Well, I just had my interview, and it went better than I expected! Despite my housemate KILLING the internet WHILE the interviewer was trying to phone me. For pete's sake.
Anyway, here's how it went:
5:30am I had set my alarm for 7am, but of course I woke up hours before that, full of jittery nerves. Fantastic. Only 3 and a half hours to kill before the long-dreaded moment of the skype call. I passed the time by watching some apartment tour videos, and suddenly it was 8:00 and I needed to get up and get ready. Preparation yesterday helped a lot, as I had an outfit laid out and my skin was looking good. Hair... uncooperative. I put it in a bun.
8:30am By now I was pretty sure my department was open so I sprinted to the only labs on campus that I can get into without my magical student card (it's magic in that it always disappears just when I need it the most). My diet is working (yay) but that means my pants are too loose, so sprinting while holding them up made for some early entertainment for innocent bystanders.
8:40am I arrived at the department, sprinted (gasping for air) up three flights of stairs only to discover a big shiny padlock on the door to the computer labs. I didn't have time to try any other labs on campus, so I found someone in an office in the department and begged a favour. Application form in hand, I sprinted home to get changed, set my laptop up in the right place (with a view of the wall rather than my messy room) and test my audio settings.
8:50am Home, set up, and having a huge asthma attack thanks to all the sprinting. Puff puff goes the ventolin and, as usual, it made me coughy and phlegmy which isn't ideal. I coughed as much as I could so that my voice would be clear for the interview, and settled in to wait for the interview.
8:55am SOMEONE IS KILLING THE INTERNET. WHY? I asked people three times to stay the hell off the internet for just that hour or so, and yet my connection was bouncing up and down like a bunny on a pogo stick. My kind flatmate ran across the garden to crap on the digsmate, and the connection seemed to stabilise.
9:00am Stable-ish. I asked my recruiter to give me a quick test call just in case. But when the call came through, I was greeted by the friendly face of a fellow applicant who had just had his own interview. He calmed me down and gave me some tips and before I knew it...
9:10am interview time! But the friendly applicant was still talking to me. Oh god oh god what if I miss the call? He said it's all right; they usually don't phone on the dot.
9:14am No call yet and my internet has dipped AGAIN. I will murder someone. With a rusty spoon, slowly gouging out their
ring ring... Or, in Skype's case, bloop bloopedy bloop.
And there she was - an adorably cute lady with awesome hair and a big smile on her face. Completely non-threatening looking. And surprisingly close to my little doodled picture that I stuck above my webcam for improved eye contact. How 'bout that.
Some people have shared common questions that come up, and my recruiter had sent us a list as well, so I had thought about answers to those questions. My friend had her interview yesterday and she said those were the exact questions asked.
Not so for me. So even if I was unethical enough to share the questions with you, I doubt it would help. I think the best thing to prepare is to think long and hard about why you want this, what you want out of it, what makes you an awesome teacher and what you know about Korean culture. My having read up on Confucian hierarchies and the idea of 'face' definitely helped my interview.
Some questions were curveballs as a result, but I think I did well - I just took a deep breath, and answered the questions as honestly as I could. Some of my answers made her laugh and smile.
9:45am Interview over, and I think it went pretty well. Lots of smiling, laughing, and nodding. I think that's a good sign. She did ask me how motivated I was to come to Korea, as many applicants have dropped out during the application process itself, and I might have come on a bit too strong. I may have mentioned the fact that I don't have a back up plan, and have put everything into this, so if I don't get the job, not only will I be utterly heartbroken, but I'll be homeless and jobless too. So... Yeah. On a scale of 1 to 10, my motivation is 10 000 000 000 000. At least I didn't outright say "PLEASE PLEASE OH GOD PLEASE GIVE ME THE JOB." But I came pretty close.
So now I wait for the results.
So frikking excited and jittery right now.
Sjoe.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Pre-interview jitters and preparation
My interview is set for 9:10am tomorrow morning, and I've spent much of the day bouncing between getting ready for it and trying not to think about it. See, I'm one of those people who gets nervous when they phone to order pizza. I even get nervous when I phone the machine at vodacom to check my airtime - thank goodness for the wonders of *100#. Of course, this leads to tension when my mom asks me to make calls for her when she's driving... I digress.
Preparing for your Epik Interview
The night before last I sat up looking at pictures on pinterest of amazing studio apartments, and daydreaming (at night) of having piles of money and decorating my Korean apartment in a creative, whimsical and yet classy way. I think I ended up getting about an hour's sleep. So yesterday I was a bit of a nervous wreck. And then the email came in, telling me when my interview was. I decided to make sure to get a good night's sleep last night, and got as much as possible, waking up round 10ish.
