Because this isn't going to fit on twitter...
Last week was my final Christmas in Korea, and I have to say honestly, I'm glad for it and I can't wait for next year! Working on Christmas Eve is rough. It's sad. It makes me sad. And the lack of Christmas commercials on TV makes me sad, though yesterday I saw a Coca Cola holiday ad. I'm suspicious that my co-teacher for whatever reason is harboring negative feelings towards me. He was never great with keeping me informed on his own, and then about a month ago it seemed like he just absolutely quit bothering to let me know anything. It's the things he's choosing not to tell me which makes me paranoid. During finals, teachers at this school usually get to leave early for a couple of the test days. I got permission to go to the bank to replace a debit card I lost... 7 months ago. This semester, he didn't mention anything about early outs, but he peaced out just about every day. So Friday he slipped out after lunch, and I sat alone in the English zone for the rest of the afternoon. Come 4:45 when I decide to "rebel" by sneaking out 15 minutes early, I see that the entire teachers' office and administration office has already cleared out. Okay.
Christmas Eve. My teacher walks out of the classroom at 2 without saying goodbye. Sometimes he does, sometimes he runs out, whatever. But it was Christmas! I mean, seriously? Last year I worked until 5. Alone in the English zone on the third floor with no one stopping by means I feel I can take risks and slip out a little early sometimes. Come 2:30, and I saw more teachers leave, at which point I figured Ef this, I have things I need to do, and I left, went to the gate behind the school and jumped over it. There used to be a key... but it's gone, and it's annoying to walk a massive loop to get to Homeplus when Homeplus is 30 seconds away when you go through the gate. So I usually jump over it when I want to go there after work.
Besides, all my other friends got to leave after or before lunch. No way I was going to stay if no one even knew I was there. It'd be different if I had work. Or responsibilities. But I'm being told to sit at a computer and rot.
Now for winter vacation. School vacation. It's a joke. At least compared to what winter vacation means for American schools. There are English camps which my friends are all working at- they're teaching half days for 2 weeks or more- depending on what their schools decide they want them to do. My school doesn't do English camp, but this year they are doing winter school for a few students. My co-teacher tells me I have to be at work 9-5 all through break except my 2 weeks of personal vacation. It's weird and it pissed me off because last year they thought making me stay was stupid, so I could stay home. So I'm suspicious that my co-teacher just decided to make me work all winter or maybe it was the new principal trying to follow the rules. This is not unusual for the foreign teachers here. It's bullshit. It's a way to control us, and keep us reigned in. The contract? They added a clause this year basically saying that schools can make foreigners do whatever they want and we have no say. The contract makes foreigners the schools' bitches. I've done the 9-5 thing all this week... well 9-4:30... because as soon as I see a teacher peace out, I'm gone. My co-teacher has been MIA, my emails are being rejected for whatever reason, and my text has gone unanswered... which I should probably text again.
I will brawl if I have to waste 40 hours a week for 2 months while the other teachers at this school stay home. So I grew some balls and wrote out a note in Korean- an awesome one if I might say so- and went to the VP to talk with her... but of course I was too nervous to say anything correctly in Korean anyway so I had to just hand her the note.
I was asking if I could leave at 1 every day instead of staying all day. My reason: the computer at school is in Korean and it's hard to get crap done. Which is true. And the Korean security system destroyed my last computer, so hell no I'm not getting my new Asus anywhere near the school's internet.
She said okay. And then it seemed like she was wondering where my co-teacher was. And she showed my note to the head co-teacher who looked at my note and kind of giggled. But. I have official permission to leave early all winter, which is way better than a full day. I will take this and be content.
I still think my co-teacher is a douche lord. To borrow from Klhoe Kardashian. God oh god, I hope he moves to a new school in March.
I know in the end the whole thing isn't a big deal, and I'm not the only person who has to put up with it, but the requirement that foreigners have to desk warm all day during vacations is just dumb. There isn't a valid reason to keep us here.
In the meantime, I'm going to China in something like 3 weeks! It's snowed 4 times since Sunday, so it's like once all the roads are clear the next morning there's new snow to melt and freeze. ㅠㅠ
Malaysia IS happening in February, and tonight I'm meeting some friends and our Korean teacher for Korean rice wine (kinda weird) and noraebang (the crazy karaoke rooms)!
