With the new visa laws that come into place in December, I've been thinking about my time in South Korea, and the remaining 11 months that I have in my 3rd contract. It looks like that you can't renew your current E2 visa in Korea, you have to go back to your home country to renew your visa. For some people, this isn't a problem. For me, it is. The nearest embassy is a day's travel away. Also, with the changing of the documents that are needed (now need a criminal records check and a medical). I can understand about the extra documents needed, but just the travel time, and the hassle of having to just re-new your stay (in the same job, in the same place).
I can understand why the Korean government wants to change the new visa rules for coming here. With all the bad people (the latest was a pedophile from Canada that was caught in Thailand after teaching in Korea for a few months) that come into Korea (and in Korea, that can include anyone who doesn't try to fit in, depending on how Koreans think of foreigners) I get the idea of changing the rules. But for re-newing? I don't think its right. With the current laws, your boss has pretty much all the power to keep you here, or kick you out, and with some cases, some people do what are called "Midnight Runs", where they just leave in the middle of the night, and go back to their home country, and I can understand why they want to do that. When I first got here, and probably for the first 6 - 9 months, working at a place that isn't organised, and things seem random and last minute, is really hard to deal with, especially with a teaching background from Australia, where I had to plan everything down to the last detail, a week or more in advance. Some places, don't even give a fuck what you do. For some places you are the "gotta spend money to make money - token foreigner", for your boss to make some extra cash. I know this, because for my first 12 months, I felt like I was in this situation (and on my first day, my boss told me this). There are days where I still feel like I am.
But, on the other hand, many things get blamed on foreigners here that really have no justification. The stereotypes are pretty bad here, worse than other places, in my opinion. Firstly, I'm assumed American. At first, damn annoying to deal with, but I appreciate the Koreans who ask me, where are you from?, rather than people pointing and shouting "American" (in either English or Korean). If people want to state the f**King obvious and call me a foreigner, then whatever. At times, I an deal with this and I will tell them in Korean, I'm not American, I'm Australian. The people who ask me, I will be polite about it, because they have been open-minded enough to ask and not assume.
Anything bad that a foreigner is caught in, it seems to have this ripple effect on all the other foreigners in Korea. With the pedophile thing, some English teachers here, and other foreigners here, noticed some stand-offish behaviour towards them from korean workmates. But, this happens every time when something happens in the news, in which it involves a foreigner. Like, a group of foreigners being caught smoking dope and going to class of their f**king heads. Now, I can understand them getting into trouble, being kicked out of the country, or even if they were slammed into jail here for X years, fair enough. But, then all the social bullshit that comes with it, is just what it is... bullshit. I've met some pretty shady Koreans in my time here, and had some totally f**ked up experiences here, where I have had my bag almost packed, ready to go, and telling my boss that I can't stay here anymore. I'm glad that I pushed past those times, and stayed here for the time that I have. But I really feel that with these new laws, that my time in Korea, is coming to an end.
I've had this feeling for a while, and I reluctantly signed my 3rd year contract at the start of October. But, I didn't have enough doubt in my mind to not re-new. It wasn't my time to go yet. But, I feel that by October 2008, if its not my time to go home, and I can re-new easily, then I will stay in Korea. If its not my time, but I can't be bothered with dealing with all the renewing shit in Australia, then I'll just go back. Overall, I've had a good time in Korea. Learned another language and culture, made some great friends (both Koreans and non-Koreans), and have really enjoyed being in a different place. I've learned a lot about myself and who I am. I would have no problem with leaving Korea next October, if I felt that it was the right decision for me.
Of course, I don't know what the future will hold. I've got 6 days, until I go back home to Australia for a 2 week holiday. I'm using 1 week of holidays from my 2nd year contract (which I haven't had yet), and using 1 week from my 3rd year. So, when I get back to Korea on the 8th of December, I'll have one week of holidays that I can use until October 2008. Which will be enough for me. I have been in Korea for 2 years, and have survived. I can handle another 10.5 months here.
Korea feels like my 2nd home at the moment. I feel like part of the furniture in my town here. Coming to the countryside of Korea was the best option, in my opinion. I've learned so much about Korea (the good and the bad), and feel that soon, it will be my time to go back to Australia.
The changes to the visa laws aren't official yet, but there have been articles about them in Korean newspapers. Things can change last minute, without notice in Korea. I knew about the changes a few weeks ago, and it has taken me some time to come to the level of thinking about them that I've reached. I'm okay with going home October 2008, if I want to. I had thought about staying longer, but it really depends how I feel, but I can see myself going home, back to Australia, back to reality, at the end of my 3rd year here.
Like I said, Korea feels like my 2nd home, and I know that in my 2 weeks of being in Australia, I'll miss all the good things about Korea - My friends and good students, the food, the feeling of being in unusual situations and learning so much, and feeling excited about being in a different place. But, I will also feel the comfort of being surrounded by family and friends in Australia, being able to speak fluent English, with everyone understanding me. I also know that if I leave Korea in October 2008, I will be back in some way in the future. Korea has changed me, in a good way ^^
I will have a better feeling of closure when I know exactly what the new laws are when they are released in December. But, I have enough closure to feel completely comfortable saying that if I leave Korea in October 2008, that I won't have any regrets.
Now that that's been said...
Friday, had a good day at work, but one class I had to tell off for being idiots. There is one "ring-leader" in that class, and if he's a pain in the ass, the kids with no self-control or idea (or brain) just follow him. But, at least the kid that I kicked out last week, for swearing twice, studied hard and did the right thing.
Last night I went to my Geomdo teachers house after class, and tried to help him with his computer. Its an old computer, and he wanted to install Windows XP Professional on it, but its already running windows XP, and running it very slowly. He said that it's always been slow. But, I don't use Windows (coz I hate Windows), so I don't really know what to do. Also, the Windows XP Professional CD he has is in English. Lol
He ordered some Chicken for dinner for me, even though he wasn't hungry. My Geomdo Teacher is one of my best friends here in Korea, and I will really miss him when I'm gone, even in the 2 weeks when I'll be in Australia.
I've got my Black belt test today for Geomdo. Its about 1 hour before we leave to go to Jeongeup (which is about 40 - 50 mins away from here). I've been doing Geomdo for 2 years (almost exactly), so it feels really good that I've come this far. I'm not a sporty person, as you can tell from my photos. But, from going to the gym and my change in lifestyle here in Korea, I've lost about 20kg. I want to lose more, but with winter coming in, the walk to the gym just gets harder and harder every day.
Anyway, I'd better get ready for my test. Wish me luck ^^
After that, I went back into the city to meet an old uni friend. Walking from Federation Square to Melbourne Central Station took long enough. But, I had enough to find the JB Hi-Fi I saw when riding the tram last time, and went in there for a quick look. I'm mainly been using iTunes to check out music, so it felt a little unusual to walk into a music store that big. Didn't buy anything.