Since the interview is on camera, I decided to spend a little time giving my skin some TLC:
I also picked out an outfit for my upper half (black blouse, black pin-striped blazer) and found a location for my interview. My room is a mess and with only one window, my desk wasn't an option as the window would cause me to be silhouetted. So I have opted for the floor, with my laptop on my trunk at eye-level, angled so that all that is visible is the wall and a bit of book shelf - the same view as in the image above. I tried out some different hairstyles but apparently my hair isn't cooperating today. I'll straighten it tomorrow and probably stick it in a bun or something. Fancy. Not.
I also test-drove skype for the bazillionth time by calling my recruiter to test my settings. I'm working on speaking more slowly, and she said my current speed is perfect. Although our internet has been bouncing up and down for the last two days, she said the quality was perfect, so that's another worry sorted. If my internet is crap tomorrow then I cannot vouch for the continued safety of my housemates, who tend to kill all bandwidth with whatever it is they do.
During the call, I realised that I struggle to maintain eye-contact while talking, so I have MADE A PLAN. It's pretty hard for me to make eye contact with a tiny built-in webcam so I have drawn a picture of my interviewer (based on her Skype profile picture) and am sticking it to my laptop's lid. I have tried to make her as friendly and non-threatening as possible. Ain't she cute?
I'm currently going through the questions that my recruiter said might pop up and thinking up clever answers for them. I'm also practicing my Korean pronunciation on 'Annyeonghaseyo' (hello), 'gamsahapnida' (thank you) and 'hanguk mal eul jal mora yo' (I don't speak Korean very well).
Now all I need to do is print out my application form, which I'll have to do tomorrow because I've lost my student card AGAIN and can't get into labs, and that's it. I'm all set. And still terrified.
Preparing for your Epik Interview
The night before last I sat up looking at pictures on pinterest of amazing studio apartments, and daydreaming (at night) of having piles of money and decorating my Korean apartment in a creative, whimsical and yet classy way. I think I ended up getting about an hour's sleep. So yesterday I was a bit of a nervous wreck. And then the email came in, telling me when my interview was. I decided to make sure to get a good night's sleep last night, and got as much as possible, waking up round 10ish.
Since the interview is on camera, I decided to spend a little time giving my skin some TLC:
 |
| I recommend washing the face mask off BEFORE the interview. Otherwise your interviewer might have a heart attack. |
I also test-drove skype for the bazillionth time by calling my recruiter to test my settings. I'm working on speaking more slowly, and she said my current speed is perfect. Although our internet has been bouncing up and down for the last two days, she said the quality was perfect, so that's another worry sorted. If my internet is crap tomorrow then I cannot vouch for the continued safety of my housemates, who tend to kill all bandwidth with whatever it is they do.
During the call, I realised that I struggle to maintain eye-contact while talking, so I have MADE A PLAN. It's pretty hard for me to make eye contact with a tiny built-in webcam so I have drawn a picture of my interviewer (based on her Skype profile picture) and am sticking it to my laptop's lid. I have tried to make her as friendly and non-threatening as possible. Ain't she cute?
I'm currently going through the questions that my recruiter said might pop up and thinking up clever answers for them. I'm also practicing my Korean pronunciation on 'Annyeonghaseyo' (hello), 'gamsahapnida' (thank you) and 'hanguk mal eul jal mora yo' (I don't speak Korean very well).
Now all I need to do is print out my application form, which I'll have to do tomorrow because I've lost my student card AGAIN and can't get into labs, and that's it. I'm all set. And still terrified.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A list of listy lists. And the PCC Debacle is far from resolved.
First things first: The email address given on the SAPS website for police clearance certificate queries is WRONG.
The correct address is crcnameclearance
1. Check on my PCC and speed up the process.
2. Pick it up.
3. Get it apostilled.
4. Send it on to my recruiter.
But of course, our wonderful civil services have thwarted my attempt to save time and moneyby spending money:
1. Nationwide delivery strikes led to my PCC getting lost in the mail.
2. When they did eventually find it, weeks later, the backlog from the strikes meant that my PCC took longer to appear on the database than it should have,
3. Their website provides the wrong contact information, so weeks after I emailed this wrong address about wanting them to NOT POST IT, but rather give it to my document lady, I still had not received even the slightest acknowledgment of receipt. My documents lady gave me the correct email address, which I have reposted above. But I was too late...
4. After I emailed the correct address, I received an email from them saying that I had just missed it; the processed PCC was posted to me this morning.
So, who's willing to bet this will a) get stolen, b) go missing, c) spontaneously combust?
While it isn't my document lady's fault, considering that the Civil Services have successfully thwarted any chance she might have had of doing anything remotely useful (not for want of trying), I am trying to see if I can be refunded at least some of the money.
And I'm trying not to cry, and trying not to murder someome.
