breathe

I'm not even sure how to begin processing the leaving of this place. So this is not what this blog post is about. This blog post is about the clusterfuck of getting paid out when you leave Korea.

Today was basically a perfect storm of absences and miscommunication which lead to me trying to get paid my pro-rated severance and get it sent to the US for 7 hours. It involved crying in public more than once (oh, Korea, how circular. I had to cry to get my ID card in a reasonable amount of time my first week here) and about five-million cellphone coversations/text messages, three taxi rides, and a lot of sitting around fretting.

Yesterday morning, I went into my school to try to prevent this. The secretary told me that my money would be transfered that evening.

Error #1 - I didn't ask HOW MUCH money was going to be transfered.

When I checked my account, I was more than $2000 shy of what should have been deposited. I called my co-teacher to have her get in touch with the school the next morning.

I had an amazing night out with my friends, and if I write about it now I'll start crying all over again, so I'll save that for later. Besides, the pictures rock.

This morning, I call my co-teacher (who is a substitute, and probably not getting paid to deal with any of this mess) to remind her to call the school. She couldn't get in touch with them until 10, there was fumbling around with who needed to talk to whom about what. There were lots and lots of phone calls made, not a lot of getting things done.

Error #2 - I should have gone to the Mokpo Office of Education at this point. In my defense, my co-teacher recommended against going.

I waited, they were talking, looking at contracts, blahablahblah. Getting nowhere except worried. I finally went to the Office of Ed at about 1. There was a very nice lady there who told me they would get me the money. YAY! But because it was so late, she wasn't sure it could be done today. BOO! More tears, being told it would all be fine, and the nice lady at the office of ed called my school to tell them to get it done today, that it was important.

I went to my school, and waited for what seemed to be a million years for forms to be filled out, people called, people yelled over the phone, a few more tears, and finally, FINALLY for the money to be transfered. I took a taxi to the bank and got it all sent to the States about 30 minutes before the bank closed.

After, I sort of freaked out on Alex (Alex, I'm sorry I freaked out on you), got my cell turned off, got the last of the boxes shipped, and am waiting for a friend to come to grab dinner and to take the rest of the good stuff in my house away. I found out that they have changed this into a "couple's job" with a nearby school, and the other school will provide the apartment (SO SO GOOD. They would probably try to put two people in this shoebox of an apartment) so I'm getting rid of some of the stuff I was going to leave for my replacement.

People come and go often enough that getting paid the right amount on time without running around and begging for it shouldn't be an issue. But it is. Though in some ways, it sort of helps because you are focused on getting things done and money rather than the fact that you are leaving some really amazing friends.

Okay, so that was a really long way to say I thought I wasn't going to get paid but I did and that is good and I'm ready to leave.