I'M BITING THE BULLET

I was talking to my friend Robert who teaches in Seoul yesterday. He joined the chorus of people who are telling me that I should get out of Gwangyang and the school here. Enough is enough. This was the straw that broke the camel’s (or my) back. I’ll live with the guilt. I’ll probably get over it quite quickly. I started sending out resumes yesterday. I’ll be picky as to what I accept (if offered). It’s not just getting a job but going through everything again. My work visa is only good with my current employer. If I get a new job then I have to go through the visa process again. And I just can’t get the job because I need to get a release from my current contract first.

I’m sure it won’t be a problem to get the release. I want to give one month’s notice because it would really put Kelly in a bind if I just walked out. If she won’t write the release then I’ll tell her that I’m leaving immediately. That will help but I’m sure it won’t come to that. And when have I ever been wrong?

I know that some people won’t be interested in me as a contract breaker, but others will be. Some will want an assurance that I’ve spoken to my employer before talking to me, but I don’t want to mention anything until I have a job offer. I had an interview today that went well. It’s a school ½ an hour outside Seoul working for an Englishman. He seemed mature and knew his stuff. I like his philosophy and his goals in teaching. It seems like a professional place. When I told him about how report cards were done where I work (grades pulled out of thin air), he was genuinely surprised. I found that to be a good sign.

This time I’ll speak to employees of the school before committing, and try to learn as much as possible before accepting anything. Only wanting to teach middle school students and above quite severely narrows my selection so I’m also open to other kids. I’ll need to get an honest assessment of the kids of elementary age to see if I’m interested. And I’ll go to a bigger city or closer to a bigger city. My one exception to that is Jeju Island. Jeju Island is supposed to be quite beautiful so that does have a certain appeal. We’ll see what transpires.

My weekend was boring. I tutored. I went grocery shopping. I read. I slept. I downloaded movies. And I watched 2 movies. I watched “Derailed” which I had read was bad. I liked it. I loved the book and the movie wasn’t awful. It kept me interested. I also watched “Hustle and Flow” which I had heard was quite good. I didn’t like it that much and was disappointed. I had no idea what it was about before I watched it. It’s about a pimp who wants to be a rap singer. It’s hard to relate to a pimp and I find if there are no real likeable characters then it’s hard to like a movie. It took me about 20 minutes to be able to understand everything being said because most of the characters had black southern accents. The ears needed a period of adjustment.

I returned to yoga today. Some days the instructor laughing at me gets on my nerves. I know I stink but I’m trying. I just smile but at times I want to scream. I do not love yoga.

I think I’m getting sick. Again. I’ve started coughing and my throat doesn’t feel right. Laryngitis could be just around the corner. This will be the 3rd time I’ve been sick (or had a cold). That’s more colds than I’ve had in the last 5 years. I think Jeju Island is the place for me.

Work was tolerable today. The brats at 4PM were well behaved today so I think my silent treatment on Friday worked. And I do love the girls at 8:30. A couple of them visited Leah’s website (I directed them there on Friday). They thought she was quite beautiful and Taylor was quite handsome. It was cute to hear them gushing. I told them they should leave a comment so we’ll see if they do. The girl with the best English is a little self-conscious about leaving a comment with her bad grammar. I told her to not worry about it and just say she was writing from Korea.

My throat is rapidly seizing up and I feel like crap. I think I’ll keep this post brief and log off. But I am psyched about the job hunt.