In my last blog I spoke of the gloom that had cast a deep shadow over my life. It came to a head the day before I wrote that post, but I can safely say things have improved since then. Whether it is an improvement that will stand or not I will have to see, but I will take what I can get for now.
This week at work has been interesting, although I am incapable of understanding near anything that is said in the break room, I still go in occassionally to mingle with the staff and make myself known. I do frequently feel left out, but I can see they are trying and I should do my bit to foster better relations. Also I have had some very good lessons teaching with the 5th grade teacher. We get on well which is good and he has a good class that is both fairly well behaved and willing to do the work. So the lessons spin by, plus I think because we get on the dull lessons from the book seem to work well enough.
I have other lessons with other teachers too, they are not nearly as good, but this week there have not been any painfully bad lessons either. I think this has something to do with the fact that I have been on top of the lesson planning aspect of my job. Although it is a pain and sometimes unnecessary, it does help me to get to know the material and focus on what I will need to ask the kids.
I also have plans to go out with a couple of the teachers next month, they're too busy this month due to the new semester. Also I have a trainging course next week that last almost the full length of a week. Hopefully that will be good, it looks like there are some courses planned that could be quite useful for me, but then again it could be a total waste of time as the planning in Korea is often pretty terrible.
Anyway, things are certainly looking up from the last three 3 weeks or so. That however does not mean that tings are hunky dory, rather that things have leveled back out to how they were before I went to New Zealand.
Saturday 19 March 2011
Sunday 13 March 2011
Things are not okay.
The last week has not been all that good for me. I got back from NZ glad to be away from the earthquakes. However it did not take long for me to realise that certain negative elements from that experience still remain for me. When I see building work and such my heart skips into an irregular beat and should a truck rumble past I will experience a similar effect. Also every so often I will wake up completely disorientated, not pleasant I can tell you.
Anyway I had asumed that such things would calm themselves and come to a steady stop once I was back in my role as teacher. However that was far from the case. Instead I have discovered that school has become much more difficult while I have been away. I had known prior to going that I would be losing 4 teachers from the school, two of which were fair English speakers and would be replaced, by unknowns. I was also aware that I would have to be teaching a new curriculum, but I had been given none of the books prior to my holiday and was told I would recieve them on the first day back, even though I would be expected to teach that day. Already I had anxieties about returning to work. I had built up an image in my mind that there would be no English speakers and that I would be fucked as far as the teaching was concerned.
I was happy to discover that there was at least one of the new teachers that could speak some English. However I quickly discovered that her ability is not all that much and that the other teachers are very much lacking, even though I would be expected to teach with two of them. One of which has at least spoken to me, the other has said not one word to me, she has instead had others talk for her, how in fuck's name will we teach when that rolls around?
As far as people to talk to in my school goes I was feeling a bit better after Wednesday, because there had been a work outing and everybody was very happy and nice and even willing to try their hand at English, at which point I discovered even those who have never thus far spoken to me have base amounts. So I returned home that night feeling a bit better, although the alcohol could have had something to do with it. However the next day, things returned to normal, no would speak to me again, as if they couldn't. I do not believe that aspect will ever improve.
Also regarding the spoken aspect of my troubles the co-teacher I have that comes into school once a week has also been replaced. I had assumed that I would be teaching with the same one as last semester and was at least happy about that because she had amazing English and was a great source of information. However she is gone too and her replacement has very little English, I cannot understand why she has been replaced, the new one can barely communicate with me.
Well now aside from problems of communicating with the other staff members on a day to day basis, there are other problems in my job. As I have said previously the curriculum has been changed and there are a new books from which I am expected to work. But I did not in fact recieve them on the day I returned, but instead I got them the next day, which is ridiculous, because I was forced to go into a lesson followed by 3 others consecutively with no prep and rely entirely upon another teacher and so, each of the lessons were truly lacking. Now that is just one thing, but another is that when I did in fact get the books that I need, it was not good. I was given a CD and a student's book and when I asked for the teacher's book I was told that it was in Korean. At which point I demmanded how was I supposed to teach from that? They responded that I should make assumptions and discuss it with the other teachers. BUT HOW? They won't speak to me!
