This week has started quite busy and next week is only going to be even busier. Normally, I wouldn’t have mentioned this but a few important dates have been named and I am even being forced to come in on two consecutive Saturdays next month, so I felt it deserved a mention.
No Free Time Next Monday and Thursday
Owen will be leaving us on Monday and Thursday next week for his obligatory military training. Normally, I would moan inwardly that I had to give up some of my free time to take cover his classes, but Monday AND Wednesday?! *sadface* Monday and Thursday are my favorite days because of the amount of free time I get to mark homework, play with my iPod and surf the Internet. There is a good chance that I won’t have any free time until after dinner on those two days now.
I don’t quite know how it affects the other teachers yet, but Jane didn’t seem to be overly happy about it. Of course, I know it’s not his fault and there’s nothing he can really do about it, but someone has to be blamed for this. Especially seeing as it’s the start of a busy moth for us.
Presenting Classes to the Parents on Saturdays
This I am not happy about. I don’t feel that I can complain that much because the other teachers are in every Saturday around exam times, but I never have to work on Saturdays. It’s one of the advantages of being an English teacher at this academy and something that I’m extremely appreciative of. However, this is a special occasion and an opportunity for the academy to attract more students as well as showing the current students’ parents how their children are learning.
None of the teachers want to do it, but I do think they have a small advantage over me, considering that they’ve spoken to all of the parents before and they are speaking in Korean. I have only ever spoken to two parents in all the time I’ve been here – once while I was handing out fliers and second time, at my local Home Plus. I voiced my concerns to Jane and she assured me that the parents are really excited to ‘see me in action‘ and they are always telling her how much they like me. How they know about me, I can only assume comes from their children which doesn’t fill me with the utmost confidence. Just to confirm, that’s on the 4th and 11th of July, in the evening.
The Summer Schedule has been Announced!
The Summer Schedule is always a nice change because it means that while we have to arrive earlier, we’re also leaving work at a reasonable hour. This year it has fallen on Jane to prepare the schedule which is a little more difficult than just moving the classes back an hour or so. 원장님 has been on her back more than usual to get it right and finally she has. I don’t know how the schedule relates to my classes yet because I quite often have to take extra classes, but I hope to speak to her about it today.
As I said, I like the change in work hours because it helps to break up the monotony of working every day at the same time. it also means that when I get home in the evening, there’s still some time to do something before I have to go to bed. Also, we’re starting a little later this year which means I have time in the morning for my ‘Daily Walk‘. This has come at a price though – the price of not having a designated eating time. Usually, we have dinner between 7:15PM and 7:30PM, but in this new schedule, we don’t have any specific time for eating. Jane said that The Boss will “give us food at certain times” and we just have to eat when we’re free. Alex is not pleased by this.
EDIT – 6/24
Found out today that I have to start almost two hours earlier to take an extra ‘Speaking Class‘. Now this doesn’t really surprise me because I figured the reason we were starting later this year was because we weren’t having food. I could forgive this, but now we’re starting earlier and there’s still no time for eating. Again, Alex is not amused.
Jane’s Birthday is Coming Up
Yes, it’s coming up to the first birthday of the newest set of teachers. The previous teachers didn’t stay long enough to celebrate their birthdays here, so this is the first time that we’ll be celebrating a birthday together as a group. Jane is two years younger than me at 20 years old, and she likes having a good time, so it should be fun. As her birthday falls on a Thursday, I offered to take her the first class that we share but she said it was OK. I wonder if she’ll be saying that on the afternoon of her birthday.
There are no definite plans for going out as yet, but I suspect the following evening would be perfect because although we have to come in and present to the parents the following day, we have until the evening to recover. Having said that, maybe the evening after the presentations would be a better choice. She mentioned preparing a present in jest last night as she wrote it up on the calendar, but despite talking a lot and being quite friendly towards each other, I can’t think what I could get her besides some nice chocolate. I’ll keep thinking and hopefully I’ll find something she’ll like.
And Finally…
One of my good-but-a-little-cheeky students defended me yesterday. Another student jokingly said that I was a “Bad teacher“, and she stepped in and told her that I was good. There are lots of little moments that make this job worthwhile and no matter how small or fleeting, they always make up for the bad eggs.
