Yesterday was the beginning of my three week holiday from school. While most people in the west had a nice time off during Christmas, I, like most other teachers here, only had Christmas day off. It wasn't too bad though as most of our coursework for this year was finished so "work" involved going to school and watching a movie with the kids...I'm pretty lucky really. The best part is that now when everyone else is depressed to be back at work, now, I get to relax!
I guess relax is the wrong word for my holiday plans. For the first time in a long time both myself and Jason are going to stay in Gimhae for our holidays. We simply have too much to do and money that badly needs to be saved. This next three weeks will mainly involve selling and getting rid of most of our belongings, packing up the leftovers, study grammar and do a pre course grammar test for our CELTA course, plan our travel plans, sort out visas, find travel insurance and a million other things that I can't think of right now! Yes I think "relax" was definitely the wrong word to use!
...Oh, and did I mention that we have three dogs and a cat right now too? luckily for us most of the animals are great and very easy to look after, and most will return to their own homes by the end of the month! (In fact as I write this, the lovely Blue is looking at me from the other side of the computer screen)
When we leave here we will have about 3 months of travel (while job searching) to look forward to. As most of you know, I love to travel, I have been planning this trip for about a year. You could almost say that it's a hobby of mine to plan routes, look up towns and cities and find the best places to go. The plans that we started with about a year ago have completely changed and now we are left with a very loose plan. Our travels will involve Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and India. I am so excited for this trip to happen, I am even more excited to be doing this trip with Jason. I really can't think of anybody else that I would rather travel with. But once on our trip we must job search and make sure to find a suitable job, in a suitable country for us and especially for Willy. Right now our two main options seem to be Turkey and Taiwan. Turkey because it would be closer to my family (practically on the same continent!) and some of them could and would come and visit me. I could also take short trips home and I think both of us would love to have a chance to live in a country that has so much history, beautiful architecture and delicious food!!
We only started thinking about Taiwan a couple of weeks ago. I'm not going to lie, the reason that we became interested in Taiwan is the fact that they don't really have a winter. South Korean winters are tough. They are dry and cold and this Irish girl really cannot handle those two factors combined. I always thought that Taiwanese weather was quite similar to Korea and Japan so I was quite surprised when I found out that you don't need a big winter jacket there! Taiwan is also quite tropical with some amazing beaches (yes, I have been stalking your Taiwan photos Erica!)Taiwan also has quite high salaries for English teachers compared to most other countries, even Turkey. You also must find an apartment for yourself, which is ideal for us as we have decided that this is the perfect time to move in together and live in a bigger apartment, for both us and Willy.
The third option, which is only if we are desperate and cannot find a job elsewhere is to stay in Korea and get a job somewhere else in the country. The fact that one of my bestest friends in the world(that's you Lou) is considering moving to Korea in the summer makes this option a little easier to swallow, although neither of us particularly want to do this. I think we are both ready for a change and ready to learn a new culture.
I don't think we will be adding other options to our immediate future as we need to make sure that Willy gets all of the right shots for a certain country and passes all of the regulations so by only having these three options it means that Willy can get prepared well in advance for his big move.
I'm slowly learning that over planning is never a good thing because when those plans change or fall apart I usually get over-emotional and upset, so this year my new years resolution is to be less of an ocd freak and try to let the world decide my fate for me. (ALTHOUGH some things must be planned for, Jason Elliot!)
but before I can think about the future too much, I have the horrible task of saying goodbye to this wonderful country and equally wonderful people, February is going to be a tough month!
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