False Starts and Added Steps

According to my itinerary, I was supposed to be on a plane to Dallas 4 hours ago. From Dallas I would fly to San Francisco, hang out for 3 hours, and then hop on Singapore Airlines flight 15 to Seoul. I would arrive in Seoul at 640pm and be in Ansan on Monday for the first day of school. My parents had a going-away party for me at their house last night and we had over 50 guests show up to say goodbye and send me off. My mom even had a cake made with my face on it (it was a good picture of me). The plan was to stay up partying until 4am with everybody who could hang, and then leave for the airport at 430am, wiped out and ready to sleep for 21 hours (the total length of my flight). Here's the catch: my visa didn't come in on time, so I'm still in Austin.

What happens now is that I drive to Houston on Monday morning to acquire my visa at the Korean Consulate. An interview is involved and it may take a day or two for the visa to process. I'll book a new flight when I have my visa in hand (at Korea's expense, but no first class). I had wanted to drive to Houston last week but I didn't have enough time, so this will give me a chance to visit family and friends in the area before I depart. As for last night, everyone had a great time, but it was a little awkward when some of them found out I would still be here tomorrow, and we definitely didn't stay up until 4 in the morning. I barely made it past midnight myself. Maybe we'll have a part II next week. The first party was called, Jacob's "I'd Rather Move to Korea than Deliver another Pizza" party. Next week it'll be called, Jacob's "I'm Leaving For Real This Time...Maybe..." party. Thanks to everyone last night for the cards, gifts, Clif Bars, Beef Jerky, etc. I love you guys...and gals.

I'm from Austin. I'm going to Korea. I'm starting a blog.

My name is Jacob Contreras. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin after highschool. I graduated from UT in Spring 2004 with a degree in RTF (Radio, TV, Film) and attended a 2 year Bible school in Anaheim, California the following Fall semester. After graduating in the Summer of 2006, I came back to Austin to serve full time with a christian group on UT campus. I served for 2 years and began looking for a full time job in the summer of 2008. While I was on the hunt for a job, I began to pick up some hours at my old college job, Papa John's Pizza. Part time turned into full time, and as of today I am still working at PJ's, but not for much longer.

In 2 weeks I will be going to Ansan, South Korea to teach english for a year. Teaching english in a foreign country is not something I ever thought I'd be doing; it just never crossed my mind. The way it went down was pretty simple. A guy that I knew was recruiting people to do this, he asked me if I was interested, and I said, "Yes". So we got the ball rolling. Come next month, I'll be halfway across the globe, trying to teach korean kids to talk like I talk. What's more than that, I think it will be an opportunity to discover who I am on my own; away from my friends and family, and out of my comfort zone. As a result, I'm only bringing the essentials: a Bible to read, a football to teach this country a real sport, and cowboy boots to show them I mean business.

I don't expect things to be easy, at least not at first. I'll probably suffer some severe culture shock initially. I hear they don't have mexican food. That's going to be a problem. I may need to have some people FedEx me some breakfast tacos from Taco Cabana every now and then. I plan on bringing 2 suitcases with me. One will be filled with clothes, the other will be filled with a stash of american food to help me get by until I find the safe places to eat. I am currently eating every favorite unhealthy, fatty, delicious food that doesn't exist in Korea until I leave, because I plan on losing 20 pounds involuntarily while I'm there. It could turn into a problem when the people over there find out that I hate kim chi. I may very well be living off of white rice and moon pies for the next 12 months.