Coming home?

This post was set to be the post where I informed all of those at home, who are not yet aware, that I'd be in the States in two weeks for a one month break and then return to Korea at the beginning of October. However, the hakwon I currently work for threw a major monkey wrench in my plans today.

No international airfare home will be provided to the Teacher hired in-country except if the Teacher extends for a second year, then a one-way ticket is provided to the west coast of USA or Canada, or a place in other countries within the equivalent cost.

It's a very standard practice for hakwons to provide round-trip airfare for teachers to come to work in Korea. This is one of the key incentives that gets people here. That and the free apartment. However, as you can see from the section of my contract above it states that teachers hired who are already in-country (i.e., Korea) will not be provided with airfare home. I was hired "in-country" as I'd worked at a different hakwon previously.

For the past two months I've questioned the administration at my hakwon repeatedly about my ticket home. I've seen other teachers run into problems and wanted to make sure I had everything taken care of in advance. Every time I talked to the administration I was assured that my ticket would be purchased for me and that I would have it within the next week. Then, today, with a week and a half before my contract expires, I was informed that my school would not be purchasing the ticket. FUCK!!!!

I realize this is ultimately my fault for not paying more attention to the contract, but to tell me with seven working days left is frustrating to say the least. So, at this point I don't know if I'll come to the States. I don't know what I will do. My visa officially expires September 9th so I must be out of the country by then. If I were a responsible and reasonable person I would simply dip into my savings and buy the tickets home myself. But, if you know me, you know why that is funny.

So, I'll be scrambling the next couple days trying to figure out what I'll do. I've sent a letter to the owner of the hakwon, so for now I'm awaiting a response. I considered posting my letter to her here, but figured she deserved a chance to respond first. If it gets more interesting maybe I will put it here.