I had a job interview last Friday. It was a direct result of the job fair I went to at the beginning of the month and it lasted an hour and a half. I think it went well, but I have to wait and see. The company makes patient monitors and systems for hospitals, as well as some security recognition software and systems. It's really interesting. The only problem is that it's on the other side of Seoul so if I get the job (I'll find out this week) I will have to move again.
If I don't get the job, it's probably back off to the States for me in early December. I have one last thing to do for my current company just after the end of my 90 days in Korea, so I will take another trip to the small Japanese island of Tsushima to get my passport stamped. But that's it. No more of those trips.
If I get the job, they will give me a visa. The CEO seemed very confident about that. I only wish I shared his confidence.
On March 26, 2009, I left my life in America and moved to South Korea. I put my worldly possessions into two suitcases and a backpack and got on a plane. On December 8, 2012, I returned not to my hometown of Detroit, but to Silicon Valley, California, where I married an Indian engineer. In 2020, I divorced and moved to southern California. In this blog are my successes, failures, and observations of life in different cultures.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Psychotherapy
I have started psychotherapy and had two sessions so far. I realized that it's very similar to what I do as an English tutor. Basically, the therapist asks a couple key questions here and there to keep me talking. This requires intense concentration and critical thinking on the therapist's part, as every word could contain a hint about what to ask next and what problems there are. In English tutoring, I hang on to every word to try to look for mistakes and chances to teach grammar, vocabulary, or idioms. But I also listen closely so I can ask key questions to keep my students talking. The thing they invariably end up talking about is themselves.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Crossroads
This morning I woke up hungry and realized there was no immediately edible food in my home. So I washed some dishes, made rice in the rice cooker, beat some eggs, made egg fried rice, and sat down to watch CSI: Miami with Korea subtitles on TV. This is my life, I realized as I lay down waiting for the rice cooker to finish the rice. My stomach hurt from walking around and doing things without eating first, and I was miserable because I didn't want to have egg fried rice again. This is my life.
I know it's only temporary, but it begs the question: what do I want in life?
I know it's only temporary, but it begs the question: what do I want in life?
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Detroit is a Seoul Subway Beggar
I was walking from the subway station to my office and on the stairs between the two (my office's underground entrance is in a mall connected to the subway station) there was a beggar. This is not unusual for any city, and I must say that there are fewer beggars in Seoul than in New York if I remember right from my one visit there. What struck me was the receptacle he was using for money. It was a Detroit Tigers hat.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Employment! And Unemployment by Choice
I got a job! And I started this morning at 8:30am. I dislike it so much I have begged for my part time afternoon job back and started looking up plane ticket prices to go back to the US. Air China is the cheapest at $691 in mid-November, when my stay in Korea expires again. I could take another "visa vacation" and leave for half a day, get my passport stamped, lie at the border saying my visa is being processed, and get another 90 days, but I'm so tired.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)