I'm Midnight Running from Korea...

[horiconnights]

What's eerie about this whole thing is that a lot of the details of the OP's story match up with one of my friends who was here. If they are the same person, he already went home.  But that's purely speculation on my part.

[Anor Londo]

Korea is far from paradise and aspects of people's behavior in this country are worthy of derision. Nevertheless, I think it's a cop out to leave. The contract is a year, not a decade!

Seriously it takes balls to be a teacher, especially to work in a bumfuck place surrounded by rice fields where there are no other foreigners in a 40 mile radius. But didn't the interviewer at EPIK tell you that there would be a good chance that you'd be thrown in a rural area?

Reading your complaints about your co-teacher (in your other post) made me think that there are situations that are comparably worse than yours. For instance: you could have been stuck in a hagwon working 40 hours a week, with no money and your boss refuses to pay your salary so you can get your ass home.

Here's one important fact: you have 5 grand in Korea and potentially more if you don't pussy out on your contract. More than likely if you were to return to America, unless you have an Engineering degree or you're a venture capitalist, or your parents are like the Rockefellers,  in a year's time you'd be struggling to find a job and maybe 5 grand in the hole.

Happy travels.

[Cereal]

I congratulate you for doing what is best for you. You are number 1 in this world, everyone else is at best 2nd place.

Remember this, the opinions of those whose opinion you don't care about do not matter.

Get your paycheck, empty your account, do a runner and get yourself happy.

I'm lucky to be where I am, very rural and friendly folks. But I have been to Seoul, and if I had been placed there I would have done a runner too, guaranteed. Instead, I'm signing a new contract.

There are many things I do not like about this country, too many to list. I do like payday, however, and the little bar where I go to drink and play pool.

Also, NEVER feel guilty. I have never had that feeling in my entire life, now slightly over 50 years. I truly do not know what it is like.

[AwesoMike]

It's funny too see the rest of the "normal" people come out of the woodwork to offer their opinions on what has become a big debate on Korea. Not so bogged down by the onslaught of apologists like in the beginning when they came running with sword and shield.

A note on the subject of not just pulling a runner and letting your teacher know like "a man"...

You know, it might not be the manliest thing to do as you suggest, but I'm a poor man and I'm 100% sure that if I gave my school notice instead of just leaving that they wouldn't pay me. They've cheated and violated my contract with money things like this with almost everything.

They wouldn't give my settlement cash for over a month until I had to take the contract into my vice principal and basically rattle in front of her face to get her to give it to me. They also took 3 months to pay back my airfare when it's clearly outlined that they were supposed to within a month of me being in this unorganized disaster of a country. They also refused to help me set up a bank account, help me with utilities, how to pay the damn bills or help me out with my ARC.

From the beginning it's been like their own personal goal to make their foreigner slave squirm as much as possible. I'm tired of squirming for them.

Can't wait to leave in 2.5 God-awful weeks...

Tick tock... tick tock.... tick tock...