I’ve been meaning to post this for the last week but here she is … …my Meat Pie! And I have to say it tastes almost as good as it did in Australia-maybe it’s wishful thinking.
Below is the recipe I used and as a tip, I added a tbsp on horseradish to the mix my second time around, definitely gives it that zing!
Pre-heat oven at 220 degrees Celsius (428 F).
Add the cooled filling mixture; brush edges of pastry with milk or beaten egg; put the pastry top on; press edges down with a fork.
Trim edges and glaze top with milk or beaten egg.
Bake in a very hot oven, 220 degrees Celsius (428 F) for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180 degrees Celsius (356 F) and bake for 25 more minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with veggies, fries, or salad.
And for all you vegetarians I’ve added a veggie recipe. I have yet to try but if you beat me to it let me know how it is.
1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (356 F).
2.Heat olive oil in a frypan over med-high heat. Add onion and mushrooms and saute until well browned. Add the carrot and stir.
3.Add vegetable stock, stir to combine. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to simmer.
4.Simmer 8-10 minutes until carrots are just tender.
5.Stir in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle skillet with flour, stir in. Simmer and stir until sauce is thickened (1-2 mins). Remove from heat and stir in thyme.
6.Roll out pastry to size of pie plate.
7.Pour contents of the frypan into pie plate and top with pastry.
8.In a small bowl or cup, whisk the egg and water with a fork. Brush pastry with egg mixture. Bake 40 mins or until pastry is golden brown.
And to top off your night here are some lovely Meat Pie Ad’s- ENJOY!
Once you receive your issuance number your ready for your application.
I foolishly thought because I received my issuance number I was all set and my plane ticket was on the way, I was unfortunately mistaken. Your issuance letter is what you need to apply, and believe it or not just because you receive you issuance letter does not mean your guranteed to receive an E-2 visa. It’s all part of the application (which is conveniently linked below).
After filling out the application and attaching a passport sized photo, you will want to run it down to the near South Korea Consulate or pop it in the mail addressed to the Consulate ASAP- do not walk-RUN! TIME IS TICKING AWAY! Below is a link to the current consulates in the U.S (as of 9/10/11).
You may also need to interview and or bring a copy of your transcripts. I personally didn’t not need to to either, but its best to be prepared. I’ve heard the interviews can go from a few minutes to 30 minutes and can cover the obvious, “why do you want to go to Korea?”, to “what is your teaching experience?” and even “do you enjoy taking drugs?”.
On Tuesday I dropped off my application in person to the lovely ladies at the Korean Consulate in Seattle with my $45 (remember cash or money order only). I waited about 3 days and picked it up this past Friday. After you’ve gotten over the shock of seeing your visa and holding it in your hot little hands, its best to letting you school/recruiter know your visa number ASAP. I received my travel itinerary over the weekend. Because I left things so late I only have about 2 weeks till I leave, I’ve found most people have between 4 to 8 weeks. So now its time to get some farewell drinks in before you head off.
After you’ve received your contract or even before you received it you can start getting your documents in order.
Apostilled* Criminal Background Check certified by the FBI and apostilled by the State Department (Secretary of State). Your CBC is invalid after 6 months.
It’s best to start as early as you can, even before you receive job offer. You will spend a lot of time waiting for your transcripts (3 weeks), your diploma copy must be apostilled by your State Secretary (4 weeks), and you all important Criminal Background Check will be processed (6 weeks-8 weeks) and then apostilled by the State Department (3 weeks).
When you send your prints off be sure to included a self-addressed envelope with adequate postage. This process can take up to 8 weeks, mine took 6 weeks. After you receive your FBI certified CBC pop it in an another envelope and mail it off to the State Department, yes, all the way back to Washington. It will take about 3 weeks and around the same time you should also received your apostilled diploma copy from the State Secretary in Olympia, WA.
You have to keep an eye on the calendar because the CBC is invalid after 6 months. I waited 2 months after getting all my documents together to find a job. Now I’m 6 weeks shy of that 6 month mark.
The next few posts will outline the steps you need to follow in order to get your E-2 and start teaching.
Dave’s ESL Cafe (www.daveseslcafe.com), this site have forums, multiple job boards and even lesson plans. This where most people look first, however there are a lot of scams out there. The #1 rule I’ve learnt is you should never pay for recruiting services. I’ve had friends go to other countries and paid for the TESOL certificate and with that came a guranteed job- that is a different case.
It is also worth looking in to government sponsored programs like EPIK (Korea), JET (Japan), NET (Hong Kong), etc.
In Korea there are three different types of employers for prospective ESL teachers: public schools (government run programs usually), private schools, and hagwons (private language institutes). When I was searching I didn’t find many private school programs, and if I wanted to work for a public school I needed to go thru EPIK, which only accepts teachers around September and February- it is also highly competitive and doesn’t seem to pay as much for a first time ESL teacher, how ever you do have the job security and more public holiday off than working for a hagwon. Most first time teachers work for a hagwon. In a hagwon there are typically two shifts- an AM and PM. My contract states I will be working from 2:30pm to 9:30pm Monday thru Friday. I get 10 paid vacation days and most public holidays off. The typical salary for a first time teacher is between 2.0 and 2.7- this is based on the lowest and highest I was personally offered, you will also usually get a private studio apartment- usually furnished (video to come).
As of today, after 3 weeks of waiting I’ve received my Visa Issuance number. Finally I can put on my Sunday best, head down to the Korean Consulate in Seattle with my passport photos, $45 in cash, yet another set of transcripts, official application and prove to them I’m not a crazy person and I deserve an E-2 Visa.
Its been a process but I’m almost to the end! I decided to starting this site to help other with this process and to share pics, stories and whatever other travel related info I can with the masses. I’m also finishing up a travel writing course thru Matador’s New Media School (http://matadoru.com) so I’ll be posting assignments and hopefully getting some feed back.