The Sequel Rules

Something that got me thinking, when I was watching some random stuff on Youtube the other day.

There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to create a successful sequel. Number one: the body count is always bigger. Number two: the death scenes are always much more elaborate - more blood, more gore - *carnage candy*. And number three: never, ever, under any circumstances, assume the killer is dead.

Yeah, Randy's rant about the rules of a sequel, and it made me think about my 2nd time in Korea.

Rule 1: the body count is always bigger
Well, I haven't killed anyone, but I feel that I'm wasting a lot more time than I used to in my previous job in Korea. My main issue is that I have to be at school from 9 - 5 (40 hours a week), when I don't have enough work to justify being here for 40 hours a week.

Also, with my previous job in Korea, I was there for 3 years, in a hagwon, in the middle of nowhere. Now, I'm in a Korean public school, and handed in my resignation after 3.5 months.

Rule 2: the death scenes are always much more elaborate
This is the first teaching job I've ever resigned from. All the other teaching jobs I've had, I've just seen out the contract (in a few, I have been offered/been told to re-apply for but have decided not to).

Rule 3: never, ever, under any circumstances, assume the killer is dead
I've decided that It will very unlikely that I will be coming back to Korea for work in 2010. My next challenge in my life is to get my life started in Australia. Long term job, house, car, etc... I'm 30, i gotta start acting like it.

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.

3 weeks, 6 days (update)

9:15pm update: Checked with my recruiter about the whole "rural benefit" thing (extra 100,000won a month, and an extra 1 week holiday a year). This school I'm working at isn't in a rural area. She said, this evening:

yes, first I told you would get the rural beneficary because I thought the school is in rural area, but after I checked with vice principal, he said, the school is not considered as rural, so there will be no rural beneficiary.

She didn't mean it, but it did annoy me/slightly piss me off that she told me information she wasn't sure about, and then didn't tell me what the vice principal said.

I'm also disappointed with her saying "I'm really bad....I make a lot of mistakes" then "I don't want to make an excuse.". But, this is something you don't really want to hear from a recruiter. In her defence, this is the only mistake/problem she's made, and I really hope it's the last. I've lost some confidence in her skill and professionalism, but I still have the job, and things are still going to planned for getting to Anseong.

She convinced me to let her call him asking about information today, but because of this incident, I can't trust her as much as I used to.

I'm just glad that I found out now, rather than when it was my first pay day, and 100,000won was "missing"...

Post from Adelaide

Came to Adelaide this weekend. To meet some friends, and to do some shopping. IKEA, Marion, Harbourtown, and possible Rundle Mall...

Lately, I've thought about my options for 2010, and I've come up with my Top 3. These are no particular order:

1. Stay in Mildura. This is the most boring option. This is the "life" that I would have had a few years ago, if I didn't go to Korea. I would have bought a house, and started to settle down. Mildura isn't a bad place, but it's damn boring. This style of middle-agedness is not for me.

2. Move to Adelaide. I've been to Adelaide a few times this year, and it's not too bad. But, It just reminds me of just a bigger version of Mildura. There are things to do, but eventually, it would get boring as well.

3. Go back to Korea. I really miss Korea, and until recently, I saw going to Korea as putting my life on hold, and then would restart it when I'm back in Australia. I've realised that that isn't the case. Life is life, no matter where you live it. Compared to now, my life in Korea was simple, enjoyable, and even though there was bullshit to deal with (everything has bullshit to deal with), it was different bullshit to here, and it doesn't feel as bad as the bullshit here.

and seriously, I'd rather get middle-aged in a country where I'm enjoying myself, rather in one that I'm not.

Lately?

I haven't had much to blog about lately, just going to work (which isn't too bad). I joined a gym, but recently, I've got a bad cold, and haven't been going. Once I'm better, I'll go again.

But, a few weeks ago, I ordered a new 17" MacBook Pro, and I got it yesterday. It's a big improvement on the previous Black MacBook I had.

Last week, I was thinking about going back to Korea for work again, but not so sure about it now. I don't mind my new job, even if it is a bit random at times. In Korea, there isn't much room for career advancement, when it comes to teaching English there (in my opinion), so it would be better to work on my teaching career here in Australia. If I can, I'm thinking about going to Korea for a 2 week holiday in either early July, or late September (just before Chuseok). See how that goes.

