Sad News From Hambak

Keeping with standards and traditions, South Korea once again set out to rain in everybody's parade. It's kind of like ... well ... that one guy we know who always rains on everybody's parade.

Anyway, I posted a note recently about how great things are going here. My new contract, my fat bonus and my time with Jeong Mi are just the tip of the really-good-stuff iceberg.

But South Korea sucked me in with its ups, and is now laughing at my face during the downs.

We found out yesterday that our English Center secretary, Sunny, will not be re-hired. They told her this yesterday, as well. Her contract ends on Saturday. Thats right. They told her and us that her contract would not be renewed with only 4 days to spare.

This is bad for many reasons:

1. Sunny is awesome. She is super fun, and we could always count on having someone cool around when we do work-related activities.

2. She's a good employee. They give her way too much work to do, including stuff that she shouldn't be doing (sending out invitations for the principal's daughter's wedding) and she did it without raising a stink.

3. We are short a person in the English Center. That means Sunny's responsibilities will fall to Ridia until they hire someone new. Knowing the system, that means we could be short one person for while. And realistically, we could have used another person as it was.

There was no reason given for her not being re-hired. There are a few ideas floating around. One is that because the principal is retiring in February, the administrators thought the new person would want someone fresh. A second is that this is the end of Sunny's second year. That means that after this renewal, she would leave yearly contract status and become an official employee. The thought is that the administrators want someone who they can get rid of in the short term if need be.

Regardless of any hairbrained theories, this is bad all around for us. We like working with Sunny and don't want to see her go. Even if the new person they hire is just as good, no one can compare to Sunny for her personality and the hard work she put in here.

We'll miss you, Sunny. Sorry that even at a good school, people can become victims of a bad cultural system.