What I Know About Trent Grindle

My predecessor's name is Trent Grindle.

I know this because they haven't changed the name tag on the footlocker where I store my boots, when I go to teach at Yongnam Middle school.

Trent has a master's degree and lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I know this because he wrote about it in one of the power-point presentations that he made for his students.

I know that Trent was liked by at least one student, and loved by at least one woman. I know this, because while plugging in the TV, which he conscientiously unplugged (along with all of the other appliances), I saw a battery behind the set. I looked under the TV stand to check for more junk and I found two small folded paper envelopes. Inside one was a note from a student named Cho Min Ji  wishing him a  "Happy Christmas". In the other is a note from a someone named Sylvie. She loves him, and he is her favorite person in the world.

Winnipeg is the capital city of Manitoba. According to Wikipedia, it's a twin city to Jinju, although it has almost seven hundred thousand people, compared to Jinju's three hundred fourty thousand +. Winnipeg is very cold in the winter; much colder than Jinju. I know because I went there one winter for the National College University Press Conference. My first girlfriend was from Manitoba (though we me in Ontario). She hated it when I called Winnipeg "Winterpeg," but it's a fitting name.

Although I've never met Trent, I know that he is a good teacher. I know this because he left notes, and created a ton of materials, which he conscientiously left on the English teacher's computer in Yongnam.

I've been wondering why I came back to Korea, just as I was starting to rebuild a life for myself in Vancouver; just as I was starting to etch out a place for myself. But now I'm back, in a new city, where I don't know anyone. I've taken over Trent's job, and I've taken his apartment, but his name is still on the door of the shoe locker, his materials are still on the desk, and little remnants of his life in Korea still cling to the apartment.