"Where in the World"

The beginning of the end

A couple of weeks ago we had a very eventful week at the school. Jenna finally handed her notice on Monday 7th May after months of worrying how it would be accepted. It came as a great surprise to our director, which in turn surprised us as the last couple of months have not been easy.

Tension had been rising between us and a particular staff member (Henry) and after all the complaints we had made to them I honestly thought he would see it coming. Following her resignation she also gave him Section 2, article 27 of the Labour Standards Act. Which states that, An employer shall not enter into any contract by which a penalty or indemnity for possible damages incurred from nonobservance of a labor contract is predetermined. 

Since then he has assured Jenna that she will receive her full pay minus bills. We haven't got that long to wait till we find out whether he will come through on this promise.

When I arrived at 2pm I was called straight into his office, which I had expected but I didn't realise this would be a regular occurrence throughout the week. He told me he was very shocked and subtle asked whether Jenna would be changing her mind. I acted dumb and said that I heard about the job offer but hadn't realised she had taken it until earlier that morning. 

From this meeting things began to spiral. I had originally planned to hand my notice in 2 weeks before I left in July (as that's the notice stated in my contract). But this changed as I realised that it would be better for everyone if I handed in my notice as early as possible.

Later that day Mr Kwak came to me and asked me whether I would be prepared to stay until February 2008 and take over kindy after Jenna leaves. I definitely didn't see that one coming, I thought he couldn't wait to get rid of me. It made sense as the kindy kids are to young to really understand people coming and going but there was no way I could except that knowing I was leaving. So the following day I told him that I couldn't be away from home that long, little does he know that, that’s when I'm actually planning on going home.

He said he understood and invited me out to dinner that Friday with the staff. Ever since Jenna has resigned he has been particularly nice, telling me not to worry that he will find the right person to replace Jenna and that he wants me to be happy. Well unfortunately its a little too late to start being nice.

I spent the rest of the week implying I was going to be unhappy when Jenna leaves, that there aren't many westerners in our area and I don't know if I want to stay. I wanted it to make it look like I had spent a few days thinking about it carefully.

On Thursday I walked in unexpectedly calm considering I had been worrying about it all week. I asked to have a word with him and when I handed him the letter I could tell he had been expecting it. I told him I was not prepared to stay once Jenna had left and handed him two months notice, with my last working day being the 6th July.

I felt so relieved once I left his office that I just wanted to scream. I couldn't keep the smile off my face that I had finally done it, that I didn't have to worry about it anymore and that this part of my trip is nearly over. It's not long now before I get to begin the second part of it.

• Posted by k_millington on 14/05/2007.
• k_millington's site