Not only that, but I finally got around to doing some lesson planning and I had spent 3 hours preparing several lessons that I would be teaching later in the day and the following day and one of the teachers came in and told me (as best they could) that the areas I had preped would not be covered for some weeks and that I would need to do something else. What the FUCK?!? I demmanded a reason why, why I had wasted my time and why they were expecting me to do it again. What did they want me to pull lessons from my arse? And to my questioning I recieved only either blank stares or a repeat of the first information. Then she asked if I understood and I said no, so she just repeated herself again. Finally I just had to dismiss her. I have no fucking clue what I am going to do tomorrow.
So that's it really, my life totally sucks. Most of my life is based at work and that is just a minefield of miscommunication and stupidity. Then when I am not worrying about what I will teach next, how the lessons will go or how the kids will do I am struggling to get over the remaining effects of the NZ quake.
Which also I have to say that the recent quake in Japan did nothing to help my mental stability. I reacted rather badly to that. I realise that Korea is relitively safe being on the other side of Japan from the quake, so protected from Tsunamis and the area the aftershocks may reach. However that does not really make the damndest bit of different to a brain that is still locked onto responding to quakes and such.
Well as the title may have warned you this blog has been very depressing and unfortunately for myself and perhaps for any followers, it has not improved any for me. Anyway I shall return to work tomorrow and hope for the best, but luck does not seem to be with me of late.
Anyway I had asumed that such things would calm themselves and come to a steady stop once I was back in my role as teacher. However that was far from the case. Instead I have discovered that school has become much more difficult while I have been away. I had known prior to going that I would be losing 4 teachers from the school, two of which were fair English speakers and would be replaced, by unknowns. I was also aware that I would have to be teaching a new curriculum, but I had been given none of the books prior to my holiday and was told I would recieve them on the first day back, even though I would be expected to teach that day. Already I had anxieties about returning to work. I had built up an image in my mind that there would be no English speakers and that I would be fucked as far as the teaching was concerned.
I was happy to discover that there was at least one of the new teachers that could speak some English. However I quickly discovered that her ability is not all that much and that the other teachers are very much lacking, even though I would be expected to teach with two of them. One of which has at least spoken to me, the other has said not one word to me, she has instead had others talk for her, how in fuck's name will we teach when that rolls around?
As far as people to talk to in my school goes I was feeling a bit better after Wednesday, because there had been a work outing and everybody was very happy and nice and even willing to try their hand at English, at which point I discovered even those who have never thus far spoken to me have base amounts. So I returned home that night feeling a bit better, although the alcohol could have had something to do with it. However the next day, things returned to normal, no would speak to me again, as if they couldn't. I do not believe that aspect will ever improve.
Also regarding the spoken aspect of my troubles the co-teacher I have that comes into school once a week has also been replaced. I had assumed that I would be teaching with the same one as last semester and was at least happy about that because she had amazing English and was a great source of information. However she is gone too and her replacement has very little English, I cannot understand why she has been replaced, the new one can barely communicate with me.
Well now aside from problems of communicating with the other staff members on a day to day basis, there are other problems in my job. As I have said previously the curriculum has been changed and there are a new books from which I am expected to work. But I did not in fact recieve them on the day I returned, but instead I got them the next day, which is ridiculous, because I was forced to go into a lesson followed by 3 others consecutively with no prep and rely entirely upon another teacher and so, each of the lessons were truly lacking. Now that is just one thing, but another is that when I did in fact get the books that I need, it was not good. I was given a CD and a student's book and when I asked for the teacher's book I was told that it was in Korean. At which point I demmanded how was I supposed to teach from that? They responded that I should make assumptions and discuss it with the other teachers. BUT HOW? They won't speak to me!
Not only that, but I finally got around to doing some lesson planning and I had spent 3 hours preparing several lessons that I would be teaching later in the day and the following day and one of the teachers came in and told me (as best they could) that the areas I had preped would not be covered for some weeks and that I would need to do something else. What the FUCK?!? I demmanded a reason why, why I had wasted my time and why they were expecting me to do it again. What did they want me to pull lessons from my arse? And to my questioning I recieved only either blank stares or a repeat of the first information. Then she asked if I understood and I said no, so she just repeated herself again. Finally I just had to dismiss her. I have no fucking clue what I am going to do tomorrow.
