and then there were three

Our last remaining female coworker popped in today for a bit before popping back out forever: a small crew of ladies from the team she's been reassigned to came in with her to help her move out her desk and various in-office possessions, and with that—poof. She's now gone. So once again, as was true last year before the R&D team moved to our current building, we are down to three guys: a supervisor and two subordinates. The difference is that our supervisor is now a different guy, although he has the same name as the previous boss. Another difference is that our current supervisor is likely only temporary, unless the powers that be have decided to put him into the position permanently.

We're meeting with one of the higher-ups later this afternoon to discuss where our team is and where we're going. I've moved to the "acceptance" phase in the stages of grief, so I'm ready to be a Taoist and just roll with the circumstances. Being this close to paying off my major debts, I can't afford to get huffy and walk out of the company now; besides, I don't think the changes are going to be that extreme. At worst, our team will be broken up and absorbed into various other teams, and the work we do won't be all that different. At best, R&D will remain an independent entity with either our current supervisor being made permanent, or with some new person taking over that role—and the work we do won't be all that different. We won't have much creative leeway under Korean management, but at this point, I've got what I wanted, contract-wise, so I'm not all that motivated to complain. Besides, how sour can I be when I know I'm going to France in ten days?

(That, by the way, was an ulterior motive for this past weekend's workathon. I ended up putting in thirteen hours on Saturday and another eight hours on Sunday, so that'll more than cover the extra two days' absence during my break.)

UPDATE: they won't be splitting the R&D team up, but we're being placed under the wing of a different branch of our company, such that we'll be the R&D team for that branch. Unfortunately, our new chief is someone I know well... she's well-intended, but she rarely knows what she wants, so I expect there to be a lot of crazy zigzagging in the near future. There's also a high probability that we'll be moving to a spanking new office in Bundang, south of Seoul. It's a 30-minute commute by subway, which isn't too different from what I do now when I walk to work. Still, commuting is a pain in the ass; I'd rather have the office be within walking distance. During our afternoon meeting today, the higher-up mentioned that there are apartments managed by our company in Bundang, so I could move to one of those if I wanted to. Since I only just moved into my new place, I'm not sure I want to do that, but I'll keep an open mind and see what's available in the area. If the apartments there are more spacious and have better facilities, then I'll think about making a move, although I'd also have to think about establishing new walking paths. Bundang is much farther away from the Han River: Jeongja Station, which is where I'd be commuting to, is roughly 17 km south of the nearest point on the Han, so walking home to Daecheong Station would be about 3.5 hours every night along the Tan Creek... which might not be so bad, come to think of it. I walk a few hours almost every night as it is, so maybe not much will change, eh?