Some new developments:

I went in there today to ask for the three weeks of pay that he had not given me, and he actually had the gall to suggest that he didn't think it was fair that he should have to pay me anything, because of what he deemed 'poor service', even though every lesson I taught was prepared with the kids learning English in mind. This means that they included discussions, Q and A, debates, writing assignments, English-oriented games (some of which I myself developed and were completely original, and when I told the other teachers about them they were amazed at just how intensely the kids got into them), sentence composition exercises, radio plays for advanced students (which I downloaded and personally edited at home for the benefit of making them more suitable for children, as well as allowing for breaks in between excerpts so that discussion could take place), spelling practice (these kids did not know how to spell anything and by the time I was finished working there all I had to do was write an 'x' on the board and they knew exactly what the word was), incentives, drills for grammar and tenses, pronunciation exercises, as well as drawing and coloring activities for the younger kids. I did all of these because it is absolutely necessary to do so when you're faced with a shoddy curriculum for which most of the original flashcards are missing and have not been replaced, and when all of the teachers before you have been really lax about actually teaching them English as it would mean the kids would call them 'boring', and Mr. Park would probably fire them for it. I have since come to the conclusion that getting fired, being stuck here without a visa and little money to get by with, and reclaiming what little dignity I have left after having worked there is actually preferable to spending another day teaching in that place!

He then demanded an apology, stating that he had lost students and was still losing students because of me... I suppose because I chose not to come back into work immediately after he had fired me and publicly humiliated me (by telling the students that I was fired before he told me-- yes, I keep bringing that up, because it's really quite difficult for me to get my head around that one). Before all of this, he was a bit nicer about everything, acting as though letting me stay in the apartment was some wonderful act of kindness after firing me, delaying my visa run past the point of tourist visa expiry, and not to mention TELLING THE KIDS I WAS FIRED BEFORE HE TOLD ME. So I suppose my not coming in changed his tune.

Also, I would like to add that I was mistaken about the 'deported' comment... it's probably not deportation I'm facing, just a fine and some kind of horrible humiliating explanation to immigration about why I'm here a month past the expiry of my original tourist visa.

In addition, he tends to make one of the teachers his favorite, so that teacher may spy on the others and 'report' them to Mr. Park. This means that the atmosphere around the office is tense, silent, and generally miserable. If you want to get an idea about what it is like, picture a lot of people unable to speak freely, ignoring each other, and then acting completely different when they're out socializing with their non-snitching co-workers, who are wonderful.

One good thing about this guy is he's letting me stay in the apartment while I look for another job, however I suspect that he's going to be deducting the rent from my paycheck. Even though he hasn't mentioned that he's going to, it's definitely not something he wouldn't do. For example, for the last people who quit, he managed to take their original airfare (one-way ticket over) out of their final paycheck SEVEN MONTHS after they had been there, and then offered to let them stay in their apartment but only if they agreed to let him charge them almost a month's rent for a stay of under a week.

Oh wait, I did think of one good thing about working there: there is a wonderful view of Mt. Halla from the window, and on clear days it can be quite inspiring... as in, it will inspire you to look for a better job! But be careful if you do, I am told that he has a habit of blacklisting people for no good reason.