I'll be home for Xmas... yes... no... yes... yes!?!

I think so at least. I will be in Canada for xmas this year. How surreal is that? Since signing up for Korea about 11 months ago I've had it firmly fixed in my brain that I would work in Korea for a year and that would include my first xmas away from all family.

That all changed dramatically when my school closed its doors yesterday. Originally I was led to believe I had happened upon an unexpected month of paid vacation (hanging out essentially until the new school opens at the beginning of January). Probably the most awesome deal ever. So I started thinking about what to do. It finally dawned on me two days ago I should go to Canada. It is xmas after all.  

I arrived at work yesterday totally jazzed about the prospect of going home for xmas and a list of questions to iron out the details of this holiday time; but also acutely aware that this seemed absolutely too good to be true and therefore probably was.  Well the trouble started around 2 pm. I was chatting to boss no.2 (whose English language skills are quite iffy) who said something that instantly put me in a heightened sense of alarm. He alluded to boss no.1 maybe paying for a flight home for me. (The standard operating procedure for teachers in Korea is we have our flights paid for at the beginning and end of a contract.) If I would be getting a flight I would not be getting a new job in January. Not good.

The last day had a very weird vibe to it as last days are prone to have. As the day wore on I got more and more jittery about the uncertainty of my future in Korea. What was I doing on Monday? Would I be in Canada or Busan? Or Jinju (at about 6 pm my boss inexplicably offered me a completely new gig in a city 1 hour north of Busan)? I can definitely say Friday was not a good day for Julia's nerves. 

So at the end of the day we had a work dinner. Ok, game time, I thought, let's clear this all up.

Hoo boy was it a doozy! Three hours of non-stop negotiation about December, pay, vacation, pay, contracts, pay, the new job, pay, hours, pay.... It was probably the most intense dinner discussion I've ever had riddled with language barriers and miscommunications at every turn. If I could, I'd like to offer this general piece of advice to employers in Korea: foreigners do not take kindly to statements such as "Frankly speaking, I don't know your old contract and I don't really have a contract with you." I almost had a heart attack at the table. 

That was probably the worst it got. There was also talk about not paying us for December, making us show up and do nothing at the school if he was paying us, and many conflicting statements and ideas about my future job in general. The most bizarre outcome of the night was without a doubt the exorbitant salary he is proposing to give us under the new school. It is literally more than double my current salary and 50% more than any salary I have heard of in Korea. And he signed the paper.

Currently I am still reeling from the events of last night. I'm looking at booking a flight to Vancouver but also waiting for a reply from my bosses to confirm what they said. I am quite unsure of what to make of it all. And I definitely haven't got my mind around the fact a week from now I could be walking along the Breakwater in Victoria, BC.