Mindblowing Update

Mindblowing for me, anyway. Relevant to some, irrelevant to others.

Anyway.

I applied to a new recruiting agency for my next year in Korea, because this other one is just as reputable, but also has opportunities in more countries than South Korea, unlike my current agency. The first year is spent in Korea, Taiwan, China, or Thailand (a gig much shittier than it sounds), and after that teachers can apply to jobs around the world. Pretty cool.

I was originally going to return to Korea in October, since that would give me time to get in a trip to the Caribbean, finish a bunch of obligatory logistical stuff related to returning and leaving again, and do a cross-country road trip for a few weeks to visit long-lost friends and family, plus have some time to relax in Maine. However, when I asked about all the positions I see online advertising for September starts, I was told that if I want to teach in a public school (which I probably will end up deciding on), that if I plan on going in October, all the best positions will be taken, and it'll be hard to find any public school position period. So I said okay, I'll change my available date to late August (because public schools have orientation and training for a week or two before the semester starts). I did stipulate that if there were any positions at private language schools with comparable pay (they usually pay more, actually) and vacation time, that I'd prefer that, but I doubt I'll get that. Hagwons with 3-4 weeks of vacation are around, but 2 weeks is the standard vacation time. I'm hoping they're not going to bitch about me thinking only about vacation.

So my plan to do the road trip is pretty improbable now, especially since a certain SET OF NEWLYWEDS chose to take their honeymoon straight across the best time for me to visit them in LA. I might be able to fly out there for a bit, but everyone in the middle of the country will have to wait another couple years to see me. This is the problem with all this advance major planning I've been doing. It keeps getting knocked around and replanned and rescheduled. Watch me end up not starting a new contract until like January or something.