Not quite there yet...

So I was supposed to leave for Korea this Wednesday, but the worst thing happened...

I arrived at the Korean consulate in San Francisco with my passport and a visa confirmation number on Monday morning, with the intention of going into the consulate and receiving a stamp on my passport and be on my way. But instead I was given a bunch of forms, and a list of things that I needed to bring to them. When I looked at the list of things that I needed, I found out that half of the things on the list were things that I sent over to South Korea to have my visa processed there!

Ugh! Now most people that know me haven't seen me mad, or at least not as mad as I can get, but at this point I thought I was going to lose it! Especially considering my morning consisted of riding on the bus for 40 minutes to arrive at the Korean Embassy only to find out information that they could have given to me over the phone! On the one hand, maybe I should have asked more questions, but on the other hand I also am frustrated because I wasn't aware of these requirements until 2 days before I was scheduled to leave.

Most of the things on this list were items that I could get on my own, but they wanted me to get a transcript, and a copy of my diploma, which would be challenging considering that I'm not in Goshen, so the transcript has to be mailed to me, and I was asked by the language institute in Korea to send the original diploma to them as part of the visa process!

So I faxed a transcript request to GC, which will be getting to me on wednesday morning, and I made a phone call to someone in Korea asking them to scan and email a copy of my diploma to me so I can print it out. I also canceled my flight, and will have to buy another plane ticket as soon as I can leave. (Fortunately I will be reimbursed for the plane ticket).

I'm supposed to be teaching classes on Monday, but I don't know if I'll be able to make it in time. Unfortunately I also won't be oriented before heading into a classroom, but fortunately, Jesse talk English good!

Wow...hipsters!

So I figured it would be easier to start a blog instead of sending an email every so often to chronicle my times in Korea.

But I haven't actually gotten to Korea yet! I'm in San Francisco visiting my friends Andrew and Raquel, who apparently live in an area called "The Mission". It turns out that a lot of these missionaries are either early to mid twenties hipsters, or hispanic and latina.

Today Andrew, his mom and brother, Raquel and I went to a park down the street from where they live, and it was immensely crowded, but not to the point where it was too uncomfortable to hang out.

It was a nice park, on a nice sunny day, and to my surprise it was fairly cool. Despite being in California where you'd think that it would be warm in the summer, San Francisco is pretty much surrounded by water on all sides, and so the cool air from the Pacific ocean keeps the city fairly cool.

The most amusing part of the day was how many people came by us and offered an assortment of pot brownies and pot truffles as we sat on a blanket in the middle of this park!

I've also found it amusing last night how tasty a hot dog wrapped in bacon was when you top it with onions, mustard, ketchup, and mayo.

Anyway, I'll write more later. Feel free to comment on any posts, or send me an email at jesseaj@gmail.com