Dealing with the UK Border Agency part 3

It really helps when they answer your call. I have just got off the phone from the UK Border Agency with much better results than last month and earlier this week. The man I spoke to was able to confirm some facts and gave correct information on things that we were unsure of. For example, applying in person will cost £1377 but 90% of these cases are settled within 24 hours - figures verified by who though?

When I mentioned that a previous call ended in the woman I spoke to putting the phone down on me he actually apologised. I will ring back again nearer the time should we decide to follow through with the application. We still need more information on the process and my wife would have to take the Life in the UK Test. For now we have some thinking to do. As always, money may dictate how things go but life in the UK may not be what it once was.

Dealing with the UK Border Agency part 2

This process does not get any easier. I've made several calls to the UK Border Agency today over the past three hours or so and each time I have reached the very end of the options you have to choose from only to hear the following message, "All of our telephone operators are currently busy and you will have to telephone back if you wish to speak to us." And then the line cuts out. They are not even putting me on hold any more. I will keep trying I guess.

Dealing with the UK Border Agency part 1

In a few months time my wife's visa will run out. We are currently going through the process of a) finding out how re-application goes b) whether or not we want to apply for a new visa. The visa process for the UK is both infuriating and stressful. I fully understand why the procedure has to be thorough but it is labyrinthian in it's complexity. Things are never easy here any more especially as the right wing press have spread fear over immigration numbers and benefit payments so the government has made immigration to the UK even harder.

I've just spent fifteen minutes on hold to the UK Border Agency (not a free phone number obviously) listening to a loop of one Mozart composition. When I finally got through my line was not totally clear but good enough to understand and be understood. I had a list of questions which I wanted to ask and the first words the lady said were, "We're here to answer your questions."

The reason for our questions is that the procedure is almost certainly designed to be just complex enough to put people off. Worded in such a way that clarity is there yet not clear enough to be certain enough of understanding. If there are any errors in the application then flat out you won't get your visa and won't be refunded the £1,000 plus it cost you and you almost certainly won't be told why your application failed.

My line was a bit crackly as I gave the lady I spoke to the name of the visa I was asking about. She asked me what the name of the form for the application was. Of course, my fault I didn't know but as I was supplying the name of the actual visa I thought it would be clear enough. After minutes of going backwards and forwards and restating that the line wasn't crystal clear, the lady put the phone down on me. Thank you very much for nothing UK Border Agency but I will return and get my questions answered. I just never want to hear Eine Kleine Nachtmusik again.

1 month to go

So one more month left in Korea. I finish my job on May 31st but will be leaving for Hong Kong in the early hours of June 2nd. Happy to be moving on, it's time but of course with mixed emotions. I have been busy of late and unable to write much here but will be addressing that soon. Recently I've finished taekwondo after some eighteen months or so, begun the long packing process and have been met with a series of unepected and unwelcome bills to pay. And of course 'teaching'.


Last week one of my external hard drives broke and I have so far been unable retrieve most of the information but luckily I have got a lot of the important stuff like photographs backed up elsewhere. I did lose a lot of things that I had been saving though. Today is supposed to see swathes of yellow dust sweep across Korea so I will be putting my feet up inside. I am very excited about this month and the future ahead of my wife and I. We're hoping to have a fun and relaxing last month in Korea.

Spousal visa success

Relief and joy. They were the overwhelming feelings today in Seoul. We headed there early to get the results of her spousal visa application. And my wife now has a two year visa for the UK. I was pacing the corridor as my wife was in the Visa centre opening her package and we got the result we were desperate for. Much to our surprise the visa was processed within 24 hours of it arriving in Manila. Now we can plan ahead for our future. We've already started looking at flights home.

So, two months to go. Time is slipping away very quickly and I'll be back in the North of England in just a few weeks from now. In truth I am happy to go but know I will miss the place which has been my home for over five years a lot. I have taken my job as far as I can as things stand. I am tired of the work and need a break, need a challenge and importantly a change of scenery. We're both very happy with today's result and can now move on to stuff like sending things back to the UK. But I don't think things will take too long to sort out. I think my next few weeks will be a lot of fun. How can they not be with this beautiful weather?

Back to Seoul again

Today we got an email from the Visa centre people telling us that our application has been pocessed already. We don't know if we're successful yet as they cannot tell us over the phone or via email. So tomorrow in the morning we're making the trip up to Seoul just one week after handing in the documents.

We're amazed at the speed of it all. The application only reached Manila on Monday and already the result is in and my wife's passport is back in Korea. Do we take it as a good sign? We're finding it difficult to take it any other way but of course we can't be overly confident. Both of us feel that we put forward as compelling a case as we could. At least we won't be left dangling for a month waiting for the results.

Today I saw my wife nervous so the first time. She's shown no stress up to this point where as I've been the one fretting over things. Today for a few minutes she showed me her worries. Thankfully it didn't last long as she is back to her normal, cheerful self. I have found it difficult at work though with my mind on more important matters. There really is no great Plan B. Fingers crossed, eh.

