(Previously) "There's no way..."
and I get notified that a subscriber donated ??? hundred dollars...
Hey! You made it to the final part of my Korea story
This is part three, if you missed the first two parts I'm gonna link them up there,
but I'm not gonna spoil anything, I'm just gonna say it gets crazy
and this is just - I can't believe this is my life...
So let's get right into it!
I had started the (Korean) school application process, so I'm now rushing through this school application
again, school application, wouldn't recommend. It is a hellish experience.
This has been so stressful because you're constantly like waiting on other people
and in the process of like doing all this paperwork
and calling all these people and trying to figure out what to do and there's just so much that's out of your hands
but then there's also like no guidance in all of this
you don't even have time to like process the fact that you're moving to the other side of the world
I would not wish this experience on anybody...
but now we have gotten to the point where you have to submit this paperwork to the embassy
I was unaware of the fact that once you submit the paperwork,
it actually takes two more weeks for the visa to be processed
and my flight that this kind stranger has just bought me just so happened to be a week and a half away
so I submit the paperwork obviously as quickly as I possibly can,
but I call the embassy and they're like, Embassy Worker: "Yeah, we're sorry..."
Embassy Worker: "You probably shouldn't buy your flight ticket until you get the visa back so that you know you've gotten it back in time."
and so now, I remember just like bawling my eyes out.
Like how do I tell this random stranger who just bought my flight ticket that I might need to get it refunded...
Oh wait it's a non-refundable ticket!
and I'm now like panicking.
I do all of the things to get it sent rapidly to them and guess what happens?
It gets lost in the mail, it gets lost in the mail...
I can't make this stuff up guys
It was supposed to arrive the next day by like 8 a.m and it didn't arrive
and it said lost temporarily for a second and I'm like calling like, "What do you mean lost!?"
"That's got my passport! Like this ain't no time to get lost!"
It was a Friday the embassy was closed on the weekends or something
so there wasn't really anything that could be done
so the fact that it didn't make it on Friday,
my week and a half time that I had is now like a week by the time we get to Monday.
I'm freaking out, I'm upset, and I just tell my friends once again,
Me: "Look. I'm a mess."
Me: "I don't think it's gonna happen so if you guys could pray for me that would be great because your girl has no faith right now!"
Me: "She doesn't think this is gonna work..."
but just like with the flight ticket, if it's meant to be it'll be.
I had to trust. Proverbs 3: 5-6.
I had to trust it because ultimately there's nothing I could do anymore.
So I had my friends pray.
I am not - once again, none of this is a joke.
Don't come for me in the comments... This is my middle school bathrobe I always wear when I'm at my parent's house (haha)
Me: "Guess what?" Dad: "What?"
Me: "I just got an email from the consulate that my visa is already done..."
Dad: "Oh really?"
Me: "I've been so shook-up over this..." Dad: "Oh good!"
Me: "and like, last night I spent so much time praying like..."
Dad: "Well, it's the power of prayer."
It was supposed to take two weeks.
It took two business days...
I was literally in shock.
The amount of prayers that are being answered in the shortest amount of time
in these like biggest, these massive prayers.
I had no hope, I thought (there's) no way,
and now I'm holding the visa in my hand. Like, I am officially going to Korea.
and it doesn't stop, it keeps going! I get to Korea.
I want this entertainment visa. I'm thinking that would be the best way (to stay in Korea)
but I'm going as a student because I don't know how else I could possibly get an entertainment visa
my channel is way too small nobody's gonna want to invest in me when my channel is so small
so I start taking Korean classes and it was like first month
I had been on another channel like a reaction channel
(there's "Dingle" and "Dimple" and they're like reaction channels that are really popular here in Korea)
and so they had me back on "Dingle" but I hadn't been on "Dimple" before
and the "Dimple" one would be better because it's an American audience whereas the "Dingle" one is like a Korean audience
so they're like, "Hey, we'd love to have you on both this time," and I was like
"Hey! I would love to!"
So I go on "Dimple" and I kid you not, within a week or two of the videos going up, I had people emailing me with job opportunities
Companies: "Hey, we saw you on "Dimple", we think you would be great for our ________."
Companies: "We'd love to work with you."
and I was like...
this is the kind of job opportunities you get on an entertainment visa
but I'm not on an entertainment visa, but people wanna...
they wanna talk to me? They wanna work with me?
What are you talking about? I like couldn't believe it.
So I was like sitting in my room
I was sitting at the desk that you can't see because this side of my room is a mess
I was sitting there like, "I wanna be on entertainment visa..."
"I'm getting job opportunities... like, why don't I try to email some of these entertainment industries that would sign me eventually?"
So... I still like laugh at this part of the story
I start emailing a few of these agencies
One of the agencies, they say to me:
Agency: "Like, this kind of random but do you happen to know anything about baseball?"
and I was like... Me: "...baseball..."
Me: "That's odd. That's an odd question..."
but I was like: we're being flexible, right? We're rolling with the punches.
