and the Lord did spread His ass cheeks wide and grunt, "Let there be..."

Shit.

I finally got the news from that publishing company, and it ain't good. I failed their test. This might be one of the only moments in my life where I've been considered "not pedantic enough." I'm assuming that's what the problem was: I failed their test because my sample TOEFL reading comprehension question wasn't to their liking.

So the job search continues.

Moving out soon. Have to go grab some boxes and start the process of packing. Sometime this week, I have to give my K'eun Adjoshi a call and tell him I want my old place back if he's still offering it. Then I'll move out on Sunday, and teach my last day at EC the following Monday, February 28. Then... I'm probably going to have to go on a visa run and get a tourist visa again, just so I can stay in country until I find a decent job.

Damn.

The comfort in all this, cold though it be, is that the publishing company was looking for something extremely specific, and I didn't supply it, largely because I didn't have a clear idea of what "it" was.

I wrote the company back and asked what, exactly, I'd done wrong. No reply yet. We'll see if I get one in the next few days. I'm not counting on one, but I'll post the reply if it comes.

Occasionally, I'll get questions from friends and family along the lines of, "I thought it was so easy to find a job in Korea. Why's it so hard for you?" Leaving aside the insulting nature of the question, the problem is that it's exceedingly hard to find a job that satisfies these three seemingly simple conditions:

1. No teaching children.
2. No teaching on weekends.
3. No split shifts.

In a country positively begging for a huge proofreading/editing industry, you'd think that Korean companies would be using tuna nets to grab thousands of foreigners for help in straightening out their mangled ad copy, hilarious signage, mutant tourist brochures, and freakily written textbooks. Such is not the case, however. The obsession was and is with English conversation-- with classes taught by a white (or whitish) North American, if at all possible.

I'm going to be leaning on a couple other connections in the coming days, but if any of you readers have some good ideas for me, I'm all antennae.

By the way, "some good ideas" would include options in the States. Need a resume? Lemme know and I'll email one to you.


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