So clearly November has not been my strong month for publishing posts. Sorry about that, I've been busy with Swine flu and tonsillitis and generally hating my job (but what 22 year old doesn't hate their job, right). Let's start from the beginning of the month, shall we...
The month started with really fucking high winds and below freezing temperatures. It was like we completely skipped over Fall altogether and screwed us over. Luckily, most Korean style homes have underfloor heating, which is simply marvelous. I've spent hours upon hours laying on my floor while watching Ghost Whisperer CNN and feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
I'm getting used to city life. I like that I can either walk or take the subway anywhere here. The public transportation is great. Not having to drive a car everyday is nice and I feel so green too! I often worry about how much my driving skills are deteriorating day by day, but whatever, northern Va drivers aren't good to begin with =]
Swine flu was grand. The school closed down for a week (I believe I already told you guys about that) and my boss talked about the possibility of cutting Christmas break in half because of it (which kind of sucks for the people who work two jobs and still and to work their second job during that "break"). More on that later on in the post.
So after getting over Swine flu, homesickness really started to set in, and I really didn't feel like blogging about anything because I wasn't doing anything with my life out of the ordinary (teaching, going home, watching my Korean drama twice a week, maybe going out once a week, and being generally depressing). Not really blog-worthy material. During that time I did something really really horrible nothing; I did nothing at all. . .
So sometime after that I started getting jaded with my job. It all started with one of our weekly meetings (well, it's supposed to be weekly, but it only happens when there's something important happening). My boss, informs us that we're using too much Korean in our lessons. Which I find interesting, because the other English native doesn't know any Korean, and the other English teachers are Korean, so that statement must have been directed towards me, right? Maybe I was just being paranoid. Anyway she told us not to use Korean at all, only English, so I complied. Looks like I'll have to start jumping up and down and miming to get these children to understand concepts they might not even understand in Korean! But, hey, I'm new at this, and if you say sheer listen and repeat works, then I'll try it. It's what I'm getting paid for after all.
The next week comes and the lessons weren't so difficult for the children to understand (mainly because for one of the classes it was a minor extension from the previous week which I'd already translated). The point is, I got through the week without using any Korean. By the end of the week, we had a quick meeting which consisted of my boss telling us two points: 1) Koreans don't like to be touched on the head (I think I read that in that nifty Korean etiquette book Sam got me), so if the kids do a good job, just give them a high five or something. No problem. 2) Don't use Korean in the classroom (ok, you told us that last week, right?) And when you use Korean in the classroom, I feel like you're using it to practice your Korean, not for the children's benefit... Ok, so remember when I said the only people in these meetings are people who are either fluent in Korean or don't know it at all and then me. Screw paranoia, this comment HAD to be directed towards me. Needless to say, I was pissed at that accusation. I only used Korean to get those kids to understand what I was teaching or to shut up so they could understand what I was teaching. To insinuate that I was using class time for my personal benefit is insulting. I'm SURE something got lost in translation and she wasn't trying to insult me, but she did. So from that day forward I officially became jaded with my job, hurrah!
The week after, I got tonsillitis, which is just a joy, let me tell you. I immediately went to the hospital (who's English speaking doctor knows me on a first name basis since I've been there so often now) and got a week's worth of medicine (8 pills-a-day, WTF?) that works too slowly and makes me nauseous every time I consume it. I missed yesterday's classes because the pain was too severe I couldn't drink water. Today wasn't so bad, but I didn't think I should go in in case I aggravate the healing process. My boss was not having any of that and called me into work straight away. The meds ended up working a lot better today, though still slowly and quite nauseous around lunchtime.
So what inspired me to go on this monthlong recap/rant? Perhaps it was a few chats today that reminded me that there are people back home that actually like reading my ramblings whether they are interesting or not (so no more month-long hiatuses). But another more pressing reason is the rather irritating wonderful phone call I received just 5 minutes prior to me starting thing post.
SURPRISE, Christmas break is being cut in half! (Also, I should stop getting sick... if that wasn't already a priority of mine). Apparently we already spent half of our break either working at other schools that didn't close down or laying in a feverish state at home. Which means that though I was considering not going home due to the flight cost (it really is rather pricey) that decision has been made for me now! Though I love you all dearly, I am definitely not spending $2,000 on a week-long flight. Anyway, the final decision will be made at our weekly "meeting" but I'm not hopeful. See you all sometime in 2010!
