The past few days, I’ve been sent away to my sister’s ex-partner’s place while he and the kids are away on holiday. While there I had various phone calls – including a couple of interviews with two branches of Reading Town. One was with a Korean and was a real interview; the other was with what sounded like an American – although, from her name I guess she’s a ‘gyopo‘ – and that wasn’t a real interview, just a bit of information about the hagwon and a few questions from me (so, in a way, I was interviewing her). This racial difference in interviews is typical in my experience. I was offered the second job but not the first.
I also had a phone call from someone called Min in relation to the position I’d been offered previously. She was calling about the contract and was apparently going to send it to me. If she did, I didn’t receive it. After a couple of days of waiting, I finally got the contract this morning from Mi Young. Min then called me again, and I discovered that the e-mail address she had for me was completely wrong.
I headed back up to my sister’s house, where she and her boyfriend were apparently preparing for a weekend at his place. I printed off the necessary documents: three copies of the contract, my resumé, a health statement I’d been sent (consisting of a number of tick boxes to show that I don’t have HIV/AIDS, I don’t use drugs, am not an alcoholic, have not been treated for mental health problems, and have not had a serious disease or injury in the past five years; I ticked no all the way down – I’m not counting my colitis as serious – I wasn’t going to die from it).
My sister said she’d be leaving around one o’clock. I headed out again to collect my things and came back at about 1:15 ready to complete the DHLitNow online form. I’d already called DHL and found that the cut-off time for same-day pick-ups was 11am; I also vaguely remembered having to print out a label for the envelope last time and that even though I missed the cut-off time they still picked it up the same day. So basically, today, I needed the printer and to be prepared for a pick-up. When I got back to my sister’s house – well, the car was there, the door was locked with the key in the lock and there were noises coming from the main bedroom.
I left my backpack in the shed and walked back down to the village, hoping my sweat-soaked top would dry out a little. It looks like I won’t be getting the paperwork off until Monday. And then there’s another wait as it goes to the recruiter’s office, then to Korean Immigration, then my visa issuance gets sent to me, then I have to go to London to get the visa …
Ready to go, but still not able.
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