Korean High School Admission (Part 2)

The next part of the admission process is over and another waiting game begins.

Quick recap of this month:
Week 2. Part 1 Submission of documents online (3 days)
Week 3. Result for the qualified ones and submission of personal essay the next day (2 days.)
Week 4. The interview.

We were scheduled to be there at 12 o'clock which is just super fine with me as the official driver, moral supporter/parent. :D We had time to cook and eat hoteok as brunch (not necessarily the best choice for nutrition but all for setting the good mood for a possibly stressful hours ahead.) I had my gears packed: 3 screens, papers, and snacks. I knew we will be in for a long wait.

We got to the premises almost on the dot, drop the kid off and found myself a good place to park. There were already a lot of cars in the field/parking lot but not as full as it was during the "orientation." As few minutes after we got there, the morning set started to finish and leave.  I didn't bother to go inside for the next 2 hours since there were a lot of other parents going in and out of the building just waiting.

Much more than the interview that got us there in the first place, I was keen on working on my monthly plan, writing and figuring out my new Ipad. lol. Kidding aside, I knew it would be another few hours of hanging so gotta keep myself busy. I chose to stick inside the car but when I finally felt cold and needed a break, I went in to get some hot drinks. There were still a few more parents waiting inside near the heater, and inside the gym while some are milling about with younger kids in tow. I just can't stand sitting around with them while waiting for the interview to finish. I headed out for a walk to warm myself up.

I found a nice little hill behind the school with about a hundred steps to the top. It took me a minute to go up but almost two to go down. I had to stop in the middle as I've realized that it's because it's steep and I had to be more careful as I take each step while looking down. There's more "fright factor" in every step. Unlike heading up, my focus is on what's at the top.

It's time to head back to the car even if I still wanted to explore since my battery is almost gone. I had no idea when my kid will finish and call so better find a way to charge. It still took almost an hour's worth of me making a rough template on the "good notes" app. All is good for the day except for the blog writing that I didn't get around to as there was not much call to write for me. ;) (This came later day.)

My kid finally emerged from the building around half past four and he was, of course, hungry. We both were. I got a bit of quick run down of what happened at the interview in the drive back home but we left more details for later. We hurried home to cook rice and salmon for dinner with an hour or so before my husband got home around half past six.

So here is what we got from the kid.

The phones were collected and they were made to wear graduation gowns over their clothes. Only some papers were allowed while waiting. Unfortunately, kid didn't bring any book. And the gowns, I figured it's to keep any bias towards outfits and all. Hubs also thought the same. Pretty neat.

There were two rooms. One for the similar question and the next is for the more random ones.

There were 4 questions.
1st Q. They were given a few minutes and a sheet of paper to write down their answers. This, I think, is to jump start the interviewees to answer questions and calm the nerves. I really had no idea if P had to calm any nerves since he said that he fell asleep while waiting for hours. :D

2nd to 4th Qs. The basic oral questions which can sometimes be actually fun for both parties. As an interviewee, you have to think on your feet, be creative while being honest and leave a good impression. As an interviewer, it's interesting how different people will behave in such circumstances and how varied their answers will be for the same questions. I find interviews pretty interesting, generally speaking, as long as it is not an oral-quiz-kind of interview. That reminds me of something else that I really don't want to rehash right now.

Back to the present interview, the kid emerge not feeling very confident on how it went. It was all a very new experience for him. Some questions were from real life while some were a bit philosophical.

One question was about the country's declining population, and another from his self-introduction essay. He was pressed to come up with a "career type" of question and his answer totally had both me and his father trying to suppress our laughs. We instantly thought about the time when we were stressing out over his essay. Writer.

But who knows? The next three years of his high school life might be a revelation on what he can do, whether it be writing, public speaking, or something. I'll leave at that.

We got a few days to wait for the final result on this whole thing and I can now start on the "lists" and financial part of this next phase. One day at a time.

Korean High School Admission (Part 1)

It’s the holiday and I have this headache bugging me to get a nap but I can’t help the draw to write.

Part 2

We are in the middle of waiting for the second part of the process in getting into the target high school. I heard that a friend we know I had already got the result from another school that they had applied for around the time that our had started. This holidays had not been very specific yet as we still have to complete the whole process for ours. There are a lot of things going in relation to that school admission so other things had gone down the priority list.

The self-introduction essay has been the one that gave us a lot of stress for the past few weeks. We only got a bit of break after submitting it last week. Got a weekend off before the interview this coming weekend. I have no idea how other kids are preparing but we definitely are not. The initial documents screening has been a bit stressful as well because we had to keep an eye on the numbers coming in as compared against the quota set by the school. Fortunately, the numbers are almost perfect for what we had been hoping for. There was some worry on the second day when it didn’t add up but it went down the next day to the ideal numbers to keep our minds with less worry. We sure breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the submission period.

The next part is the interview this weekend and the final result will be released next Friday. This is also the same day as their middle school graduation so it’s going to be a pretty tricky day. There’s so much suspense in this schedule. I will have to start making a possible schedule on my calendar on what needs to be done around next week and after we get the results.

Let me just get this through one day at a time. On to my lists now!

Car Maintenance Diary

It's almost the end of the year and my wallet is almost empty even if I had just my salary this week.
Well, not quite empty but there is definitely some gaping hole. It would have been better if it has gone to some investment fund but it went into the car insurance and maintenance instead. Cars are really a double-edge sword when it comes to life. The cost of freedom can be pretty expensive.

Since this is a "diary" entry, I will try to recall the big ticket cost that I had to get done for the vehicle this year. There are papers related to this but it's currently unavailable. I will have to update my notes and files before the month ends. For the meantime, here's the list.

Early this year:
belt - Cost: around 350K, included washing liquid, maybe change oil?

