New School.

I recently moved to a new city within Gwangju that is about a 40 minute bus ride from everywhere. It is almost in the middle of no where. I like it here. It's peaceful.

I feel like I can fit in here. Everyone is supportive and appreciates my role here. The students here speak better English then at my former hagwon. They are also older. This is an area of town where most of the middle class live so students are not as insane. The students aren't as spoiled here. The other place I lived is where all the rich people lived so I guess that the children received no rules on how to behave properly.

This program here is also much better. This hagwon focuses on speaking and writing. There are occasional speech contests. The former teacher was here for two years. That is quite a good sign for a hagwon. I was even told to record my classes. The other teachers would offer me constructive criticism about the teaching of my classes. I am even teaching three adults on their speaking skills. The material that I need to teach is straight forward. The classes should be interactive. I think that is the most difficult part since I have to apply the learning of the material with games and activities. It's harder then it looks.

I have even been invited to hang out with the teachers for lunch and dinner. I was asked to go out to dinner with two of my co-teachers and I acted so excited. One of my teachers told me to calm down. It was because I was so excited. I have never been invited to go out for dinner with my co-teachers before.

This is a good start to my new life in Korea. Cheers!

I'm finally moving on....

Hello.

I AM OUT OF THAT HELL HOLE OF A HAGWON!!! I am so happy. I can almost move on except for a couple of things.

I had to go back to that school one last time to pay my last rent. I did not want to go but I had to since I had no way of transferring any funds to her Korean bank account from an ATM. I had to give her the money in person because this was the only was I could pay for it.

Anyway, that same day I went on a trip to immigration with my new director. She was told by the immigration officer that she needed tax information from my former school. OK, fine. She offered to take me back home and said we would we would have to come back another day. I said I needed to visit this school to pay my last rent. She thought it would be faster to get tax information from my former school directly so we went in the school van to a city about 40 minutes away.

I was greeted with cheerful glee from the principle and the director but this was Korea. The last person that they wanted to see was me and this was not how they really felt about me. They were saving face. They served us tea in fancy cups. They talked for a long time in Korean while the principle was getting the tax information. Obviously, I could not understand anything. It was another game of charades in order to try and grasp anything they were talking about. I had fum imagining this witch with a lions mane all over her face. I knew her true nature. I don't know what I would be doing if my currently director wasn't with me.

There was a moment when my director had to step out briefly to take a phone call. I still was sitting there drinking tea out of this fancy cup. Suddenly, I noticed that their shadow was cast over my teacup so I looked up and noticed they were both standing over me with their evil grins. "Are you happy?" they asked. "Yes." I said with a unsettling nod. What were they trying to get at? It was then that I was grateful for a language barrier. I don't know what other threats she could of said to me.

The director said that she would withhold my last paycheck. Om....I thought you had already paid me? I was told before I left that she would put that deposit in my bank account right away. I fixed and mailed this phone back to this school. I did not trust this lady to pay me back but she did.

 I want to tell you the story of this phone. I dropped this phone on the floor and broke the screen a week before my contract ended. I was terrified. I was scared of how this women would treat me. I spent some time looking for a place to fix the phone but no one knew where I should go to fix this phone. The only place that I knew and trusted by other foreigners did not have any matching screens for this brand of phone. I was at a loss to where I could this stupid phone fixed. As I was trying to figure this out, I left it on a bus the following week. I tried to say that the phone was stolen since I didn't know if the phone was going to be returned to me after losing it. Well...several phone calls later with the help of a Korean friend calling this lost phone, the phone was returned to the bus station by some random Korean man. I bet if this screen was not broken, he would of kept it. Whatever. I went to pick up this phone. This trip was about 40 minute taxi ride. I had to leave around 8AM  and arrive back to work by 11AM in order to leave enough time to be at work the same day.

I gave the "stolen" phone with the address and the money to fix it to the director. I thought I was off the hook. Next, my co-teacher tells me that she wants to have dinner with her. She does not want to leave on bad terms. Well, the dinner never happened and how was going to communicate to me? I already had plans...

The lesson is that you should never agree to use a companies cell phone. I can finally move on.

I quit my job.

I've been in a roller coaster of bad moods for the past three months. I came into Korea with a colorful view of the future as a teacher in training for kindergarten and elementary students. My job made me bitter about everything, including Korea. I never saw through those rose colored sunglasses.

