Quote from: waywardtimelord on December 26, 2016, 11:32:28 amI am so physically and emotionally drained that I'm worried I'm going to take my frustration out on someone I care about.I've been listening to the teachers talk about how glad they are that they don't have to work on Friday and vacation starts next week, and my co-teacher turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but foreigners have to work on Friday."I know it's all in the contract, but my God how pointless is deskwarming? I NEED a mental health day. And then camp for two weeks.... Why do we even have camp? One of the biggest appeals of teaching is the long vacations, but we have to fill them with camps here.More like how great is deskwarming, am I right? Literally getting paid to read a book or study. And you get to use the school's heat, water, internet, etc. I'd prefer to have vacation, but I mean, deskwarming is kind of a unique pleasure.
I am so physically and emotionally drained that I'm worried I'm going to take my frustration out on someone I care about.I've been listening to the teachers talk about how glad they are that they don't have to work on Friday and vacation starts next week, and my co-teacher turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but foreigners have to work on Friday."I know it's all in the contract, but my God how pointless is deskwarming? I NEED a mental health day. And then camp for two weeks.... Why do we even have camp? One of the biggest appeals of teaching is the long vacations, but we have to fill them with camps here.
Finding a decent place to live in Seoul is miserable. Everything that's new or remodeled has awful built-in washing machines and gas / electric ranges. Everything older is scummy and dirty.And everything is offensively expensive.
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on December 26, 2016, 11:40:59 amQuote from: waywardtimelord on December 26, 2016, 11:32:28 amI am so physically and emotionally drained that I'm worried I'm going to take my frustration out on someone I care about.I've been listening to the teachers talk about how glad they are that they don't have to work on Friday and vacation starts next week, and my co-teacher turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but foreigners have to work on Friday."I know it's all in the contract, but my God how pointless is deskwarming? I NEED a mental health day. And then camp for two weeks.... Why do we even have camp? One of the biggest appeals of teaching is the long vacations, but we have to fill them with camps here.More like how great is deskwarming, am I right? Literally getting paid to read a book or study. And you get to use the school's heat, water, internet, etc. I'd prefer to have vacation, but I mean, deskwarming is kind of a unique pleasure.Deskwarming is better than Camp, but I'd still rather have more vacation.Deskwarming is great because I can focus on studying when I don't have the time / motivation to do it at home, but I could easily be doing nothing at home.I think they don't realise, we need breaks just as much as the Korean teachers. We may work less here compared to them (comparable amounts in some cases, I'm sure), but we have a lot of difficulties here compared to the Korean teachers that we should get a break from. At least, camp / deskwarming makes it feel like they 'don't understand our unique situation' haha.
Quote from: Kayos on December 28, 2016, 12:39:12 pmQuote from: #basedcowboyshirt on December 26, 2016, 11:40:59 amQuote from: waywardtimelord on December 26, 2016, 11:32:28 amI am so physically and emotionally drained that I'm worried I'm going to take my frustration out on someone I care about.I've been listening to the teachers talk about how glad they are that they don't have to work on Friday and vacation starts next week, and my co-teacher turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but foreigners have to work on Friday."I know it's all in the contract, but my God how pointless is deskwarming? I NEED a mental health day. And then camp for two weeks.... Why do we even have camp? One of the biggest appeals of teaching is the long vacations, but we have to fill them with camps here.More like how great is deskwarming, am I right? Literally getting paid to read a book or study. And you get to use the school's heat, water, internet, etc. I'd prefer to have vacation, but I mean, deskwarming is kind of a unique pleasure.Deskwarming is better than Camp, but I'd still rather have more vacation.Deskwarming is great because I can focus on studying when I don't have the time / motivation to do it at home, but I could easily be doing nothing at home.I think they don't realise, we need breaks just as much as the Korean teachers. We may work less here compared to them (comparable amounts in some cases, I'm sure), but we have a lot of difficulties here compared to the Korean teachers that we should get a break from. At least, camp / deskwarming makes it feel like they 'don't understand our unique situation' haha.There used to be no camps back in the day. Those days are long, long gone now. :(
Why do you think they started camps? Pressure from the parents? Teachers complaining we have too much time off?
