...and in other news

I've just sent off my application to the Bank of Korea in an effort to nab that proofreader position, having opted to be a whore, after all. I'm trying to think practically, though: the boost in salary will mean several more thousand dollars per year to play with, especially if I can persuade BOK to pay me at the higher end of the scale-- say, around $40,000 per year.

There's the question of timing. I asked Tom when BOK might want the new employee to start, and Tom's guess was ASAP. If that's true, I could be out of here in as little as a month, assuming I'm hired. That doesn't leave me much time to settle affairs and prep a big move. As I told Tom, I'm most likely going to have to take out a huge loan to make this move possible. I've got to pay for public storage, continue paying my scholastic debts, pay off whatever rent remains on my apartment's rental contract (plus the penalty for early termination of contract), and do whatever else needs to be done in terms of filing paperwork with the proper authorities (visa, etc.). Hundreds of dollars here, hundreds of dollars there. A loan may be in order.

Moving is like molting: it often means shedding possessions. I may try selling off a lot of my things (not my books, though! never the books!) to defray the cost of moving. Furniture, kitchen equipment-- items like that. I'm still not sure what to do about my car, which isn't paid off by any means. I imagine I'll have to continue paying for the car even while I'm in Korea, unless I can find someone willing to buy the car for the remaining cost of the loan (about $10,162 as of today) I've been paying off. But who's going to buy a car that's been through an accident?

And of course, I'm still apprehensive about doing a year of proofreading. I recall doing this at SsangYong Paper Company; back in 1996, I often worked with a Korean coworker who was semi-fluent in English; we would hammer out a draft of whatever it was that the Big Boss wanted to say, then we'd run the draft up to the Big Boss, who would usually tell us to do it all over again. We'd go through that process several times, tweaking here, refining there, until the boss was satisfied. And this was just for short international faxes. Imagine the labor we had to invest in larger, longer documents!

Another thing that worries me about Korean corporate culture is the whole "team" thing. Will I be required to attend those stupid team-building events (mountain hikes, drinking sessions, etc.)? Christ, I hope the fuck not. But it's a real possibility. I didn't have to do anything like that while at SsangYong, but I have no idea what BOK is like. Perhaps I'll soon find out.

Anyway, I've got a lot to think about. My future may be in for a hard swerve to the left.


_