A small sacrifice

SY wants to find a job, but there are some challenges to this. Seoul has jobs that interest her, but it's too far away. Pyeongtaek's nearby, but doesn't have the same need for her international skills. She'd be underemployed.

Finding work on Camp Humphreys is another mess. Though, as a permanent U.S. resident, she can work in the U.S., most on-post jobs require U.S. citizenship. The few jobs that employ local nationals have either very low turnover or are being filled by transfers down from Yongsan.

So we were thinking about applying for citizenship in order for her to get a job. However, that would require her to sacrifice her Korean citizenship, since Korea doesn't allow dual citizenship for her demographic. And considering the fact that Korea's got a national health insurance system, it's kind of a kick in the teeth to have to *pay* $700 in order to *lose* that benefit.

And what would she really get in return? Voting rights and the *possibility* a federal job? But that's not all.

When SY spoke to the Army Community Services employment specialist, he recommended a name change to something more American. Having a less Asian sounding name might increase the chances of getting an interview. To me that sounded absolutely outrageous (especially since it's *illegal* for an employer to racially profile like that), but -- him being Asian himself -- I couldn't entirely dismiss his experience.

So to sum up, we would pay $700, SY would abandon Korea's virtually free health insurance (with its arguably better quality of care), the kids would have to go to both day care and an after-school program, and she would change her name.

Just so that she *might* find an on-post job.

When we got married, I told SY that if she wanted to work, I would support that decision, but that I wanted it to be her *choice* -- not because we would need her to. I feel very happy that I'm able to provide for the family with just one income, and I appreciate how P has grown up these past five years. I credit SY with his development.

So it irritates me how much sacrifice is necessary just to have a chance to apply on-post for a job we don't really need. Although I'd like to be supportive of SY's job search, I just don't feel the required sacrifices are worth it.

But just in case we go with the citizenship/name change idea, I've recommended SY take the name "Sarah Jones." You can't get much more American than that, and -- oh, man -- it sure would throw people off. :-)