Crazy Train

The last several weeks at the lovely E. Bo Young Talking Club will be time I will fortunately and unfortunately always remember. I've never encountered a bigger whack job in my life.

As per my contract, I'm entitled to a free return flight to my home country. I talked to She Devil about paying for a one-way plane ticket to New Zealand or Australia instead. I wanted to go visit my best friend in New Zealand and my good friends in Australia. The plane ticket would have been cheaper than sending me home, so I figured she would go for it.

Unfortunately I had to tell She Devil that I was going to be working at a different job in Korea, so she knew I was coming back to Korea. Therefore, she got this great idea that she wouldn't have to give me a plane ticket home, because I wasn't actually leaving the country. I told her since it was in my contract, then she was obligated to follow it and give me a plane ticket. She said it wasn't fair to her to have to pay for a ticket if I was coming back to the country. I told her it wasn't fair for me to not get what was stated in my contract when I fulfilled my end of the contract. She didn't see it that way; she just didn't think it was fair to her. I was really proud of myself, I didn't even raise my voice. Yelling got me nowhere with the psycho.

I called the Talking Club headquarters yet again and asked them how I should proceed. They then informed me that because I wasn't leaving the country, She Devil wasn't responsible for paying for a return flight to my home city despite what the contract said. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point of a contract for these exact circumstances? Apparently contracts don't mean as much in Korea as they do in other countries.

I got off the phone and was thankful I was alone. I wanted to hit something so hard it would break and then break my hand. I was furious. I was getting screwed... again... and there was nothing I could do about it short of involving the Korean Labor Board, which would have cost more than it was worth and likely wouldn't have done much anyway.

I really hope Karmic justice is served with a heavy hand.

I tried every angle I could think of: trying to tell She Devil I had changed my mind and wanted to go home, trying to tell her the job was changed and my start date was extended, trying to tell her she was acting illegally and unfairly; nothing was working. At one point, she agreed to pay for the one-way ticket to New Zealand and then when it got closer to me actually finishing the job and needing a release letter so I could transfer my visa to my next place of employment, she backed out and told me she would either pay for the ticket or write the letter. She knew full-well that I needed that letter to transfer my visa, so I was completely stuck and she knew it all along. I've never been so close to lighting someone on fire in my life.

Apparently she had a few conversations with the hogwan owners in the area and they said she should give me enough money to buy a one-way ticket to Japan or purchase the one-way ticket for me. Somehow, they reasoned, that was a fair trade for not buying a return ticket home and writing me the release letter I needed. Umm, that equates to about $250.

I knew I was stuck and, more importantly, she knew I was stuck. I had no choice but to just bend over and get screwed for the 9,000th time.

I opted to take the money instead of the plane ticket, which ended up being a really good choice. The immigration office had to take my passport and alien registration card (which is incredibly frightening) for the visa transfer process and they ended up holding my documents hostage for 3 weeks, which makes any international travel aspirations moot. I couldn't even travel to the DMZ, a trip I had been wanting to take since I got to Korea.

I was tired of fighting. I'd spent a very long, stressful and extremely painful year fighting without any form of victory with this horned, incompetent excuse for a lifeform and I was just tired. I had to give her what she wanted to get what I needed. I was so close to calling it quits and just going home for good, but I wasn't willing to let her beat me entirely. I guess I still got some money out of the deal, albeit not what I deserved.

