Seoul, Korea - December 8, 2003
Welcome back to Korea. First off, it snowed today. Quite a change from Thailand. Second off, my computer in my house doesn't work anymore. I don't know what happened to it, but its definetely not working. My apartment is cold, and so is my local neighborhood where there is very little to do. I wish I lived in a more dynamic part of Seoul just to do something. I was kind of looking forward to sitting in my warm apartment and relaxing catching up on emails and all the like, instead I'm in an Internet Cafe which isn't very well-heated. Kind of feeling post-Thailand depression, probably moreso from having a nice vacation end.
Work was good as always. But the insecurity of work is worrisome. There are still lots of rumors that we could just all lose our jobs at anytime. On the plus side, they did hire a new immediate manager, who turns out to be a pretty cool guy. He is Korean-American guy from Los Angeles and very low-key and mellow. He actually bought everyone a pizza mentioning it was because he hadn't met me last week when he first started. I was glad to have what seems to be a pretty good guy aboard who will be above us. I hope our main boss doesn't fire him (or us) too quickly. There was a rumor, that she might fire all of the teachers and hire all new ones. She doesn't really seem to know how to run or manage this organization, and kind of seems to be hoping she can hire the right person who seems to make things work somehow or another. Not sure her line-of-thinking, I just know way too many people have come and go from their jobs at this company. I'm feeling a bit nervous about it as well on my own security.
On the plus side, I have been thinking about many other options I could possibly have after this contract in April. Two possible options are to either teach English in Saigon Vietnam or potentially Osaka Japan. I've been considering both from time to time. Another option is to stick around Korea and try to pay off all my debts and gather a little savings before I do anything else. (The readjustment costs are too harsh particularly when I still owe lots of money from past moving around and travel and everything else). By the way, its not THAT bad, but the short of it is I am still actually in debt at this time just a few thousand dollars though.
The other option is I was accepted into a Master's Program in Spain. The program is 'Peace & Development' and basically its 9-months of lectures, papers, and a thesis paper. I set everything up to apply for it just in case. It seems like it could open up doors in the future if I want to continue living abroad for the long-term. On the scarey side, what if it doesn't open up any doors and just causes yet more financial debt and financial burden and not much comes about from doing the program? So thats what I've been thinking about lately.
Next Journal Entry in Korea:
February 25, 2004
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com