I Quit My Job: The Shackles are Almost Free!

Whenever somebody makes many large life changes they feel either relief or remorse. I know I made the right decision because I only feel relief.

I got back on Saturday from a business trip to the US. To be exact, it was my very last business trip with this company because I quit my job.** Not to get into too much detail but quitting was a two month ordeal. Forget about giving a two week notice.

To debrief, I will answer the top three most repetitive questions:

1.     What is your next plan?

A.     I started working at this company when I was 22, so fresh and young. I’m leaving now 25 but feeling as if I aged 10 years – full of ulcer problems, white hairs and an anxiety problem.

I am going to move back to California in September and take 3-6 months off to do as I please, take the GMAT and chill the fuck out. Unlike many people my own age, I am looking forward to living at home with my parents, sister, dog and the Korean exchange student who lives next to my bedroom. I’m going to spend my time learning how to play golf, working on my fitness, reconnecting/making new friends and recalibrating myself to life in the US.

In today’s society, I am doing the opposite of social norms. I’m quitting my very stable job at the largest company in Korea (I think that gives away the company I work for) even after my bosses coaxed me to stay and offered me some incentives, I'm opting to take up unemployment in the US… a country that offers bleak job opportunities. I’m sure they all think that I’m making a big mistake but I seem to believe otherwise.

So in short, I have nothing definite planned but I couldn’t be happier with that.

2.     What about Ed?

A.     Since day 1 Ed has been aware of the fact that I am not indefinitely going to live in Korea and that our time together had an expiration date.

He wants me to pursue my dreams. And I want to pursue my own dreams as well. Unfortunately my dreams are not located in Korea. We’ll do long distance and thanks to technology like FaceTime and smartphones, I don’t imagine having a hard time stalking Ed. Realistically, I know that long distance (esp transcontinental) relationships are not fun or easy but we’re willing to give it a shot. 

3.     Are you going to miss Korea?

A.     Living in Korea has changed me in countless ways. It’s made me grow up, toughen up and taught me about my own culture. It’s silly to think that I wouldn’t miss Korea. Even the job that caused me stress and agony gave me invaluable training and if I had to do it all over again (though I’d prefer not to) I would.

I’ve traveled back and forth from the US over 20 times in the past 2.5 years. Slowly but surely each time I went back and forth I realized that the US isn’t the best country in the world like so many Americans believe. Things are a little bit slower in the US and even though I live in the technology capital of the world (silicon valley), it still feels dated compared to Seoul. However, as messed up and broke the US is, it’s still home to me. I’m going to miss Korea dearly but I plan on keeping a relationship with Korea so I won’t be a stranger.  

So there we have it. The shackles are almost free!

**Please don’t ask me for a job or to replace my position. We will be using a headhunter for that and I do not submit referrals anymore. 

Independence day

Another 4^th of July. 

This marks my fourth consecutive 4^th of July I’ve spent in Korea. I miss those BBQ’s, fireworks, chili cookoffs and nights of heavy drinking. Next time... 

End of Q2 Update

Welcome to the beginning of Q3. Half of the year has come and gone and my fave month of this year has finally arrived. This month I’m off to the bay area for a business trip for a week and somewhere within the schedule I can fit in about 12 hours to hit up my parents house and play with my dog. Five days after I return to Seoul, I’m off to Malaysia/Thailand for 10 days. This concludes my month of July.  

On top of traveling, I’m moving out of my apt next week and moving into my aunt’s snazzy pad while I’m in between places. I lived at the same expensive apt for over two years and initially only signed a 1 year lease. When my landlady asked me to sign a new contract, entailing that I’d live there for another year, I refused. She was really nice about it and then told me to get the hell outta thur so she could find a new tenant and raise the rent.

I’m actually nervous to live with my aunt because she and her husband are very nice but ultra conservative. Apparently coming home past 9pm is considered late to them. Did I just make a huge mistake?

4 Things on my mind:

1.     Why does it feel like I’m the only person left out of the Google+ party? I logged into my sister’s google account (yeah, I know all of her passwords…) and attempted to send myself and invite, but apparently Google was overwhelmed and shut out the system to new users. After all I went through with google wave and early adopting all the other google products, the least google could do is send me an invite before the hype is up. Wow, I sound bitter.

2.     I synch my iphone with my work PC and my personal mac. Every 10-14 days my pc magically stops syching to my phone and then I have to reinstall itunes and it drives me crazy. Through all of the dumb shit my phone puts me through, when I shuffle around and play with it, I can’t help but love it. I guess this is what having children is like. [edit: got an invite minutes after I posted, thanks!]

I just realized that the first two topics I spit out were about Google and Apple. What a tool.

3.     Last night my dept went out for drinks at the Coex Intercontinental “Wonder hour” (6-9 pm all you can eat/drink event on mon-sat — Saturday is basically 100% sloppy foreigners, I would know because I was one of them once) and we had a really great time and after the event we departed our separate ways and went home at 10. Amazing. My dept has come a long, long way. From a company that loves drinking and applauds drunkenness, and a department that used to drink until third round, getting home by 10 is amazing. Two coworkers from another team joined us and tried to coax us to grab another drink elsewhere but my dept wouldn’t budge. We wanted to go the F home. Are we a bunch of soft lameos? Yeah, probably but we don’t care anymore.

4.     I misplaced yet another umbrella and I’m pissed. That was my fave and last umbrella. Thank goodness it wasn’t pouring this morning or else I might have made a poncho out of a garbage bag.

5.  I'm rather excited for this quarter. I like to believe that the rest of this year will pan out magically. 

Goodbye Q2, HELLO Q3.