I Hate Goodbye's

The last couple weeks have been so emotional for so many reasons. On one hand I have the intense desire to commit murder on a daily basis because my boss is literally the puppet of Satan and, on the other hand, I'm so sad to be leaving so many of the kids I've been teaching for the last 12 months.
Many of my students have come up to me with frowns on their faces asking me, "Erika Teacher, why go?" It's breaking my heart. I had two young girls, holding hands, come up to me about two weeks ago and say in unison, "Erika! We are sad!" I ask them why and they respond, "Because you!" and they point angrily and intensely toward the door of the school where I work. "Why you go?" they ask. All I could do was apologize.
Many of my students have been telling me they are so sad and they don't want me to leave.
"We love you Erika Teacher, don't go!" It makes me so sad to leave the majority of them.
Today was my final day at Talking Club and many of the students have been giving me gifts they picked out and wrapped themselves with little cards they took so much time writing, with eraser marks and re-write after re-write.
"I love you, teacher! Thank you for teaching me! We will miss you!" the letters say.
One of my co-teachers, who was also one of my students in my ridiculously-early before the crack of dawn class, organized an entire booklet of cards from all of her students. Each card was written and decorated by each of the students. Then the teacher, Bella, drew little pictures of each student. The last page in the booklet was a letter from her telling me how scared she was initially of taking my morning class because she was self-conscious about her English skills. She went on to say that I made her very comfortable and she appreciated all the help I gave her and she is now much more confident in speaking English.
I burst into tears.
Despite ending the worst job of my life, there are so many things I will miss.

Jeju-rrific!

Wheeeew! It's been forever since I've been able to post any updates on my crazy life in Korea. This whole "no access to a computer" thing is really cramping my style.
This entry is going to be veeeeerrrryyyy long, so hopefully you readers will have a good hour on your hands or you may want to break it up in shifts. :)

Cheers!



