RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

So in my school we have a foreign language office where our desks are. Last year there were three of us (NETs) and then in December, one left. The school decided not to replace that person and instead cut the 2nd grade out and have us only teach 1st. Okay. Come March, I no longer have to share the classroom since there are only two of us and two classrooms. Also, I got a new boss and another senior teacher who's job in our department is blurry (aside from his normal teaching duties) to me. So I start sitting in the classroom full-time, mainly because I asked if I could change desks in the office (there were a lot of empty desks this year, staff cuts) because where I sit people are CONSTANTLY bumping into my chair, hard. It's jolting and frustrating. My boss denied my request. So, I just moved into the English classroom. No one but me is using it. Also, the classroom has windows in English, my office desktop does not and my office desktop is a huge POS.  Apparently, this is the wrong thing to do. I am being slightly shunned for it. So today, I went to go put the key back and tell the teacher with blurry job responsibilities that one of my students gave him a speech but forgot to make a copy. So I stood next to his desk, and called his name (in a polite tone) like 6 times. You could see that he heard me, but chose to ignore me. This behavior is utterly juvenile. There is zero reason to be upset over my NOT SITTING in the office. It is not like they would talk to me (conversationally) if did. Our office does not sit back and have conversations, at all. I used to talk to the Chinese teacher in the office (before she left) and we were told to take our conversations outside.  My boss has her little messenger (a young rookie teacher) tell me things she wants me to know. So, again, zero reason for me to sit in there.  And this mofo would have kept ignoring me if I hadn't raised my voice ever so slightly the sixth time.  I really hate some of the ridiculous childish hierarchy behavior here. Not one person is capable of thinking from someone else's perspective for even a second. Makes me want to stab people.   

Right.

I don't know how much of it is "fan death" type folklore and how much of it is actually fact-based/informed/educated practice.

Would be interesting to hear more from others, like peeling apples. eating kiwi skin and all, etc.

My middle school third graders have finals next week. Not midterms, mind you. Finals.

I guess the "we're going to be completely unproductive" period will begin early this year. After all, the test is the only thing that really matters, and they know it. Trying to get them to do anything afterwards is like pulling teeth, and now I'm going to have several months of it.

The first graders have nothing, because my school started doing a "free semester" for first graders last year, meaning no exams for them at the end of second semester. Could just be me, but I'd think it'd make more sense to make the first semester the free semester, so you could still test them on what they've learned at the end of the year. Oh well. What do I know.

The second graders have mid-terms, so that's still normal, I guess.

All of that, all around is just stupid.

My middle school third graders have finals next week. Not midterms, mind you. Finals.

I guess the "we're going to be completely unproductive" period will begin early this year. After all, the test is the only thing that really matters, and they know it. Trying to get them to do anything afterwards is like pulling teeth, and now I'm going to have several months of it.

The first graders have nothing, because my school started doing a "free semester" for first graders last year, meaning no exams for them at the end of second semester. Could just be me, but I'd think it'd make more sense to make the first semester the free semester, so you could still test them on what they've learned at the end of the year. Oh well. What do I know.

The second graders have mid-terms, so that's still normal, I guess.

The maintenance man swept away my neighborly spider's web.  I assume the spider got swept away as well 

I'm no Korean drum expert............. .... but they practice for hours every day.

A= Boom B= stick on side of drum (clicking sound)

A BBBBB
A BBBBB
A BB
A BB
A BBBBB

X100.

I could literally learn this in 10 mins. WHY do they practice for an hour a day every morning?

I'm no Korean drum expert............. .... but they practice for hours every day.

A= Boom B= stick on side of drum (clicking sound)

A BBBBB
A BBBBB
A BB
A BB
A BBBBB

X100.

I could literally learn this in 10 mins. WHY do they practice for an hour a day every morning?

Practicing an instrument oftentimes involves repetitive and mind numbing drills. These are performed over and over again to ingrain correct technique and timing.

I'm no Korean drum expert............. .... but they practice for hours every day.

A= Boom B= stick on side of drum (clicking sound)

A BBBBB
A BBBBB
A BB
A BB
A BBBBB

X100.