I was thrown into a disorganized workplace that did not have their crap together. I was forced to know everything by week one. I had students yelling into my face. You mix that with the inability to manage these students and as a result, I experienced internal chaos on a daily basis. I was consistently reminded of my inability to do my job despite being told many times that it is my job to figure it out anyway. I was under deep stress. I did not eat. My coworker, Jenny, had noticed that I was getting skinnier. When I did eat, it wasn't that filling. I acknowledged this to myself but I didn't look twice. I had no short term memory and I was losing more hair then I was used to after every shower There were more bad then good days. I wanted out of that pit of despair.

I didn't know how long I was going to survive. I wasn't prepared to hear of all the horror stories of former native English teachers that used to work here. I was thrown into this place by my recruiter. As a business, their goal is to earn money for their business. They guilt tripped me into taking this position because they had no other positions available at the time. I was not convinced since I could not contact any former native teachers. I really wanted this type of job so I took the offer. Patience is a virtue because I regret ever making that decision. I learned later from another couple that the same recruiter had placed them there and they had experienced the same results as I had. This company has no consideration for anyone except themselves. I can't believe that I assumed that this recruiter or any recruiter would be looking out for my well being.

I worked in a place of hell. Every teacher was afraid of this director. She has a great temper and power to use people to do her will. She is the devil in disguise. Her hard earned power is shown by the fact that she owns all of these hagwon chains in the Gwangju area. She manipulated people and disrespected them. My former manager had warned her that she would quit if she were to be treated with disrespect. Well, she never changed her attitude and my manager quit. 

The director attempted to look for a new manager. Ten people came to be interviewed. The next day, no one came. My co-teachers became the new managers. Oh no. 

She would manipulate people to treat others unfairly so they would do her will. I had a teacher meeting with her and two other co-teachers who had become my managers. She manipulated them to be cruel to me for not doing my job right. I had never felt so under appreciated and ridiculed in my life. I was under so much hatred that I managed to not eat for the entire day until I left at the end of my shift. I refused to eat anything that was made in this school. I refused to listen to anyone's advice. No one was there for me.

I wanted to try at my job harder. I wanted to do it for the kids since I was their teacher. There were no comments for me yet so I thought I was doing OK. I thought I was doing it right until I was called in to meet with the teachers. The non-contracted teacher came to my aid before the meeting and told me after all that observing the relationship between the school and me that she concluded that it was not a workplace relationship that could be made better. I could always try to do better but if I was fired I would have to leave the country and I wouldn't be able to visit Korea for 30 years as the result of a break in my visa. The best decision would be to find a new job even though it isn't guaranteed. I also thought this was for the best because by this point, no matter what I did, I would not please this director and I am not going to risk my visa so I quit that day. I cried a little because I tried to hard to do my best but no matter what I did, it was not enough for this evil witch. I was under appreciated and worthless. They never saw the good things that I had done for students. I was ready to go. I was not going to try to please anyone here for any longer.

I made a threat to the first graders to bring a person of authority since they were misbehaving. I did not want it to seem like an empty threat so I followed through with the idea. I could not find the principle so I brought the director. I don't think I could have been so stupid to even consider her. She ridiculed me in Korean all the way to my classroom. Another teacher was with me. I asked her what she was saying and she said nothing but weakly smiled and quickly looked away. She was literally yelling so the entire floor so everyone could hear quite clearly what she was saying to everyone else. When I stared at her, the look in her eyes were so evil. I was looking at the devil in the eyes when she yelled at me. I am not that mean of a person. This was after I had quit the job.

I had to wait until the new teacher came. The news came and went and I was already yearning to start my new job. I had already told some of my kids by now. There were already rumors that a new teacher was coming. I have no idea how that got started. I felt that I had been liked by the students. A handful of the students are already sad to know that I am leaving. This breaks my heart because of this crappy place. There is such a high turnover of teachers that they cannot built quality relationships with any of the native teachers. 

The new teacher can't get their visa for another week so I am forced to be here for one more week. I had additional news of chaos. I left my phone on the bus. So, it was stolen and not lost. I don't technically own this phone but I was being told to pay $1,000 dollars for it. RIP OFF. I don't know of any phone costing this much. I am in a race now. I had a Korean friend call for this lost phone at a lost and found at the bus station. I'm going to retrieve it before my director does. I hear of someone who is already looking to get this phone so I need to retrieve this phone before the school does. I plan to get the screen fixed and have the company mail it to the school. I just hope this works out. I don't want to be connected to this school any longer.

I hope to start my job by the end of this week. I hope I don't experience as much hell as I did there.

