who does?
but it seems that mondays always offer up some kind of bad news of late. last week was the first day back after winter "vacation"... that is for the korean teachers, i'd only had one week off. and today i found out that i will have to go and sit as school twiddling my thumbs for another two weeks during spring "vacation".
the korean education system is fucked up. i mean, school really finished in december - the teachers were done with the text books and the students had finished their exams - now we've had another week of school - six weeks later - where none of the kids can/want to pay attention. we have a graduation ceremony for the grade three class tomorrow, then another two days of teaching the grade ones and twos before the "end" of the school year. then we have another two week 'holiday' (well, the koreans do anyway)... so, the korean school year looks like this:
march ~ 5th - new year starts.
july/august - summer vacation (i think two weeks in july and three in august)
october ~ 10th - chuseok holiday
november - final exams
december ~ 28th to february 5/6th - winter vacation
february (last two weeks) - spring vacation
i haven't been able to wrap my head around this last week. it's akin to making students in canada return to classes for the second week of august when school ended in june. it just doesn't make any sense. and as if a korean teacher who went to canada would have to go sit at the school for two months in the summer with nothing to do! AND when no other teachers are there...let alone students!
it's not like i didn't see this coming, but other teachers in my city get all this time off, so why is it different for me? i know other foreign public school teachers that have been sitting on a beach in thailand for the last five weeks, another who's been there for two, and is going to the phillipines for another two, another who is in thailand now...etc... the list goes on and on... oh ya! it's cause i got assigned to the crappiest school in korea... i keep forgetting that... i should tatoo it on my hand or something.
i'm getting used to being stared at in the street, being ignored in shops, being treated like a lesser citizen, but the one place that i should be treated like a human being is at school... just why did i take a job working in the public school system for less money than a hagwon if i don't even get the perks of the job?
my VP and co-teacher keep telling me how important i am, and how special i am, and how much they need me to teach their children, but they don't act like it. they don't treat me any better, and in fact, most of the time, i'm treated worse. i have some real thinking to do... i've been saying for months that if things didn't get better i'd leave in march... (when i'm no longer indentured for my flight here.) i just don't know what to do.... and all this right when things started to feel normal again. :(
but it seems that mondays always offer up some kind of bad news of late. last week was the first day back after winter "vacation"... that is for the korean teachers, i'd only had one week off. and today i found out that i will have to go and sit as school twiddling my thumbs for another two weeks during spring "vacation".
the korean education system is fucked up. i mean, school really finished in december - the teachers were done with the text books and the students had finished their exams - now we've had another week of school - six weeks later - where none of the kids can/want to pay attention. we have a graduation ceremony for the grade three class tomorrow, then another two days of teaching the grade ones and twos before the "end" of the school year. then we have another two week 'holiday' (well, the koreans do anyway)... so, the korean school year looks like this:
march ~ 5th - new year starts.
july/august - summer vacation (i think two weeks in july and three in august)
october ~ 10th - chuseok holiday
november - final exams
december ~ 28th to february 5/6th - winter vacation
february (last two weeks) - spring vacation
i haven't been able to wrap my head around this last week. it's akin to making students in canada return to classes for the second week of august when school ended in june. it just doesn't make any sense. and as if a korean teacher who went to canada would have to go sit at the school for two months in the summer with nothing to do! AND when no other teachers are there...let alone students!
it's not like i didn't see this coming, but other teachers in my city get all this time off, so why is it different for me? i know other foreign public school teachers that have been sitting on a beach in thailand for the last five weeks, another who's been there for two, and is going to the phillipines for another two, another who is in thailand now...etc... the list goes on and on... oh ya! it's cause i got assigned to the crappiest school in korea... i keep forgetting that... i should tatoo it on my hand or something.
i'm getting used to being stared at in the street, being ignored in shops, being treated like a lesser citizen, but the one place that i should be treated like a human being is at school... just why did i take a job working in the public school system for less money than a hagwon if i don't even get the perks of the job?
my VP and co-teacher keep telling me how important i am, and how special i am, and how much they need me to teach their children, but they don't act like it. they don't treat me any better, and in fact, most of the time, i'm treated worse. i have some real thinking to do... i've been saying for months that if things didn't get better i'd leave in march... (when i'm no longer indentured for my flight here.) i just don't know what to do.... and all this right when things started to feel normal again. :(
3 comments:
Can you just be lazy and show movies? Sorry you had a shit day. I'll see you WED!!!
can feel your frustration through this screen...wish there was something I could do! hard to know the best course of action but, as freaky as it sounds, listen to the universe...sometimes it speaks in mysterious ways....:)
if bitter frustration is contageous today, I've caught it. I asked to skip out a bit early because I have dinner plans, and was told that I have dinner plans with teachers tonight - except no one told me until 4:55... fuck that noise!
and the teach that I asked about the whole "why are people afraid to talk to me" thing just told me about lunch plans tomorrow after school - I already have plans for then too... and I'm not breaking them... sigh... communication is lacking EVERYWHERE, Liz, you are not alone (although you will be next week - I'll bring you back something spiff from China)
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