Friday!!

and it couldn't have come any sooner! I am so pleased it is the end of the week. and, for once, I am not working tomorrow. December is going to be a killer though, I signed up for 3 of the 5 Saturdays. Tynessa will be in Canada, so I'm not going to have a lot to do anyway, I might as well work and earn some extra money for this penny-pinching school.

I still don't know whats going to be happening in February. Immigration announced 2 months ago that they were changing the rules, in a typical Korean over-reaction. 7 foreigners got caught smoking pot, and then that paedophile that used to teach in Korea was caught in Thailand. The Korean government's reaction was to radically change visa laws:

* mandatory police checks
* an interview at the Korean consulate closest to your hometown
* no more visa runs to Japan, you must return to your home country to get your visa.

Sensible? Not really. First of all, police checks do not get processed quickly. I applied for mine about 3 weeks ago, it still hasn't arrived. And for American teachers coming over here, their police checks have to be done by the FBI in order for them to cover the whole country, and the waiting time for this is at least 4 months. The ESL teaching industry here works with much shorter time-frames, teachers usually give one or 2 months notice, and new teachers get hired and arrive within a 3 to 4 week period.

Now the interviews in your home country: thats okay for first time teachers, but for those of us who are already here, and are switching jobs, we now have to pay for a ticket home! and never mind the fact that most Consulates will not be able to handle the huge sudden surge in people needing interviews. (not that any of this has been finalised, or that we've been told whats happening! the rules are supposed to be coming into effect on Dec 1st, yet everyone is in the dark about whats happening. Even the people at Immigration don't know. So I don't know if I'll have to fly home in February when I change jobs, or whether I just have to fly to Japan. Of course, this makes it difficult to book flights. honestly, is it that hard to make a decision and follow it through?)
* sigh*
and no more visa runs to Japan? this is only going to discourage teachers from coming back for a second or 3rd year of teaching. what used to be a quick and cheap 3 day trip to Japan to get a new work visa is now changing to flights home and back. Considering this country needs English teachers, they're sure making it difficult for teachers to come over here. They'll just got to Japan or China, where you dont have to jump through hoops. AND, all of this is only going to encourage schools to hire illegal teachers, another problem they are trying to fix.
ah, Korean logic.

ps: you've just got to love the scandal that has erupted in Aus., regarding the leaflets sent out by John Howard's ironically named Liberal Party!! Go Labour!