one month of job shopping

My buddy Tom is insisting that, if I come to Korea to go job-shopping, I shouldn't do so for only a week: properly speaking, I need to stay for a month. I thought about this for a few days... and have decided to do this Tom's way. So I'm now planning to leave for Korea on April 8, and stay until May 7. Tom, that noble fellow, will be providing my plane ticket.

Since April is when the Korean universities put out their job ads, April seems the best month in which to be in Korea. My bosses at YB won't be pleased to hear that I require an entire month off, so I'm prepared for the nuclear option, i.e., quitting YB so that I get the month I need, anyway. I've already sent YB's office an email detailing my request and making explicit my reasons for it. It's now up to them as to whether to give me a month off (and welcome me back in May).

In the meantime, I've got a lot to do. I need to re-approach OneMain Financial about a $6000 loan. Once I get the loan (well, assuming I get the loan: I got rejected by them last year for a poor debt-to-income ratio), I'll be able to afford being absent from the country for a month with no steady income. After all, I'll still have rent and bills and scholastic debts to pay while I'm overseas. That burden remains.

I also need to prep all the requisite documents for a trip overseas: official transcripts (apostilled), FBI background check (apostilled), university diplomas (apostilled), passport, photos, etc. I'll also need to buy an iPad so I can function while in Korea: bang out cover letters, send résumés, email folks in the States, whatever.

One other thing that needs arranging: where the hell I'm going to stay while I'm in Seoul. While I do have relatives who would be happy to take me in, I hesitate to ask them for help. In part, this is because things got a bit weird after Mom died, and I haven't sat down for a heart-to-heart with Mom's four cousins (and their families) since her passing in January of 2010. I have some friends in Seoul whom I might ask for a couch on which to surf—a few days here, a few days there. I wouldn't want to inconvenience anyone for an entire month. There's also the possibility that I'll find a decent hasuk (student lodging) or yeogwan (inn) or goshiweon (stripped-down student study room) at which to stay for relatively cheap. That's something I can't find out until I'm on the ground in Seoul.

Big, revolutionary changes are afoot. This is all very sudden, but April looms, so I've had to make this command decision quickly in light of Tom's insistence that I need a month on the peninsula, not a mere week. I haven't sat down to think about what this means for me and my students, or for me and my generally good relationship with YB (yes, despite my complaints and gripes, my overall relationship with YB is positive). But there are times in life when, if you're looking to improve your situation, you just have to grab at any opportunity to do so.


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