So that's it really, my life totally sucks. Most of my life is based at work and that is just a minefield of miscommunication and stupidity. Then when I am not worrying about what I will teach next, how the lessons will go or how the kids will do I am struggling to get over the remaining effects of the NZ quake.
Which also I have to say that the recent quake in Japan did nothing to help my mental stability. I reacted rather badly to that. I realise that Korea is relitively safe being on the other side of Japan from the quake, so protected from Tsunamis and the area the aftershocks may reach. However that does not really make the damndest bit of different to a brain that is still locked onto responding to quakes and such.
Well as the title may have warned you this blog has been very depressing and unfortunately for myself and perhaps for any followers, it has not improved any for me. Anyway I shall return to work tomorrow and hope for the best, but luck does not seem to be with me of late.
Monday 7 March 2011
The Silver lining...but...
Yes it does appear there is some...I have many issues with my holiday too, but I shall focus on the positives for this post.
Firstly I got to hold a baby for the first time. For some reason everybody that I tell that to seems to be suprised, well I am the youngest in my family and nobody I know has young kids. So it was a first. Also I got to play with the kids. Now everybody seems to paint me in a grumpy mood around the babies, but I liked them and unless I am completely mistaken, they liked me too, or at least they smiled and seemed happy around me.
I got to meet all of my family over in New Zealand and I got along with everybody and made some very close connections very quickly. They are no longer just my family, but also firm friends that I hope to keep in touch with.
I got to ride on a bike and a trike. I think that may be something that I would like to persue at some point in the future. I am not entirely sure if I will, but if the oppotunity presents itself I won't say no.
I lived with two kids for the majority of my time there and that experience along with the introduction to the babies has helped me confirm that I do in fact like children, which is something that I think I had discovered from my teaching. Therefore I think teaching kids at a school may very well be a career that I can see myself persuing in the future.
Now there are some things that I have taken from my holiday that are causing me to have some isues, I was not going to mention them here, but I do not think I can be bothered to write them in another post, so altough I am deviating from the original path...When I see building work here in Korea my mind immediately turns to earthquake damage and my heart begins to pound...not good hopefully it will pass. Also when I was in the various airports druring my return to Korea, when the planes rumbled past and shook the buildings mildly, my body reacted as if it were a quake. Finally my perspective on things have changed somewhat and I have developed some feelings of homesickness. Hopefully my first day at work will aleviate some of my worries, so I cannot say whether this new perspective will be a good thing or not. I shall reserve my judgement for now.
Firstly I got to hold a baby for the first time. For some reason everybody that I tell that to seems to be suprised, well I am the youngest in my family and nobody I know has young kids. So it was a first. Also I got to play with the kids. Now everybody seems to paint me in a grumpy mood around the babies, but I liked them and unless I am completely mistaken, they liked me too, or at least they smiled and seemed happy around me.
I got to meet all of my family over in New Zealand and I got along with everybody and made some very close connections very quickly. They are no longer just my family, but also firm friends that I hope to keep in touch with.
I got to ride on a bike and a trike. I think that may be something that I would like to persue at some point in the future. I am not entirely sure if I will, but if the oppotunity presents itself I won't say no.
I lived with two kids for the majority of my time there and that experience along with the introduction to the babies has helped me confirm that I do in fact like children, which is something that I think I had discovered from my teaching. Therefore I think teaching kids at a school may very well be a career that I can see myself persuing in the future.
Now there are some things that I have taken from my holiday that are causing me to have some isues, I was not going to mention them here, but I do not think I can be bothered to write them in another post, so altough I am deviating from the original path...When I see building work here in Korea my mind immediately turns to earthquake damage and my heart begins to pound...not good hopefully it will pass. Also when I was in the various airports druring my return to Korea, when the planes rumbled past and shook the buildings mildly, my body reacted as if it were a quake. Finally my perspective on things have changed somewhat and I have developed some feelings of homesickness. Hopefully my first day at work will aleviate some of my worries, so I cannot say whether this new perspective will be a good thing or not. I shall reserve my judgement for now.
