Day 133: The Refugee

The first thing I did today when I woke up was phone Poly and update them as to what was going on. Surely they must have some suggestions to help me get out of this horrible situation... There's gotta be a loophole I can escape through somehow, or a way that we can negotiate with that psycho Steven.

Unfortunately, they said there was nothing really that they could do. It wasn't their place to get in the middle of this, and they weren't going to pay him off. They suggested that I phone Steven back and try and do some bargaining - perhaps there was something else that I could exchange with him, or maybe I could talk him back to sanity.

So there I was, with having sole responsbility to deal with that mother fucking bastard who was screwing me over. I was actually feeling pretty level-headed and calm today, but suddenly this wave of anger - productive anger - went through me and I felt the strength and confidence to take Steven head on. If he wanted to play this stupid game, the only way I was going to win, or at least avoid getting deported, was to play along with him.

And really, who the hell did he think he was? Does he not realize what he's messing with here? This is the fucking S2H World Tour!!! AND NOBODY FUCKS WITH THE S2H WORLD TOUR!!! This is my project, this is my life, this is my dream that I've worked so hard to achieve, and had really only just begun. I wasn't going to let one greedy mother fucking bastard change all that by trying to screw me over and send me home. Uh-uh - I'm staying here in Korea, and that's all there is to it!

I knew that sacrifices would have to be made, and I was the only one who could give them up. I had to make a deal with the devil, and so I did. I phoned up Steven, and in my calmest, friendliest voice, offered him a deal in a polite and warm tone (while gritting my teeth and plotting his death silently...) I offered that if he gave me my letter of release, then he would not have to pay me my wages for those last 3 weeks of work that he still owed me. He said he'd think about it and get back to me...

Less than an hour later he phoned me back, and had agreed. I'd get the letter from him, and in return he wouldn't have to pay me the 1.5 million Won he still owed me. It was a huge price to pay (about $1500 CDN) but it was the only thing that I could offer him. And in reality, I'd probably have never seen that money anyways. He'd probably drag out the process of paying me that money long after I had started the new job, and in the end I'd most likely never seen a penny of it. It was a bitter, jagged pill to swallow, but what other choice did I have? He had me held over a barrel and he knew it - I had to offer him substantial enough bait for him to bite, and thank god he did.

Still, I was so angry, so bitter, so fuming with rage...why would he do this to me???

I phoned my parents to give them the update on what had happened in the last 24 hours, and they were as shocked as I was. Not long after I got off the phone with them I went to make another phone call, only to discover that my phone had been cut off...
WHAT THE FUCK, NOW??? Either Steven had decided to cut it off cause he's pissed or it's just a strange coincidence that it would suddenly, 'randomly' stop working today. On top of that, my cell phone had been cut off too. I now had no way of talking to anyone outside my house!!!

Thank God I still had the internet!! The bastard may have cut off my main lifeline, but I wasn't dead in the water yet. I decided that when Steven gave me the letter that evening, that was it, I was going to leave right away!! I wasn't going to wait until tomorrow to move - I wanted to get out now. Steven had originally offered to help me move, but had since decided that he was 'too busy' to help me anymore. I didn't care about this, cause to be honest I didn't want the motherfucker knowing where my new home was going to be. I wanted to run away, to escape from his clutches, to turn my back on that hellhole and never look back. And I wanted to be safe knowing that he'd never be able to find me or cause me more frustrations.

I emailed my friend Michael and BEGGED him to come pick me up that evening when he got off of work and drive me and all my stuff to Ilsan. I wasn't getting my keys to my new place until tomorrow, but I'd just crash at Steve's instead. I totally felt like a refugee!!! It was like I was living in a country when war broke out all of a sudden, and I couldn't escape cause they had closed the borders and my passport was in the hands of the evil totalitarian Nazi officer. I wanted to flee to a safe country, to the refugee camp waiting for me on the other side, but had no way to get to it. I had to get that 'passport' (the letter) and get the hell out any way I could. I would flee in the middle of the night with all of my belongings and run away to a safe place. I was the refugee, Shihung was the war-torn country, Steven was the Nazi, and Ilsan was my oasis salvation.

I spent all day packing up my belongings and downloading all my precious photos of friends and family that I had on the computer onto disk or my splashbulb site. I couldn't leave anything behind cause once I left I knew I was never coming back. And I wanted to remove all evidence that had I lived there. Luckily I don't own a lot of stuff here so it didn't take long for me to get all my shit together.

At around 7pm Steven came home and I went up to exchange my deal with the devil. I was terrified that he had changed his mind, or that he'd want more from me, or that he would find a way to try and milk more out of me. Surprisingly, he was friendly, calm, and polite when I met up with him. He had the letter already written out and handed it over, and then I had to sign a piece of paper agreeing that he didn't have to pay me the wages. And that was it - clean and simple and easy - but I was trembling inside. I kept expecting something else to go wrong, for that demon to rear his ugly head from inside Steven again. But strangely enough, as soon as we did the deal, he was back to his normal, friendly self. He had switched back to his old personality again, and was acting all chummy with me, as if he hadn't just fucked me over with his greed. He was apologetic again for having to let me go in the first place, and wished me well at the new school. He even offered to help me in the future if I ever needed it (like I'm ever going to contact you again, you motherfucker!!) and said that maybe he would help me move after all. He even suggested that maybe sometime him and the fam can come over to see my new place and have dinner in Ilsan together? I was completely confused and disturbed...who was the real Steven?

Whatever.

I've got my letter, I'm getting the fuck out of here!

I informed him that I was moving that night (he was surpised) and he seemed sad to see me go. I went back downstairs and waited for Michael to come rescue me. That was a whole other ordeal in itself... I've never had anyone come visit me in Shihung before, so I had no idea how to give directions to get there. There are no landmarks in my part of town, almost nothing is in English, and most of the streets don't even have names...

Michael and Gary eventually found me, but it took almost 2 hours of lost driving and wandering through both Shihung and Bucheon to find me. I have never ever been happier to see a friend as when I finally saw Michael in his car!! We packed up all my stuff and I gave back my key. Steven and the whole family came out to wave goodbye to me and I thought that Steven was going to cry. ????????????????

See ya, goodbye, adios, I'm outta here. Thanks for fucking me over. Have a nice day. Buh-bye! ;-)

Getting to Ilsan proved to be a challenge in itself as well! None of us had ever driven from Shihung to Ilsan (totally across the city from each other) and we didn't know which streets or highways to take. It took forever, and we ended up doing this criss-cross journey across Greater Seoul, including getting stuck on the Airport Express Freeway which brought us all the way to Incheon Int'l cause there's NO OFF-RAMPS, and involved doing some serious back-tracking... Finally we got to Ilsan, and I was amazed that I was able to find the apartment building in the dark.

By the time we got there it was after midnight and I was completely exhausted. But I had made it to the other side, reached safety, and knew that the worst was now behind me. You hear all these horror stories about teachers getting screwed in Korea, and now I've lived through one of those experiences myself. It's horrible. I don't ever want to get screwed over like that again. But now I just want to move on and forget about it. I've got a new life to begin, and I'm not going to let one bad experience ruin my whole adventure here in Korea. The S2H World Tour is bigger than all of that, and it's not gonna get bogged down by one (although significant) bump in the road!

I was sooooooo tired and was happy to go to bed at Steve's. I gave the biggest thank you hugs to Michael and Gary and said goodbye. I had escaped, I had survived - and I was *exhausted.* This refugee collapsed into bed and fell into a deep, deep sleep, happy that the day was over.