John and Natalie are back in the USA.

Thank goodness! He did have to hand over his bank card though which just really ticks me off. The way some of these employers treat their employees over there...seriously I do not AT ALL recommend teaching in Korea. It is the BIGGEST scam EVER. The sad thing is we've been pretty lucky compared to other people I've talked to. Some have literally gone through their savings being over in that country and have gotten screwed by their employers in the end. There's just not enough protection for English teachers over there. I wish he had called me so I could have told him that what she was doing was ILLEGAL, that whoever sponsored his visa HAD to pay for his plane ticket but I'm sure he felt especially vulnerable being there with our four year old. This whole thing has been a NIGHTMARE. While there were some okay aspects and it was nice to have a chance to check out a large city, job wise, it sucked. It's one of those nice place to visit but you do NOT want to live there. I don't know how people who do live there long term do it. They obviously have had better luck than we did. Hopefully he won't end up losing his whole pension and hopefully we can start rebuilding our lives and put this whole nightmare behind us. I'm just SO GLAD I did not stay there to have the baby. It would have been SO MUCH worse if we all had been over there.

Just waiting for him to call again so I can let him know about his ride.

Shouldn't have said anything.

The tickets were canceled; John and Natalie are not coming home. I don't know when they are or what they are going to do. The school coordinator is being a real witch because John wouldn't hand over his bank card. His pension is being put into that bank account and she would have had TOTAL access to a substantial amount of money! Way too easy for her to decide to just clean him out and sorry, no, after the crap he's been put through, we do NOT trust this woman to not just clean him out for various so called bills and things he owes (but would never see the paperwork on it, of course).

I'm depressed; I'm stressed; I'm worried. I'm unsure what to do and I feel so incredibly helpless. I could just kick myself for not bringing Natalie back when I had the chance. I should have because while John could maybe figure something out if he had to, with Natalie, that just really complicates things. They very well could end up not having any where to go at some point with no money or job prospects.

In just a few more days...

...John and Natalie will be home. I'm SO SO GLAD that they are coming home though not entirely happy at the circumstances that lead to this. John is coming home having been terminated for his job. The reason? Something about the parents not liking him. *sigh* It's just stupid one can be fired over there for something so petty but that's one of the HUGE drawbacks of working over there as an ESL teacher. And there isn't much protection for teachers there so, not much that can be done. John was going to look into another job but heard nothing from recruiters. I hate to say it but no doubt the fact that he had our four year old daughter there with him was a factor. So, having his plane ticket (and I guess Natalie's too) paid for by the school coordinator he was working for at the job before the one that fired him is getting him home, thank goodness. Of course, I won't feel sure about it all until he's actually here, I still expect some SNAFU to come up but I'm hoping all the same that it won't and he and my little girl will be here with me by Sunday night which (seeing that that is the day before my birthday) would be the best birthday/anniversary present of all.