Wednesday, November 28, 2012

on tenterhooks

I'm still waiting to hear back from Sungkyunkwan University as to whether my employment application has made it to the interview round. As you can imagine, I'm getting somewhat antsy about this, given that SKKU irrationally requires interviewees to appear in person-- no Skype interviews allowed. Since my friend Tom is providing me the plane ticket to Seoul, if needed, the situation is unfair to him as well: the longer we wait, the more likely it is that Tom's going to have to rush that ticket to me. I expect this situation, in typically Korean fashion, to resolve itself only at the last minute. Tom wrote me two days ago to say that the résumés hadn't even been screened yet: "The guy in charge is slow and new," Tom wrote. That doesn't sound promising.

In any event, I hope to hear good news sometime this week. And as for that "new" guy... his name is Lee, and he's the same bloke whose name was on the job ad this past May. Does that still make him "new"?


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2 comments:

John said...

What's the difference between tenterhooks and pins and needles? I've been on pins and needles a few times, or at least I thought I was. It could have been tenterhooks and I never realize it.

Regardless, good luck!

Kevin Kim said...

John,

Can't say I've ever thought about it. But at a guess, the expressions are interchangeable: to be "on tenterhooks" is the same as to be "on pins and needles," i.e., to be in a state of anxious/eager/suspenseful anticipation.