We're just - we're just throwing these emails out there we'll see where they go!
I was like, "Yeah. I mean, yes. I've played a lot of sports in my lifetime."
Me: "I used to play softball."
Agency: "Oh! You - you've actually played!?"
Me: "Yes..." (I don't know what that has to do with an entertainment visa)
(because usually entertainment is like, you know, in front of the camera, voiceover, acting, dramas, that stuff)
Agency: "I want you to come meet somebody."
Me: *confusion*
We're rolling with the punches, we're going with it, we're going with the flow
Me: "Great, sure, where should I be? When? You tell me."
I show up thinking that I'm meeting the agency to talk about like signing (a contract) and maybe we'll talk about baseball like with it
because again - I'm like... baseball?
I end up showing up and it's like the producer of this baseball (broadcasting)...
it's still kind of up in the air, but they're looking to find foreigners to play baseball
and they're looking to kind of film it and kind of make it into potentially either like a tv show or youtube video something like that
I'm just sitting there, I don't speak a lot of Korean, this is a Korean man there were two other girls who were there at the same time who both speak Korean
and I'm over there like
(in Korean) "Hello... I'm Megan... I'm American..."
and he's like in *talks rapidly in Korean*
and I'm like, "Nope, I didn't catch that one."
Obviously I am not providing to this conversation at all
but he just so happens to be like
Korean man: "Have you played baseball before?"
and I knew the word for baseball, I knew the word like have you played, and I was like
Me: "Oh, yes."
you know it was like a *shocked expression* Korean man: "You've played!?
His whole face changed. He's freaking out. He's like,
Korean man: "Oh she's played so we need her here, we need her here, we need her here."
and I was like, "I need a visa, I need a visa, I still need a visa in order to do anything."
and so I'm like, "What is going on!?"
The next week they tell me to come to this practice, I show up.
They give me a glove. If you know anything about baseball you need the glove to be like flexible
and new gloves are usually really hard, so you have to really like play with it or maybe like scratch the inside of it to like loosen it up
and it's not a practice, it's auditions. It's tryouts. I's like: you come to this event and if you're good you make the cut
like you make the team.
They tell me it's the audition and I'm like, "This glove is a rock. Like, this isn't a glove. This is a rock."
The ball will just fall out of the glove if it's too hard.
So I'm on the sidelines trying to loosen the glove and it ends up that the coach saw me loosening the glove
and he was like,
Coach: "She's played. She actually knows what she's doing."
I thought I looked like an idiot. It actually was in my favor. It was in my benefit that I was looking like a psychopath on the sidelines
but there's all these different (tests). Like run from base to base we're gonna time you. Do this. Do this.
and then it came time for the "catch a fly ball". And I haven't done this in 10 years.
but I was like, "All right - come on - come on Megan!"
S. far every other girl hadn't caught it or they accidentally dropped it or something like that
so I was like, "Megan, don't mess this up. Don't mess this up!"
and they hit it *ball is flying*
and I was like,
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"
Like, I know what I'm doing but I don't know what I'm doing. But I do but I don't!
I caught it! Even with a rock hard glove I caught it and I was like...
Yes!
Act natural.
This is what you do!
and everyone literally was like, "Wow!" (like audibly shocked)
I found out that they had been practicing for like weeks beforehand for the audition
but I had just shown up and they're like, "How did she catch it she didn't even practice?"
Then we did some batting.
I'm used to playing softball and the ball's really big, so when I'm hitting a baseball, which is a lot smaller, and I'm like launching them out into the field
I'm also just as shocked as everybody else
I'm like, "How did I do that? Oh! I did it again?"
you know I was just like so surprised
but it's because the ball is significantly smaller.
I left that audition, tryout, I left it feeling like, "What did I just do?"
"I think I did pretty well but like also what the heck is going on why am I playing baseball in Korea right now?"
and then the next week I get notified that they really want me to play with them
and the same week I had another agency tell me, "We'd like to sign you."
and I'm over here like, "What is going on!?"
and the offer from the other agency was a really good (contract)
you have to be careful about the percentages that y. u get with contracts
because often they'll ask for a really high percentage
like if you make this much money, we want to take 50% of it.
If you make this much money, but you find the job on your own, we want to take a smaller percentage of it because you found it on your own
but all entertainment visas you always have to usually pay a fee up front
so the other company that said they want to sign me, they still said, "You'll still need to pay $1,500."
but they offered me such a small percentage, if I found the job myself, I was like, "Well that's a great contract!"
"I don't know what's going on with baseball anyways so, like, I'll talk to them and say - yeah!"
and then I told the baseball people that I'm interested in signing with this other company and they said, "Wait, wait, wait..."
"We won't make you pay the visa fee if you sign with us."
I was like, "I don't have to pay? I don't have to pay...? No pay? One more time - can you say one more time because I think I misunderstood what you said."