(whatever belt was that) This is a pretty expensive belt as I had to change every part. The mechanic informed me that the belt was almost totally broken and it was a miracle that I was still able to drive without a big accident. I caught it at a critical time, having heard some strange noise a few days before bringing it in. I was actually more concern about the brakes, those being the only thing I was familiar with as the common problem for a newbie.

Oct. - Car insurance renewal.
Cost: around 600K.

Hubs managed to get a 100k discount (cash back actually) by acquiring a new credit card (Shinhan) but it will be reflected after a month. So far, we only have 2 CC, both acquired because of some discount from car insurances I think.

Nov. - 2 or more liquids, and rear light.
Cost: 200k?

I got this nagging feeling that I ought to visit the mechanic around the last quarter. First was to check those break pads again, and perhaps change tires in order to prep for winter driving. But it will have to be after the insurance and before the snowy weather.

This happened around mid to end of November. Again, I went in for a concern but ended up with a different thing. It was still the breaks but we only managed to change the liquid and the left rear light. The light was busted and filled with water but I had never noticed it at all. When I asked if I can put that off, I was told that it was the signal light or something and it will be awfully dangerous not to fix it right away. Who knows since when that got broken? My only guess is when I drove through automatic car wash.

Dec. 2 - total tire change, breaks, break pads, and trans/emission fluid.
Cost: 600K

Finally, my main concern from the beginning and the real big ticket item that I know coming has been dealt with. I now have the peace of mind of driving more safely in this winter season.

The only thing that I may have to put in my laundry list by next year is the battery. From the looks of it, the battery would still be at best until next winter. Well, that plus the insurance, 17K-won required car safety check, and regular liquid checks. 

My to-do list for car maintenance:
1. find all those docs from shop
2. figure out when and which liquids needs changing
3. put the info in the calendar for schedule and budget
4. start building another running SA account for those expenses
5. start saving up for another car when I decide to let go of this one in a year or two

Bottom line. Having a car is a liability. It's better to maximize this "asset" to be able to offset all the expenses that comes with it.

Moving Up to a High School in Korea

(15 Minutes. That is all that I have to write whatever in on my mind lately.)

This is just a SotM (State of the Mind) write up on how we are going with the upcoming phase in my son's academic life.

This month is the start of the application period for the high school that we are eyeing for my son. This was not really something out of the blue since this particular school has been an additional point of us moving to this side of the country. But through the following years, the reality of not being able to get in or even just trying has not been particularly encouraging. For one, my son has not been that keen on his academics as most Korean straight-A kids are because we started him here on a laid-back approach to first learn the language.

Middle School came a bit of a panic as some parents are already starting attending High School orientation programs even if the kids have just started middle school. Non-Korean me is basically clueless and a bit appalled at the idea and my Korean husband is not really quite helpful. By the time the 2nd and 3rd (final year of MS) came around, our son's grades has not really shot up to stellar levels that a fancy high school requires. Only one thing that is consistent is the English one which will be a no-brainer since that is his first language at home.

We had tried to gather bits of info about the intake system but the local MS he is at was not really very encouraging at all because of his "numbers" (aka grades) at school. I had to directly go to the High School admission office to get first hand information. That, itself, was another emotional experience that might be in another post.

My husband finally got around to really looking into the details and chances of admission as the date came nearer. The month is finally here. We are still behind the essay part since it's really harder to get my son writing as he grew older. The only good thing is he has chosen to do try for admission at least. We just need to work more for the whole process to end in a total admission into the school.

I happen to chat a bit with a few non-Korean moms a few days ago who had older kids and asked how did their kids transitioned from MS to HS, starting from choosing and getting into HS. My worry level this month is pretty high so I wondered about how other parents went through it. This is not exactly Sky Castle level (if you know the K Drama that I mean) but my question was met like, they didn't had to worry much. Their kids told them, "don't worry, I got this." Or their kids' simply followed where their friends were heading, which is usually to the most basic high school around. Either that these parents are clueless, or just so laid-off on their kids' academic life. One thing that a Korean mom - friend that I know is neither though. She's the one who suggested ideas for me to attend such and such where I am usually the only southeast Asian mom who shows up.

Looking further into these specialized school, we've learned a bit to encourage us enough to really try. We believe that there is a place for our son in that school. It might need a little more effort that just signing up with a name but it can make a big life difference. There are opportunities that one just have to recognize and act on it. Getting into it might also mean extra monthly expenses for the next three years but we will be able to do it even if that would mean more work hours. But that is putting the cart before the horse.

Our goal until the end of next month is to get admission. I have no idea what other people did before or how they think but we will press on. I will try to document the process in case someone in the future might find this information helpful.

~~~
Year 1 MS: Get those stellar grades, specially on the subjects that matter, depending on the school of choice. Rake up the volunteer hours doing meaningful works. Start attending (solmyeonghae) to get direct information on such.
Sept - Nov: Attend the latest Solmyeonghae or get the final info on the specific dates for the process for the current year (application period, interview, docs needed like report cards, etc.)
Dec.: Finish the self-intro essay.
Week 2 : Submission of documents. First level results based on docs.
Week 3 : Submission of essay. Interview.
Jan. Week 1. Right after new year, Level 2 results.

This is the main deal. Pass this! The following weeks will be completing the final documents and such before the end of the month for the announcement of who will be the official freshmen for the next school year.

When all of these are completed, you got the month of February to chill and prep for the March school year to start. Sometime between these weeks will be getting the freshies supply ready for the dorm life in high school: uniform, clothes, beddings, personal effects (whatever that may be) and of course, mental and inner strength to face the unknown for the next few weeks at least.

11AM. One hour. I sure cannot stop writing once I get started. Signing off now.