Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I’ve slacked off a bit…

… but I can assure you that once I finish school I will remain fully devoted to updates and such.

I’m currently in the middle of writing two of my term-papers (both due tomorrow), and have been rather bogged down with assignments up until this point.

Nevertheless, Jen and I have major news and I’ll be revealing the surprise tomorrow!

For now, I wish you all the best of nights. I need to get back to these papers :)

~Kate

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

"The Packing List"

So here is the promised packing list that we have been working on...like I said, feel free to contribute if anything is missing!

-big towels
-bed sheets
-winter wear (just a basic set)
-clothes (duh!)
-DVDs
-Bibles/journals/etc.
-toiletries (which includes A LOT!!)
-swimming suits
-shoes
-important documents (passport, extra copies of transcript, student loan papers, photocopy of passport, copy of degree/contract, photocopy of ID cards, international calling card, list of contact names/numbers--both personal and professional)
-guidebooks/phrasebooks
-electrical converters
-grad photos
-meds
-straightener/hair dryer
-sealed Western-style spices
-books
-alarm clocks
-first aid stuff (bandaids, etc)
-cameras
-teaching tools (blue pens, teaching aids/ideas, stickers, specifically Canadian English kids' books, games, pictures "About Canada")
-Quelf/cards
-Jen: art stuff
-Katie: food!

I'm sure there's more so let us know!!

~JENZ~

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Insomnia strikes again!

As a long time sufferer of insomnia, I’ve spent countless nights memorizing exciting facts, lists, and alphabets. Tonight, I finally turned my attention to the Korean Alphabet. With the help of such things as my Korean Phrasebook (Lonely Planet) and this site, I have spent the past couple of hours drawing out cue cards and writing my own interpretations of the sounds.

013954 015016015123 015135

If you’re looking for a challenge, give this alphabet a shot. I’ve got the vowels memorized, and now I’m working on the consonants!

013746 Hopefully it’ll be a productive (albeit unfortunately long) night :)

~Signing out at 1:56am,
Kate

Saturday, March 14, 2009

I'm still out here...

Hi all,
It appears as though Kate is the only contributer to this special window of the world wide web....however, I assure you, I am still here and still involved in the process! Yes, I concur with Kate, we are indeed moving ahead and although school seems to be taking forever to reach completion, it is only a matter of weeks! And then Korea in like 3 1/2 months :D .... We are pumped, as you might well imagine.

As Katie has already stated, we will be posting up our packing list (which I have in my possession so it will be up to me!) and not only is this for your future benefit, but we would also appreciate any tips or ideas that you may have that we have forgotten :)

Thanks!

~Jenz~

Friday, March 13, 2009

Passports, Police Stations and Baggage.

We’ve received our passports, conversed with our University (concerning degrees and transcripts), and are preparing for a trip down to the police station to start the long process of criminal record checks and Korean embassy approvals.

We should be posting more exciting blogs soon(ish) as we get the ball rolling a bit faster. Yesterday Jen and I sat down to enjoy some coffee (Jen) and cappuccino (myself) and to write out our first draft of a packing list!

I think at some point Jen or I will be posting that up here for all you folk who are curious about what essentials go into a year-length trip to a distant country. I’m sure it will also be fascinating to try and cram it all into our suitcases. I hereby promise some photo documentation of this process when the time comes.

For now, we’re still in the process of finishing our degrees. Pray for us as we try to get through these last few weeks of school (8 weeks until exams are over!)!

~Kate

Sunday, March 1, 2009

We’re still alive!

No worries folks, mid-terms have not conquered us. While slightly distracting us for a bit, we’re going to be back to planning soon. As we’ve both been approved for ASKnow’s help in job hunting (wootwoot!), our next step is to begin gathering the documents… or at least finding out when we will have them by.

It seems that I will soon be collecting large amounts of information on myself. Criminal background checks… original degrees and transcripts… medical checks… passport… passport sized extra photos… visa application forms. It’ll be strange to have a mass amount of “me” placed in a single envelope, and mailed off to some undisclosed location. My entire life in an envelope. That should be a song title.

I don’t know about Jen, but ASKnow has also filled my inbox with helpful bits of information – including when to start packing (now apparently). Not packing in the literal sense, but list-wise. As it turns out, there are numerous things that may not be plentiful in Korea (i.e. deoderant); list-making is supposed to ensure I don’t forget the essentials. I’m sure Korea will thank ASKnow for their advice.

Since the last update, I’ve invested in a new laptop! I’m currently using one of the new features (Windows Live Blog Writer) and I loving it. So much better than the eBlogger default. I’m excited about the future, and will definitely be keeping this updated.

Again, feel free to email us at our joint account, jenandkate@gmail.com.

Have a fantastic day,
~*~Kate~*~