But you know me - I'm an optimist. So, final list in this rather listy post:
1. At least it's been processed.
2. At least it's on its way.
3. At least my house isn't flooded.
4. At least I'm not living in a bathroom (true story, it happened, maybe I'll mention it someday - probably in the same breath as 'WOW this Korean apartment is TINY' or something. Stay tuned for that).
5. At least I'm alive.
6. At least the internet is working (albeit intermittently).
7. At least my interview has been scheduled!!!!!
The correct address is crcnameclearance
1. Check on my PCC and speed up the process.
2. Pick it up.
3. Get it apostilled.
4. Send it on to my recruiter.
But of course, our wonderful civil services have thwarted my attempt to save time and money
1. Nationwide delivery strikes led to my PCC getting lost in the mail.
2. When they did eventually find it, weeks later, the backlog from the strikes meant that my PCC took longer to appear on the database than it should have,
3. Their website provides the wrong contact information, so weeks after I emailed this wrong address about wanting them to NOT POST IT, but rather give it to my document lady, I still had not received even the slightest acknowledgment of receipt. My documents lady gave me the correct email address, which I have reposted above. But I was too late...
4. After I emailed the correct address, I received an email from them saying that I had just missed it; the processed PCC was posted to me this morning.
So, who's willing to bet this will a) get stolen, b) go missing, c) spontaneously combust?
While it isn't my document lady's fault, considering that the Civil Services have successfully thwarted any chance she might have had of doing anything remotely useful (not for want of trying), I am trying to see if I can be refunded at least some of the money.
And I'm trying not to cry, and trying not to murder someome.
But you know me - I'm an optimist. So, final list in this rather listy post:
1. At least it's been processed.
2. At least it's on its way.
3. At least my house isn't flooded.
4. At least I'm not living in a bathroom (true story, it happened, maybe I'll mention it someday - probably in the same breath as 'WOW this Korean apartment is TINY' or something. Stay tuned for that).
5. At least I'm alive.
6. At least the internet is working (albeit intermittently).
7. At least my interview has been scheduled!!!!!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The Great PCC Debacle of 2012
Crikey, what a mission. I suppose it serves me right for ignoring warnings and leaving it so late to apply for my Police Clearance Certificate, the very last document that I need. Well, in early September, I went to get fingerprinted. R59 and some very dirty hands later, I was ready to send it on to be processed at the Criminal Records Centre in Pretoria.
Mistake number 1: I didn't send it immediately; I was waiting until the new EPIK application form came out so I could do all my posting at once. Get this sorted out ASAP.
So eventually I speed-serviced it over to Pretoria. Getting a tracking number reassured me, as this one envelope contains everything an identity thief could ever dream of. I sent it off the day after my EPIK stuff was sent to my recruiter for the simple reason that I'd forgotten to bring it with me on my first visit to the post office.
Mistake number 2: Wrapped in the bubble of news-silence that is Grahamstown, I was unaware that there was looming strike action. And, whaddaya know? The very week I send my most important document off, the delivery truck drivers go on strike. Story of my life. The post office outsourced to private drivers. However, this inevitably led to chaos as these guys really are not trained to do post. For example, one guy gave the entire bag of post - parcels, snail mail and speed services - to the nearest human being, a security guard, when he arrived before the post office opened. Luckily that security guard was an honest person, and he brought it into the post office branch where my flatmate works (which is why I know this happened).
As a result of this fiasco, my PCC went missing. And I only discovered this when Noma, the nice lady at Docs4Expats who I'd paid to speed things up and to monitor it, emailed me to tell me that it hadn't arrived. Even though I'd sent it over a week before that.
I spent an entire day phoning the post office and police station (and intermittently crying in between) trying to find my missing documents, and Noma suggested I get re-fingerprinted and send them via courier as soon as possible. The wonderful lady at the Post Office went out of her way to track my parcel down, and finally managed to confirm that it had been delivered to the CRC in Pretoria. When the young cop on the phone at the CRC told me about how they were barely dealing with the backlog, and sounded like she was going to cry from being shouted at by an entire country all day, I decided to give it a week. I also didn't want to go back to the dodgiest part of town to get fingerprinted. Again.
So I waited, and waited, and waited. The strike ended and Noma said she'd see if she could pick up the documents from the post office. And that was the last I heard about it - which is understandable as nearly every person and their aunt is using Noma to get things apostilled and so on in Pretoria this time of year, so she is beyond busy.
On Friday I asked my nice boyfriend if he could give me a lift to the police station to get re-fingerprinted this Monday, as rain has been putting me off the walk. Well, it has not stopped raining since Wednesday. And not the usual half-hearted drizzle; this is 5 days of solid torrential downpour, 24/7 (except for a brief sunny respite which coincided with our usual Ultimate Frisbee practice time, luckily enough). Nearby towns are flooded, and a couple of hours ago the only road to the nearest city was washed away by a flooded river.
