Korea, Day 75
A typhoon ate my umbrella.
Or more specifically, it chewed it up and spit it back out at me. It seemed to be mocking me, humiliating me for buying that cheap $2.50 umbrella the day before with the realistic expectation that it would last at least 2 weeks. The typhoon made sure my umbrella didn't see more than one sunrise. I guess that teaches me for buying an umbrella made with metal-coated twigs.
Sentient storms aside, yesterday was my last day at school. I spent the entire day with my classes playing a special edition of Jeopardy with "Insult Jacob" and "Jacob's Cat" as special categories. Of course, the goal of this game is to get them to make perfect English sentences. The content of the sentences is not that important. One of my favorite questions in the "Cat" category is, "How cute is Jacob's Cat?" Any answer other than "Jacob's cat is very cute" was counted wrong.
I took pictures of all the kids that were in class that day. A lot of them were absent however since some public schools started their first day yesterday, and they were forced to go to orientation. I also received a few gifts. One kid gave me some cookies. Another gave me a handphone accessory. In one class, every student wrote me a goodbye card. I really wasn't expecting this amount of affection from the kids, and it kind of took me off guard. So much so that I became depressed and defeated the whole day. I really was sad to have it be all over.
There was also a pay dispute the day prior. They gave me too much money the previous month by their own incompetence, and now they wanted it back. Why they put this off until the end of the month, I cannot say. I tried to claim I was worth the money. I tried to get angry. I threatened and I blackmailed, but in the end, I realized that I had no cards to play since I was at the end of the job and nearly the entire foreign staff was changing hands. Not that the money was a big deal, but working in this kind of environment makes you hyper-defensive. In the end, a simple "I made a mistake" and "Please" from the Korean management was all it took to convince me to not press the issue. It's amazing what simple shows of respect can improve the attitude of your foreign employees.
On Monday I'm going up to Seoul to visit a friend. Before that I'll try to do some partying since I haven't done that in almost a month. I also need to take a trip to the immigration office to see if I can get a one day extension on my visa. My plane ticket is for the day after my visa expires.