ONE DAY MORE

Tomorrow is my last day at the EF Language Institute in the city of Gwangyang. This came as a surprise to me but I’m not crushed by it. What happened was I went in to see Kelly today to tell her that I wouldn’t be tutoring this weekend but I would for my last 2 weekends in Gwangyang if she wanted. After she digested that, she asked if I owed the kids any lessons (they pay in advance for a month) and I said I didn’t. She told me it would be very difficult for her to tell the mothers that I wouldn’t be tutoring anymore. I didn’t say anything. What was I supposed to say? I’ll stay. Weird.

I then asked her if we could go to immigration on May 12th to get my visa cancelled. I told her again I thought my last day was May 24th in accordance with the one month’s notice I gave her. She then asked me when I started and I told her February 8th so she said that if I worked until May 7th then that would be a full pay period. I said yes and she told me it would be better for her if I didn’t work after that. She said she hadn’t found a replacement but a lot of the middle school kids wouldn’t be there next week because of exams. I suppose she didn’t want to pay me for that week and I understand that. May 7th is Sunday and May 5th is a holiday, so I asked if she wanted tomorrow (May 4th) to be my last day. She said yes and I was fine with that.

I told her that my new job didn’t start until May 22nd so I wasn’t sure if I had a place to live and she told me that I could stay in the apartment if I paid the rent. I thought that was very fair. I then phoned my recruiter and asked him when I can move in to my new apartment, and if I could start my new job a little early. School was closed for the day so he told me that he would let me know in the morning.

I asked Kelly if I could say goodbye to some of the kids and she asked me not to. She said if I said goodbye, the kids would tell their parents before Kelly did. I understand that. I feel bad not saying goodbye, but what can you do.

I told her that I have some books being shipped to the school (from Amazon) and asked her to just hold them and I’d pick them up. She said no problem and told me to just give her a list of anything I wanted her to do for me. It sounds nice, and it’s typical Kelly. The best intentions but the reality is usually different. I will be asking her for as little as possible.

However, it did soften me up and I asked her if she wanted the Bingo game and another game I had bought and used in class sometimes. She said, “What am I going to do with these”? All my good, warm feelings just fell away. What an idiot! HELLO, I use them in class. HELLO, I use them to teach English. I told her that you play them with the kids and they enjoy it. I’m sorry I offered. I’m such a softy.

It felt really weird knowing that the end is here. It’s hard to believe. I know people have been telling me for awhile that I should get out, but I’m glad I waited until now because now is what I’m comfortable with. I leave with no guilt and I would have left with guilt if I left earlier. I feel I gave it a good shot and it just didn’t work out.

I don’t think Jack is talking to me again. He walks by me now and doesn’t smile or say anything so he must finally know I’m leaving. I don’t care what he thinks because he doesn’t know me or my life. I don’t have to devote myself to a job, nor am I obligated to. If I stay I’m obligated to do the best I can but I am free to go. It’s funny because I know he’s tired of the boredom of Gwangyang and he has nothing to do. He lives in a room at the school which I think is rather pathetic. I know he’s loyal and devoted, but I would tend to throw in stupid also. But if it works for him, that’s fine with me.

I went to the post office this morning for the first time. I had to send some documents to the recruiter to get the new visa process going. I found a good English speaker there who helped me. I had many questions about Tek-bae which is the post office pickup and delivery of packages/cartons like a courier service. They’ll come to your house, get your stuff, and send it on it’s way. The price is quite reasonable so I’ll be using them to send things to Paju with so I’m not schlepping 3 suitcases plus a laptop plus more on the bus.

I broke down and visited the doctor today. When I told her I was sick she didn’t say, “Sunny, yes”, so that was a good sign. She listened to my chest and back and pronounced that I had bronchitis. I wanted to come to Korea for new things but I never expected bronchitis to be one of them. I’ve never had it. She gave me 3 days worth of medicine (because I suppose that’s how long it takes to cure it). It was cough medicine and 4 pills that I take 3 times a day. The total cost of all this? $2.50. I may stay in Korea forever for the drug prices.

One of my students asked me what a house with a swimming pool costs in America. I explained that it’s location, location, location and gave her rough estimates for the same house in different areas. She was quite surprised by the high prices. I told her that a 1 room walk up apartment in New York is $3000 a month. She then told me that her family’s apartment costs $200,000. I had no idea things were so expensive. It’s strange because salaries are a lot less than in America so $200,000 for a 3 bedroom apartment seems way out of whack.

It seems at times like my life is one “adventure” after another. It’s been a wild 12 months. Some good, some bad, and very different to my previous almost 50 years. Why not pick up and move to a new city in Korea to teach at a new school. It fits in with everything else.