Yes, my former boss at Andong Univ. in Korea offered to rehire me and I told him, yes, I’d like to come back. Lots of reasons for that–Andong is a nice, rural area of Korea (even though the population is 200,000, it is considered “out in the sticks”; the pay is decent even though the hours can get rather long; I still have some former colleagues working there; I know what I’m getting into; and many of the jobs offered in Korea require a ton of paperwork, stuff that is just too difficult to do from here. Some of the items they want include sealed transcripts from the U of M, notarized diplomas (which can only be done from the Korean embassy in Rabat), medical reports (I’d have to go to Rabat to try to find a doctor to do this), a criminal record check from Montana (can’t do it online), face-to-face interview, either in person or with a webcam, and other assorted procedures. These would be difficult enough to do in Korea and the U.S., but trying to do them all from Morocco by the deadlines that the various employers set makes the process almost impossible to complete on time. I assume that Andong won’t require a whole lot of me, especially things like an interview, diplomas, etc. We’ll see–I’m waiting to hear back from the administration since I emailed them a few days ago accepting their offer to rehire me.
Anyway, it looks like I have a job nailed down early enough so that I don’t have to go through the trauma of settling everything at the last minute like I did when I left Andong last August. That is, indeed, a big relief since it gives me time to pack, to ship boxes (if necessary) and to handle all the little details involved in moving half way across the world . . . again. This time, I plan to stay in Korea for 6 or 7 years, hopefully saving enough money to retire in Thailand, eventually. A lofty and seemingly very difficult goal, but one that I will really strive to achieve. (Sorry, U.S.A, but, for me, the Land of Smiles has much more going for it) 😉
Yes, I’m still planning to make a rather late posting about the rest of my trip to Laos last month, with photos. In the meantime, I have posted a few shots in the gallery and I’ve highlighted a link to those on the right hand side of this page. I really have too many photos in the gallery, and it looks like it’s getting hard to find the various sections; hence, the link to the most recent ones. Enjoy. More later.