Nightmare

Well, yesterday things went from hell to worse-than-hell. Responding to Jane's call on Tuesday where she asked us "Why haven't you come to the Hagweon?" we went to the Hagweon. We didn't go to ask for the money she owes us (thousands of dollars each), but instead to just ask for our letters of release (from our work visas) and the return of our personal documents (university degrees, etc.). Jane handed this piece of paper with our May salaries written on it, with all these ridiculous deductions - such as the salaries of substitute teachers, etc. We told her it was a load of bullshit. When we asked for our letters of release she said we would not get them until we left the apartment. We told her we could not leave the apartment until we got new jobs, which requires letters of release. This went back-and-forth for quite some time. Finally we gave up and asked for our degrees back, which are our personal property. She refused. At this point I became quite angry. For those of you who know me, you know it takes a lot for me to get angry. I don't know if I've lost my temper 5 times in my life, but I lost it yesterday. I don't know if I shouted or not, but I definitely got angry. Barb also got upset. We told Jane that we were not leaving until we got our degrees back. Jane told us to "wait."

So we did just that, waited. Jane left the room and went into a classroom at one point, and then returned. After about 15 minutes three men arrived. One was in normal clothing, the other two were Korean police officers. I kid you not, the police showed up. Jane had left our conversation at one point to speak on the phone, and it must have been then that she called them. The police talked to Jane for what seemed like 10 minutes. Jane then called over another teacher (one whom we had not met yet). the teacher was Asian, but I don't think she was Korean. She spoke English fluently, and her Korean seemed pretty good. Jane asked her to translate for us. The teacher said "even in Canada, when someone asks you to leave their private business, you have to do it." Please note that at no time were we asked to leave. The only order we were given was "wait." We told the police we would leave, but that we needed their help also. We told them she was holding our personal property. They said there was nothing they could do, and told us to go to the Labour Board. So apparently Korean police can protect Jane's private property, but not ours.

Stupid corrupt bigoted county.