The weather wasn’t the only thing worrying me about today. However, the good and the bad seemed to balance out nicely and have set up the end of the week. I’ll start with the bad bits because then I can finish on the good bits and everything will be awesome.
The Not-So-Good Bits
01. Cindy Bottling Her Anger?
원장님 has always bordered on what I would consider ‘rude‘ when dealing with the teachers. Not in a bad way so to speak, but rather just demanding their presence right that second, regardless of what they’re doing. He also has them doing a lot of administrative work and picking up slack from all over. I know it’s part of their job, but sometimes I’d like to see him be a little more gentle in the way he asks for things to be done.
Cindy and Jane get a lot of grief these days and are always being asked to do little bits here and there. Especially this week as we’re preparing for the Parent Presentations. Cindy was trying to eat her lunch today and The Boss kept asking her to come and do something. I’m always watching her when she responds because occasionally, you catch a flicker of annoyance cross her face. She’s almost always smiling and I don’t like seeing her annoyed.
She’s not the only one either and I worry that if things continue, they might just decide that it’s not worth their hassle, and quit. That would be really devastating for me because I really adore the group we have now. Fingers crossed that The Boss eases up.
02. Owen Turning Up Late
Owen turns up much later than the rest of us for some reason or another but The Boss doesn’t seem to mind too much. However, when he turns up late for his first class, it’s a bit different and he did today. I saw him having a chat with The Boss and when he came into the Teacher’s Room, he just slumped into the chair and sat for a while, so I can only assume he wasn’t feeling great. I really hope he doesn’t considering leaving, because I really enjoy having him here. We can talk a lot and his English is so good that I don’t really have to be careful when I speak.
03. 수학선생님 is Leaving!
수학선생님 [no-one uses her actual name when they talk to her] is leaving the academy to return to university after an extended period of absence. It’s a real shame because although we don’t talk often, I really enjoy it when we do. Not to mention that she’s incredibly cute and it’s always nice to see her around the academy. Jane said there might be a new male teacher coming soon but nothing has been confirmed yet. We’re going out for drinks on Thursday night which isn’t ideal, but what can you do?
The Slightly-Better-Than-The-Above Bits
01. Owen Takes One of my Classes
This was because he was absent yesterday and I had to cover this class, but any free time is good free time, especially when without it, you’d be teaching for five straight classes. As I mentioned above, he was late and I was worried he wouldn’t be coming at all. Alex would not have been amused, but thankfully he came and I got my free time.
02. Parent Presentations Pushed Back
I mentioned last week that we were having Parent Presentations on the fourth and eleventh of July. Well, the first date has been shifted back to the eleventh, and the second date is yet to be confirmed. It’s just a delay, but it gives us a little more time to prepare and make sure everything is perfect for the actual day.
03. Thursday Night is Drinks Night!
I said above that Thursday wasn’t an ideal night for us to go drinking because we all have to turn up the next day, but I always have a good time when we are actually out and drinking. I’m going to try and take some more pictures and videos like I did for Sara’s Welcome Party, but without being quite as obvious. I don’t want the other teachers to get angry at me and start taking out the mounting stress and frustration that’s floating around on me.
The night is for celebrating Jane’s birthday and Math Teacher’s last day, so it’s going to be a mixture of happy and sad. I always feel a bit funny when people leave because it means I have to get used to a new teacher and we’ve had some dodgy ones in the past. Hopefully, whoever arrives will be a good laugh and can speak some English. It would not be good to have another teacher like the Korean writing teacher we have now who hasn’t spoken two words to me in all the time I’ve been here. Better get a card for Math Teacher tomorrow and something to put Jane’s present in.
