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I'm Ordered to Exit the Republic of Korea

11/07/06

Permalink 12:22:53 am, by admin Email , 187 words   English (US)
Categories: ...and Takes On, Korea, Tae Kwon Do

I'm Ordered to Exit the Republic of Korea

This is not as exciting as it seems except that I think I'll be the first person in my family "ordered to leave" a country. Yep, I've got 14 days to get out of the Republic of Korea, folks.

And I'm still homeless.

Made the first of at least a year of hour plus (one-way!) subway rides to stay with my taekwondo studio, which I simply won't leave. Taekwondo is my lifeblood, the studio is the body. Without both I would resent this country, grow to hate it, kick myself for coming here.

On the way to class I learned another meaning of the word 눈 (eye) is snow. This came in handy since it started snowing while we were in class. Very light, didn't stick, melted on contact, but snow! I was so excited I ran to the window and said, "Snow! Like Minnesota!" Cocky Guy teased me, I ran over to where he was sitting and punched him hard six times in the arm. Master just laughed.

Master's son drank, "one shot perfume!" so I also learned perfume, 향수. "Chinese, Amanda, Chinese."

Sometimes I think I'm learning Chinese.

6 comments

Comment from: kangmi [Visitor] Email · http://www.kangmi.org
Ouch. You're coming back?
11/07/06 @ 02:22
Comment from: Joanne [Visitor] Email · http://www.joanneseiff.com
Is this because you're not in the new job yet? The tone of it all seems to indicate you're not coming home, though, right?
11/07/06 @ 05:28
Comment from: admin [Member] Email
Yeah. It used to be that you could transfer a visa from one school to another, as long as you had a letter of release. Well now it's changed, so my visa has been revoked and my Alien Residency Card destroyed and I have 14 days to leave. I'll be doing a visa run to Japan sometime next week to get my new visa.

It's not nearly as exciting/scary as it sounds.

No, I'm not coming home. I've only been here four months. I don't speak enough Korean to come home. I don't have my black belt. And I have nothing to go home to. I didn't leave America just because I changed jobs, so I'm not going to leave Korea yet (well, OK, except to run to Japan).
11/07/06 @ 10:01
Comment from: kangmi [Visitor] Email · http://www.kangmi.org
Glad to hear that you've got a new job lined up. But Korea sure makes life difficult sometimes, doesn't it? (Although one really can't complain about a free trip (at least I hope it's free to you) to Japan.)
11/07/06 @ 19:51
Comment from: admin [Member] Email
Yeah, my employer is paying for the flight, hotel, and meals.

WHA HOOO!!!!
11/08/06 @ 01:40
Comment from: Wanda in AR [Visitor] Email
Congrats on the free vacation. Maybe you can find a yarn store in Japan.
11/08/06 @ 01:49

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An American educator moves to Korea, presumably to teach English. Instead she discovers that learning Korean one taekwondo class at a time is a more captivating activity.

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