Story Time
It's a pretty popular belief that living abroad and traveling are just perfect experiences that you love every second of. But that just isn't true! While, yes, being able to live abroad and travel is absolutely amazing, there can always be bad days, too. So let me tell you about a fun one that happened to me a few months ago...
One morning, I left my apartment and walked the normal five-minutes to my bus stop. During my walk, my frequent indigestion kicked-in, and my stomach started to cramp. I quickly began to wonder if I would have to go back home and take a taxi to school. Surely I could wait for the bus to arrive, but could I manage the 15-minute ride to school? By no means did I want to take a taxi, as the price difference is $1 vs. $10, but as I paced back and forth at the bus stop, I decided I had no choice but to go home. So, sparing you the graphic details, I walked home, took care of business, and then headed back out to find a taxi. This is when I began to wonder if I'd make it to school on time, as I saw no sign of a taxi before I arrived at the nearest taxi stop, about 10 minutes away by foot. I got in a taxi and told the driver the name of my school, which he didn't understand my pronunciation of. So I had to root through my things to find the address, which was (of course) in a font that was too small and he could not read.
I eventually arrived at school, five-minutes prior to the start of class. My co-teacher found me and asked why I was late. I simply told her that my stomach was upset and I had to take a taxi. Health in the workplace is taken seriously here (as can be seen by any teacher or student that walks around all day in a surgical mask to prevent spreading the common cold, or the teachers napping in the nurse's office because of a headache), and she visibly felt bad for even asking. It was my fifth week of teaching, but due to holidays and school events, I had never taught a class at this school, which I only attend on Tuesdays. So, I wasn't familiar with the book, I didn't know if there was a CD-Rom to go with it, I didn't even know what lesson they were on! I didn't know anything. So I planned to talk with my co-teacher about how class runs once I got to school, and then make a lesson for my first class at 11:30. But then she told me there would be no classes after 12pm due to a field trip, so 5th grade was "coming in now"... AND that she would leave to fill in for the absent 3rd grade homeroom teacher, so she leave me with the 5th grade homeroom teacher (whom I've never met and also knows nothing).
So, I went on to attempt teaching the lesson from the book, while only having book instructions in Korean to rely on... and no co-teacher. The lesson only took me 10 minutes out of 40 to complete, so I moved on to the game portion of class. Each book lesson finishes up with a "game," which I would hardly consider a game at all. Because the students and teachers hate what the book provides, I prepare my own games. But, again, since I didn't get to prepare for this class, we had to stick with the book. So I played a video (all in Korean) about the game, which I'd assumed explained how to play. The class sat silently, doing nothing for a few beats before I asked the 5th grade teacher, "Do they know what they're supposed to do?" and she, seemingly condescendingly, responded "Yes, they know what to do." Then, they continued not to do anything for a few minutes until she asked me, "Do you know what you're supposed to do for this game?" and I said "No, I thought the kids were clear on it... Didn't the video give instructions?" She laughed in disbelief and took over the rest of the class, using only Korean with the students.
As you can see, this school (and most of them, honestly), is very quick to move schedules around last minute and wait to tell you about it. ALL THE TIME. But, despite all of the shit (ba dum tssssss! 💩) this turned out to be my favorite school out of the three. Moral of this story? Don't get indigestion, or you'll lose your money and look like an idiot in front of your students and coworkers.
Just Korea Things (The Thermostat)
I've often feared that a reptilian alien race would take over the world, but moving to Korea made me realize that I may be one of them. I say this, because it seems that I am the only one here that needs warmth to survive. Every day when I get to school, I crank the heat in my room up to 77°F, while the hallways stay at only slightly above whatever the temperature is outside. The doors and windows are often left wide open... even if it's snowing or below freezing. I have to put on my winter coat to use the bathroom. Students and staff see no issue with leaving the door to my heated room wide open, and they may even open the windows within. I frequently find that someone aside from myself has switched my thermostat off. And I've heard of some cases where other teachers were told they weren't to use the heat at all.