Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Or: ‘Very Much Not A Lesson in Writing Original Titles’

It’s around the time of year for us EPIK-ers to decide whether or not we will resign our contracts and stay in Korea for another year, and I’m sure a lot of people are umming and ahhing about where their immediate future lies. For some people I imagine it’s a truly difficult decision, and would be for me too if there weren’t a few factors to influence me one way over another. I don’t intend to let this post turn into my usual ramble-o-rama, so allow me to make extensive use of bulletpoints. Please do bear in mind that these are the factors that influenced my decision only, if we were all the same everything would be horribly dull.

Reasons to Stay:

  • The Money: It suck that this comes so high on the list, but for me it’s one of the main reasons I’m here in the first place. As mentioned on another post, working as an EPIK teacher affords me more opportunity to save than I have had before…in that it offers me an opportunity to save at all. I’m sure that lots of people have taken a pay cut to move here, but I imagine that they will still take home more at the end of the contract than they would working in a higher paid job elsewhere. It’s tempting to stay purely because of the phantom final figure.
  • The Job Itself: As you will know from my previous whinges, my job isn’t the best of what’s available in Korea. It’s still a decent job and even on my toughest day it’s still one of the best jobs I’ve ever had though, so I can’t complain. I’m really not looking forward to looking for a job when I get back to England, and that’s all I shall say on the matter.
  • Friends: I honestly didn’t expect to find as good friends here as the ones I’ve somehow found myself with, but I feel terribly lucky that it’s worked out this way. I imagine that about half of them will go home at the end of the contract and half will stay, which is something I’m not particularly looking forward to. Still, better to find awesome friends that you have to say goodbye to than hang out with wanker-ish ogre-beasts all year.
  • General Quality of Life: Recently I’ve been in hardcore lockdown money-saving mode, and therefore have been somewhat depriving myself of the little day to day luxuries that Korea affords it’s expats. Having said that, last week I visited the lushest spa I have ever seen and didn’t have to dip too far into my savings to do it…so don’t cry for me, dearest reader. When my boyfriend was visiting I largely threw saving out of the window, because we realised that this is probably the only time in our lives (definitely the only time in our lives so far) that we’ve been able to spoil ourselves without worrying about financial repercussions. Fancy going for a few drinks? No problem. Can’t be bothered cooking? Let’s go out! Too lazy to walk somewhere? Taxi-time it is! Honestly it’s a wonderful feeling and it pains me that I would have to score an impossibly high-paying job back home to recapture it. A quick jaunt to Tokyo reminded me of the sinking feeling one feels when hunger has descended and you can’t find a restaurant you can afford to eat in…it was not a pleasant memory and I’ll miss my life of luxury when I’m no longer here.
  • Living Rent-Free: Sigh. Not much to say about this one, except that living in a largely free apartment is absolutely glorious and I may cry the first time I have to pay rent and council tax again.

 

Reasons to Go:

  • Family and Friends: Without any doubt the main reason for me to return home, and without any others I would come back for this alone. There’s not much I can say about it really, except that you chaps are the best people I have and ever will meet and I cannot wait to see you all in person again.
  • Home: Before I came here I didn’t think I was a huge fan of the country I come from, but somehow being here has made me think far more fondly of it. Well, some things anyway. I’ve come to realise that I am English through and through, not in an awful BNP way but rather in the way that I miss the little things that I didn’t realise were so scarce elsewhere. I miss pie and chips, I miss pints of bitter and rainy afternoons in the pub, I miss cheese in all it’s diverse, unhealthy glory, I miss old stone cottages and sea too cold to consider swimming in, I miss walled cities and cream tea, overly polite chit-chat and tourists not understanding the proper way to get a waiter’s attention, I miss reasonably-priced fizzy wine and evenings in front of the fire, and above all else I miss my friends and family. England, you have my heart forever.
  • The Money/The Quality of Life/Living Rent-Free: Some things are too good to be true, and I’m beginning to think that the life of an EPIK teacher is one of them. Yes, there are some hardships and yes, sometimes school life is incredibly annoying…but everything pales into insignificance when you consider what we get in return. The deal we get is simply too sweet to last, and I worry that I would pay the price for it back home if I stayed too long. If I were a few years younger and had less at home to think about I would definitely stay for another year, perhaps two, but after that I would feel like I needed to choose between moving home or committing to a life in Korea forever. This is no bad thing, obviously, but it’s not for me. Living rent-free is dangerous too, I can’t imagine I would be desperate to return to a life of extortionate rent, tax and bills after spending five years without that worry, regardless of how much I’d saved. I’m sure lots of people won’t agree with me, but I also question the validity of the job itself and how much I am actually being paid to teach vs. being paid to be the school’s foreigner. I’m absolutely fine with being the foreigner, chatting in english to the students and generally making waygooks seem less weird, but I wonder how much I could honestly claim to get out of it after a year or two.

 

You’ve probably gathered from this that I’m flying back home when my contract ends, and you’d be correct. I’ll miss Korea terribly and I truly hope to visit again one day, perhaps even work here again if the opportunity arose. For now though, my mind is made up and I feel certain that I’ve made the right choice. Good luck to everyone deciding their futures, I hope that your conclusions are as easy to draw as mine.