Taiwan!!!!!!!!!

Less than a week until Tom and I go to Taiwan and I can't wait!!!!!!!!! I'm at school right now and my kids are doing a test so I've been looking up things online, and now I just want this week to be over!

We are arriving in Taipai on Monday, late afternoon, and we are going to spend the first night at a hostel, right by one of the most famous markets in Taiwan. Supposedly there is tons of great food and shopping to be had there.

On the Tuesday we are going to head out towards a place called Kengting, which is good for beaches and sightseeing. We are going to rent mopeds one day and cruise around the area, which will be exciting, although my motorist skills might be a little shaky.

For the middle part of the week we are going to hang around that area, and maybe head out to an island one night and camp out, cause Tom is thinking of bringing a tent.

Then on Friday we need to head back to Taipei because our flight leaves early on Saturday morning to bring us back to dreary old Korea (rainy season is in full effect right now).

The good news is that I only come back for just under two weeks and then it is off to Japan for a visa run. Originally I was going to go by myself, but Andrew, one of my co-workers, decided that he is going to come along for the adventure. We were going to head to Tokyo, but it turns out that the city we arrive at is closer to Korea than it is to Tokyo, so we would have to spend 5 hours on a train, and double the money of our ferry ticket, getting there and back, so now I think we are going to stick around the Fukuoka area. Andrew likes the casino, maybe more than I do, so hopefully we can find one in the area to amuse ourselves for a few hours.

Anyhow my kids are starting to finish their tests so I need to amuse them with a youtube video or something. Hope everyone is well!

Koreans are Scammers

I went to Mudfest on the weekend. I would love to write about it, but right now I'd rather bitch about Korea.

Andrew and I went to the pension office at lunch today because we were fairly certain our boss was scamming us on our pensions, and paying in less than he should be. A big no-no, but something that all hagwon owners do here, because apparently us foreigners are stupid. (I've been getting my pay stubs for a year and haven't put any thought into, think what you will. Just keep it to yourself). Anyhow we took our stubs down to the pension office, and for starters Andrew's and my pay stubs are itemized differently, which has sketchiness written all over it.

Anyhow the lady looks at it and says she doesn't think anything is wrong, because the Korean government changed the laws, and now foreigners are exempt from paying taxes on 30% of our income, which she tries to tell us is a bonus for us. In reality, we only pay like 3% taxes, and our pension is worth 9% by the time both parties pay into it, so who is it really a bonus for? And on top of that, Koreans are also allowed to allocate a maximum of $100 per paycheck as a "food allowance," which coincidently is also tax exempt. So despite the fact that I am making almost 30% more this year than I did last year, my pension is going to fall short by about a thousand dollars, which sucks. Grrrrrrrrr....

I'll See You in September

I will be gainfully employed for one extra month after my contract is up, which is great news for my bank account, and for the fact that I'm not quite ready to say good-bye to this strange little country just yet. On the other hand, a part of me this weekend kept envisioning the month of August filled with days lounging on the dock, boat rides, and bbq steak dinners. Fortunately, I remember what it's like to be a poor little student, and the month of employment seems like it will provide more satisfaction in the long run. Technically I will be done September 10th, and I will probably have a fairly quick departure after that because all my loose ends, (pension, etc) will have been tied up at the completion of my August contract.

The humidity around here lately is ridiculous. Summer in Korea is not pleasant, although yesterday a group of us tanned on Andrew's deck and that was quite nice. In the next week or so rainy season will kick in, and that will be terrible, but for the next month or so we won't be around much because of mudfest and work vacation. Tom and I still don't have plans sorted, but we are trying to work out a week in Boracay. And by we, I mean I'm sitting back and letting him do most of the planning.

Other than that all is quiet around here. Mudfest is this weekend coming and I can't wait for it. We've got our bus tickets and room booked, and I am meeting up with a friend from university, who I haven't seen since third year, which is kind of exciting! Maybe. We only know each other from classes and hallway conversations, it could actually be kind of awkward. Meh... we'll see.

Anyhow Heather and I are about to go for a walk in the buggy humidity. Hope you are all well.

Update

In an interesting turn of events, yesterday I found out that I might not be able to extend my contract by a month because of the new visa restrictions on foreigners. Basically I need to get a criminal record check from Canada, which says on the RCMP site that it can take up to 120 days; I need it done in about 14 days. So I don't know what the school is going to do, if they have a replacement teacher they might pack me up and ship me back to Canada, or if they don't, maybe they will let me work i*l*g*l*y...which they have done in the past for one or two people. Also I might be able to find a short term thing at another school for a month if they are in desperate need of a foreigner. So right now I don't know what's going on, I might get to spend August on the dock of the bay, but I hope I get to extend because August is coming up way too soon. Either way, I will probably know better next week.