My friend, Simon, invited me and our other friend, Ringo, on a hiking trip to Jeju Island. Jeju Island, or Jeju-do, (do, pronounced "doh", is the Korean word for island) is a large island about 62 miles south of the South Korean peninsula. It's about 44 miles long and 25 miles across.
Jeju-do is where many newly-married Koreans spend their honeymoon. It's also known as the Hawaii of Korea.
One can either take a plane to Jeju-do or a ferry. The summer weekends are usually booked solid for transportation to and from Jeju, as are the accomodations. But, lucky for us, we booked just in the nick of time! Woot!
Jeju-do is actually a volcano, which hasn't had a major eruption since 1007, and the highest peak in South Korea calls Jeju home. Halla-san ("san" meaning mountain in Korean) is approximately 6, 400 feet high, or 1,950 meters. I was frothing at the mouth to hike Halla-san and check out Jeju. This was a trip I'd been wanting to take since I made the decision to come to Korea. I was also excited to take the trip with Simon and Ringo, both Kiwis and highly unpredictable and entertaining.
Simon and I live in the northwest region of South Korea, near Seoul, and Ringo lives in the southern region of South Korea, near Busan. So we were going to pick him up along the way.
We had to catch a bus in Seoul at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday and drive down to Mokpo, where we would catch the ferry to Jeju. The bus took about 3 1/2 hours and I couldn't sleep at all. We arrived in Mokpo extremely early in the morning, when the bus driver parked the bus and we all waited for the ferry terminal to open. Still my attempt to sleep was futile.
Eventually the sun came up and we made our way into the ferry terminal and promptly layed down on the benches and attempted some more rest. Eventually Ringo arrived at the terminal and the three of us decided to take a walk around Mokpo.
There really wasn't much to see in Mokpo, so the walk didn't take too long. However, we did have a nice run-in with an ajuma (old Korean woman). She was walking ahead of the three of us, looked around in front and to either side of herself, then looked behind at us, saw us and let a giant and extremely audible fart loose. We all sat there stunned for a split second and then busted up in laughter. Welcome to Mokpo.
We mosied back to the ferry terminal and eventually it was time to board the ferry.
All the Koreans boarding the boat were fully decked out in their hiking gear. The Koreans don't mess around when it comes to purchasing treking attire. They go to special hiking stores and get the special hiking pants and the special hiking shirt and the special hiking sleeves for their forearms so they don't get sunburned, and then they have the special hiking jacket and the special hiking fanny pack, the special hiking hat AAAAANNND the special hiking stick. It's all color-coordinated, of course. It's quite a sight, as I'm sure one can imagine.
I've got my Chaco's, a tank top and quick-dri pants and I'm good to go.
We had a room in the ferry, so almost everyone immediately dropped their packs, laid down and tried to sleep. I did the same, but eventually Simon and Ringo got up and went on an exploratory tour of the ferry. I continued to attempt to sleep and I think I may have gotten about 45 minutes when our Nazi group leader, the Hiking Guru, comes flying into the room, turns on all the lights and announces "it's time for us to eat snacks." Apparently "nap time" is over and "snack time" has commenced.
The Hiking Guru decided to open every single package of food we had in the room with a pocket knife, which was a lot -- about 2 big boxes full -- and spread them all over the floor. At one point, one of the women in the group said, "Umm, Hiking Guru, I think we have enough food right now. You probably don't need to open anymore."
To which he replied, "I just like to cut things."
At this point I decided I'd had enough of snack time and wanted to see what Simon and Ringo were up to.
The boys had been wandering around the ferry and I found them easily enough in the main cafeteria area of the ship. They were headed up to our room when I intercepted them. Ringo handed me a bottle of beer and we ended up sitting down at one of the tables to play a Korean card game and drink until we reached Jeju.
We hit the ground running once we got to the island. We met our bus and our first stop was a lava tube, Man Jang Gul. It's part of the longest lava tube system in the world supposedly. The temperature changed about 10 degrees from the steps entering the cave to the underground tunnel.
There were various layers of lava in the walls of the tube and stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a large pillar formation that was made when lava poured in from a hole in the roof of the cave. It reminded me of the giant organ in Goonies.
There was a platform made of lava that supposedly looked like a turtle, however I didn't really see the resemblance. I kept hoping to see a bat, but to no avail.
After we left the lava tube we headed to Seongsan il chul bong (Seongsan Sunrise Peak). This is a tuff cone left over from the volcanic activity a long-ass time ago.
We hiked to the top of the peak, which wasn't all that high. I did appreciate the random pseudo convenience stores set up along the trail selling soju. That was a nice touch. Good job, Korea.
It was really foggy. We were told we would be able to see a gigantic crater full of beautiful foliage overlooking the sea once we got to the top. However, I can neither confirm not deny said beautiful landscape exists as we saw nothing but mist. But what a lovely mist it was.
Jeju-do supposedly has wild horses and apparently it's the only place in all of Korea that has horses. Though the only horses I saw were those attached to ropes walking around a ring with little Asian people snapping pictures. Those don't really strike me as "wild" horses, but the Korean tourists sure were enjoying them.
