Crazy Train

The last several weeks at the lovely E. Bo Young Talking Club will be time I will fortunately and unfortunately always remember. I've never encountered a bigger whack job in my life.

As per my contract, I'm entitled to a free return flight to my home country. I talked to She Devil about paying for a one-way plane ticket to New Zealand or Australia instead. I wanted to go visit my best friend in New Zealand and my good friends in Australia. The plane ticket would have been cheaper than sending me home, so I figured she would go for it.

Unfortunately I had to tell She Devil that I was going to be working at a different job in Korea, so she knew I was coming back to Korea. Therefore, she got this great idea that she wouldn't have to give me a plane ticket home, because I wasn't actually leaving the country. I told her since it was in my contract, then she was obligated to follow it and give me a plane ticket. She said it wasn't fair to her to have to pay for a ticket if I was coming back to the country. I told her it wasn't fair for me to not get what was stated in my contract when I fulfilled my end of the contract. She didn't see it that way; she just didn't think it was fair to her. I was really proud of myself, I didn't even raise my voice. Yelling got me nowhere with the psycho.

I called the Talking Club headquarters yet again and asked them how I should proceed. They then informed me that because I wasn't leaving the country, She Devil wasn't responsible for paying for a return flight to my home city despite what the contract said. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point of a contract for these exact circumstances? Apparently contracts don't mean as much in Korea as they do in other countries.

I got off the phone and was thankful I was alone. I wanted to hit something so hard it would break and then break my hand. I was furious. I was getting screwed... again... and there was nothing I could do about it short of involving the Korean Labor Board, which would have cost more than it was worth and likely wouldn't have done much anyway.

I really hope Karmic justice is served with a heavy hand.

I tried every angle I could think of: trying to tell She Devil I had changed my mind and wanted to go home, trying to tell her the job was changed and my start date was extended, trying to tell her she was acting illegally and unfairly; nothing was working. At one point, she agreed to pay for the one-way ticket to New Zealand and then when it got closer to me actually finishing the job and needing a release letter so I could transfer my visa to my next place of employment, she backed out and told me she would either pay for the ticket or write the letter. She knew full-well that I needed that letter to transfer my visa, so I was completely stuck and she knew it all along. I've never been so close to lighting someone on fire in my life.

Apparently she had a few conversations with the hogwan owners in the area and they said she should give me enough money to buy a one-way ticket to Japan or purchase the one-way ticket for me. Somehow, they reasoned, that was a fair trade for not buying a return ticket home and writing me the release letter I needed. Umm, that equates to about $250.

I knew I was stuck and, more importantly, she knew I was stuck. I had no choice but to just bend over and get screwed for the 9,000th time.

I opted to take the money instead of the plane ticket, which ended up being a really good choice. The immigration office had to take my passport and alien registration card (which is incredibly frightening) for the visa transfer process and they ended up holding my documents hostage for 3 weeks, which makes any international travel aspirations moot. I couldn't even travel to the DMZ, a trip I had been wanting to take since I got to Korea.

I was tired of fighting. I'd spent a very long, stressful and extremely painful year fighting without any form of victory with this horned, incompetent excuse for a lifeform and I was just tired. I had to give her what she wanted to get what I needed. I was so close to calling it quits and just going home for good, but I wasn't willing to let her beat me entirely. I guess I still got some money out of the deal, albeit not what I deserved.

I Hate Goodbye's

The last couple weeks have been so emotional for so many reasons. On one hand I have the intense desire to commit murder on a daily basis because my boss is literally the puppet of Satan and, on the other hand, I'm so sad to be leaving so many of the kids I've been teaching for the last 12 months.
Many of my students have come up to me with frowns on their faces asking me, "Erika Teacher, why go?" It's breaking my heart. I had two young girls, holding hands, come up to me about two weeks ago and say in unison, "Erika! We are sad!" I ask them why and they respond, "Because you!" and they point angrily and intensely toward the door of the school where I work. "Why you go?" they ask. All I could do was apologize.
Many of my students have been telling me they are so sad and they don't want me to leave.
"We love you Erika Teacher, don't go!" It makes me so sad to leave the majority of them.
Today was my final day at Talking Club and many of the students have been giving me gifts they picked out and wrapped themselves with little cards they took so much time writing, with eraser marks and re-write after re-write.
"I love you, teacher! Thank you for teaching me! We will miss you!" the letters say.
One of my co-teachers, who was also one of my students in my ridiculously-early before the crack of dawn class, organized an entire booklet of cards from all of her students. Each card was written and decorated by each of the students. Then the teacher, Bella, drew little pictures of each student. The last page in the booklet was a letter from her telling me how scared she was initially of taking my morning class because she was self-conscious about her English skills. She went on to say that I made her very comfortable and she appreciated all the help I gave her and she is now much more confident in speaking English.
I burst into tears.
Despite ending the worst job of my life, there are so many things I will miss.