Got 4 and a half weeks to go until the Autumn Break, and am planning to go to Melbourne for about a week. Looking forward to it. One thing that was (and still is) hard to get used to, is being in a country where travelling for 4 hours doesn't get you very far (where as, when I was in Korea, 4 hours got me to Seoul or Busan ^^).

Resolutions and Revelations, Part 1

Before, while I was still in South Korea, I was looking forward to coming home, being with family for a while, and getting my life back to the way it was. But that's just it - you can't take a break from life, and then restart it whenever you want. For 3 years, South Korea was my life. As much as I was telling myself that things will be different when I get home (people would have moved on, done stuff, etc), I wasn't really mentally prepared for that.

I left South Korea 11 weeks ago, and to be honest, it feels longer. But, at the moment, I'm really questioning my motivations for coming back to Australia (notice that I didn't say "coming home"). I thought it would be good to be with my family for Christmas and New Year/Birthday, but actually now, i somewhat regret it. Sure, it was nice to see most of the extended family on Christmas, but it didn't do anything for me, emotionally. Put simply, family doesn't feel like family anymore, with one exception.

I also thought that having a birthday with family would be nice too. Basically, it wasn't. I have never felt more alone - even compared to times when I was South Korea. The only real person in my family who made an effort, was my mum (hence my Facebook Status update that said "Andy loves his Mum. She's fucking Awesome"). This also comes back to the idea that I wasn't ready for things being different when I come back. I didn't expect 3 extra people in the house, that I don't really know. But, I also didn't expect one family member to actually forget my birthday as well.

I'm feeling a bit like Ron Burgundy at the moment - in a glass cage of emotion.

Sometimes...

Sometimes it how you achieve something, then the result at the end...


...but it's always good when you're ship comes in.

Sandwich or Toast

It didn't take long to start feeling overwhelmed with stuff, but it was something simple over bread, when it started to feel a bit weird.

After I dropped my sister off at work, I walked around the shopping centre and did a few things: exchanged some clothes, since the shorts I bought yesterday were a bit too small; bought a new mobile phone; and went to a supermarket for some stuff.

So, yeah, my news phone - a Sony Ericsson w610i. I decided to go on the Telstra network, since most of my friends are on that network. At the telstra shop, most of the phones on Pre-paid options were LG or Samsung, and after my experiences with Korean made electronics, I wanted to keep clear of those, which only left Nokia and Sony Ericsson. I'm not a fan of the Nokia UIs of late, which only left 2 Sony Ericsson phones.

The w610i came with a 512Mb memory card, a 2 mega pixel camera, Bluetooth, and a few other cool features as well, and a headset with the style of headphones that I like, so it's all good. It's also a walkman phone as well, so it can play many different type of audio files.


One thing I'm gonna have to get used to is not having Korean on the phone...


...but I put a few pieces of stuff on my phone. ^^


So, the bread. I was at a bakery, and I asked for a loaf of wholemeal bread...

Andy: I'd like one loaf of wholemeal please.
Bakery Girl: Which kind would you like?
A: Wholemeal.
BG: I mean, which type would you like? Regular, Poppy Seed.. *and a few other that she mentioned but I forgot*
A: Just regular thanks.
BG: Would you like that sliced?
A: Yes, thanks.
BG: Sandwich or Toast?
A: Sorry?

It was at this point where she gave me a bit of weird look, and I was getting a bit frustrated about all these damn options when all I wanted a loaf of wholemeal bread.

BG: Sandwich or Toast?
A: Ah, you mean the slicing? Umm... what's the difference?
BG: *still with the weird look*, Sandwich is sliced thinly. Toast is sliced thickly.
A: Oh, ok. Well, sandwich please.
BG: Sure.

After looking back, I realised that I went thought the same process before I left for Korea, but since I didn't have to go to a bakery and go though all that, I completely forgot. Also, from this point on, it's when I realised that things were getting a bit overwhelming. During the day, I've been sending emails back and forward to the Korean embassy about getting a Criminal Record Check to go with my Teacher Registration, and then being explained the whole process, which could take about 4 weeks.

Then I remembered which country I've gotta deal with *^^*

One last thing: This is one of the t-shirts I bought yesterday:


It has some random Japanese on it. It made me think about all the random English t-shirts in Korea. In Australia, mainly for design purposes, (same reason for English on t-shirts in Korea) there might be some Chinese or Japanese on the shirt. Made me laugh for a bit, thinking "I don't have any idea what it says - must be like Koreans when they buy a t-shirt with English on it".