A very good place to start is always the beginning

I realize I've been negligent in my postings for the past month. I suppose the excuse that I was too busy going to festivals and traveling around Korea isn't the best of reasons, as that's exactly what I'm supposed to be putting up here.

So.

I will be sitting down at my computer screen for the next few hours to try and put up the Lotus Lantern Festival, my trip to the east coast of Korea over the long weekend for Buddha's Birthday, the Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Third Annual Seoul World DJ Fest. I have a cup of coffee. I have a bottle of water. I've made and eaten my dinner. I am ready.

But.

Before I do, as my mother so exactingly reminded me, I only have 40 days left before I plan to leave Korea. I am struggling right now with what to do about next year. For the past month or more, I've been talking to recruiters (several of which have driven me nuts with their inattention to my requests - like suggesting I work for the public school district that hires anywhere outside of Seoul when I specifically said I wanted to be in Seoul) to try and find another job. I've gotten several opportunities for schools that were interested in me, but very few that I was interested in for various reasons, mostly including lower pay, outside the area I wanted to live in, or undesirable working hours. I've gotten two official job offers, one of which I've politely declined. The second one has requested a decision by the end of the week or they will offer the position to someone else, which is fair enough.

The problem lies with the other two jobs I'm considering. One is with a public school district called Gangnam, where three of my friends are currently working. The pros: higher pay, good area, more holiday days/days off, better working hours, possibility for overtime. The cons: I won't know what school I'll be working at until the day I start, I won't know how close my house is to my school, and there's a high chance it won't be anywhere close, the classroom setting itself is a bit more stressful and difficult than a hogwan, I may be the only foreign teacher in the school. I've passed the first two phases of the application process (a resume that they're interested in, and sending in a lesson plan for a specific age group and topic), and now I have a phone interview with them on Thursday.

The other job is the job that I REALLY wanted. I found the company on my own and interviewed with them almost two months ago. At the time, they told me they wanted to hire me at 3-3.2 million won a month, but no positions were available yet for August or September (since our family reunion is at the end of July I can't come back until 8/1 at the earliest). The problem came when they called me last week to tell me two positions had opened up for one of their locations in Hakdong (where the other hogwan I'm considering is located). It seems that the two positions are evening shifts: 2:30pm-10:30pm. Which means that I would not have a life. I know myself well enough to know that I would end up sleeping in every day until noon instead of taking advantage of having the morning off to explore, and I wouldn't be able to do anything with my friends after work, as they all have to get up early and would be getting ready for bed when I'm finishing up for the day. Aaaanndd, they said it was only 2.7, and not 3mil for the job. They are still willing to hire me, but they don't have any other positions they know of at the moment, though some may open, so it's a wait-and-see deal with them.

So, I have until Friday to decide, at the very least, if I want to decline an official offer in preference of a possible/probable better offer, or if I want to accept an official offer because it's an actual offer and not just the possibility of one. My friends on Facebook have been offering their opinions and advice in a semi-voting sort of way. So - anyone else have an opinion?