The Korea thing has been moving pretty quickly lately. It’s been a little overwhelming, and confusing, to say the least.
Having spent my last time overseas in the suburbs of the biggest, craziest city on earth (I love you, Tokyo! 東京大好き〜！)my tastes have changed and so have my expectations. I really only have two requests when I look for work overseas:
- I’d like to be in a city. City as in, it needs to have more of a transit system than a few buses.
- I’d really like to teach middle school, since I spent my last year in elementary school.
I really don’t think this is asking much! I’m even flexible about the middle school thing. I’d do another year of elementary school if the location were right. But, this location thing seems to be a trouble spot, and it’s not one I’m willing to be overly flexible on.
When I was in Japan, I was lonely. Very, very lonely. Living in Yokosuka, I had no social life, and really didn’t have any friends in the city. So I commuted to Tokyo all the time, because my friends lived there, and I was able to take part in theatre. I decided that, if I were to teach overseas again, I never wanted to let myself be in that situation again. I’m doing everything I can to set myself apart from other teachers so I can go after these requirements realistically.
Applying to Korea has felt a bit like playing a game of chicken. Despite making my location wants clear, I’ve been offered places on the outskirts of cities. The schools look nice, but they’re still elementary schools. It’s been so hard to turn around and say “No, this isn’t what I really want,” because you never know if something as good will follow after. But there’s that gut feeling. The one where, you look at the map and see the lack of street lines and the excess amount of farm fields and go “You know, this doesn’t look quite what I would call urban…”
I have to have a lot of faith in that gut feeling. Sometimes, it’s the only thing that can make my mind up for me.
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Completely unrelated, but I’ve been pining over the HP Mini Tord Boontji netbook since before Christmas, and it seems to finally be down to a price I could cave for! If I didn’t have Japan coming up in 15 days (OMG) that sucker would be MINE. While part of me wants to joke that someone should just buy me it, I’d be deathly afraid of someone taking me seriously. 