Nearly there

Light at the end of the tunnel. We have nearly, but not quite, finished the application for my wife's spousal visa. I've found the process very stressful at times but we're nearly there. I hope to sleep soundly tonight for a change.

We're just adding the finishing touches, have a few things to print off and one document to collect and we're done. Then we head to Seoul on Friday to hand everything in. We've given it our best shot and there is little else we think we could do.

Tomorrow we have to sort everything out into it's rightful place but we've collected nearly everything we need. Today we finished the actual application form (it is done online). Right at the end you get the amount you need to pay. And surprise surprise, it's gone up. The application fee is 1,425,000won which is roughly £775. Money well spent of course if the application is successful.

Partner teacher stress

My worst student who I will refer to as 'Child Y' (which stands for, "Child, WHY do you keep doing this?") is giving one of my partner teacher's a lot of stress. Ever since we moved into the new building and his class changed into a smaller one he has become a real pain. Disrespectful, rude, arrogant, a bit of a bully and in general very poorly behaved. But only in my class, not my Korean partners.

I have discussed the matter several times with my partner and yesterday things seemingly reached a tipping point. In my class he upset another student. I dealt with the issue but the boy seemed to take no notice of me, however the upset child showed no signs of distress at all so I thought no more of it. I am told now that the boy went home and cried.

Of course my partner got a call from the mother today and she complained understandably. Then, my partner contacted the mother of 'Child Y' to tell the story and to basically complain about her boys behaviour, again. The mother of 'Child Y' then proceeded to moan, shout and complain about all this and ultimately seemed to blame me but in the process giving my partner a lot of stress. Thankfully my partner wasn't taking this lightly and argued our corner.

They talked for twenty minutes and seemingly got nowhere. The problem is that in the Korean teachers class he behaves but in the foreign teachers class - not just mine but the others that have taught him - he behaves terribly. We talked it over for a quite a long time but it was clear my partner teacher was really angry and stressed out. The simple fact is that now if he steps out of line in the he will be punished in the form of detention, called jaeshi at my academy. In fact if he continues I will just refuse to teach him, things are close to reaching that point. Students like this really stick in your throat because 95% of the rest behave fantastically. I wonder who he gets his behaviour from.

Visas and hair colour

Day two of the process for gathering documents for my wife's visa and it's going OK so far. There is little that I can do to help my wife with regards to some of the things she needs but I am there for her if she needs any help or advice.

I've been able to set the ball rolling on acquiring some of the things I need including bank documents from the UK and information regarding my employment. Also I've been working on getting a letter from my brother guaranteeing accommodation should we need it. Tomorrow I am off to the bank for more statements and also to ask a former employer for some help with a kind of reference.

I am finding it a bit stressful but things like this do tend to cause me more concern that others. Luckily my wonderful wife does not worry about things as much as I do. Hopefully my concern over the thoroughness of the application makes sure everything has been done to be successful. I look forward to the process further advancing my greying hair.

Posters don't motivate staff, and neither does criticism

On Thursday we arrived at work and something was different. A big poster inside the teachers room (see picture - obscured to remove my academy logo). When we saw this a few of us chuckled. I don't know why. It just seemed an unnecessary motivational banner. Was this for the foreign teachers or the Korean staff? Still better than those 'you don't have to be crazy to work here but it helps' ones. Teaching CAN be fun, I have fun every day but I don't need to be told. I'd rather see a Learning Is Fun poster in the classrooms

Source - IvanKorea

Anyway. It's just a picture. Right now the atmosphere is not so super at work. A number of changes have been made to the curriculum. No big deal for us foreign teachers, but the changes keep coming and they're not always for the better. However the changes are a big deal for the Korean staff. They seem to be under a lot of pressure, getting lots of stress from management and demands are increasing on both their time and energy.

Last night a couple of use were talking about it after work and going over the things we thought were bad ideas and mistakes. We ended up going for some makgeolli (막걸리) to wind down. Yesterday at work the Korean teachers (not 'us') were given a letter that would be circulated to parents and detailed a number of things that management thought were going wrong. I don't want to go into details but the letter went down badly with my Korean co-workers. They were shocked and I think angry at the content. My thoughts - less slogans more understanding and appreciation please for the hard work that Korean teacher do at.

My wedding day in Korea

I've been a little slow in writing this up, not because I didn't want to but because I've been knackered with the lead up to it, the actual day and a genuine lack of sleep afterwards so I'll try to describe things as best as I can now.

Last Saturday I had a 'Wedding celebration lunch', which ended up being basically just a wedding but without any of the vows. To explain further, my wife and I married some seven months ago but didn't have an actual wedding. Things have been great since then but at times I think my wife felt a little incomplete, like we weren't properly married so we knew we had to sort something out. In the end we decided to have lunch with some family and friends to celebrate our marriage.