I could literally learn this in 10 mins. WHY do they practice for an hour a day every morning?

Practicing an instrument oftentimes involves repetitive and mind numbing drills. These are performed over and over again to ingrain correct technique and timing.

Yeah, as someone who's proficient in an instrument, I see nothing wrong with practicing basics.  Scales for days, yo.  Especially with drumming, I imagine the practice helps build up endurance as well. 

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Came in this a.m. to all teachers dressed to the nines. Suit and ties, make-up, etc. Felt a little under-dressed in my long sleeve t-shirt and jogger pants. Casual but standard for my countryside schools.

After leaving the office to go up to my first class, get called outside.

Picture day.

Got trolled again.

The maintenance man swept away my neighborly spider's web.  I assume the spider got swept away as well 

Bummer. There's a huge orb weaver in a web right outside my apartment window, and he's my little homie. Whenever I see a new moth or dragonfly tangled up in his web, I'm like "Good for you, dude."

Yes, I realize the large, brightly colored ones here are the females, but this one's still a "he," because spiders are dudes. Always.


Well, almost always...

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Some teachers were snacking around the snack table.  I go over to investigate. 

Me:  What's this? 

They offer me some so I try one. 

Me:  WHAT IS THIS??
Them:  Do you know mayonnaise? 

Why the hell do mayonnaise pretzels exist?! 

Yes I've experience this too   

This is the week of final classes with my schools (other than next Monday).  Yesterday was harder than I thought it'd be, with kids begging me not to go and some even gifting me with last minute presents of pencils, hah.  One of my favorites gave me a card and gel pens and insisted I take the pens.

And I get to do this 3 more times.  My poor heart 

When Koreans are surprised that you used to eat rice in your home country...


Don't they know that rice is an extremely common staple food in many cultures?? And there is so much more to rice than just the sticky white rice they eat. People talk about the myth of American exceptionalism but damn if Koreans don't think they are the most unique people on this planet. They think no where else has rice, or four seasons. The other day I overheard a Korean guy telling a Canadian dude that "only in Korea" do they have workout equipment in parks. No, that's not true. At all.

ahahaha so true! Although to be fair, today in my facebook memories was a post from my cousin in the states that said "I know this is a stupid question but does Korea have 4 distinct seasons?" LOL word for word true story lol

This is the week of final classes with my schools (other than next Monday).  Yesterday was harder than I thought it'd be, with kids begging me not to go and some even gifting me with last minute presents of pencils, hah.  One of my favorites gave me a card and gel pens and insisted I take the pens.

And I get to do this 3 more times.  My poor heart 

You can do it yirj!!!  At one of my countryside middle schools that I taught at for seven years, the students made a video with Oasis music.  The video was them panning around the library and every student had written a post-it to me so they panned around and then focused on each post-it.  At the end of my final day, the students took me to the English room and played me the video.  But I didn't cry.  When I got home and watched it again, I bawled my eyes out.   

OMG, I'd be a sobbing mess. When my first school didn't renew me for a third year the kids were balling and brought me gifts and handmade cards and gifts, I was balling. I hate parting from a school I really like. I am not renewing at my current school so we'll see how it goes.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

I know going back to your old school is comfortable (if it was an international school ignore what I am about to say), but have you considered just coming back at the February/march hiring time to get access to more  gigs? Or you could do what I did this time of the year 4 years ago, I took a kindy hagwon job (so so company) with the intention of quitting to be on the March schedule for public. It worked out very well.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

I know going back to your old school is comfortable (if it was an international school ignore what I am about to say), but have you considered just coming back at the February/march hiring time to get access to more  gigs? Or you could do what I did this time of the year 4 years ago, I took a kindy hagwon job (so so company) with the intention of quitting to be on the March schedule for public. It worked out very well.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

That's not a bad point. I really like kindy though, so that pushes me towards hagwons. My old hagwon definitely had it's issues but it's manageable. My basic plan is minimizing risk and racking up points for an F class so I can pursue business in Korea and teach on the side.