The Return
I am a little behind on my blog right now, so this is the one I meant to post about my journey back to Korea.
The journey started rather eventfully, but not in a good way. I was waiting to check in and when it came to my turn I handed over my passport along with my e-ticket. I had assumed all would be well, after all I had my Korean visa in my passport and recent legislation has been passsed to allow native teachers the right to return to the country without applying for a multiple entry visa on top. However the guy behind the counter told me thi9s was not the case and disappeared for 20mins. He returned with his supervisor and I was told that I would not be able to return to Korea with the information I was providing them. I cast about and could think of nothing to help my cause. So I moved onto another guy, since we were told he may be able to help me. At this point he asked me if I was a resident and I responded I was not, because I was working in the country on an E-2 visa. However moments later I remembered that I had my alien registration card on me. I slipped it out of my wallet and handed it over hoping dearly that it would suffice...and luckily it did. It proved that I was living in Korea and that I had a job there. I did not know this was the procedure, but regardless I felt a complete idiot for not realising, plus I had made my journey begin on a very bad note.
I said goodbye to the last parts of my family that had come to see me off. My auntie and uncle (Margaret and David) and my cousins (Martin and Tania). I found it very difficult to say goodbye to them, because although I had only been there just under two weeks, I had experienced something rather traumatic with them and it had brought us together very quickly.
So by the time I made it through security I was already somewhat sweaty from the fear that I would be stuck in the country and because the day had been burningly hot. I sat down and waited for my slightly delayed flight to come in. Most shops in the airport were closed and there was some evident damage to the building from the recent earthquake. But I got up in the air shortly after that.
From there I went to Aukland and I quickly changed over to my next flight. I got on the plane bound for Osaka and settled in for the long haul. Luckily I had been able to secure myslef an aisle seat here, so I had the addition of aisle space should I wish to stretch out for a short while. This flight was not exactly eventful, but there was an amazingly camp air host and I think he is just worth mentioning because he was as camp as any sterotypical gay guy you might see on tv, but he was actually real!
Once I landed in Japan I had about 5 hours to kill, but I was able to find a place to get free access to the internet and there was a plug point, so I was able to use my laptop. I great way to kill time and contact people to let them know I was okay. Plus it was totally out of the way, so it was not busy, which meant I was able to pack up grab something to eat and come back and there was still plenty of space for me.
Then there was the final flight back to Korea, again this was less than eventful, which is exactly what you want out of a flight. However once I landed in Korea, there came the interesting part. I had to figure out how I was going to get back to my home. I approached the help desk and the woman gave me the number of some busses I could take, although I was completely unsure of when to get off and I was not really in the adventuring spirit by this point. I was sleep deprived, smelly and looked like a tramp and I was carrying an obscenely large bag. Anyway I hopped on a bus and when I thought I saw a metro link up ahead I jumped off the bus. Thankfully I was correct, although I had in fact gotten off before the person at the airport had suggested I should. Anyway from there I knew how to make it home, it was just a pain and added about 3hrs onto my journey in all. Bus - Subway - Subway - Bus.
When I finally made it back to my town I trundled through the back streets to get back to my flat and met plenty of stares. However these were not the standard stares I may meet in Korea, these were undoubtedly because I was now sporting a beard. I still had my earthquake beard affixed. So basically by not removing it before returning to Korea I had made myself the most despicable human they had probably seen, since I am white and I am told that having facial hair immediately makes you ugly in Korean's eyes.
Anyway, that is the story of my return to Korea.