The people of Jeju are awfully artistic and they've carved little men out of the ubiquitous volcanic rock found in abundance all over the island. There's little stone men all over the island called Dolharubang (Stone Grandfather). Supposedly they are for protection for the island. However, I think they look like giant penises. Giant 3-foot-tall penises. So naturally, Ringo, Simon and I performed lewd and lascivious acts upon the poor Grand-stones. Turns out there are only about 40 of the original figures in existance today and we were dry-humping a few of them. Oops.
After we promised to call the Dolharubang, we set off for a waterfall. We first went to an area where we overlooked the waterfall from a temple. Then we walked down to the pool that the waterfall emptied into. By this point I was sweating like a race horse and I desperately wanted to jump into the pool, but unfortunately there were signs outlawing frolicking in the water placed all over the flatform where we were standing and the area surrounding the pool. We were also being watched by Capt. Hiking Guru and he's so excitable there is a distinct possibility he would have had a coronary if I would have broken the rules and jumped in the water. Koreans don't break rules. They don't understand the concept.
From the waterfall, we made our way around the island to the pension we were going to stay in that night. Pensions are basically hostels/backpackers that don't have beds. They come equipped with blankets and pillows and everyone sleeps on the floor. Our pension was overlooking the beach.
When we checked in, Hiking Guru tried to section us off in men's and women's rooms. Koreans have a hard time with the opposite sexes intermingling unless they're married. I immediately cut him off and said, "Nope, I'll sleep in here with my friends," and I plopped my stuff down next to Simon and Ringo's bags. We had three other chicks in our room and the other rooms were filled with both members of the opposite sex. For shame!
It was dinnertime and we made our way down to the front of the pension for a meal of boiled bulgogi and bagels. And, of course, beer and soju. The boys and I had been drinking all day. We started drinking beer on the ferry and then moved on to maekgoli once we got to Jeju.
I remember looking at the supply of beer Hiking Guru brought on the trip and thinking, "There's no way that's going to last through the night."
Sure enough, the supply of alcohol was depleted in no time. When we asked Capt. Hiking Guru where we could buy more, he said "nowhere," everything was closed by 8 p.m. and it was now approaching 10. "It's an island, things close early here," he said.
Ringo looked like he was about to cry. He turned to me and said, "Come with me."
So Ringo and I set off on an alcohol-seeking mission. We soon had a posse, which included Simon and a couple other alcoholics. We stopped at every business-looking building we could find. We came upon a restaurant that was closing, but still had patrons inside. We asked the woman if she had maekju (beer) and soju we could buy from her. We were in luck! We cleaned the woman out and returned to the party victorious!
Capt. Hiking Guru announced that everyone who wanted to hike Halla-san in the morning would need to meet the bus at 3:30 a.m. Simon had already made the decision not to hike Halla-san, but Ringo and I were still toying with the idea of hiking it. That was until we heard what time we would have to wake up in order to hike it. When we heard 3:30 in the morning, we both looked at each other and said, "The hell we are!" and continued drinking.
I've left a crucial element out of the story until now. The boys thought it would be absolutely hilarious to have a competition to see who could show me their testicles the most often and in the most creative ways. Needless to say, I saw way more of Ringo and Simon than I needed to throughout the weekend.
At one point I was sitting on a bench and Ringo came up behind me and said we should take a picture together. As he was positioning the camera in front of us to take the picture, he flipped it around so the LED screen was in front of my face displaying a zoomed-in picture of Simon's balls. I was not impressed.
As the night progressed more and more people continued to head to bed and one unfortunate soul forgot her camera and left it where the rest of us were sitting when she went to bed. Naturally Simon, Ringo and the rest of us still standing gave her a few special photographic mementos to remind her of the trip. It was really more of an anatomy lesson.
I have this affinity for skinny-dipping whenever I'm near the ocean. I don't know what it is. There's just something so pure and natural about the ocean and I have to get down to my most natural state to fully embrace it. So Ringo, Simon, the other guy still standing and I all stripped down and took a dip in the sea and then we finally went to bed.
The next day while everyone else was hiking Halla-san or otherwise exploring the island, Ringo, Simon and I decided to take a trip on a yellow submarine. Simon was obscenely excited about this trip. He was like a little kid, jumping around and squirming with excitement. I wanted to smack him after awhile.
We had to wait for a little while for the submarine tour so the three of us took a look around the bay. We went out to a lighthouse and we were lucky enough to see the Haenyeo.
Haenyeo are women divers who are famous and widely known throughout Jeju-do and Korea. Diving is only a profession for women on the island. They dive all year-round and in the past the divers would wear only loose white cotten clothing and used rope baskets to hold whatever sea-life they caught and gourds as floats.
Nowadays, women wear full-body wetsuits. In the past, the women would make up to 150 dives a year. Now women usually dive only from spring to fall.
Historically when the women dove in the white cotten get-up men were forbidden to look at the women. Divers were anywhere from 30 to well-over 60 years old. The population of the divers is decreasing, but there are still about 5,000 Haenyeo left in Jeju.
I was nervous that the women wouldn't appreciate us taking their picture, but when they passed us in their boat on the way out to find their daily catch, they were all smiles waving and yelling "Annyeong" and "Hello."
