Over 5,000 clicks!

I’m very chuffed about the fact that over the last week this site has passed the 5,000 clicks milestone. What this means is that since I started the site at the end of 2007 people have clicked on various pages on the site more than 5,000 times in total.

I think this isn’t too shabby, considering how specialised my intended readership is (that being South Africans teaching (or intending to teach) English in Korea). I haven’t been able to track down any decent stats on the numbers of South Africans in Korea, but I estimate it can’t be more than 1,000 in all. GEPIK, a prolific recruiter of South Africans, only has about 100 of us working in the programme. But if anyone out there has any reliable stats, please let me know.

Anyway, I hope that this site has helped at least a few people avoid dodgy recruiters and negotiate the ever-changing visa requirements. I’d like to see the site grow quite a bit more. I can always do with some suggestions for content, and if you are keen to write something, please let me know.

Tonight I’m going to get some cake and a glass of wine and celebrate. Who knows, maybe we’ll see 10,000 hits by the end of the year.

Impersonal interviews

Since the December 2007 changes to the E-2 visa regulations, people applying for this visa for the first time have needed to have an interview at the Korean consulate in their home country. This has been a hassle for most people – especially South Africans. There is only one consulate in SA, and that’s in Pretoria.

Luckily since April 2008 the consulate has made concessions for people not living anywhere near Gauteng. People can now send a CD with a video of themselves answering some basic questions, instead of going all the way to Pretoria for what is usually a very short interview.

One of the readers of this blog, Terisa, has been kind enough to send me the Korean consulate’s guidelines for this video interview. You can read the details by clicking here. I’ve placed more information on the Visas page as well.

Even though this document has lots of very helpful info on how to save the video you have made of yourself, including step-by-step instructions for burning the CD, it does lack some hints on how to actually make the video. Here I have to admit I’m also pretty clueless. My thoughts are that someone who is savvy enough to make a video of themselves probably doesn’t need detailed instructions on how to burn a CD.

If someone out there has some hints and tips on the best (and cheapest) way to make a video of yourself, I’m sure quite a few people would appreciate it if you could post it here.

TB