Seoul, Korea - February 25, 2004
Whew, been a long time!! I'd better update this page right now!! Well, first off, I have six weeks left on my contract here in South Korea. I am also very anxious to get out of the Korean Peninsula for awhile.
The last two months have basically been very cold and I've been hibernating at home. I did have a guest for one month. We went down to Busan among other places. First time I've been in Busan in seven years. If anyone doesn't follow the journals, I use to live and teach there from 1996-1997. Busan was beautiful! Of course this time, I wasn't living and teaching in kind of a backwaters part of the city. Instead we got a hotel that over looked Haeundae Beach in Busan. It was amazing view, and explored along the coastline. I also went to some other places like Somyon and Nampodong. They hadn't changed much. Still the same. Everything was still the same. Even all the construction everywhere was still going on, which you'd strangely think would have made it totally different (as it felt like that city was always under construction!). But, nope, still the same. Just found it much more beautiful than when I actually lived there.
My workplace is still more or less the same. I was denied my other week of vacation and told to take it at the end instead. I went round and round as it was written in my contract and I did have plans and reserved flights to the Philippines with the same friend who was visiting. There was a special festival going on in Cebu, the biggest of the year. But since I was denied (and threatened they would fire me if I went and took it anyways), I decided I'd just stick with working everyday. At least I finish my contract one week earlier, which is something I'm now very much looking forward by. (Can I end that in a proposition? - probably not).
My workplace is still as strange as ever. Currently there are just two teachers. Everything is in a vacuum as always. All of the teachers have tried to communicate a multitude of computer programmer errors in the program, but it goes nowhere. We have yet another boss (my 5th direct manager since I started last April). He's just as clueless and his answer to everything is he doesn't know anything about it. Thankfully I just have six weeks left. Its amazing the absolutely clueless that goes on around there as there are probably only about 12 people in the entire company. You'd think it would be a well-oiled machine of flowing information. But strangely there is no communication whatsover. Our direct boss is really the only one that communicates things, but since he hasn't a clue what goes on, nothing goes anywhere. So, as always, I'm still concerned that our company might suddenly cease to exist and I don't get the one-month bonus pay and free airplane trip out of here as part of the finished contract deal.
As to Korea in general. I have to admit I'm a bit fatigued of it. If I were new here again, or in a new situation, or something interested, I'd have a lot more things to say right now. As it is, I've been staying home a lot more and just letting time go by. I still go out and see friends on weekends and such, but even that is quite routine to me at this point. Actually I'm doing more and more planning for the future. Which brings me to the next point..
The future. Well, the future for me lies in SPAIN. I've submitted by of my applications and everything else and now been officially selected to begin in April. I'll just give a few details for the time being. But its coastal Spain not too far from Valencia on the Meditterean Sea. Its a one-year Masters program. The only thing I'm worried about is the finances for it. But I have enough to get started, so will just take it semester-by-semester. (Its 3 semesters total).
Are you wondering what the program is about? Well, I'll just admit that its something 'international' related. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be able to do with it with any 100% clear vision. But enough times of me going back to the States and doing meaningless purposeless jobs. At least an MA course will give me some more job marketability and set me closer to some real future with an actual purpose going in my own life. In case anyone is wondering, the program is called 'Peace and Development'.
What can I do with that? Well, hopefully be employed to work in an NGO (non-governmental organization) or something similar in foreign countries. If not, then with the masters degree I could always set myself up with a university job in Korea teaching English (a masters can easily give you one of those jobs). Another option would be to head to Washington DC and find somewhere or another to get involved with at US Pay (if money becomes an issue). Anyhow, thats the basic plan.
The side interest is I can increase and practice the littel Spanish I know - I don't know that much! Just the basics. But a long, long time ago.. well (1997-1998), I lived and traveled throughout South America. So I'm looking forward to being in a Spanish environment once again. However this particular program is all in English! So I'll have to practice the Spanish elsewhere besides at the school.
Six more weeks before I'm done though. Its about eight weeks until I start this course. Very excited about it however, and very strongly itching to be doing something completely new. I've even been considering switching to a blog to document it and archiving all of this instead. We'll see. I also like the idea of everything being together though as well.
Next Journal Entry in Korea:
March 15, 2004
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com