Soon enough it was time for the much-anticipated yellow submarine trip. The three of us were the only Waegooks (foreigners) on the trip and we were completely obnoxious. We took a shuttle boat out to the submarine and the three of us were audibly excited about the yellow submarine, clapping, laughing, singing and taking pictures. Ringo and Simon spotted a Japanese girl who then became the object of their affection and they spent the shuttle trip (and the subsequent submarine trip) trying to get her attention and her photograph.
I don't have the strongest stomach and the strong waves were becoming an issue. I'm sure the consumption of maekju and soju the previous evening were not helping matters, but I started feeling quesy -- really quesy.
We got down into the submarine and the waves had become 10 times more powerful. The saliva was increasing. I was sweating like an ape. It wasn't a matter of "if" I was going to puke, but a matter of "when."
Ringo and Simon took the opportunity to snap copious photos of me about ready to vomit. Assholes.
Once we got below the surface, the waves were no more and I felt better. I thought I might actually make it out of the yellow tomb of death without puking. I was able to momentarily enjoy myself.
We saw many beautiful fish and stunning coral, of which the highly eco-conscious and licensed submarine driver kept smacking into irreparably damaging for centuries. They even employed a guy to dive into the water and capture baby rays to stick on the porthole windows for our viewing pleasure. Of course I took pictures!
The waves of nausea came back in full force and in between the boys volleying back and forth between laughing at me, viewing the beautiful fishies and checking out the Japanese chickee I was trying to swallow back the inevitable.
I will be forever grateful to the Jeju Submarine Tour Company for providing little white plastic puke bags. They saved me from even more embarrassment. Luckily all I had in my stomach was pear soda, that's easy to throw up.
This was endless entertainment for the boys who spent the next several minutes snapping photos of me chundering into a plastic bag. At one point I thought Ringo was actually trying to be nice. He was rubbing my back and asking if I was OK. Turns out he was recording me on video. Assholes.
Luckily the vomit stopped and soon so did the submarine tour. Before we surfaced, one of the Korean women on the sub turned to me and said, "You! Number 1!" Both Ringo and Simon threw their arms up in the air and exclaimed, "Yeah! Number One!"
The Korean lady said, "Off! You Number One off!!!"
She was telling me to get off the submarine first. Hahahaha!
She blocked everyone else from getting off the sub first and made sure I got off first and then she followed me onto the shuttle boat and made sure I sat down and then she got me some water. It was very sweet actually.
I attempted to sit inside the shuttle boat, but after about 30 seconds, I realized that was a pretty bad idea. I headed up to the open air of the top deck and tried desperately to focus on a stationary object on the horizon. It worked for a half-second, but then I started puking once again into another bag. Awesome.
Thankfully the shuttle was swift and I bee-lined off the boat for stable ground.
The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful. We headed back to the pension where I promptly took a spot on the floor and tried to forget the fact that I just chundered in front of an entire submarine full of strangers -- and had it videotaped.
We had to wait around for the part of the group that actually hiked Halla-san before we could head home. Eventually they arrived and we all piled onto the wretched smelling bus and headed back to the ferry terminal.
We got to the terminal and it was absolute mayhem. All the ferries were booked and all flights off Jeju were cancelled. There was an impassable and lingering fog that was making air travel impossible. Thankfully our ferry tickets were pre-booked.
There were hundreds of bodies everywhere, all over the ferry terminal lobby. Lines for the ticket window were stretching outside and the ticket window attendants were screaming something incomprehensible into loudspeakers. I, of course, had no idea what they were saying, but assumed it was something along the lines of, "Good luck you sorry bastards. There is no way you're getting home tonight. Have fun explaining this to your bosses. You will likely be tortured with chopsticks and honor-killed during the next morning meeting." Or something along those lines.
Honestly, I wouldn't doubt it if that actually happened to a few people. Korean employers are a little intense and work is just not missed, no matter what the circumstances. One of my friends worked with a guy who's wife had a miscarriage. He was at work that morning and only asked to take the afternoon off to be with his wife. When I say Korean bosses are intense, it's not an exaggeration.
We stood, sat and laid around the ferry terminal for about an hour and a half and then finally it was time to go. People were pushing us to try to get ahead, people were cutting in line and standing all over everyone else to try to get on the ferry. It was like the island was going to blow up and this was their last chance of survival. We had to go through the gate single-file because we were being squished by hordes of people from every side. At one point, Capt. Hiking Guru almost came to blows with a man that jumped into line and cut the rest of us off from getting on the ferry. Thankfully he had a pocketknife... I was glad their were little Korean police officers there, but I'm not actually sure if they could have done much.
Once we finally got on the ferry, there were about three times as many people in our room and the ferry employees told us we were weren't allowed to lay down or extend our legs. Ummm, yup, luckily I can pull the foreigner card and honestly say I had no idea was he was talking about.
There were so many people in our room and all the Koreans were playing card games and drinking shots of soju. We were getting the stink-eye from them because we had the audacity to lay down or (gasp!) extend our legs in front of us!!! It was quite a great trip home. Luckily the more soju the Korean passengers drank the more they lightened up and didn't care so much what we were doing. Soju just brings people together; it seems to be a great equalizer.

