I cannot win

This teaching Englishee in South Korea thing has been a dark cloud above my head since January. After learning the last week in February that my program fucked up and I wouldn't be able to start with EPIK until JULY instead of March, which was repeatedly promised to me. I snatched up that one-way flight to Cartagena and had some good/interesting experiences for three months.

Now, I'm home in a small suburban midwestern 'murican town, unemployed, rotting.

The good news is that my TESOL certification starts late July. I passed my EPIK phone interview a few weeks ago so things were going well on that end. Once they changed the application rules for Seoul (actually they made the application process much more difficult this session for all the cities, but especially Seoul) it was clear Busan was going to be everyone's new first choice.

I was one of the earlier phone interviews, and Busan was already full when my recruiter passed my info along to them. My second choice is Incheon, which (depending on which part I end up) may be indistinguishable from Seoul as the two cities have basically grown into each other (I like that). I am now waiting and waiting and waiting for some news from EPIK, hopefully that news is a mailed copy of my contract.

Recent conflicts:
North Korea being a bigger douche than normal. South Korea needs to be there when I show up. I'm not sure if I'm too stupid to figure out the link function here or maybe it doesn't like Google Chrome as a browser.. but here is an aptly named article on this topic -> http://koreanrumdiary.blogspot.com/2010/05/retarded-kid-with-gun.html

Thai civil war.
My 5 months of work with EPIK is meaningless if I do not have my TESOL cert completed before the position starts in Korea. My certification is taking place in Chiang Mai, Thailand (at least it isn't BKK), so if things get too crazy there my program may suspend or outright cancel the certification "batch" and I am fucked, last minute, again.


One way flights to CNX are about $1,400 at the moment, in March I could have gotten there for about $500. If I'm shelling out that much, I want to stop halfway and take a few days to hang out.

-A flight to Singapore and then to Bangkok (the short flight with Tiger Air) totals about $800, not bad. A few days in Singapore could be a good time too, and I've always been intrigued in this city/country so I would be satisfying a childhood dream.

-A flight to Frankfurt (FRA) and Berlin to Chang Mai will go for about $1,150 plus I get to crash at my German friend's places, which will offset the higher European prices than Singapore. I MIGHT even swing by and see Dutch for a day or two, this would be pretty cool as I didn't expect to see him again for a few years.

-Flight to IST (Istanbul) to BKK, will be about $1,000ish.
I still want to check this place out, here's my opportunity.

Other options are Amman Jordan, New Delhi or Mumbai India.

I am leaning towards Germany the most but.. ANOTHER POSSIBLE CONFLICT
Eyjafjallajökull, please, please, please do not fuck me over, that goes for you too Katla. I know you like to shut down Europe for a while every couple hundred years, but please relax for the upcoming weeks. Plus I am not sure what to believe, if the ash was a con or an overreaction, what I do know is that if I chose Germany, this is going to be primary point of stress for me until my flight takes off for Thailand, my entire life literally hinges on that goddamn flight.



If my flight is delayed from Germany to Thailand more than a day all of my Englishee in Asia dreams/efforts are gone/wasted. Honestly I cannot rationalize taking a risk like this. A longtime favorite quote of mine is "what is the difference between reality and fiction? - Fiction has to make sense"
I see myself going down Italy and taking a ferry to Tunisia if shit goes bad trying to get a flight out of Rome first or whoever is still operating. Or I'll go north to Moscow and look for a teaching job (without a TESOL Cert, my pay will be much less, if I am even hired without it), or Zagreb Croatia, or shit maybe that would be a good time to see what I can get to work in Turkey (as long as they aren't fighting with Israel too much).




I flipped a Colombian coin last night at around 3am while I was laying awake weighing the risks. I have the Michel Thomas German audio course now, and I am enjoying it a little more than the Spanish one. Although this time I have to start with the very basic beginner disk.. gotta start somewhere. The coin toss was between Singapore and Germany, Singapore lost. Maybe Eyjafjallajökull was just an overreaction anyways.

I feel like I should at least see someplace new on this stopover to Thailand, and since I've already been to Germany and Holland maybe I should branch out. The counter point to that is being alone in a big cold city again can be a good time, but staying with locals and having someone to hang out with that you already know in a cool place is sooo much better.

We will see what the universe wants me to do, I told the parents I am buying my one-way to Germany tomorrow if it stays at the same price (or close) as there is only one cheap flight within my window in June. I discovered it a few days ago, but I don't know how long it will last (don't you dare read this and book it before me).