Agency: "We won't make you pay the fee. We see a lot of potential in you."
and, cherry on top, usually in order to switch from the D-4 visa which is the Korean language learning visa
you have to leave the country, you have to leave for like two to six weeks but the amount of time is kind of unknown
and I'm currently in class and I want to finish the semester.
So I'm like, "Ugh... I guess I have to wait until like September...
but then, I can't even do the baseball thing because I won't be on the right visa,
and then I can't take these job opportunities because they're going to go away because the timing is just going to be wrong by the time I come back in maybe October or November...
"What do I do?" and then the baseball company then says,
Agency: "Oh! We think that you can actually switch over to the entertainment visa without leaving Korea."
Agency: "Like, I've done it before, I know how to do the paperwork.
Agency: "It might not work, it's worth trying, but we can try it. But yeah - you might not have to leave."
Me: "What!?"
Agency: "Yep just, you know, if you're okay to sign with us
Agency: "sign the contract, we'll get the paperwork started and we'll do this like next week."
Me: "Okay!"
So I sign with them clearly,
and what my agency told me is it's kind of based on the coronavirus situation
it's based on who you talk with.
I go to immigration, I gave her (the worker) all my paperwork, she makes some phone calls,
and eventually after like 20 minutes she's like,
Immigration Worker: "So I can't switch you from this like D-4 to the E-6. It's impossible." and I was like
Me: "Well, my agency said you would say that but, like, is there anybody else I could talk to because she also said that it has worked before given the coronavirus situation and stuff like that"
Me: "They at least can submit it. It might not get approved but they could at least submit it."
Mind you I'm trying to speak in Korean and she's speaking to me in Korean and I still really don't speak Korean so... there was a lot of Korean that I know I didn't understand
So she goes, she comes back five minutes later,
*speaking lots of Korean* but in there it was,
Immigration Worker: "We can try it because corona is still a thing you. Might not get it but at least we can try."
Me: *shocked* "...yeah, yes! Great! Wonderful! Love that idea."
"You're smart. I love whoever you talked to. More of that please!"
after four hours of having to like write a resume and answer all these questions
and call my school and I need to get more paperwork
and it's like everything is happening, like
I had maybe 30 pieces of paper at the end of this that I'm turning in
Guys... I still can't believe this
Again, if I went to the states it would take two to six weeks, I have to fly to the states which is expensive,
I have to wait until my program's over
One week later my agency calls me and says,
Agency: "Oh! As of today you are officially an E-6 visa holder
Agency: "and you are allowed to live and work in Korea in the entertainment industry
Agency: "until not this August, like my last visa, but next August."
What!?!?
What!? I can't make it up! I can't make it up....
and then, hi! A very much more present day me coming in here to check-in and say a few things that are so important
I really hope you don't skip this part of the video.
First of all, I am a working actress now here in Korea which is crazy
and I'm going gonna make a whole separate video on the logistics of being an entertainer here
because a lot of people want this visa but I really would not recommend it to many people...
One... two. Counting's hard.
Two, I cannot stress the importance enough that you find people and you have people in your corner that you can go to at any time
to talk to, to vent to, who understand what you're going through.
It's crazy that I used to say, "I don't want to go to church, I don't need those people..."
and to now say, "Those are my people and I need them."
"And when I spend time away from them, I see how it ends up hurting myself because I get into my head about things."
Specifically Mill and Jae, thank you guys so much for loving me and encouraging me
because you guys that are watching this video
you don't see my lows as much as they do.
They've seen a lot of my tears that you guys have missed
and so I cannot stress the importance enough that you find community when you go abroad in some way, shape or form.
People that can love you well and encourage you well because it will get challenging.
And then number three, and probably the most important,
maybe a lot of you think,
You: "Wow, she got real lucky. Or whoa! Look at all those... look at all those coincidences."
I guess yes, you could look at it as I got really lucky,
but how much more beautiful is it to think that there is Someone that is looking down, heard my prayers, that's assisting throughout the story
and wanting to help and seeing what is the best outcome for her
I thought China would be the best outcome. I thought that would be my dream job.
I thought that would be the most amazing thing I could do with my life
and I ended up being blind to the fact that now, this current, present reality would be a million times better
but I didn't know that because I didn't have the zoomed out, eagle-eyed perspective that God does
So yes, you could walk away and say, "She got really lucky..."
but for me, I feel so blessed because God answered prayer and He answered it in His perfect timing
and though the journey was not easy, it is so beautiful to look back, sit down and say,
Me: "God, thank you."
"Thank you for knowing what is best when I couldn't and thank you for helping me get here because I know I couldn't have got him here on my own strength."
I didn't have the money, I didn't have the faith, but God opened all of these doors for me so that I can get here and tell you this story.
So I don't know what your belief system is, but I truly hope that you give this reality of God being real a shot.
I have so many other really good stories to share with you guys so if you do want some more videos like these where I tell stories let me know in the comments
but for now, let's go watch a video together, shall we?
My favorite vlog, if you're coming to South Korea here's some tips...
I'll go meet you over there! Bye guys~