The journey started rather eventfully, but not in a good way. I was waiting to check in and when it came to my turn I handed over my passport along with my e-ticket. I had assumed all would be well, after all I had my Korean visa in my passport and recent legislation has been passsed to allow native teachers the right to return to the country without applying for a multiple entry visa on top. However the guy behind the counter told me thi9s was not the case and disappeared for 20mins. He returned with his supervisor and I was told that I would not be able to return to Korea with the information I was providing them. I cast about and could think of nothing to help my cause. So I moved onto another guy, since we were told he may be able to help me. At this point he asked me if I was a resident and I responded I was not, because I was working in the country on an E-2 visa. However moments later I remembered that I had my alien registration card on me. I slipped it out of my wallet and handed it over hoping dearly that it would suffice...and luckily it did. It proved that I was living in Korea and that I had a job there. I did not know this was the procedure, but regardless I felt a complete idiot for not realising, plus I had made my journey begin on a very bad note.
I said goodbye to the last parts of my family that had come to see me off. My auntie and uncle (Margaret and David) and my cousins (Martin and Tania). I found it very difficult to say goodbye to them, because although I had only been there just under two weeks, I had experienced something rather traumatic with them and it had brought us together very quickly.
So by the time I made it through security I was already somewhat sweaty from the fear that I would be stuck in the country and because the day had been burningly hot. I sat down and waited for my slightly delayed flight to come in. Most shops in the airport were closed and there was some evident damage to the building from the recent earthquake. But I got up in the air shortly after that.
From there I went to Aukland and I quickly changed over to my next flight. I got on the plane bound for Osaka and settled in for the long haul. Luckily I had been able to secure myslef an aisle seat here, so I had the addition of aisle space should I wish to stretch out for a short while. This flight was not exactly eventful, but there was an amazingly camp air host and I think he is just worth mentioning because he was as camp as any sterotypical gay guy you might see on tv, but he was actually real!
Once I landed in Japan I had about 5 hours to kill, but I was able to find a place to get free access to the internet and there was a plug point, so I was able to use my laptop. I great way to kill time and contact people to let them know I was okay. Plus it was totally out of the way, so it was not busy, which meant I was able to pack up grab something to eat and come back and there was still plenty of space for me.
Then there was the final flight back to Korea, again this was less than eventful, which is exactly what you want out of a flight. However once I landed in Korea, there came the interesting part. I had to figure out how I was going to get back to my home. I approached the help desk and the woman gave me the number of some busses I could take, although I was completely unsure of when to get off and I was not really in the adventuring spirit by this point. I was sleep deprived, smelly and looked like a tramp and I was carrying an obscenely large bag. Anyway I hopped on a bus and when I thought I saw a metro link up ahead I jumped off the bus. Thankfully I was correct, although I had in fact gotten off before the person at the airport had suggested I should. Anyway from there I knew how to make it home, it was just a pain and added about 3hrs onto my journey in all. Bus - Subway - Subway - Bus.
When I finally made it back to my town I trundled through the back streets to get back to my flat and met plenty of stares. However these were not the standard stares I may meet in Korea, these were undoubtedly because I was now sporting a beard. I still had my earthquake beard affixed. So basically by not removing it before returning to Korea I had made myself the most despicable human they had probably seen, since I am white and I am told that having facial hair immediately makes you ugly in Korean's eyes.
Anyway, that is the story of my return to Korea.
Friday 4 March 2011
Biking
Okay, so I have some time right now and there are a couple of posts that I need to make, but I'll start with what I did on Thursday.
I had slept over at Nathan's (a cousin), which was good because the house was pretty much unaffected by the recent earthquakes. He has power, water and a full bed that I could stay in, it was a good night's sleep and I did not really feel any of the after shocks that night. Also I had had a couple of beers to get me to sleep. However I get the feeling that many of you will think this means many beers, but no, not a good idea to get properly drunk when you may need to quickly vacate the building.
Anyway after my nice sleep Martin came over on his Trike - A picture is to come.
So we set out for a day out of Christchurch, one to get away and two to let me experience the thrill of biking. Nathan had taken his bike as well...pic and details to come.
We drove out West, we were heading for the West Coast. I set out on the back of the Trike first, it was pretty mental, I felt pretty safe strapped in and yet not at the same time because it is comepletely open to the elements. I got to see plenty of the scenery on this too, since I didn't really have to do anything other than sit back and let the wind destroy my face. No need for a bike helmet on a trike although, some protection and warmth was appreciated.
