I haven't made it yet but on June 25, my first official payday, I will have gone about half a year without a paycheck. That is something I'll never do again short of retirement or some disastrously long hospital stay.
Now THERE'S a lovely way to open up a post!
Take two: I am two weeks away from getting out of yet another fine mess this ESL madness has landed me in. I certainly couldn't have done it without a lot of patience and help from solid friends and loving family. I said to my Mom in a recent letter I wrote to her, "I think maybe this time, (what is it, my dozenth attempt?), maybe I can make a go of this independence thing.
Now I don't want to give the impression I'm completely out of the woods. No sir, I wouldn't want to give that impression. I'm still not a card carrying alien yet. And the person in charge of setting up my visa run just happily went off on vacation for a month. So I don't even know if he'll be back before my visitor's visa runs out. I might just have to do it myself and put in for a reimbursement. lol
And since the pay periods start and end on the 15ths of months and I started on the 1st, it'll only be a half check at best I'm getting on the 25th. That said, half a check will be enough to get me through the next month. If only I didn't have to get my things delivered from China!!! I hate the first month! You get the least when you need the most. Then in the last month you have all this bonus cash coming when you need it the least. Though I can't say I DISlike it when that happens. It's been a long time...
Anyhoo, I like the job I have! The execs I am teaching are just old buzzards like me. Most are a little bit older. They listen to the music I like, eat the extreme food I like, watch baseball like me, and drink a bit too much like I am wont to do. They have two major differences from me: 1. They have wives and kids. All of them. 2. They have been working for SK hynix for many years and have more money in the bank now than I will ever earn. Do you suppose there's a relation there somewhere?
I am getting settled in here. I did my first week, June 1, and only had two classes. Then last week I had Wednesday off. So I've taught 5 full days. Thing is, I get paid on the 25th, only two weeks away. And, bonus, Wednesday off this week too! The salary is more than any job I've ever worked in the industry. And if I get an extra class here in there, and I'm told they're coming, I'll be pulling in more than when I was diamond drilling. Well, to be honest, I already AM! Good old Canadian taxes!
Most of the students are different. Some want to learn business terms, some want news articles, some want to improve listening, some want to just maintain their English levels and maybe improve a little. Over the years I've built up a library of books and lessons that can accommodate all of the above. And we'll have some fun while we're at it.
The compound I'm on is quite nice! It has lots of coffee shops, several tennis courts, a gym for basketball, badminton, ping pong, and working out, even a swimming pool and bowling alley! There's a soccer field, two jaegi fields, (that's Korean soccer tennis), two mini soccer fields, a goldfish pond, 3 cafeterias, lots of banks, and some shops. And the buildings where I work all have FANTASTIC bathrooms! No dropping my phone in the squatter or seeing the guy next to me having a smoke and playing Angry Birds while he's blasting out yesterday's noodles. We have those fancy toilets with heated seats, air dry and squirt up the bum if you so desire! And there is always soap and paper towels. I don't even poop at home. I save it for work.
There ARE some drawbacks. Of course. The computer I'm doing this on is a laptop and I haven't yet made the purchase of a keyboard so I have to stop every few lines to delete some words that were written two paragraphs above where they were supposed to be. Dang sensitive mouse pads! Grrrr! My operating system is also in Korean and I have found some useful tips on Youtube on how to change your computer from Korean to English by going to the control panel and selecting the language setting, only both of those are IN Korean, so that's not helping. And every once in a while the internet cable comes out. Or just the slightest bump will disconnect it. It doesn't come right out, just loses connection. So not only do I have to avoid the mouse pad with my sausage finger, I have to type softly. I'll eventually work it out though. I am learning the ctrl key commands. Like ctrl P for print and ctrl S for save. Rather than learn the Korean spots on the page where they might be. And this is not laziness, they are not easy to find.
Also, due to very tight security in the highly competitive semiconductor industry, I can't bring in my external hard drive and put my extensive library of lessons onto this computer. I had to put them on Google Drive and there wasn't quite enough room. But I got most of them on there. I have to cover both camera lenses on my phone and pass my bag through an x-ray machine every time I come or go from the office too. It's like riding transit in China for crying out loud! But at least I don't need to bring my passport.
The dorms will take some getting used to. The worst thing about them is there is no wifi. If I want to play a game or check email or just surf, it costs me data. And I have a limit. 6 Gigs. Sounds like a lot but I've burned through half of it already. You try going without internet. I dare ya! We're hooked, people! It's how they'll bring us down in the end. We'll be following the Pied Wifier as he leads us all like webless lemmings off a cliff. "Must youtube! Need to check email! Facebook! Facebook! Fa...AAAAAGGGHHHHH IHOPETHERE'SINTERNETINTHEAFTERLIFE?" Thud!
The second worst thing is the lack of refrigeration. We have an aircon, couldn't live without that, but there are no fridges. Not in my room, not in the common room, not in the entire dorm. We have one in the office that is shared amongst about 10 teachers but that's not great. Can't really stock that with beer for the weekend, can I? And for a fella who likes to do his own cooking, this is gonna suck.
Thanks to some great supplying of the necessities from my American bootlegging buddies Heather and Mike, I have the clothes I need until my shipment comes in from China. They gave me birthday socks and underwear, new job shirts, welcome back to Korea shorts and polo shirts and I even got a few Christmas garments in there from them. Even Oma and Pap got me a Canadian hat and T shirt. But I have to say it'll be great to get my comfy clothing back. And I got a care package waiting for me from Mom next time I visit Heather and Mike. So everybody's pulled together to take care of me in this time of hardship. But I'm hoping to rebel and start a life of my own at the age of 51.
Crap! Just hammering the John Bonham rambling drum roll from Ramble On and I knocked the internet out. I just have to fiddle with the plug to get it back but then gotta reboot. Wastes time.
HAH! It's a couple days later now and I got a new keyboard from Daiso across the street. 5000 won! Good old cheap Japanese crap! Woohoo! Can you tell the difference? I sure can!
The food situation will only last a couple of weeks. I'm sure I can find a little fridge and there's one burner in the kitchen. I'll make do. But in a small town it's still a bit tough to find all the foods I want. Like for spaghetti sauce I'll have to chop up beef. No ground beef anywhere. But a trip into Seoul or maybe even downtown might be the remedy. I have some scouting around to do. And I can't say I am not excited about that. I love finding the good places in a new town.
But I'm getting closer to stability once again. Salvation comes in many forms. I guess getting a job back here in Korea qualifies for me. And I've been told the contract will be re-evaluated for the new year. If it is not renewed, I'll just have to change again. I hate to say this but most of the experience I've had with Carrot so far makes me wonder how they could land such a big contract in the first place let alone keep it. But I hope things can improve there as well. With luck they will finally figure out my CRC reimbursement two months after it was promised and they will get my visa run organized at the last minute. See what I mean?
But I have hope for this new gig. I always do at the beginning don't I? And so far all that's made for is some fine blog fodder. So stay tuned, there may be more to come.
