Day 110: Unemployed

I've got some news, and you better sit down for this one, although you probably won't be all that surprised when you hear it...

As of this Friday I'm UNEMPLOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I've lost my job here in Korea, it's official!

My worst case scenario that I was worried about a month about has come to life. My school is totally broke and cannot afford to keep me on payroll. I'm too much of a drain on finances and they have to let me go. My last day of teaching is the end of this week. That's it, I'm done.

Since I sorta saw this coming, it hasn't been all that much of a shock. I thought that maybe things had stabilized at my school but apparently not. In the middle of a class today Steven pulled me aside and we had 'the chat.' He seemed really sad about it though and I know that he honestly feels bad about having to let me go. He's actually already found me a new teaching job, but I'm not going to take it. It's in a city called Cheungju and it's way out in the middle of nowhere central Korea. Steven says it's only an hour or so on the bus into Seoul, but still, I've had enough of suburbia. I'm going to look at this as an opportunity to find a new, way better, way cooler job, in a nicer part of town. Something that's actually in Seoul-proper and doesn't involve having to spend hours and hours on the train and bus to get anywhere!

So yeah this means big changes in my life, that's for sure. I'm definitely going to stay here in Korea though. I'm really enjoying my time here, have made some good friends, and frankly, the money is too good to walk away now. Schools are constantly hiring so I feel pretty confident that I'll be able to find a new one fairly soon. I called all my friends tonight and they're going to talk to their bosses and check around to see if they know of any openings. It's all about connections, and the fact that I'm already in Korea (therefore saving a potential employer from having to pay to fly someone in) will work as a huge advantage for me. And plus now I'm a bit of a 'seasoned veteran' - I know what to look for in terms of both job qualities, and which areas of town are nice to live in. I'm hoping that by the end of next week I'll have found something new.

I went up to Steven's apartment tonight and we chatted more about the details. He feels really REALLY bad about having to let me go and actually started to cry at one point. He said "I'm sorry" no less than a thousand times tonight and is going to do his best to help me find a new job. There'll be complications with Immigration and work visas and all that other bureaucratic bullshit that I'll have to deal with at some point but he's going to take care of as much of it as he can. He also said that I can stay in my apartment as long as it takes to find a new job so that's really cool. I also have a bit of savings in my Korean account so I'll be fine with $$$ for a while. At least I know I won't be out hungry and homeless on the streets anytime soon! ;-)

I guess all of this news is really unsettling and means a lot of work for me to find a new equilibrium for my life here in Korea, but I'm sorta almost happy about it too. I mean Steven and his family have been super nice to me and I couldn't ask for a kinder family to work with, but the school was kinda shitty. It was very poorly run, completely unorganized, I never got paid on time, and I live way out in a shitty run-down suburb that no one's heard of. Finding a new job will hopefully give the opportunity to find steadier, more stable employment in a nicer area of town. I'm determined to get out there and find myself a kick-ass job! It's gonna be a crazy, hectic, at-times-stressful next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!