Uncertainty Abounds

I'm not sure the last time I wrote. I could look it up I guess but I'm a bit lazy. Anyways, since then a lot has happened. Nothing really exciting, well not in a good way at least, but definitely life-altering.

On October 30th, at the end of the day, I see a note on my desk. The vice-director is not happy with me. I didn't teach the class she told me to teach at 3:25. I had told her the Wednesday before that I wouldn't teach them since my contract says I start work at 4. The note tells me she wants to see me before I leave. It's 10:05. The vice-director is busy talking to the assistant teachers, giving them directions. I wait until 10:25 and then I make towards the door. The vice-director stops me and tells me she needs to see me. I blurt out that I wasn't going to wait forever. I decide to give her 5 more minutes. Finally, at 10:28, she is ready to speak to me. She leads me into the little conference room, hands me a letter, and says "There are no words."

I know what the letter says already. I run into the assistant teachers on the way out. They confirm what I thought, that the vice-director was just telling them the same things again and again. I really can't believe that the vice-director was so immature as to make me wait for no reason except to inflate her ego and make herself feel powerful.

Within the envelope is a formal notice. I've been fired. I'd been expecting it. I'd gone to the labour board to sort out a few things in my contract like the tax rate, not being paid overtime, and a few other pieces of nonsense. After going the first time, the labour board said they would call the school and try to resolve things that way. Following this I get a letter. The letter says that they don't owe me anything and also that I'm a terrible teacher and should only ask for things once I'm doing "perfect teaching." So, a thinly veiled threat not to take things further or I'll be canned. I could've really cared less about my job. I was planning on quitting the end of November anyway. I took things further. I went back to the labour board to file a formal complaint. It was a Thursday. I'm sure they drafted my notice over the weekend since there wasn't even mention of me not teaching the first class on Monday. There was, however, mention of me not going to work on a Saturday when I had already told them I wouldn't work any more Saturdays.

That's really not the worst part though. They gave me only 7 days notice since the scheduled labour board mediation was in 8. They really didn't want to go to that meeting. I stayed in my apartment until the day of the meeting and refused to leave since even by the worthless contract they owed me 15 days. The meeting comes and Young Mi decides to come with me (the labour inspection speaks no English). My boss shows up 45 minutes late telling everyone what an important, rich, respectable person he was. He decides that he's not going to give me my last month's pay since I betrayed him by taking him to the labour board and also that I should repay him for the airfare and recruiting fees (even though the contract says I only need to pay him for that if I break the contract). Also, he says he's going to charge me rent for the apartment 40,000 won a day. There's no way my apartment is worth 1.2 million won a month.

So now, I'm unemployed and homeless in Korea and am owed something like 3 million won. Luckily, my boss hasn't cancelled my visa so I don't have to leave the country or anything. He has until the 24th of this month to pay me. If he doesn't, then I need to take him to court. So until I get my money, I am stuck in Korea just waiting it out.

Then there are a few other things to make me feel all the more uncertain about life and everything. Aside from having no job, no home, and being involved in a labour dispute, my parents may be moving to India if my dad accepts a job there, my best friend in Korea is leaving this weekend, I don't know where I'm going after Korea, and the younger brother of a good friend of mine (who I'd met)died accidentally. Uncertainty indeed.