So when did I really decide to go to Korea?

It was shortly after my Grandpa died last year.

I was grieving, angry, and thoroughly miserable. I was stuck in a job with a boss who was downright emotionally abusive, one who needed the flimsiest of provocations to berate me for hours upon end. My finances were so tight that I was living off of potatoes because it was, when I looked at how much they cost divided by the calories they provided, the cheapest foodstuff I could find, and regularly skipping fare for the Skytrain, hoping like hell I wasn't caught. Even then, I was still begging for money off of my parents. It was not a proud time for me.

Two things happened. I can't remember the order they happened in.

My parents informed me that I had inheritance money coming in. It was hardly the circumstances for a windfall that I wished for, but quite frankly, it saved my ass. I feel a lot of guilt about it, but so it is.

A woman came into the store I worked at - she looked younger than my own years, and definitely more optimistic - carrying a bundle of papers. She needed to send those papers off to Korea, because she had applied for EPIK and glories be, she got Seoul. I thought then, "Why the hell am I subjecting myself to this when she's going to have a goddamned adventure?"

I had been applying to hagwons at the time. After that, I told my recruiter that I was going to hold out for a public school and my employer that oops, I got an offer for a teaching position in Korea and incidentally, here's my notice. I lied when I told her that I actually accepted that offer, but fair's fair, she lied when she told me that she'd need me in for the rest of the month to help with the holiday rush. Thus, I didn't work for the whole of December. I passed my interview, documents were sent, I felt fresh and fancy-free now that I was rid of the poisonous influence of the Boss That Shall Not Be Named...

Then I got worried. I received no word back for an entire month whether I got a position or not. At the end of January, I started to make other plans. "Maybe Montreal," I thought. "Or Halifax. I don't know. Somewhere that's not here." I'd resigned myself to this, got the email from EPIK, less than three weeks before I'd be expected to go... then I subsequently launched myself into a panic attack.

My parents and brothers got me to buck up and accept the job offer. Thank the cosmic muffin they did. What would have befallen me if I'd declined it?

Chances are, I'd be working another shit job back here in Canada. That's one of the many reasons I'm going back to Korea in a month. There's many more, quite a few on the more positive end of the scale.

See you next year.