In the lead up to last weekend I started to get a little nervous, which was very irrational because we've been married for so long but in truth I am a little uncomfortable dealing with crowds of people I don't know or don't know very well. I was a bit anxious and didn't sleep much and spent too much time thinking what would happen. I needn't have worried because we had such a great day.

Preparation for this didn't take as long as many weddings do but there were things to sort out which we managed to do quite easily and my wife deserves credit for all the hard work she put in. The day started at the wedding shop (don't know the technical name). The make up and hair for my wife and her immediate family took over two hours. Myself, they did put some stuff on my hair and I got dressed up in a suit which was bought a few weeks prior and then we were off to the hotel where we were maving the lunch.

After looking at a few places which could hold the number of people we wanted we settled on the Burgundy room at the hotel Novotel in Daegu. This is very central in Daegu and very easy to get in and out of. The choice proved to be a good one for us. The room where we had lunch was very good, with a view of the city centre that overlooked a park rather than the less salubrious parts.

When we got there we had to prepare some things and then to wait for the people to arrive. I waited with my wife, my mother in-law and my wife's brother. My mother in-law were wearing traditional Korean clothes (a hanbok) whilst my wife rented a wedding dress for the occasion. We greeted everyone who came. Invites were restricted to coming from my wife, myself or from my mother in-law. We thought we had invited around fifty people, but it turned out that sixty seven came, so they room filled out quite well. If forty people had come I'd have been happy but nearly everyone invited came which helped make the day special for all of us.

Inviting people was a little difficult for me. Firstly none of my family could make the trip and we had already decided that we would have some kind of celebration when we made our way back to the UK to live. Also being here for over four years I have made many friends and acquaintances and in normal circumstances would have liked to have invited many more people than I did. Because of the transient nature of my job I have met many people who have subsequently left and it would be impossible for them to come.

Here I must mention that my wife and I have been to many weddings here in Korea. Some good, some bad, some terrible and almost nothing we'd seen together that we wanted incorporated into any celebration of ours. That meant no kids running around, trying to get people not to wear jeans and baseballs caps, no electric violins, no smoke or dry-ice machines, no confetti throwing bazookas and no cheesy wedding pictures. Of course, some things we talked about not doing we ended up doing (cheesy pictures of us) but that ended up being OK.

When everyone had arrived and sat down we made our way into the room. My wife's cousins husband (phew) introduced us with some words that I have been told were kind. I really appreciated him doing that. One of the unfortunate things about having a poor command of the Korean language means I am restricted in my communication with my wife's family. I wish I could have heard what he said.

After being introduced the spotlight really was on us. This is what I was having a bit of stress with. I don't like being the centre of attention but, that's kind of the idea when you have a wedding. I had decided to make a quick speech about how much I love my wife. I had to write it down. After I had finished I saw my wife holding back tears - was my speech that bad? Well I knew she was emotional and it turns out she loved what I said, even though it was very simple it came from the heart.

I asked my wife is she wanted to say something but she was unable to at the time due to the situation. My wife has subsequently told me that she was so emotional that if she had said something then she would have cried (happy tears!) so she tried to keep her composure. Then my mother in-law said some words. This day was really about my wife and her mother. It was great for them both to have a day where everyone was celebrating them. I know they both had a great time and they really deserved that.

We then had to cut the cake that we ordered the previous week. However it was rock hard. They even gave us what resembled a sword to help cut it but to no avail. Luckily it thawed out as the afternoon went on. After that the pressure was off and we went round the tables and thanked everyone for coming and encouraged them to eat. The feedback we got was that the food was good for the situation although I have to say I wasn't able to eat much because I was a little busy just enjoying the day.

I managed to talk with a lot of my friends and Ivan my co-worker took several photos that we will treasure. Bright sunshine filled the room throughout and I think things couldn't really have gone any better. At the end of the day we were tired both physically and emotionally, but with a sense of satisfaction that would be hard to replicate. The day exceeded our expectations and will remain in our memory for a long time hopefully. We now truly feel like a married couple.

Fingers crossed

Today is a pretty important day for me at work. Every six months or so, all foreign teachers at the company I work for are observed by one of our foreign managers. Later on we get feedback on how well we did or what mistakes we need to try and cut out. The feedback and some other things go into consideration when deciding to offer a new contract or not. I am not worried about my observation but like to well so I feel a little stress and I'm confident enough in the job I have done and am doing.

However, IF things go badly and I don't get a new contract I don't know what I will do. The chances of that happening I feel are slim. So far observations have gone very well from both my foreign and Korean managers. Also, though I don't know the percentages, overwhelmingly the company likes to keep its teachers. Unless there have been serious problems with staff they like to re-sign teachers as hiring new employees is always risky. I expect to get a new contract but it feels wrong to presume I will get one. If I don't get the new contract some of my plans are in jeopardy and the immediate future would be most uncertain. Fingers crossed.