Why Didn't I Quit??

I think people hear stories of teachers in Korea having bad experiences and ask themselves this question, 'Why didn't they quit?'

Everyone would give their own answer. In my case if I think about being at Yes and wanting to quit, I remember that I thought to myself that I should just hold out until the end. I liked some things about the job. I probably didn't want to do the job search again and I am pretty sure that I said to myself that I could find another job after finishing at Yes. Also at the time I was repaying student loans like a lot of people and wanted to send home money every month continuously. Having time between jobs would mean sending home less money or none one month and I wanted those loans gone! ^^

Not long ago I was talking with a young, first year in Korea teacher who wasn't having an overall good time. She said to me her student loans were also one thing that kept her teaching in Korea. I'm happy that she's in her country now.

How many answers would people get to this question? Some things I've thought of over time are these: some foreign teachers have a spouse or relationship with someone living in Korea, westerners take contracts seriously and don't want to break them, resumes - having to write that you worked at some school for something like 4, 6, or 9 months may make it harder to find a job later, not wanting to tell the family that you quit, needing the money, liking some aspects of your job, wanting to stay in Korea for fun, friends or a variety of reasons...others? I would say that a reason a lot of people didn't quit is that they made a decision to hold out until the end and then look for better work as I did. After lots of experience in Korea I believe that to be true.

One more possibility, not wanting to return to one's country, particularly now considering the global economy.