I’ve developed a taste of short-timer syndrome, probably mostly due to the anachronistic (for us) rain that’s dumping this week. It’s changma season here: the wettest time of the year. For the next month, it will rain nearly non-stop, and though it’ll bring lovely lush greenery in August, it’s not quite worth it. I miss blue skies!
We’ve known about changma since September, when the other teachers said we’d just missed the 2006 season. Fall was especially beautiful–a lot like a California autumn, actually. But then winter shocked us with its chill (the Canadians laughed: they found it practically tropical), and spring gave us hope. Blue started mixing with the white spring sky, and we got excited. We put on tank tops and flip flops; we bought mats for the beach.
Most of you are Californians. Do you know that feeling, when the weather starts warming and you forget winter even existed? You laugh when you notice your big, ugly, cold-weather shoes, and put them away in your closet, anticipating a good six months of heat? Imagine going through this process, and then in late June, just as you’ve turned golden brown and you’re feeling like yourself again, it rains for a solid month. It’s a total shock to the system.
Okay, I’m almost done complaining. The other thing I should note, now that I’ve stirred such pity, is that I just got an iPod shuffle for running ($50 refurbished from Mac.com!). I’ll let you figure out why that’s such a tragedy.
I wish I could think of a swear word to rhyme with changma. Dangma? No, too mild. If you think of something crueler, let me know.
Oh, so we DID pass the 90-day mark. We agreed to stay an extra month, until October 3–a decision we sometimes regret, and sometimes decide is brilliant. It’s an extra four grand just asking to be taken, and that month includes a five-day Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving, if you remember from last year), so when Mr. Kim took us out for pork and soju (his preferred negotiation aids) and asked us to stay another year, we offered the month.
(I’m glad that in the west, it’s not common practice to ply people with soju and ask them to commit to things. It sure makes negotiation tricky. Actually, I just read an article about how, “now that women are joining the workplace” (welcome to 1962), these soju-bonding rituals are starting to decrease. Ulsan’s not quite up to speed with the rest of the country, I guess. Anyway, we didn’t ask for cash in lieu of plane tickets back, thanks to that “dang” soju.)
The reason we want cash for our plane tickets is so we can go to China before we head home for the holidays. We found a great apartment in Beijing that its American-professor owner will rent us for $650 for a month! We’d like to go there and study Mandarin, then hang out in Shanghai for a week or so. We’ll see. I wrote a contract addendum that included the stuff about flights and gave it to Mr. Kim three weeks ago. It’s very un-Korean to make plans this early, so he’s sat on it and is now referring me to his sister-in-law, who runs another campus. He’s promised she’ll meet us this week. Cross your fingers…
So, if you’re wondering, I think we’ll be back in California around mid-November, but that could change. We’ll surely be there for the holidays.
Enjoy your California sunshine, and remember how lucky you are!
Love, Heather
