biggie.

When I went into the office there were about 8 or so Americans there.  On the right there were about four windows, one for visas, etc. and on the left were three tan leather couches arranged in a corner and facing the outside window.  From what I had read from the forums, I was expecting the waiting place to be gated like an old western-style saloon with swinging doors or something like that, but it was just those couches over in the corner in the same room.   I was really surprised at how many Americans were there, I guess I wasn’t expecting the place to be that busy.  I had to wait in line for two people, one of the girls was a bit dressed up and with her father, which to me shows that she isn’t independent and might not be able to handle a life by herself without the help of her parents in Korea, and also it’s embarrassing.  I think it also shows that she has never done anything considerable by herself before or took risks, because if she had then she wouldn’t have been there with her father.  Also I had to wait for a chunkier girl to turn in the checklist I guess she didn’t know she had to fill out.  When it was my turn at the window I had my red folder whipped out and all ready to turn my documents in.  She first asked for the visa application, which I gave her and she asked me to fill in the visa confirmation number which I overlooked, luckily I thought ahead and wrote it down on a post it note and stuck it in the folder.  Then she asked for the checklist, my passport, and yes, yes, she did want the scan-copy of my diploma.  Phew, good thing I followed through and made my boss give me a copy.

I paid her the money, asked if I wanted multiple entry if I should do that in Korea she said yes yes all quick like and told me to take a seat and wait.  So I went and sat at the couch and looked outside while I overheard two girls waiting talking.  They talked about owing loans, how it sucks that it costs money to wire transfer, etc.  The one girl said she was from state that I don’t remember now, someplace really unimportant and the girl across from me, the pudgier one said she went to a small school that not many people know of, John Carroll, and that she lives in Cleveland.  Now although I’m from Ohio too and know of the school, I’m not the one that takes that opportunity to join the conversation.  That’s because I know once I say that, I’m stuck in a whole nonsense drab of smalltalk.  So I just keep looking out the window.  A guy came up to us at sat down and said “so, you guys going to teach in korea?”, and they were like yeah, you? And he was like, “Yeah my sister is, I’m waiting on her…” and I don’t really remember how the rest of that went so it wasn’t anything great.

When the girl on the left of me was called for the interview that girl across from me kept talking, and the guy that was sitting to the right of her wasn’t responding.  I was wondering if maybe they knew each other or not.  When her name was called, I got to see both of them and they indeed were brother and sister because of their orange hair.  So the guy sitting next to her was her brother.  Now that I think about it while writing this, there were mostly women applying for a visa and one guy besides me applying.  I didn’t really realize that there were that many women applying and it caught me by surprise.  It was only later tonight while I was reading the esl forums that my assumptions were proved correct, a poster admitted that the forum mainly consisted of women.

Well the girl called me and I walked into the room.  The room turned out to be a huge secretary room made of marble and one seat, it was amazingly beautiful.  I was wondering how the interview was going to work, was she going to sit in the seat and ask me questions?  She soon opened the door to an adjoining room, and sitting there was the man behind curtain, a middle aged and very professional looking Korean man in a suit and tie and waiting at a round table.  I was both surprised to see that I was tricked that he would be there and also happy to see that it would be a real interview where I could speak a little about Korea.  Oh and another thing I forgot to mention.  While I was waiting out in the lobby with others a girl just got done with her interview and came out and told the other girl still waiting for hers what they asked about.  I was like oh my gosh you people are fucking stupid.  She was like, “oh they asked you what school you went to… what your major is… what do you know about korea…” and I’m like, are you serious?  You really need help answering what school you went to or what your major is?  I could only imagine that it was tactics like that which enabled them to barely pass the joke schools of wherever they attended college.  It actually made me a bit nervous for no reason because they were nervous.  Anyways…

I think the interview while I sat down reminded me of the interview for Japan.  I thought the lady that brought me in was going to sit down too which would have only reinforced this feeling, but she left.  So he asks me a couple questions.  I don’t think I really answered them directly, I kind of danced around them and said what I had already prepared before I came in.  He asked what I know about Korea, I answered that what I know comes alot from the Korean friends I knew at school, he said yeah, like continue, and closed his eyes and looked tired of that answer, so I continued.  I was like I’m an international studies major, I have an interest in other cultures, I like Korean food, and I like Korean art.  While I was talking about that I asked him, “Did the celadon exhibit come through here?” and I paused, and he was looking straight ahead but off somewhere, and he shook his head a bit as he broke out of his daydreaming or whatever it was and he was like “huh?”, I think it’s the case that he isn’t used to being the one that answers the questions.  So I said, “Are you familiar with the celadon exhibit?” And he said no, it looked like he never heard of it, and then I proceeded to say what I planned to before I came in. “Oh, well it was displayed at KORUS house in DC and that’s some of the artwork I’m interested in.”  While I’m saying that he looks like he’s thinking off again, and I think he words KORUS house to himself but maybe he didn’t and that’s just what I’d like to imagine.  I don’t think he was planning to hear that.  Last question was the easiest, where do you see yourself in five to ten years, and I told him.

When asked what I studied specifically, I was trying to think of the word for United Nations but all I could come up with was NATO.  So he was like, explain to me some current NATO operations.  And hearing that, I thought fuck I don’t remember any specific thing, because I wasn’t interested in it, but just keep talking and don’t stop, just say anything.  So I first started thinking about saying, well it’s going to get a new president, the French president Sarkozy, then I thought no wait that’s the EU, fuck, so I was glad I was quick to figure that out.  Then I tried to think of specific operation names or countries, and I couldn’t think of any specific, so I decided to be as general as possible.  Remember this whole time I was still thinking that NATO was the UN, these are the things that happen when people are put under pressure.  So I said something to the effect of “Well in earlier operations, the organization was focused primarily on peacekeepng and doing so with little military force.  Now what’s going on is it’s more and more turning more militiristic, and using military force to keep peace, so that’s something that is controversial about it, but overall I think it’s a good organization”.  And he seemed puzzled, confused, and content with the question and that was it, besides saying that I’m leaving Aug. 6th and he said that I could just come pick it up Friday after 3 and with that I was happy.  I stood up, shook his hand, and fumbled with my shoes and bag while I left.

It was only while I was walking back that I realized my faux pas mixing the UN with NATO and I felt like an idiot.  To my good fortune, I looked NATO up later online and what I said was so general that it was still luckily true.  But I had so much adrenaline and to think about after the interview that I soon found myself at the farthest I’ve gone at the magnificent mile.

I had a few hours to go before 3 to check-in at my hotel so I walked around a bit and because I was starting to sweat I decided to get a Jamba Juice at a lower-level plaza I saw before.  I got the drink and sat outside to listen to the jazz band playing, for about an hour or so, it was still really hot out, I was really bored and not liking being out in the open.  When they stopped playing I went into Jamba Juice for about 45 minutes and just zoned out and looked at the driving directions.

When it was about 2:30 I left and got into the car.  The driving was a bit more difficult than the day before.  The driving to this hotel was really a bitch, a couple of hold-ups and one close call hitting someone turning lanes, but everything worked out alright and I found the place.  I was happy to be in a room and I danced by myself while listening to AOL radio.  I also did some research on the Internet and found out that there’s some sacrifices I’m going to have to make in Korea that I’m really going to miss.  Tomorrow I see Nate.  Well that’s about it.

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