Bloody Picasso and Dog Food

I was heading to my friend's apartment to watch a rugby game, but he lives out of town and so I needed to catch a bus. I'd never been there before, but I knew it wasn't too far away.
I hopped on a bus and called my friend to let him know I would be there shortly so he could wait for me at the bus stop.
He told me about the various landmarks that I would see along the way so that I would know where to get off the bus. He also said either himself or one of our other friends would be there waiting for me at the bus stop so I would know for sure when to get off.
I kept seeing various landmarks that could possibly be the ones he was talking about, but I wasn't sure so I kept waiting to see a familiar face. That familiar face was nowhere to be found. I kept searching for it at every stop. It just never came.
My friends kept calling me questioning me about my whereabouts. I had absolutely no idea where I was. Eventually, after about a half hour, my friend called and told me to get off the bus and just wait for the next bus heading back in the direction I had just come.
I did get off the bus at the next stop and landed in a random rice paddie. Absolutely nothing looked familiar and there was a random convenience store open, but no clerk. There was also a couple of small cages full of dogs that were barely being kept alive. They will be someone's meal soon.
I met some junior-high aged boys on the road and asked them if they knew where and when a bus would be coming along. In single-word sentences they informed me that the bus stop was just down the road and there would be a bus coming in about 30 minutes.
I stood at the bus stop, which was no more than a telephone pole, and waited for the bus to come. I was somewhat near some sort of factory that had smoke billowing from the stacks.
Big dumptrucks kept driving by me, too. There was one driver in particular who continuously drove on the road in front of me. He would head one direction and then 10 minutes later he would drive back. Each time he passed me he would slow to gawk at me. On the third drive-by he made a complete stop, whipped out a huge, very expensive looking SLR camera and began taking my picture. I was stunned and immediately turned my back to the freak and did my best to hide behind the telephone pole.
He eventually continued driving and I guffawed at his brazen dickishness.
But it didn't end there. He kept driving back and forth past me, every 15 minutes or so and each time he pulled out his camera and tried to take pictures of me. WTF? I was convinced he was going to grab me, throw me in his dump truck, chop me up into little pieces, take pictures of the pieces and then feed me to the poor malnourished dogs that were stuck in the cages that were way too small for them.
He drove by another time, stopped in front of me again and motioned for me to get in his truck. Are you friggin' kiddin' me, smalls? On what planet do you think I would actually willingly get into your vehicle with you and ALLOW you to murder me and take pictures while doing it? Psycho.
By this point it's raining. I called my friend, Reese, and explained the situation to her and said I just wanted her to know what happened to me in case nobody ever heard from me again. She said, "OH MY GOD!! Where are you??! I'll come get you!!!"
I ever so calmly exclaimed, "I don't even know where I am!!! Somewhere between rice paddies and my eternal grave!!! He's going to feed me to the poor dogs!!!"
That's when my cell phone battery began to beep as, of course, my battery was now dying. I can't actually make this shit up. By this point it had been about a half-hour and no bus was in sight.
Butcher-boy kept driving by and I was absolutely convinced I was going to become some sort of bloody montage of digital pictures for this freak. I considered walking to one of the little farm houses to see if I could borrow someone's phone to call somebody who could speak Korean to call me a cab. I thought better of it when I realized the only living quarters I could find was one that housed emaciated dogs in teeny-tiny cages.
I would wait for the bus.
I began standing behind an ancient decrepit pop machine that was near the telephone pole to cover myself enough from the prying eyes of Butcher-boy. Eventually, after about 20 more minutes, a bus came charging up the road and I nearly shrieked in glee and through my hands up in victory. I was not going to be dog food today! I've never been so happy to see a bus in my life.
After going all the way back into Dangjin, I called my friend who's house I was supposed to be at an hour prior and told him, screw it I'm getting a cab. Turns out, his apartment was literally 5 minutes from the center of Dangjin. I practically could have walked there.

