Lofgrens Abroad

After much waiting and anticipation our flights are booked! It was a fun surprise to come back from our Seattle trip to have our visas and the kids' passports in our mailbox. We still have to get visas for the kids but they just wanted to make sure we had ours before moving forward with buying flights. So that's super exciting! And a little scary! Like, it's really happening! I mean, it was always happening but this is just that final step that makes it official. In talking with the travel agent we came to the conclusion that leaving at 12:45 am was a better time than 12:50 pm. You may not think so and honestly there is no perfect international flight, especially with little children so we're just going to do our best. The midnight flight just seemed easier as far as adjusting to Korean time. The noon flight would be getting us to Korea at midnight their time but that's like 1 pm our time... So we'll get in at noon Korea time which is like 7 pm our time a...

You guys, if you haven't heard the news about North and South Korea, I would assume you are living under a rock! Ok, or it's probably just more on our radar... Regardless! It's super exciting. Kim Jong-un (North) and Moon Jae-in (South) have signed a preliminary peace treaty to end the Korean war and when they met at the DMZ (demilitarized zone: neutral zone between the north and south) they took turns walking on each country's soil. Something that hasn't happened since the DMZ was established. There is a possibility the DMZ may not exist as it is now when we arrive! Exciting times! Here I am at the DMZ in 2011. You can tell I'm really comfortable by how I'm standing 😂 but really, it was super creepy there... I also read this morning that there will.no longer be "Pyeongyang time" (Pyeongyang is the capital of North Korea) and they have merged with South Korea. Honestly a lot of really encouraging news which is great timing for us since I know...

Phew! We finally have all our documents either good to go or en route ready to be mailed to our employer once we receive them. Last week was stressful getting all those put together but it just needed to be done. Getting our passport photos was an interesting experience in that trying to get kids to sit still in a UPS office and then also not smile for photos without looking like we were mad or going to cry was also a challenge! We are also waiting on our notarized diplomas which will be mailed from Washington and then mailed back to Washington to get an apostille- a further authorization of documents. Both of our background checks are waiting on their apostilles, Brett is waiting on a new passport, and then we'll be ready to send that all to BEK (our school in Korea). We will also have to get the kids' passports but that is less pressing. That reminds me, I do have to schedule their appointment! The next part of the process is what to do with all our stuff-a question I hav...

Greetings! If you are reading this, then you already know that we are heading back to Korea in August and I am so excited to be starting a new blog to tell you all about our adventure! Some of you may also know that we were in Korea in 2011 and know that it was very challenging (to say the least) so why would we go back? WHY That's the first and most common question I hear: some form of "Why Korea?" "Why go back when it was so hard last time?" and "Why not try somewhere new?" So here are my answers to those! First of all, we went to Korea when we were 23. It was the tail "end" of the recession, we had just gotten married in June and 5 months later we were on a plane to a foreign country for work, our first like, real jobs as "adults". So, there was a lot going on. Plus, it was a brand new school, I had not taught in a classroom before, it was only the two of us for the first month, plus there were many cultural nuances we were ...