Update on the Living Sitch

So as some of you may know from my recent Facebook status, I had a rough Thursday last week due to further discussion with my director about my room situation.  I had asked before about what she could do to get me into a livable apartment (specifically with enough sunlight to tell what time of day it is).  The first time she said she could do nothing.  I went back to her again with a coworker as translator and she said yes, but I would need to pay W500,000 out of my pocket and would need to FIRST find someone to occupy my place before I could even begin to look for other places to live.  This is a very different method than in the US where it's the landlord's responsibility to all their own legwork, so I was a bit shocked and unnerved at first, no to mention being worried about being homeless for a period in between.

But, at the end of the day, I really needed to assess whether over $400US would be worth getting some sunlight.  I thought on it for about a week, and got a lot of input from other English teachers around me.  Some said I should be very firm and insist that they pay for it or I would find another employer.  Others said I should just put up with it and save the money because directors are there make the decision for you and wouldn't budge due to my low rank in the hagwon.  

I was sick of not making progress, so I told my coworkers that I had made a decision about the room which was this: I would offer to pay 1/4 of the cost of moving.  If she said no, I would bargain at 1/3 and stop at 1/2 and after that I would threaten to quit.  What actually happened was that I did all the bargaining, but they still said no because my hagwon is losing a lot of money right now due to students dropping out and going to the brand new Gunpo Global Education Center (GGC) in the next town over, Sanbon, so they wouldn't have any money to do anything about it.  When told my coworkers that I might quit and saw the look on their faces, combined with my stress of trying to drop this bomb, caused me to tear up in a major way, which I wasn't expecting when planning this all out in my head.  I heard through third-hand conversation that a coworker spoke to my director about it, and she asked me to please consider the school's position in their tough economic times. At that point I really felt like I was doomed.  :(

Then a coworker told me not to be sad later on, which made me tear up again, pretty terrible when you're around kids all day.  So finally after all the students were gone and it was the end of the day, I asked my coworker to accompany me once more to officially give my director, face-to-face, my decision to leave.  I just caved and decided to pay.  Wow; did that ever feel terrible. Not only had I felt depressed all day long, but it got me back to square one. For realz? Whew, and it was a workout, let me tell you.  So everyday I now leave my key with the doorman in the case that someone wants to see my apartment.  Am I hopeful? Yes.  And eager?  Yes.  Do I think that people will also be turned off by their being no window?  OF COURSE, but there is hope.

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