Goodbye Korea

Well, after ten years of Morning Calm and Afternoon Difficulty, I'm finally closing down my Korea station, and moving on.
I've thought that it was time to go for quite a few years now, and it very nearly came true two years ago, when I was run out of Daegu for trying to kill a Korean teacher at the middle school I was working at.
But then Flint needed my help, and I came to the 'ju to work for him for a couple of months, and that led to me finding a job at the hagwon which I finished working at on Friday.
I had hoped to stay for one more year, and lure Flint back for more cigars and tapping on the deck at Dunkin's, but my director decided the kids could use a change of pace.... er, face. She thought a new teacher was in order, and I was given my walking papers.
I tried (half-heartedly, I must admit) to see if there were any other opportunities here, but nothing turned up. My folks were urging me to come back to Canada and try getting a job as a teaching assistant in my hometown, and that seemed the likeliest of possibilities for my future, when the job of a lifetime, literally a dream come true, popped up in my inbox one day.
I am leaving Korea, spending about a month in Canada, and then going on to my dream job - wait for it - teaching English in London, England!
I am so excited, I can barely contain myself. The opportunities, the history, the chance to live and work in the capital of the UK... words fail me. It's what I've wanted to do most of all, ever since I came to Korea and found out I could teach. I never thought it would really happen, as the difficulties and drawbacks seemed nearly insurmountable. But that's all changed. I'm going.
I have lots of memories that I'll be sharing here, and I just might cobble something together on a new blog about life in England.
My final days here have been kind of anti-climactic. My director didn't even bother arranging any kind of farewell party or dinner or anything. The kids'd been told I was leaving before I had the opportunity to inform them, and they seemed, for the most part, kind of neutral about it. So my time there just sort of petered out, rather than ending with a bang.
Oh well, I've had other, more enjoyable (and memorable) departures from Korea that I can look back on fondly. It's been ten years, as I said, but now it's over.
Goodbye, farewell, and amen.