Festivals +4

Drama, Kimchi, Oktoberfest and Lantern Festival.

Waeguk Saram

This is a birds eye view of Gwangju, South Korea from Mudeungsan National Park. For a very long time I thought that Gwangju was a very ugly city. I believed that I would always be surrounded by old buildings, plain apartment buildings and a constant supply of buses, cars and of course taxis. I have been here a month and I never had the chance to explore the city more. It was a nice walk. I AM EXPLORING!!!

Happy late Chuseok! This holiday is closest to an American Thanksgiving. Every Korean leaves to visit their families in other cities throughout South Korea. The families visit their ancestors and eat traditional foods such as songpyeon. It's a crescent shaped rice cake filled with things such as sesame seeds, black beans, mung beans, cinnamon, pine nut, walnut, chestnut, jujube, and honey. My school is not very logical in its ways. For the second time, I was told that I was going to teach Kindergartners how to make songpyeon. Again, I have never made this type of Korean food before so why does it make sense that I should teach a little four year old how to make it? It turns out to be a very simple recipe. It turns out that I never had to teach them. The funny result of this event is that the kitchen was filled with all the songpyeon that were made by the kindergartners. Koreans do not like to waste food. What do you do with all of these crescent shaped rice cakes? There is a rule that you should not eat any food eaten by anyone under 10 year old. You don't know where those little fingers have been. The teachers gave the gifts out to every class to eat. They gave some to the teachers. We did not want to want to eat them. They were given to every class to eat. The elementary kids eagerly ate them ALL! Ew...what is boogers were steamed in them?

I HAD A GREAT WEEK!!! What did I do...? Not too much. I know. I am not too exciting. I spent to much money and I have been too busy trying to figure out how to be a teacher at this school. The only freedom I had experienced since I arrived in Korea was as a rest stop on a bus to a seminar. Haha. I decided to not spend any money for a trip...yet.  So, I made a plan. I am planning to go somewhere EVERY other WEEKEND! Hopefully, I can finish lesson plans for the next week before the weekend comes back around.

Anyways...

I got haircut at a salon across from my apartment. The stylist kept talking on her phone. Was a customer late? Was she talking to someone in her family? No. It was an invitation to see the foreigner get her haircut done. This lady came with her three young teenagers to watch the foreigner. Awkward. The haircut was 6,000 won. Its about five dollars. THAT IS THE CHEAPEST HAIRCUT I HAVE EVER HAD! Wow. I will give them business for that price.

I also visited my happy place. I went to Coffee & Cat. It's a cat cafe in downtown Gwangju. I was surrounded by 17 different cats all doing their own thing. Half of them were sleeping. I was fascinated that this place was so popular. I want to find the cat and dog cafe. There are cat and dogs. I admit that there was a smell....I SAW KITTENS!!! XD

Good bye for now. I promise to have more adventures.... :(

First Month in Korea

As of September 12th, I have been in Korea for one month. I started working here on August 12th. So, far it has not been that great. I have been exhausted. I keep getting sick germs from the kids. I can't seem to manage my classes. MISERY!!!!

I got paid for the first time. It was below the amount I was suppose to earn. I hate hagwons. All the expats have been telling me that it gets better. I sure hope so. I crashed and burned for the first time yesterday regarding a class I was substituting for. I was frustrated with the organization of this stupid worksheet and I made the students angry because I did not know what to do with the worksheet. I was trying to follow it exactly as I had observed her using it. Not even. MISERY!!!

On another note, I had been directing a short play for some first graders. One of the girls fathers recently died from lung cancer. I had no idea that this little girl was going through such troubled times. I felt so sad. What if I were her? I hope she get's plenty of support so she doesn't grow up with mental issues as an adult.

The rest of the girls performed their play on Thursday. I read some of their diaries about the event and they seemed to have a lot of fun. It took several of us to manage them but the play worked out nicely. In the beginning, only the parents were expected to come so the teachers took the extra mile to invite all of the Kindergarten classes. There were SO many little kindergarten kids. I was like...OMG. I have taught all of these kids at least once. I was so amused that this school could manage to fit all of these students AND parents into this medium size room but it worked! I wish I had taken a picture of it.

Funny story but no so funny story. As the teacher, I am required to call out these girls Korean names for their award certificates at the end of the play. I learn about this on the day of the event and so I have no time to practice. I am Korean illiterate so I am pronouncing choi as cho and other wrong ways in front of the parents and all of these little kids. I hope the only thing they were thinking was...silly foreigner...

