chuseok (3)

Loyal readers (which is, I dunno, 6 of you) may remember a couple posts throughout the years in which I've detailed the various gifts I've received from employers on the occasion of the Korean Thanksgiving, called Chuseok. Well, Chuseok came and went this past week.


To refresh: year one I received an ornately packaged set of tuna, spam, and cooking oil. Year two I received a spongecake and a melon. What could possibly be in store for you this year, I hear you breathlessly ask.

As you can see, it's jun-byeong, or, a traditional cookie set. Here they are!

The things on the right are pretty good, kinda taste like dried pancakes. The things on the left are similar, but have dried seaweed in them. The things in the top middle taste similar to the things on the left. And the things in the bottom middle were awful. I tasted one but spit it out, and I don't remember exactly what it tasted like. So there you have it.

My school is rapidly approaching its demise. If it were an actual living being, it'd be giving off its death rattle right now. The plan has gone from closing in a few months, to closing at the end of this month, to I kinda wonder if when I show up to work on Monday the place might be boarded up and empty. 

I don't yet know what this means for me. I'm looking for another job here. I'm looking quite frantically, in fact. I'm not ready to live in America just yet. I need one more year here. It's not that I don't love my friends and family, it's just that I have no skills or knowledge that could possibly translate to a job or career in the United States of America. Sim, you say, what circumstances will be different this time next year that will make you more comfortable to come home? None! dear reader. But that'd be a whole year away.

I was doing nothing while at work today, and I thought of what my opening joke would be if I were to develop a stand-up comedy routine. It'd be something like this: Hi, I'm Sim. You might recognize my name. I used to be a world-record holder. I was, at one time, the youngest person in the world. I didn't hold the title very long. I don't know who beat me. I think it was some Chinese guy.

That's not bad, right?