First of all, thanks Niall for the postcard all the way from Ghana. Very impressive.
In reference to the title, there's a little sarcasm involved. On the weekends, I actually think about how happy I am to be here and how gorgeous this island can be. I love walking down to the park overlooking the harbor and playing basketball with some friends and the local Korean kids. I'll never get sick of visiting the 'touristy' sites around the area. There is so much natural beauty here that it's some times mind-boggling. Once it warms up (it's already consistently in the mid to upper 50's with the rare 60F day), I'll be able to snorkel, swim in the ocean, cliff dive, and have bonfires on the beach accompanied by drum music from our Senegalese friends. Once the snow melts off Halla-san, I'll be able to hike and not freeze/get soaked and the waterfalls will be even more impressive. Lauran will be here in just over a month, and I am counting down the days for her arrival and trying to plan out perfect itinerary for the duration of her trip.
I think about all that wonderful stuff rapidly approaching, and then I have a day like yesterday that drags me right back into reality. Teaching here really has it's ups and downs. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. The kids can be really cute and fun, or they can be little devils that you would rather never see again. Yesterday was one of those down days. We just switched up our students and classes to coincide with the school year change, and everything is in turmoil. Our morning class numbers have nearly doubled, and the kids know drastically less English, making them harder to control, and slowing down all lessons, while raising the teachers' stress levels. The afternoon classes have even grown, and kids are sometimes being haphazardly thrown in there without a ton of consideration as to their educational level. I have 2 students who can barely even sound out the letters of the alphabet, but have been moved up from their remedial class, to the next step because it is a new session. It doesn't matter that they slow the entire class down. It doesn't matter that they are trouble-makers and need constant supervision. It doesn't matter that the kids have legitimate learning disabilities and can barely learn Korean, as long as their parents are paying money. Often times parents refuse to acknowledge that their kids are behind or have problems because they are too proud. There is very little educational assistance or even psychiatric assistance, for that matter, around here. Many Koreans suffer because of that, and will be looked down upon in society, when different avenues could have been taken to guide them in the right direction. I have had a vast majority of students without books, chairs or other educational utensils because of a lack of preparation on the schools' part. I've had to leave little kids to destroy a room, while I explored others for their old books that we needed for class. The school worries about having everything prepared for when parents come for orientation, but don't seem to be as concerned with whether or not the kids are in a positive learning environment. It's all in the appearances. So anyway, yesterday was just miserable. The kids were acting up, not listening, were not prepared, were ahead of or way behind the rest of the class, didn't have their books, didn't have English names (which are basically required at school), and we didn't even have paper to make copies of text books or make word-searches/crosswords to keep them occupied. It definitely took it's toll on all the teachers; Korean or Western, and raised stress levels to monumental levels. Things just piled up until we were all at our breaking points. Plus we were promised no more than 8 students in our solo classes, but are magically getting 9+ with only a brief 'I'm sorry, but you'll be fine".
On top of all that other stuff, my bathroom had a leak from the ceiling, and smells like smoke if I turn the fan off. Plus it's just depressing in here. The prositute nextdoor that wakes me up at 4am (not from having sex, but from TB type coughs) doesn't help my attitude or my insomnia. In addition, I thought I ordered chicken fingers at a street-meat stand the other day (I even asked if it was chicken in Korean, and was told yes) only to bite into the fried treat to pull out an octopus tentacle. Not really that appetizing for me anymore. Meaghan, Paul and I went out for lunch at a local sushi place that was really nice, but we couldn't read the menu at all. I ended up with some sort of hard conch-like meat that I couldn't bite through, clear potato noodles, octopus tentacles, and some other random sea creatures which I didn't recognize. Really not helping out my spirits at all. Then, my package from my parents was dropped off on Monday, and they forgot to ask for the COD that I was told about. Awesome, right? Nope, they just came back the next day and told me to pay. I was going to refuse, I mean, what can they do, take back the delivery? But the Korean director paid, and now they will be taking it out of my paycheck. Ugh... Just so much crap that stressed me out, and it kept adding up higher and higher. I was not going to drink at all this week. I thought it would be good to improve the health of my liver, and keep my money in my pocket. Tuesday ruined that. I stopped and picked up a 1.5 litre Cass Red (higher alcohol percentage beer) for 4-5,000Won and a bottle of Scotch. Upon arriving home I got a really sweet message from Lauran, which made me feel much better, so I ended up only having half the beer, and 2 Scotches on the rocks. Plus of course the dried seaweed that I love so much. I seriously eat 2-3 packs a night. I was so frustrated, I intended on consuming the entire vat of beer, and bottle of Scotch. Thankfully that was avoided. Oh, and I grabbed dinner at Paris Baggette. A nice little coffee and pastry shop around the corner where I used to steal internet to talk to Lauran and have tea in the morning. Last night I grabbed a doughnut, some other pizza type pastry and a delicious apple pie type streudel thing.
Today was a little better, I had a couple of classes that I really like. One makes a serious effort at speaking to me in (broken) English, and they subsequently help me learn a new Korean word every now-and-again, and improve my pronunciation. (They even told me that I pronounced 'chicken' correctly in Korean, and thought it was hilarious that I received octopus instead. Most of them love it, and eat it alive. Not like sushi, like still moving.) On the way home I stopped at my (now favorite) street-meat stand, picked up some REAL chicken fingers, and a kabob looking thing with mouth-watering sweet and sour sauce for less than 4,000Won. (Around $3.20.) The place is right across the alley/street from my hotel, so it is quickly becoming a reliable alternative to cooking.
Well, I think I might just finish my Cass Red, have some seaweed, watch a movie and go to sleep, all the while hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. It's always one day closer to my first visitor!
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MuggsJust a little journal about my life. Click 'Comments' or the Titles if you'd like to add anything. The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
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