Happy Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). Chuseok is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea (Lunar New Year is the other). It always falls over three days, determined by the lunar calendar. This year it fell on Wed-Fri. That means, yes that's right, a five day weekend. Woo-hoo!
I just returned from a 4 day trip to Beijing, China. I'm going to write all of the details into a separate entry, though because I realize that it's been a while since I've discussed the situation at work. I'm going to try to get caught up, not because there have been a lot of developments, but just cause I want to be able to remember these things when I come back later and read about em. This means that if you're reading this and have no connection to my school (or in general Hagwon politics) you won't want to read any further.
We said good-bye to three teachers at the end of last month. Tim and Vicki finished their contracts and headed home to Regina. We all got along with them really well (as they are nice people) so it was kind of a downer, but then it's nice to get some new blood in the school and Tim and Vicki claim they'll be back in February. On a side note, if they don't return, I get to keep the TV, VCR, and 3-disc CD changer w/ remotes they left stored in my apartment.
Jordan also left last month. Now here's the the funny thing about that. He only had a 3 month contract that he had completed. He had wanted to sign on for longer and even though we needed teachers, the boss wouldn't agree. I guess the boss didn't think he was good for the school, which is strange cause all of the kids seemed to really like him. So anyhow he's moved on to a school in Apkujung - 1.5 hours away.
We had one new teacher arrive last week; Sara a Korean-American from New-York. This to go along with the teacher that arrived 2 months ago just before I went home (who I can't remember if I've mentioned); a Korean-Australian named Sarah (great to have two Sara(h)s to create even more confusion). But anyways, they are both nice. I'm guessing the boss is hiring the Korean speaking Kyopos because after Mr. Wang left, the new manager doesn't speak much more than a few words of English. I have sort of felt sorry for Sarah because whenever the manager (Ashley) has needed something from a teacher, she has come into the room and gone through Sarah or a Korean teacher. This also includes calling Sarah at home to phone teachers for her when she has wanted something. It might be a good time for Sarah to renegotiate her contract/job description keeping in mind that teachers that look Korean, even though they are native English speakers, usually make less.
We will also have a new teacher named Elena. She's coming soon, but waiting on visa paperwork. She'll probably be here sometime this week or next. As students usually prefer females, the boss likes to hire women...and I'm not complaining...heh heh. Well actually we may have a new teacher named Ken working at our school part-time. The head teacher wants us all to have fewer classes, but I think she may be fighting a losing battle.
As far as the Korean staff, one Korean teacher (Sally) quit sometime while I was in Canada and the girl at the front who spoke English (Hyun-hee) has also gone back to school. So now we've got a new Korean girl at the front. I'm told that she does speak English quite well, but she's never said much more than hi or bye to me.
So it's funny that with basically no staff changes over a long period we've had so many changes recently. Actually it's been chaotic for scheduling and finding substitutes. I guess the same will probably happen next year at about the same time when 6 people's year contract is up (Angela finished her contract and renewed this month as well). So, that means that's once we've got things settled out we should have (as they sit in the teacher's room) Rebekah, Angela, Bret, me, Sara, Kyle, Sarah, Ken(maybe), Ms.Kim(Korean), and Elena. It's going to be interesting. The whole dynamic has changed. Plus were supposed to have Tim and Vicki back in 6 months. I wonder if that means that I'll be forced to leave as mine is the only contract that will be up for renewal around that time. That isn't to say that I even want to stay for sure. After 2 years, it feels like it's getting time for a change in scenery. I want to do other things, but I love the lifestyle in Korea and after almost 20 months in Korea I still haven't found a better school in terms of pay,working hours, atmosphere and quality of students. That and I love my area...so how can I leave?
That's it for now. I'll throw up my Beijing pictures sooner or later, but Kyle took most of them and I have to find a PC bang in my new area where I can scan em. Shouldn't be too tough to find in this country. I've also got to decide if I'm going to study level 3 at Yonsei as the deadline to apply is this week...
Cheers,
Brent Teacher
