So, as we mentioned in a previous post, Greg and I received our visa issuance numbers while we were in Philadelphia. That wasn’t the end of what would inevitably be a rather arduous visa process, though.  Apparently, the South Korean government wanted to make sure we were real people before letting us into their country. This required having us resubmit countless forms, photographs and transcripts as well as an in-person interview.

Since we were going to be there anyway, we decided to save ourselves the trip to Chicago and try and do the interview at the Korean Consulate General in NYC. We called ahead to schedule the interview, then made a run to Rite Aid to have what seemed like our 348207542790385943 passport photo taken. Realizing that we hadn’t bothered to bring any official sealed transcripts on our trip, we made a frantic call to my wonderful mother who dug them out of the mess we made in the storage room and had them overnighted to our hotel in Brooklyn (thanks Mom!). Then, just to be safe, we called UM and had another set of copies sent to New York from the Registrars office. We were hoping at least one set would meet us in New York, and they both did.

On Friday, with all the necessary documents in hand, we made our way to the Korean consulate on Park Avenue, took the elevator up several floors, and were  promptly handed another stack of forms to fill out and turn in to a consulate office worker sitting behind bullet-proof glass. Thinking this was the entire interview process and we had gotten off easy, we breathed a little sigh of relief. Alas, no such luck. “Follow me,” said the man at the desk as he ushered us through a side door, down a long corridor, and into a spectacular and very large office. This was the Consul’s office and apparently she had nothing better to do that day than interview us herself. Fair enough. We sat down on her couch and she proceeded to ask us a series of strange and slightly awkward questions. Why do you want to come to Korea? What would make you a good teacher? Do you have any children? What is your quest? What is the average air-speed velocity of an unlaiden swallow?

With that done, they collected our passports and let us know that they would be ready by Monday, which meant we should have them by Tuesday afternoon. Fingers crossed.

We both felt naked without our passports. Handing them over to a foreign government and then leaving the state isn’t easy. But today we went to the Post Office and sure enough, there are passports were, waiting patiently for us. Inside each, we found a shiny new visa bearing the inscription “Republic of Korea”. So now, we are a few steps closer. Just waiting on a plane ticket…