After a while, I switched over and got on the back of Nathan's bike. Now this was weird, having never been on a bike before I had plenty of misgivings, but it was easier to get into it than I thought. Just lean with the bike as you round a corner and keep my head back so I don't smack heads with Nathan (yes we had helmets on). I don't think I did all that bad really. My previous observation of New Zealand stands, there is bugger all there. However I can see why people like the open countryside when you are riding such beasts. I was not able to take photos as I had wanted, of the scenery. Mainly because I was too freaked out for that, but also because my camera had been misplaced at that time.
We stopped off at a couple of pubs on the way out, to space out the day and had lunch out at Jacksons, a West Coast pub (technically). But we did not make it much further, since the weather was looking a little wet and there was no point in putting ourselves in that position for nothing, so we headed back.
I rode the Trike all the way back, it was pretty awsome.
I got bloody burnt on my face though, even though I put cream on and had bloody hats on all the time. I am told it is wind burn, but it's buggered me a bit. I get the feeling I am going to be something of an eyesore when I reach Korea, a big, untamed earthquake beard, a partially burnt face, highlighting the colouring of my skin and hair and just to round it off, I'm not smelling too good right now. The lack of working showers in the earthquake ridden Christchurch did not help, plus I got myself all hot and bother stupidly during my journey. I shall detail this in my next post. I am sure you can all have a good laugh, especially those there to see it, what and idiot I was. Anyway, I need to go find my departure gate. I should get around to my next blog some time after I get back to my place...gah, it's going to be a fucking pain getting to the bus station.
I had slept over at Nathan's (a cousin), which was good because the house was pretty much unaffected by the recent earthquakes. He has power, water and a full bed that I could stay in, it was a good night's sleep and I did not really feel any of the after shocks that night. Also I had had a couple of beers to get me to sleep. However I get the feeling that many of you will think this means many beers, but no, not a good idea to get properly drunk when you may need to quickly vacate the building.
Anyway after my nice sleep Martin came over on his Trike - A picture is to come.
So we set out for a day out of Christchurch, one to get away and two to let me experience the thrill of biking. Nathan had taken his bike as well...pic and details to come.
We drove out West, we were heading for the West Coast. I set out on the back of the Trike first, it was pretty mental, I felt pretty safe strapped in and yet not at the same time because it is comepletely open to the elements. I got to see plenty of the scenery on this too, since I didn't really have to do anything other than sit back and let the wind destroy my face. No need for a bike helmet on a trike although, some protection and warmth was appreciated.
After a while, I switched over and got on the back of Nathan's bike. Now this was weird, having never been on a bike before I had plenty of misgivings, but it was easier to get into it than I thought. Just lean with the bike as you round a corner and keep my head back so I don't smack heads with Nathan (yes we had helmets on). I don't think I did all that bad really. My previous observation of New Zealand stands, there is bugger all there. However I can see why people like the open countryside when you are riding such beasts. I was not able to take photos as I had wanted, of the scenery. Mainly because I was too freaked out for that, but also because my camera had been misplaced at that time.
We stopped off at a couple of pubs on the way out, to space out the day and had lunch out at Jacksons, a West Coast pub (technically). But we did not make it much further, since the weather was looking a little wet and there was no point in putting ourselves in that position for nothing, so we headed back.
I rode the Trike all the way back, it was pretty awsome.
I got bloody burnt on my face though, even though I put cream on and had bloody hats on all the time. I am told it is wind burn, but it's buggered me a bit. I get the feeling I am going to be something of an eyesore when I reach Korea, a big, untamed earthquake beard, a partially burnt face, highlighting the colouring of my skin and hair and just to round it off, I'm not smelling too good right now. The lack of working showers in the earthquake ridden Christchurch did not help, plus I got myself all hot and bother stupidly during my journey. I shall detail this in my next post. I am sure you can all have a good laugh, especially those there to see it, what and idiot I was. Anyway, I need to go find my departure gate. I should get around to my next blog some time after I get back to my place...gah, it's going to be a fucking pain getting to the bus station.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)