The month started with really fucking high winds and below freezing temperatures. It was like we completely skipped over Fall altogether and screwed us over. Luckily, most Korean style homes have underfloor heating, which is simply marvelous. I've spent hours upon hours laying on my floor while watching Ghost Whisperer CNN and feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
I'm getting used to city life. I like that I can either walk or take the subway anywhere here. The public transportation is great. Not having to drive a car everyday is nice and I feel so green too! I often worry about how much my driving skills are deteriorating day by day, but whatever, northern Va drivers aren't good to begin with =]
Swine flu was grand. The school closed down for a week (I believe I already told you guys about that) and my boss talked about the possibility of cutting Christmas break in half because of it (which kind of sucks for the people who work two jobs and still and to work their second job during that "break"). More on that later on in the post.
So after getting over Swine flu, homesickness really started to set in, and I really didn't feel like blogging about anything because I wasn't doing anything with my life out of the ordinary (teaching, going home, watching my Korean drama twice a week, maybe going out once a week, and being generally depressing). Not really blog-worthy material. During that time I did something really really horrible nothing; I did nothing at all. . .
So sometime after that I started getting jaded with my job. It all started with one of our weekly meetings (well, it's supposed to be weekly, but it only happens when there's something important happening). My boss, informs us that we're using too much Korean in our lessons. Which I find interesting, because the other English native doesn't know any Korean, and the other English teachers are Korean, so that statement must have been directed towards me, right? Maybe I was just being paranoid. Anyway she told us not to use Korean at all, only English, so I complied. Looks like I'll have to start jumping up and down and miming to get these children to understand concepts they might not even understand in Korean! But, hey, I'm new at this, and if you say sheer listen and repeat works, then I'll try it. It's what I'm getting paid for after all.
The next week comes and the lessons weren't so difficult for the children to understand (mainly because for one of the classes it was a minor extension from the previous week which I'd already translated). The point is, I got through the week without using any Korean. By the end of the week, we had a quick meeting which consisted of my boss telling us two points: 1) Koreans don't like to be touched on the head (I think I read that in that nifty Korean etiquette book Sam got me), so if the kids do a good job, just give them a high five or something. No problem. 2) Don't use Korean in the classroom (ok, you told us that last week, right?) And when you use Korean in the classroom, I feel like you're using it to practice your Korean, not for the children's benefit... Ok, so remember when I said the only people in these meetings are people who are either fluent in Korean or don't know it at all and then me. Screw paranoia, this comment HAD to be directed towards me. Needless to say, I was pissed at that accusation. I only used Korean to get those kids to understand what I was teaching or to shut up so they could understand what I was teaching. To insinuate that I was using class time for my personal benefit is insulting. I'm SURE something got lost in translation and she wasn't trying to insult me, but she did. So from that day forward I officially became jaded with my job, hurrah!
The week after, I got tonsillitis, which is just a joy, let me tell you. I immediately went to the hospital (who's English speaking doctor knows me on a first name basis since I've been there so often now) and got a week's worth of medicine (8 pills-a-day, WTF?) that works too slowly and makes me nauseous every time I consume it. I missed yesterday's classes because the pain was too severe I couldn't drink water. Today wasn't so bad, but I didn't think I should go in in case I aggravate the healing process. My boss was not having any of that and called me into work straight away. The meds ended up working a lot better today, though still slowly and quite nauseous around lunchtime.
So what inspired me to go on this monthlong recap/rant? Perhaps it was a few chats today that reminded me that there are people back home that actually like reading my ramblings whether they are interesting or not (so no more month-long hiatuses). But another more pressing reason is the rather irritating wonderful phone call I received just 5 minutes prior to me starting thing post.
SURPRISE, Christmas break is being cut in half! (Also, I should stop getting sick... if that wasn't already a priority of mine). Apparently we already spent half of our break either working at other schools that didn't close down or laying in a feverish state at home. Which means that though I was considering not going home due to the flight cost (it really is rather pricey) that decision has been made for me now! Though I love you all dearly, I am definitely not spending $2,000 on a week-long flight. Anyway, the final decision will be made at our weekly "meeting" but I'm not hopeful. See you all sometime in 2010!
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