Friday, July 24, 2009

The Beginning of the End?

This upcoming month might be the beginning of the end of my life in Korea. Due to contract disagreements I will not be extending my contract at my current school as I had originally planned. At the moment, everything is up in the air. When I was frustrated with my job I felt desperate for a change, Japan, Taiwan-- anything. Now I'm not so sure what I want to do. I think I will contact the visa/embassy people and ask how long I can stay in the country on a tourist visa before I have to go home or leave the country.

I feel heavy about the situation. On the one hand, my job was not fantastic, especially compared to many of my friends' situations. However, I love my 9 little girls (I recently had a mother insist that her child be switched into my class) and feel bad about abandoning them halfway through the year (the Korean school year runs from February to February). I'm not ready to go back to grad school yet since I still have no idea what I want to go to grad school for other than the vaguest of ideas. Even though most of my friends are leaving within the next few months, I still have good friends here and I love my life.

This weekend will involve heavy reflection. Also, bungee jumping. In the vague chance that I die:
I leave my Harry Potter books to Vanessa.
I leave everything in my NY room to my family.
I leave everything that I own in Korea to Salsa Boy.

...That was really morbid. Bungee jumping is really safe and cheap in Korea so why not? It's a bit higher than the things I usually jump off of but I will have a rope and such. One of our friends is coming along and taking pictures so Hopefully there will be photographic evidence of my insanity (errr, reinforcement of insanity) on Monday.

For your enjoyment:
A local graffiti artist. I love Konglish (Korean/English) so very much.

6 comments:

Nancy K said...

Does that mean you arent' coming home in September? We will be sorely disappointed.

Alex said...

Possibly not...and I will be sorely disappointed too.

Josh said...

but.... I want the harry potter books! :-(

Hope you manage to come back this way soon

Anonymous said...

If you are really going to leave Korea, and your students, my suggestion would be to go to Jerusalem, enrioll at Aish for sourses for 6 months, and then with a clear mind, decide on your futre. Enrollment informaiton can be found at Aish.com

CousinFred

Rachel said...

Alex, I hope you had a good weekend of reflection. I think that you are a strong willed person, and will find your way without our advice. Just know we are always here for you to read your blog and support your growth.

Josh said...

Alex = strong willed??? Never! (~tongue fully ensconced in cheek~)
But I agree, all will work itself out and be good in the end!