"You can't leave without giving lots of notice"

Sometimes I think I'm living in a psychological experiment where there are hidden scientists just watching to see how the people around me and I will react to ridiculous stimuli. Here's one I ran into at work. The boss is over 3 weeks late on pay. He keeps promising to pay "tomorrow" and of course never does. One of the Korean teachers finally realized that her landlord doesn't accept "fantasy money" as payment for rent, so she said she was going to have to leave because she needs to have a job where she gets paid. The boss says, "you can't leave because it would be unfair." In other words, he can not pay her, but when she realizes she needs to pay her bills, it is unfair for her to get another job instead.

The job is getting really strange right now. I'm working harder now than I ever have, and I haven't really been paid. My understanding (from rumor) is that the boss sold the school to a well known school administrator who is going to be taking over late in March. But even so, no one has been paid. I've made a few attempts to get "exact" information from the boss, but when I have done so, he's played little games like sneaking out the back entrance to his office and then not showing up for a few days, relaying all messages to his secretary who hasn't been paid either.

Personally, I'm starting to believe I'm going to have to pull a midnight runner (leave without telling anyone) and somehow scrape up the money to buy a ticket to the states and then somehow figure out some way of surviving until I obtain employment again in the states. I've been in contact with people here who have offered me jobs, but they realize they can't hire me because this school pretty much owns me and my visa. My only options right now appear to be:

1. Pulling a runner and somehow surviving until I find a job back in the states.
2. Finding a job in another country.
3. Finding a job in the states before leaving and taking that job.

I applied to the Texas Teaching Fellows program, and I made it past the first stage, but then they informed me that I had to attend an interview. Me being in South Korea makes that impossible, so another option seems to have been drop kicked on me. I'll live, but that seemed like such a better option than trying to fend for myself without any options.

I think the stress is starting to get to me because I've been having trouble breathing lately. I get these weird feelings like I'm stuck in a cage and find it hard to catch my breath. And then it passes. Not really sure how to describe it. All I know is that I need to get out of this stupid situation sooner rather than later.

Stumble It!