Next Stop Gyeongju

Every time I complete an episode, I feel a small sense of accomplishment.  It might be big or small but it's always there.  After that feeling of pride wipes away, I am left with the next challenge.  Which is the next video?  

Mentally, I keep a checklist of what I want to work on next.  Sometimes, starting a new video is a huge chore.  There might be little visuals to work with and creating a narrative might feel impossible.   I'm in luck this time.  

For the Gyeongju episode, I found that I have nearly twenty five minutes of footage to use.  This is not normally how much I have for a single video.  I'm lucky if I have ten minutes.  

Right now, I'm sifting through what is useable and what isn't.  I'll be aiming to get this episode down to around five minutes.  That's the goal for now.  If I can keep it around seven minutes, I'll be happy.  There might be more I'm willing to hold onto.  

Gyeongju was one of my favorite places I visited in Korea last year.  It's a quite historic city that's off the east coast of Korea.  Generally, it doesn't snow much there.  On this occasion it did.  This was something most Koreans living in the area never see.  Not only did I get to see a historically rich city but I was able to see it caked in snow.  

Anyway, final cut awaits!  I hope to see you next week!

Korea 6 of 9 - Korean War Museum

It took me about seven tries of exporting and uploading to youtube, to finally get it right. All of the stress has finally been lifted.  I was getting pretty frustrated with the whole process.

I've already begun working on the Busan episode and should have it done sometime around next Wednesday (Nov. 3rd).

Attempting to Finish My Korean Videos

It's been almost two months since I last posted a video on Korea.  Two months!  Can you believe that?  Well, a lot has happened to me since I last posted a video.  I moved into a new apartment, got hit by a car while riding a bicycle, started up school, and had to practice for the speech contest. I'm hoping that if I have the time, I will talk about each of these incidents.  For now, I'm just trying to finish up the last few videos I have about Korea.  

I don't know if you remember or not but all of these videos are from when I was in Korea last year.  It's taken me the longest time to get around editing these pieces.  I really enjoy putting them together but it's hard to balance a hobby with my free time.  

I really wish that putting these kind of videos was my full time job. Alas, it's not.  There is a little revenue that I get from it but it's not much.  Better than nothing right?  It all really depends on how many people are watch or reading my content.  At the moment, not so much.  That's ok though!  :)

At the moment, I am attempting to upload part six of nine, of my Korean series.  It's a video about the National War Museum of Korea.  Youtube is kind of being a pain and not processing the videos.  I've tried about six times so far and am getting really frustrated in the process.  It would be nice to get it up now but if not, I'll try and get it up by this Wednesday.  Remember, the video is finished, it's just youtube that isn't co-operating.   

Korea

New Years is approaching here in Korea and I will be here to welcome the new year. A lot has happened in the past year. My life has changed. It's always nice to look back and reflect on everything that has happened as well as start a new, with a fresh year ahead.

Next week I will have my feet on Japanese soil and will inform all of you on my short stay here in Korea.

On the KTX

Down to the Southern part of Korea. But stuck standing nearly the whole way. It's good and bad. My legs might be sore if I can't find a seat.

Winter is around the corner

At least, that is how most people feel. It still feels like fall to me. The leaves just fell off all the trees but the mercury hasn't dropped. Back home, I've heard stories of snow. While here, I am stuck with sunny skies and temperatures settling somewhere in the mid 50s(f). It really makes me wish this area were more like Hokkaido. For now, I'll have to put up with it. Sunshine in the winter doesn't feel right.

Within the next twenty days, give or take, I'll board a plane bound for Korea. I'm off to visit my sister for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it as well. Something about travel really becomes addicting and seeing to places, is always exciting. There is one thing that is concerning to me, the current state of the Koreas. Both seem to be locked in war games. It would be really nice if the North weren't so retarded. As long as they don't go toe to toe, I'll be happy.

The other day, I finally began the process of capturing my footage from my time spent on Mt. Fuji. One part of it should be finished sometime this week, with other parts soon to follow. I imagine by the time all of it is complete, I will be Korea bound. Crazy to think that.

Well, thats all for now. Felt like I should get a quick update in.

Completed!

I finally finished my TEFL course! This process has been a fairly exhausting month and a half (give or take). I was hoping I would have been done by the beginning of November but this is close enough. Now its time to wait, roughly ten days for my results.

So exhausted and I have to leave for work in a few hours. Ugh.

The timing of taking this final test was not awesome either. The company I'm doing this through is located out of Prague. When you get to the final test, you email them stating you're ready. They e-mail you back download link with the test. You then have twenty-four hours to complete the test.

I emailed them Tuesday morning at around 9am, thinking its around three or four in the afternoon over there. After about an hour of waiting for the email back, I looked at the current time and found out it was near eight in the evening. Beautiful.

The day I planned to work on it, didn't work out. I got the email and download link last night but decided to start on the final exam this morning, at roughly 9am.

They said most people finish the test in six hours. Well, I get anxiety with tests and am generally bad at them, so it took me 12 hours to complete. Plus I'm great at second guessing myself, so now I'm nervous about my results. Awesome.

Like I said, the wait for my results is ten days. Between now and then, I can start looking for work or think about retaking the course.

I'm such a pessimist.

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Started the TEFL course

I began my TEFL course today and here is how it looked...

Day One 10/5/09
11:44 in - read introduction
11:49 introduction completed
11:50 begin Unit 1
12:08 finished reading material unit 1
12:08 break
12:45 begin Unit 1 worksheet
13:01 break
13:34 back to Unit 1 worksheet
13:51 break
13:54 back to Unit 1 worksheet
14:13 break
14:37 back to Unit 1 worksheet
15:00 Unit one completed

I decided to log my time to see if I end up with the 100 hours they say it will take. I haven't added up the time but it looks like it took somewhere between 1.5 - 2 hours of actual work. The reading goes quickly but its the questions that take some time. You're not obliged to turn in your answers per unit but I'm trying to be thoughtful and really put effort into each question. Before I go to sleep, I'll probably read through the section a couple of times, just to help retain the information even more.

There is a total of 20 units, so if I dedicate myself to it, I should be done somewhere around the 25th of October. Application deadlines for employment within the school system in East Asia is usually around mid December. That offers me plenty of time to get certification and look for work.

Hopefully, I'll be somewhere over there by Mid-March.

This also means that there will be somewhat of a pause in TWJ episodes. I'd rather focus on this instead of my series. But its ok, it shouldn't be too long of a pause. I'll keep you all posted.