Finally, work!

I finally have a job! I'll be leaving the country on the 27th or 28th (after Cheosuk, the Korean thanksgiving), then doing my visa run to Japan on the 2nd or 3rd of October. I'm waiting for them to receive my paperwork before I get a final departure date, but they need someone ASAP so I'm not too worried.

I'll be in Hwamyeong-dong, a quiet, clean little city/neighborhood at the outskirts of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea (some call it the San Francisco of Korea, as Seoul is the New York.) There is a tight-knit, welcoming expat community there, and there are two other native speakers (from English-speaking countries) who live in my building. According to the recruiter the apartment is on the 12th floor and has a nifty view. Vhe shall see. The school is large for a private institute, with 10 Korean teachers, but I'll be the only English instructor. On the upside, according to the current teacher, the longest my days (and, therefore, my teaching hours) are is 2:30 to 7:30. I only have to be at the school for my teaching hours (little to no prep time needed), so when there aren't later classes I get to leave early. This is the only private school I've found with such nifty hours.
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We'll see. It all sounds good, but who knows what the future holds.
I am cautiously optimistic.

The prodigal Recruiter Returns

And at an inopportune time. I was finally getting somewhere with the new recruiter (ESL Planet) who was putting me up for the Public school positions, and then today out of the blue I get a call from old recruiter (Duff) saying that his internet has been down for the last week due to construction. I fail to see that as a valid excuse for not even calling for over a week when he promised to call the next day. My time working for Imagic taught me that keeping the customers in the loop is vital to a business, and this is an example of that very principle. I never realized how frustrating it is to just suddenly be dropped, then just as suddenly picked up.

So... Michael says he's found a possible public school position that he has already sent my resume and photo in for. This would be fine, but if EPIK gets more than one application for an individual via different recruiters they normally disqualify you for the position.

Scramble time.

I e-mail the new recruiter (run by a nice man named Rowan) and keep my fingers crossed. He e-mails me back and says that I should just go with Duff Recruiting. While I am relieved that he hasn't submitted my information yet, I am still disappointed - my chances of getting this job with Duff Recruiting, who is not an official EPIK recruiter, are worse than if I could have just stuck with ESL Planet. I thanked Rowan very politely for helping me and shared my regret that he wouldn't be placing me, and in return he sent advice about what to do on the interview - mainly just make sure I know what EPIK stands for, because that apparently is a simple/common but devastating mistake, and also to find out what part of the city the job will be in. I thanked him again and moved on.
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So... I have less of a chance to land a public school position, but through in-the-meantime recruiters (RBI) I have a decent possible hagwon position lined up.
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On the plus side, now I have several positions that have been vouched for, and possibly a public school position. By and large the Universe treats me well.

~KK

Striking out on my own...

Sick of being frustrated I've posted my resume on a couple of sites. I'm aiming for public school, but there are a couple of hagwons that look like they'll be ok (I've talked to the current teachers and they say good things.) One in particular is from 2:30 pm to 7:30 pm with reported easy-to-teach materials, and though I would be the only native speaker the area has a very nice and welcoming expat community.
Also, kudos to normalcyispasse for being wiling to scout his city for open positions. Somehow I luck into knowing the niftiest people.

Finally, I'm waiting to hear from a recruiter about 2 possible public school positions in Busan. I don't have a current criminal background check (I could get one in 2 weeks) or a current health form, which could fatally damage my chances of landing the positions. I'll roll with the punches as they come. Maybe I'll do what Dad does and ask Spirit.
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Spirit... What the hell do I do now? - Love, KK
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Things change even as they stay the same...

Ok, here's the lowdown.

My recruiter has not contacted me at all since the last time I posted, which is one day shy of a full week ago. I have, however, found a new ad put out by his agency advertising jobs just today. I'm guessing he hasn't contacted me about any of them because they are almost 100% kindy teaching (read: daycare), which I have never done and don't particularly want to do, and my recruiter knows this. I might be willing to try it, though (depending on how much back-up I have for my 'learning how to deal with 10 small children at a time' phase), because I'm running out of time. The ASAP positions are in Seoul, where I haven't thought of teaching for a long time (ever since I found that the pay tends to be lower in the big city, though these positions advertise starting wages higher than most other stuff I've found in smaller cities - this could be a bad sign...), but I'm never one to turn down adventure. I've e-mailed the recruiter about this. We'll see what he says.
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I've checked out another recruitment agency in Busan, which has set me up with several schools in Hwamyeong-dong for interviews. It seems like a nice enough area, and the schools have good reviews, but I really like the security of Duff Recruiting. Michael's proven himself solidly on-my-side for these teaching contracts, and he's been extremely helpful all 'round. Plus, he's expecting a baby, and I'm all over making sure he's got some extra money for that. Just from watching my brother I know how expensive it can be to have kids.
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I'm going stir crazy. Since I quit my job, I have little to distract me. Thank god for my friends who come over and poke me into packing or getting rid of crap or leaving the house. We're getting my scooter running again with my brother's help (i.e. we sat on our butts and watched Bill pull the whole scooter apart, and today he's coming back to put it back together) so that I can sell it. It's a solid little scooter (that I shall miss *sniff*) that should provide me with enough money to survive my first month of living in South Korea.

I'll keep this updated. Things change almost every day, and then several things change at once.

Life is funny like that.

Thanks to Diana for keeping tabs on me. ;)