Visa Resolved

I received an e-mail this morning from the person in charge of International Student Affairs at KNU. He talked with the people at the immigration office in Korea, and they said that people with E-2s can still be students. Turns out, there is a whole list of visa statuses that allow you to also be a student. D1, D5-D9, E1-E7, F1-F5, and H2
So Korea is back on!

Now all that's left for me to do is pack my bags.

My flight is at 1am on Sunday. I should arrive in Incheon at 5am on Monday. I can't wait to see Jina, HunYong, and YoSun. We are going to have a 'party' that day. I just hope I'm not too tired. I've been trying to adjust my sleep schedule to Korean time, but that would require me to go to bed at 8am and then wake up at 5pm. I've been working on it by staying up late, but it's hard when I can't seem to sleep past 10am, because of all the noise.

Visa issues

I just got off the phone with the Korean Embassy. They told me that they only give E-2 visas to people who are applying for the TaLK program and that because I did not give them my certificate of admission to KNU, I could not get a D-2. When I tried giving them my certificate, they said they didn't need it.
So now I don't know what to do. I guess just cry and pray.

Visa

I just feel like crying.
I got my passport back yesterday and the embassy gave me E-2 status (teacher). With E-2 status, I can't be a TaLK exchange student. And I'm supposed to be leaving next weekend. So that means I have exactly one week to figure out how I'm supposed to get this fixed, and I have a very strong feeling the solution involves me returning to Chicago some day next week and applying for a new visa. How exactly am I supposed to get there? I can't ask my mom to ask off more work, when she already asked off once last week to go get it the first time, and she's asking off Friday of next week to take me to Chicago to fly out.
I'd have to time applying for the visa just right so that I could just pick the visa up when I went back to Chicago. But that means we'd have to arrive in Chicago before 4:30 on Friday. That won't work because Rich is going to work on Friday. But I don't have enough time for them to send it back to me. I'm afraid it won't get home in time before I leave.

But who knows, maybe they'll tell me I just have to send my passport back and they'll fix it. But again, that leaves the problem of it arriving in time for me to take it.

I guess there's not much point in worrying until I hear back from the embassy. I e-mailed TaLK, KNU, and the embassy. So far, only TaLK has replied. They told me I had to get it fixed or I could not go.

Paperwork

I recieved an e-mail today with my invitation and contract for the TaLK program. I have to submit my flight schedule by the 10th, which is in three days. I'm also stressing about getting my visa in time, because I believe I will have to make a trip up to Chicago to do that, and I don't have much time for that because I will not be home until the 15th, and I don't know how long it will take for me to get my visa paperwork processed.

I also do not know if I have to send my contract to Korea to have it signed, and then have them send it back to me, so that it will be accepted by the Korean Embassy in Chicago.
It has a name and office printed on my contract, but there is a blank for "Signature". A woman at KongJu is looking into it for me.
I also made a bit of a fool of myself on the phone when she called. I knew it was a Korean phone number, but I assumed it was Jina so I answered the phone in Korean. The woman at KongJu tried talking to me in Korean then, and I didn't know what to say! It took a while to process that she had only asked me how I was doing, which is something I know.

Right now I'm printing out all of my papers and I'll be looking over them all when they are done.

Acceptance

I've been accepted into the TaLK program! That means I'm going to Korea!
I got the e-mail yesterday but I haven't had time to update because I have been visiting family.

I suppose I'll tell more later when I receive more information on the exact plans.