Day 111: Verry Hansom?

So the ball for me finding a new job is well in motion!

I called a recruiter reccommended to me by my friend Gavin this morning and she was great! She was super friendly and knows of some upcoming jobs in Seoul that will be hiring very soon. She's also going to put my application in for 100 VERY LUCRATIVE teaching positions at elementary schools, beginning in July. Yes, that would mean teaching at a REAL SCHOOL! They're the kind of jobs that a foreigner would sell his own mother for so it'll be very competitive to get one of those positions. Here's hoping I do! (And don't worry Mom, I've no plans to put you up on e-bay anytime soon!) hehe! All of the positions she mentioned sound attractive - I'm going to be a bit more fussy this time around in selecting a school and location. I'm a 'seasoned veteran' now and know how the system works so I feel pretty confident I'll get a good job soon. And I can afford to wait a little while for a good one to come up. I'm definitely willing to be patient.

I told my kids at school today that I would be leaving very soon. At first they didn't seem to understand that I was going to be leaving *and not coming back* but then they finally got it. They all seemed very sad (my older kids did anyways) and a couple of them even wrote me little goodbye letters in class today. THEY ARE SO SWEET!!! Here are the letters that I received today, written exactly as they are in the note:

To Scott
Hello? Scott
My name is Cherry Scott. biy-bay Good boy Scott
Verry hansom Scott ~ I am crying
- Cherry -

To: Scott
Scott! Hi. My name is James.
Scott is school English Teacher
Bye-Bye :-( GoodBye
Scott is Good boy very good Boy
Scotty bye-by Scott Teacher my very very sad :-(
- James -

To: Scott
Scott, Hello?
My name is Debbie.
Scott, Monday bye bye!
I'm verry verry sad! :-(
Scott, bye bye
Scott,
(below in giant letters)
I *heart* you
- Debbie -

How cute are my kids!! Doesn't that just make your heart melt??? I'm really gonna miss them...

After work today I sent off my resume to two other recruiters that friends reccommended to me so we'll see what they come up with. I've now got THREE recruiters working for me so I'm pretty sure that by the end of next week I'll either have an interview or a solid lead on a specific job. Things often work really fast around here so I don't think I'll be sitting around my apartment for ages and ages.

In the meantime, I've decided that a little holiday is in order. This weekend I am going camping at Bukhansan National Park with Brad, Andrea and Steve. We actually have had this planned for quite a few weeks as it is the last weekend that the four of us get to spend together as both Brad and Andrea leave next Thursday. I'M GOING TO BE SO SAD TO SEE THEM GO!!! The four of us have been inseparable since March and I can't imagine my life here in Korea without them. We all connect SO WELL, much more so than I have with my other friends, and it's going to be impossible to replace them. But, such is the life of an expat. People are constantly coming and going so as someone who's planning on spending the next couple of years teaching and travelling overseas I better get used to goodbyes.

As for my holiday, well next week Andrea and I are going to go to Jeju Island for a few days!!! She really wanted to go and check out Jeju before she left but didn't have anyone to go with. Well suddenly I have a lot of free time on my hands, and I've been wanting to go to Jeju so I thought why not??? We're gonna leave on Monday and come back on Wednesday so it's just a short visit but it's going to be great. It's supposed to be stunningly beautiful there (it's a subtropical volcanic island about 85 km. off the south coast of Korea - you have to fly there) and it'll be great for 'bonding time' between me and Andrea before she leaves me to go back home. So basically starting this weekend I'm travelling for the next 5 days - WOO HOO!!! *(expect the blog to be quiet for a while!)*

Mark phoned me up tonight to see if I wanted to join him for dinner so I said 'sure!' (Mark's the American guy who lives near me who I just met the other day.) We ended up having quite the long night tonight!!! We went to this restaurant/bar just behind Kolon-Mart for some dinner and a couple beers. Well we were sitting outside on their patio when these two middle-aged Korean guys came up and joined us at our table. They wanted to meet us and practice their English, and they both seemed friendly enough so Mark and I were cool with it. They ended up staying quite a while and we all kept ordering more and more beers, trading language lessons and just talking about life in Korea and stuff. Well they were so nice that in the end not only did they pay for the whole bill (including our dinners!) but they also invited us to their respective homes for dinner in the future. KOREANS ARE SO FRIENDLY AND HOSPITABLE!!! :-)

They left us around 10pm or so and Mark and I thought this was going to be the end of it. Well they came back about 5 minutes later and insisted that we follow them down the street. Just half a block down was some bar that had just opened and was having a freebie OPEN HOUSE so they wanted us to join them at this new bar. We ended up having more beers and some platefuls of snacks, ranging from dried cuttle fish to watermelon to banana chips to almonds to squid tentacles. We all stayed there for a good hour plus and had a great time just chatting it up.

After we left there and said our goodbyes, Mark wanted to pop in at *another* bar just up the street to visit a friend of his (ie: a girl he's trying to pick up...hehe!) So it was another drink at another bar and more cool Koreans to chat with. This night just kept going and going but it was all great fun. Mark and I are becoming good buddies already, and I'm getting to meet lots of cool people in the area in the process. Too bad I'm going to be leaving Shihung so soon! (words I never thought I'd say!)

I got home just after 1am feeling a little tipsy (but having spent nothing as the Korean guys and then Mark paid for everything!) Tonight was sorta like my pre-weekend celebration/kick-off to what I know is gonna be a really really awesome 5-day stretch. Be prepared for lots of great stories when I get back (and some breathtaking photos, as well, I'm sure!)