My Old Blog About Life In Korea

I just thought I would randomly make a post linking this blog to my old blog about my life in South Korea. The URL is www.blackbeautykorea.blogspot.com

UAE Authentication Process

SO, I wanted to do a seperate post for this topic since it has been the center of much confusion. I am a married woman without any dependents so I'm going to explain it as best as possible from that stand point.
1. Take your teaching certification, degree(s), and marriage certificate to the nearest FedEx or office place and make a copy of all your documents. I made color copies of mine but I dont think it makes a difference.( A notoary will not notarize an original document for the most part, so make copies believe me )
2. After you have made copies of all the neccessary documents take them to the closest notary and have all the documents notarized. Many states will notarize out of state degrees and documents, contrary to popular belief. Just call if you have questions, but you shouldn't have tomake any special trips to do this.
3. This is where it splits off. You can simplify everything and use ProEx (info in italics)
Thank you for contacting us regarding your legalization needs for use in UAE.
You will need to send us the following to initiate service:
- a letter requesting legalization for use in UAE; (This is a letter that gives
your information, such as name, address, phone number and which country the
documents are used in).
- documents requiring legalization that have been certified at the Sec. of State
level
- photocopies (including certification pages - DO NOT take documents apart to
make copies) of the documents you need authenticated (for the embassy records);
- letter of accreditation from the University or printout from school's website
showing accreditation (for the embassy's rec.);
- 1 money order payable to ProEx Delivery Corp. for the total of the following
fees:
- US Dept. of State fee for $8.00 per document;
- Embassy of UAE fee for $30.00 per document;
- ProEx Delivery Corp. service fee for $125.00;
- prepaid return shipping envelope.

Turnaround time is currently running 1 week excluding shipping. Please do not
count the photocopies or accreditation letter when determining the per document
fees at the US Dept. of State and the Embassy of UAE.

Regards,

Bill Barnes
ProEx Delivery Corp.
5185 MacArthur Blvd. NW #710
Washington, DC 20016
202.298.6550






Or if you have alot of time but want to save your money You can send them to the US State Department Authentication Division in Washington,
DC. Important: Please have the documents returned to you, not the UAE Embassy. You will send the documents to the UAE Embassy in the next step.
4. UAE Embassy
http://www.uae-embassy.org/embassy/consulate-services/legalization-of-documents
Send or bring the authenticated documents along with these items to the UAE Embassy in Washington
DC for final authentication:
a. All diplomas must be accompanied with a letter from the University or College on their letterhead
stating that the institution is accredited by one of the following bodies: NEASC, MSA, NCA, SACS,
NWCCU, and WASC. This letter does not need to be notarized or legalized but must come from the
school (printed pdf documents are accepted).
b. Money order or cashier's check with the appropriate fee, payable to The Embassy of the United Arab
Emirates.
c. If you send the documents, include a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope.
d. Write your name and address for the sender and recipient of the return envelope or airway bill.

All Done !

Why's it so hard to say goodbye?

SO its been a week since we left our home, our love nest. I usually hate blogging after the fact because the feelings cant be captured the same way that they feel in the moment but the only way I could describe the feeling of turning in the keys to our first apartment is, heartbreak. I didn't expect it to be so hard to leave. At the beginning of the year Massachusetts ahd been my prison. I felt stuck here against my will and I couldn't see the good in anything, but as we packed up all our wordly possessions and tried to consolidate the ones that we would be taking with us, I realized that we have been off to a good start as a young couple, or just young people maing in it general. I realized that in fact that we've had a goodlife and that I was deeply saddend to be leaving the comfy little routine and comfort zone that we've established. I almost cried.
Fast forward a few days and we are all settled into my old room at my mom's house. It's a funny little place for us to be because I practically grew up in this house.We moved in when I was 11 and my parents have never moved since. I even found my old work badge from the era when I lived there and when I worked with Jason (my hubby) when we were only 16 and first in love. So I kind of like it.
Continuing on from the reminisce, It's feeling more official now, but not completely real. I think it's still too far off. we're saving for the trip now, we've moved, next week is my last week of school, and I've sent off all my documents. I'm glad I decided to stay at my mom's for now though. I'm hoping this will be the future layover spot for years to come. I'm dreaming big on this one. I'm hoping to possibly do 4 years in the UAE, a few more years in Japan, and who knows where after that. I;ll keep you updated in the mean time.

A Tornado in Springfield?!

So Springfield actually made CNN with a tornado today. School is closed tomorrow so I definetly only worked 2 days this week, and Im concerned about the baby chicks in my class. Like that's a real issue. I'm not gonna front. I was scared. I was stuck in the car during the initial tornado because I was on my way to the hair shop and I was not changing my plans for anybody. Not even the tornado up the street! literally!!! Women sitting at the dryers saw the debris going by the window! You see thats the thing though. Springfield always gets tornado watches but we've never had a real tornado in my lifetime. SO when one really came we were taken by surprise and it did make a mess. It ripped my husband's cousin's roof right off so that you could see in!
I was afraid too. On our way to go pick up DINNER in the TORNADO, the sky turned a greenish color and got bright as daylight. It was lightning and thundering. I literally started wimpering! I was about to cry for real. I'm glad it;s all over and none of my family had any issues. it's like it skipped around all of us. Even my mom, and it tore up the rest of her neighborhood for quite a few blocks.

Give me the green light....I'm ready to go right now

I forgot who sings the song but this song " Green light" is defiently the state of mind im in right now. I was kind of low key since I got the news. I haven't been talking, or reseaching about it or anything really. Now it's becoming real. I'm getting all worked up again. I'm up late on the computer researching, imagining, what it will be like. I know I have some obstacles ahead of me though.I'm nervous about how difficult it will be to teach. I prayed about being a good teacher this year so I will pray again that God give me the strength and patience to do just as well this year. The first one being authenticating all my documents. I'm not even sure how to go about it. I know I have to get them notarised first( instate out of state ? who knows) then I have to go to the secretary of state and get a certification (basically like an apostille)but at least I can walk that in. Then Im going to send it to pro-ex so they an send it to the UAE embassy in DC and then theres some other step. Whew! At least I got my passport today so I scan that! There is just so much more paperwork involved than when I was headed to Korea! My second biggest hurdle will be trying to save a minimum of 3,000 dollars without a job in July and still get everything I need before moving to a foreign country. Then Jason has to prepare his documents and enroll in classes before we leave, and we both want to lose a significant amount of weight! The to do list is crazy!
To top it all off I have to pack up this house and move in with my mom, sister, niece, dad, and hubby in a 2 bedroom house, but somehow I'm excited. I feel like I'm going to have more fun than ever this summer and Im am optomistic about this experience. Just a few short months agao I din't even know what I was going to do with my life. I was deeply depressed too. It feels good to feel adventure on the horizon. This is how things are supposed to be.

and 3 years later!

Ok so it's official. I got my contract! I still haven't recieved my passport or documents back yet though and havent mad the first move towards moving out, although we are supposed to be packed up and shipped out in the next two weeks!There is so much to do and not nearly enough time and I havent really been doing much since the interview. I know I'm going to be all panicky near August so i need to get a move on. I'm just so glad that I finally know what I'm doing with my life again.

To Be or Not To Be...

So, Im waiting 50/11 years to get my official contract from Abu dhabi. I went to Times square and had a great time. My interview was very relaxed and my interviewer said I got the job at the end of interviewer. No Screams yet though. Here it is over a week later and i have still not recieved a contract officially. I have started planning my life around this so i need to get it in the mail now. Until then... we wait.