new job

Okay. If you are curious to see the place that offered me my next job, unscramble the following words and follow the directions below. They are a new school - a month old - and have a pretty nifty website. Peep the interior, yo. Check out the building. Koreans are pretty good at design:

A: ernomd B: hseling C: diostu

A:(as in not rustic; contemporary) + B:(the language this is in) + C:(where artists work)

go to www.ABC.com


And, dig the music. So I should take this shit, right?

The people posing aren't my future coworkers, but are models. They set up the website so they could market aggressively, for both students and employees. The existing testimonials, I was told, come from the previous students of the owner's method, which is pretty innovative.

Perks:

• 4.5 hours of teaching a day, with ample breaks and very little preparation time. 6 hours actually spent in the office, with half an hour between classes
• They fly you home for Christmas for a week
• You get 4-5 weeks of total vacation a year, plus the dozen or so three-day weekends throughout the year.
• Apartment included, featuring a queen-sized bed with Western-style sheets and an actual closet. I didn't actually see the apartment. Once I saw the inside of the school, I took his word that the apartment is as nice as he says it is.
• Apartment is a 10 minute walk from the school, which is right off one of the more major subway stops and fun (though pricey) areas of town
• A guided tour of Korea once a month.
• A trip to Thailand in April. A trip to Hong Kong some other time.
• During the interview, the owner said "your students will want to take you to lunch and dinner often. Will you be able to oblige?"
• There will be 22 foreign coworkers by November. They don't hire exclusively North Americans like most schools here. Not that I have anything against North Americans, but I looooove Aussies.
• They're taking me two weeks early to keep me from being homeless. They're sending me to Japan during the week that I will be homeless. So, I'll be trained for four weeks instead of their usual two.

The biggest "drawback" that I can think of: really nice things make me a bit uncomfortable, if only because I'm not used to really nice things. The morning shift starts at 6:30 - but then you're out of there by 12:30. If you're late once you get a warning. If you're late twice you get sacked. Also not a big deal. I'll buy three alarm clocks and put one in each corner of the apartment, if I have to. This is a new business; there's no guarantee that it will succeed. However, I'm pretty sure it will. It's pretty innovative, targets the upper class, and pampers the employees and the students. After a somewhat "hellish" (only for lack of a better word; things really aren't so bad, I'm just running on empty when I have nine teaching hours a day) last few weeks, I could stand to be pampered a bit. There's no wetnurse on your doorstep every morning, but I aired that grievance with the owner, and he's willing to consider it.

The salary's a little on the low end, but I should still be able to save half the paycheck. Plus there's a fat bonus for finishing the year. And, lifestyle - not money - is my main reason for coming here. There's no reason for me to get greedy about money with the above perks. But then you have the option of teaching an additional class, for a total of 6 hours of teaching. Then, the salary's a little on the high end. Some months I may want to work more hours - like once it gets cold. But, I'm totally starting on the low end so I can start exploring the city.

So I should take this shit, right?