Quote from: KirbyFan112 on December 28, 2016, 02:36:13 pmWhy do you think they started camps? Pressure from the parents? Teachers complaining we have too much time off?I've read it was because a bunch of NETs kept complaining about the amount of deskwarming they had to do, especially when comparing their own setups to other NETs who were permitted to stay home or take longer vacations at the discretion of their schools.
Quote from: Chinguetti on December 28, 2016, 02:41:55 pmQuote from: KirbyFan112 on December 28, 2016, 02:36:13 pmWhy do you think they started camps? Pressure from the parents? Teachers complaining we have too much time off?I've read it was because a bunch of NETs kept complaining about the amount of deskwarming they had to do, especially when comparing their own setups to other NETs who were permitted to stay home or take longer vacations at the discretion of their schools.This would be a totally different job without camps. I can't imagine. Camp is easily the hardest part of this job.
Quote from: KirbyFan112 on December 28, 2016, 03:10:18 pmQuote from: Chinguetti on December 28, 2016, 02:41:55 pmQuote from: KirbyFan112 on December 28, 2016, 02:36:13 pmWhy do you think they started camps? Pressure from the parents? Teachers complaining we have too much time off?I've read it was because a bunch of NETs kept complaining about the amount of deskwarming they had to do, especially when comparing their own setups to other NETs who were permitted to stay home or take longer vacations at the discretion of their schools.This would be a totally different job without camps. I can't imagine. Camp is easily the hardest part of this job.I'm curious why you think that? I've probably had it easy -- week long camp at most, I get to do what I want, and it usually involves candy. I'm not a superfan but it's not...awful?
I normally don't mind camp, but this year I have three weeks of 4 hours a day with 25-28 students per class, 4 different levels I'm still teaching this week and camp starts on Monday and I have to do prep on my own As soon as camp is finished I have to prep placement tests for the new teacher. I'm sick of here. Desk warming sounds like a rainbow unicorn situation to me.
I was just told that because today is the last day before vacation, all teachers are going out for lunch for fish soup and I MUST attend. I really don't like fish. Even though I explained this to my coteachers, they assured me it's okay because "it's not spicy!" No, spicy isn't the problem, it's the fish. Why can't I choose anything else?
Quote from: kimchi_mandu on December 29, 2016, 08:05:14 amQuote from: #basedcowboyshirt on December 28, 2016, 10:27:55 amFinding a decent place to live in Seoul is miserable. Everything that's new or remodeled has awful built-in washing machines and gas / electric ranges. Everything older is scummy and dirty.And everything is offensively expensive.This is my current rant too. The place my school gave me has been so awful so I'm taking the pittance of a housing allowance and trying to go it alone. Been looking online for months, and it's rare I see anything passable (clean, enough space for a double bed, not an hours commute).I know I shouldn't complain about the housing allowance yadda yadda but seriously, that amount may have been okay 10 years ago, not now.Oh. The money isn't really a big problem, but even if you're putting a 50 million deposit and paying like 800 a month rent, most places available in Seoul are still butt.
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on December 28, 2016, 10:27:55 amFinding a decent place to live in Seoul is miserable. Everything that's new or remodeled has awful built-in washing machines and gas / electric ranges. Everything older is scummy and dirty.And everything is offensively expensive.This is my current rant too. The place my school gave me has been so awful so I'm taking the pittance of a housing allowance and trying to go it alone. Been looking online for months, and it's rare I see anything passable (clean, enough space for a double bed, not an hours commute).I know I shouldn't complain about the housing allowance yadda yadda but seriously, that amount may have been okay 10 years ago, not now.