Speaking of pictures. I have a laptop, kindle and camera in my apartment. I brought all the chargers for these things. I have all the charging equipment for my computer. For some reason, I no longer have the chargers for the kindle or my camera so I am forced to buy an extra pair. I don't know how I manage to replace or misplace everything that I touch. It's terrible. So, I am unable to upload any pictures I took with my camera. I am so sorry for those waiting to see some pictures...I will put them up as soon as I receive another computer cord for my camera.......

Koreans are funny. Why must everything go in a bag? I have a bag of many many bags that I have collected from my purchases. Stop giving me bags. >:/ Why did my dinner of "pasta" taste like it was covered in sugar? How come some Korean food is so sweet.....or hot? Not all Korean food is like this but I'm always tasting sugar in everything...this is just like processed American food. Ugh...

It's Korean thanksgiving this coming week! I want to make plans for an actual vacation but I am not sure how much I can afford to spend since I just paid for other expenses such as my rent, airplane and stuff I ordered for my apartment. There are plenty of other things to see around my city. I'll take pictures and post them for sure.

♪How is the Weather?♪ It's a thunderstorm....

I can hear the sounds and see the light coming from the thunder outside my apartment window. I've never quite experienced weather quite like this. When it rains, it pours. Add some humid temperatures, a sense of dampness from the rain and some loud and bright thunder sounds and be magically surprised. It's not a good feeling to walk around at night. An umbrella helps but no one wants to walk in this rain. 

I'm feeling this particular mood because I am a little overwhelmed with all that I have to learn during this past few weeks. I've almost worked at this private English academy for a month and I've learned quite a bit about the atmosphere of this particular franchise. I've learned much gossip about former teachers and learned quite a bit about the students and how to handle them. I'm learning to lead others for the first time when I don't even know how to lead myself. I'm learning about the failings of the franchise because of missed or bad communication. Over planning and under planning. Korean communication. No one ever directly tells you what they want. I need to take into account everything that has already happened and be super observant about what they do rather then what they say. Oh well! 

There has been pluses and minuses throughout my classes. Luckily, this all gets better with time. I am coming at a time where these students were not given a proper transition between teachers. I popped right in at the most awkward time so some of them are still giving me a hard time. Children are loyal to their teachers and by this time I think they are getting used to the idea that I will be here for awhile. I am starting to understand what some of the children want from their teacher while giving them appropriate praise and rewards in class. 

On a lighter note, I have been on a few adventures! I was in the process of getting my alien card. The first step was going to get a medical exam at the hospital. I went with the principle who does not know English. How awkward. All I could do was smile and nod. It was really awkward when I want to communicate that I cannot do this urine test because I needed to drink more water but she tells me no. She thinks I don't understand and she points to her butt and says, "shit". Really? I gave up communicating by that test. All I can do is look confused.

The elementary kids had an overnight camping trip. It consisted of cooking contest, two games, a talent show and a hike to the nearest mountain. I was told to make this simple Korean dish when I have never made Korean food in my life. What were they thinking? I have only been here for....four weeks? It wasn't that our team made the recipe wrong... The product was this spongy brown triangle thing that needed to be stuffed with rice and seasonings. Well, in the beginning, I observed that all the kids went out to make rice. One boy was in charge of that. I asked him if I could take this pot of rice to the team. He said it was. So, I took it. Another Korean teacher later told the group that the rice that I picked up had not been cooked yet. I ruined that. Technically, that wasn't entirely my fault because this boy told me the wrong information. Yet. I was blamed for bringing the rice and ruining their dish. Opps. How on earth could I explain myself with such limited English? They remained angry at me but I think they got over it. 

I was also invited to take part in the talent show as a k-pop dancer with the older kids. They needed audience members so I and this other teacher danced. I didn't care. It was a talent show! 

In the end, I got to read to the first grade boys a bedtime story. I read them the magic school bus series about stars. The teachers asked what the boys liked about their camping trip and a few of them liked the story. I was so happy that they enjoyed it. I had no idea if they were actually listening or not since they were acting so silly during the actual reading time.

Today was the Kindergarten Festival. The seven year old's seemed happy to see me. They made ponchos out of shopping bags and played pin the tail on the donkey. It was a good time. At least, I thought they had fun? I asked my co-teacher if she had fun and she could no give me a straight answer. One of the boys came up to me with a high five and said, "You are good!".

 I really like kindergarten. They are such simple people.