So here's the deal...

Have decided to leave Korea early. Gave my letter of resignation to my school on Monday, stating that my last day will be February 28. I didn't realise that it was a Sunday, but they are cool with it. The teachers handling the situation are being very understanding and supportive. Since Feb 28th is exactly 6 months, I don't have to pay back the re-imbursed airfare and settlement allowance of 300,000won. Also, since it's exactly half of my 1 year contract, they are allowing me to have half of my holidays. I've got 5 days in Jan (the first full week of Jan, so 1st through to the 10th), and then 5 days in Feb (from Lunar New Year - Feb 13 to Feb 22), and then the last 4 days at work, preparing things for a new (possible) replacement.

It wasn't a decision that I made lightly. I haven't been enjoying my job pretty much since I got here. I have no big regrets (small ones, yes, but not big ones) about taking this job and trying something new in a place I've been before. One thing that this experience has emphasised more for me, is that you're the only person who can truly look after you. I now know that Korean public schools aren't my thing. Outside of work, I am enjoying my life here in Korea, but to have to go to a place you don't want to go to 5 days a week, is hard.

I've got issues that I have to deal with back at home as well, and I'll be honest, if these issues didn't come up, I would have tried to stay in my job for 12 months, and I think I could have. But, this is just the way it is. You gotta do the best with what you've got.

As Kenny has said:

You gotta know when to hold 'em
know when to fold 'em
know when to walk away
know when to run

For my own sake, it's time for me to fold 'em and walk away, so I can come back feeling better than ever.

Yeah, I do want to come back to Korea. This chapter in life has taught me to look before you leap, test the waters before jumping in. I think a part of me was so eager to get back to Korea, that i jumped into this job a bit too quickly. If you have to go to a place 5 days out of 7, you should may as well enjoy it - and I'm not.

So this is how it works:
Feb 26 (fri) - last working day
Feb 28 (sun) - last official day, and moving out of apartment day
Mar 1 (mon) - public holiday (independence day)
Mar 2 (tue) - first day of the new semester
Mar 3 (wed) - meet my co-teacher in Suwon so that I can cancel my visa/sojourn properly
Mar 5 (fri) - get to incheon airport by 9, so that I can check in for a flight that leaves at 11am.

From my experience, Koreans can plan stuff pretty well, when they need to. I've given them more than 60 days notice as to when I'm going to quit (sure it's only 10 days, but any bonus is good), so that they have a bit more time to try to find a replacement. I've told them if they would like any help from me, then all they have to do is ask - it's the least I could do since they're helping me out too.

I've also sorted out places to stay from Feb 28 to Mar 5. Friends are awesome when they help out - I'd like to think that they know that I would do the same for them as well.

Spiralling

Ever had one of those days, where a bad thing just sets of other bad things, and it just cascades until it frustrates you so much that it just builds up to a point where you know that the next thing is gonna set you off, and it's all this frustration is gonna burst out?

Had one of those days today. It was just over simple things as well. But, it involved one of those wonderful electronic devices that people are so accustomed to living with... yes, the mobile phone.

My phone decided to officially go nuts, after a bit of gentle persuasion. Maybe I was a bit too gentle this time. My argument has always been, that if you're gonna do something, do it properly. I don't think Korean electronic manufacturers have heard of this saying before. In my time in Korea, I have had 2 Korean phones, 1 Korean digital camera, and 1 Korean notebook computer, and all of these things have been to a service centre within the first 6 months of use.

I've only got 3 weekends left in Korea, so I am trying to organise things with my friends, about meeting up before I leave. The cancel/clear button on the phone has been a bitch for a while now, but today, it wasn't working at all. So, after a bit of gentle persuasion (which normally worked), didn't work, and made it worse. 3 of the major buttons were having an identity crisis: menu thought it was 3, call thought it was 9, and messages thought it was #. The only thing i could do with it, was turn it on and off, and I was able to access the contacts, so i wrote all of them down.

Today, a friend was meant to come and stay over, so I called him from the public pay phone to make sure he was coming (which he said yes), then tried to call my parents to say that my phone is buggered (the line was busy) and then went to work. After work, i walked around town, looking for him at the two main bus stops that he might have got off at. Then I tried to call him... 3 times... no answer. So, I walked to my apartment, and decided to call him one more time from the payphone there, but some fuckstick little kid decided that it was a good idea to put paper into the coin slot. So, that pissed me off to the point of banging the handset on the cradle thing a couple of times.

I got up to my apartment, and checked my email. There was an email from him saying that he can't make it (with the sent time at 5:33) coz work changed his roster last minute. That's Korea - randomly last minute. At least he emailed me about it. So, i had to walk into town to call parents again, since some sprog bucket of a mistake little kid put the paper in the slot of the apartment payphone. Then after calling my parents, I decided to order pizza, for some comfort food.

Pizza is good. Except for the corn...