Happy Chuseok, 2009
Another year's gone by and I want to wish everyone a happy Chuseok. Much of the holiday has already passed if you're back in Korea. As it feel on a weekend, it only became a three-day break instead of the common five-days you get if the date lands just right.
We spoke to our in-laws over the phone to Busan and despite recessions and economic downturns and other universal concerns, everyone is getting by alright and we're happy for that.
Nonetheless, I'm longing more and more these days for a return to Korea. My wife reminds me that I'm getting too old to be marketable at 36 Korean age. Toronto life has been quite mundane since we moved up last year, with not much else outside of work and coming home to the usual chores, before going to bed early and waking up early for a new day. The higher salaries we earned by coming here have been welcome, but raises get eaten up by taxes so quickly that you hardly notice an increase and the longer working hours consume the bulk of our days. If after reading all this post, you think it comes across focused pretty heavily on career-related comments, that's the reason why. There's not much else in our lives at the moment.
So I keep turning my eyes back to the far east. Korea had its problems but much of those, for me, were inherent in the restrictions of the E2 visa. A return would mean getting an F2 visa with a lot more freedom, and our savings would let us move into a place under our own name, instead of one dependent on my job. The biggest downside would be that it would mean moving further away from my family, but even our Toronto life gets in the way of visiting them back in the Maritimes.
We're left with the option of being near neither family or just one, however a move back to the Maritimes to be near mine would be economically unfathomable with the low wages and poor jobs there. In Korea, the salary would be about half what I make in Canada, but with the taxes so low and the option to strike a good chonsei deal, our take home could be slightly higher.
But for now, my wife is happy to be working in her job. I've recently changed companies and am still making fair money. Some positive plans for next year may also see us consumed by something new to the household for at least a little while. In the meantime, I guess I will try to keep studying Korea and keep up with the happenings there from afar.
So here's to another Chuseok! May you all remain happy, healthy and content.