Here are some photos of the devastation in Grahamstown:
So... if I did try to post anything, it would go via Port Elizabeth. But only if the van is driven by Sandra Bullock.
In a fit of optimism I decided to see if anything had progressed on Pretoria's end, by checking the status of my application here.
And lo and behold, my PCC application has appeared on their database, which means it is being processed. Additionally, the other day my original copy of my TEFL certificate arrived in Mauritius, so I'm just that much closer to being in Korea. My recruiter says I'm on the waiting list for an interview, so I should hear about that any day now.
In the end, after all this chaos, things are looking up. Well, except for the destruction of the main supply lines to town. Farms have lost their crops because of flooding, and anything they did manage to harvest is stuck on the other side of impassable roads, so (of course) Pick n Pay have doubled their prices and it looks like I'll have to start rationing the cookies. Students have been seen bum-surfing on local schools' fields, some businesses are closed, and it is quite likely that no one will show up to class on Monday, as students in this town are known to dissolve if they get wet. Something to do with the alcohol content in their blood streams.
Time to break out the rubber duckie.
Mistake number 1: I didn't send it immediately; I was waiting until the new EPIK application form came out so I could do all my posting at once. Get this sorted out ASAP.
So eventually I speed-serviced it over to Pretoria. Getting a tracking number reassured me, as this one envelope contains everything an identity thief could ever dream of. I sent it off the day after my EPIK stuff was sent to my recruiter for the simple reason that I'd forgotten to bring it with me on my first visit to the post office.
Mistake number 2: Wrapped in the bubble of news-silence that is Grahamstown, I was unaware that there was looming strike action. And, whaddaya know? The very week I send my most important document off, the delivery truck drivers go on strike. Story of my life. The post office outsourced to private drivers. However, this inevitably led to chaos as these guys really are not trained to do post. For example, one guy gave the entire bag of post - parcels, snail mail and speed services - to the nearest human being, a security guard, when he arrived before the post office opened. Luckily that security guard was an honest person, and he brought it into the post office branch where my flatmate works (which is why I know this happened).
As a result of this fiasco, my PCC went missing. And I only discovered this when Noma, the nice lady at Docs4Expats who I'd paid to speed things up and to monitor it, emailed me to tell me that it hadn't arrived. Even though I'd sent it over a week before that.
I spent an entire day phoning the post office and police station (and intermittently crying in between) trying to find my missing documents, and Noma suggested I get re-fingerprinted and send them via courier as soon as possible. The wonderful lady at the Post Office went out of her way to track my parcel down, and finally managed to confirm that it had been delivered to the CRC in Pretoria. When the young cop on the phone at the CRC told me about how they were barely dealing with the backlog, and sounded like she was going to cry from being shouted at by an entire country all day, I decided to give it a week. I also didn't want to go back to the dodgiest part of town to get fingerprinted. Again.
So I waited, and waited, and waited. The strike ended and Noma said she'd see if she could pick up the documents from the post office. And that was the last I heard about it - which is understandable as nearly every person and their aunt is using Noma to get things apostilled and so on in Pretoria this time of year, so she is beyond busy.
On Friday I asked my nice boyfriend if he could give me a lift to the police station to get re-fingerprinted this Monday, as rain has been putting me off the walk. Well, it has not stopped raining since Wednesday. And not the usual half-hearted drizzle; this is 5 days of solid torrential downpour, 24/7 (except for a brief sunny respite which coincided with our usual Ultimate Frisbee practice time, luckily enough). Nearby towns are flooded, and a couple of hours ago the only road to the nearest city was washed away by a flooded river.
Here are some photos of the devastation in Grahamstown:
 |
| The main road to Port Elizabeth |
So... if I did try to post anything, it would go via Port Elizabeth. But only if the van is driven by Sandra Bullock.
In a fit of optimism I decided to see if anything had progressed on Pretoria's end, by checking the status of my application here.
And lo and behold, my PCC application has appeared on their database, which means it is being processed. Additionally, the other day my original copy of my TEFL certificate arrived in Mauritius, so I'm just that much closer to being in Korea. My recruiter says I'm on the waiting list for an interview, so I should hear about that any day now.
In the end, after all this chaos, things are looking up. Well, except for the destruction of the main supply lines to town. Farms have lost their crops because of flooding, and anything they did manage to harvest is stuck on the other side of impassable roads, so (of course) Pick n Pay have doubled their prices and it looks like I'll have to start rationing the cookies. Students have been seen bum-surfing on local schools' fields, some businesses are closed, and it is quite likely that no one will show up to class on Monday, as students in this town are known to dissolve if they get wet. Something to do with the alcohol content in their blood streams.
Time to break out the rubber duckie.
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