Thanks Ya'll

I've been so lucky in my life to have met such amazing people and to have made such great friends. It's so humbling to have such phenomenal friends and family on my side.
The last few years have been so tumultuous and mercurial. I've made so many path-altering decisions. My friends have stuck with me and supported me and the friends I've made along the way have surpassed any expectation I ever could have made.
I can say without hesitation that I, by far, have the most amazing people in my life and I'm so thankful.
I can also say I've put myself in various positions and situations in the past few years which have forced me to rely heavily on others, which isn't something I was used to. I'm not proud of certain things, but it's comforting to know I have many people I can call on when I know I need help.
Even now in South Korea, I've made friends that are willing to give so much to me and it's overwhelming. I've known these people for 9 months and they're willing to open so much of themselves to me. I'm so lucky.

Three Months and Counting....

Has it been mentioned that I hate my boss? I may have let that slip once or twice. But I do. I really, really do.
I had been working at a kindergarten four days a week from 10 a.m. to noon for most of the last 9 months I've been in Korea. In the beginning, it was for 80 minutes a day twice a week. But apparently She Devil decided she wasn't making enough money off me so she upped my schedule. Then she rearranged my regular schedule from 2:30-9:30 p.m. so that I would have one or two 45-minute breaks throughout the day, so that I would never get overtime.
I later found out that Agnes and the owners of the kindergarten were friends. I wasn't aware that it was possible for Agnes to have friends, but when making money is involved I guess anything is possible.
The new schedule became such a giant pain in the ass. I never had a chance to have a life outside of school. I never had enough time to get anything done. I have to walk everywhere I go and it's a mission just to go to the bank or the grocery store.
I got to the point where I told She Devil I didn't want to do the kindergarten classes anymore. Two hours with 3-5-year olds is a REALLY long time. And then I have to deal with the rest of my students for 7 hours a day.
Agnes had a complete conniption fit and said I had to do it. Then I reminded here that my contract wasn't with the kindergarten, which is in a seperate location, but with Talking Club. I also called the Talking Club headquarters and had them talk to her, which further pissed her off.
She eventually relented, but said to give the kindergarten a 1-month notice. Fine. Whatever.
About two weeks after this all transpired, She Devil dropped a bomb on me telling me that because I wasn't going to be doing the kindergarten anymore I would be starting an adult English class Monday-Thursday from 6:30-7:30 a.m.
I told her, the hell I was. I told her it was unreasonable to ask (tell) me to do that. She said I had no choice and under my contract I was obligated to work 120 hours a month and that time would be part of my contract hours.
I told her I would call Talking Club headquarters again and ask them about it. She said, "Ok, go ahead."
I called the headquarters, explained the situation and the guy (who sounded like an Aussie) told me that unfortunately I was contractually obligated to do the class. He told me the way my contract was worded it didn't stipulate when the 120 hours had to be done.
He said, "I'm really sorry. I know you don't want to hear that."
I asked him what I could do. He told me, "Off the record, you should contact your recruiter or hand in your resignation. If headquarters got involved, it would make her more angry and she'd make your situation worse."
Super.
I contacted my recruiter and told him everything that had happened throughout the year. I hadn't contacted him throughout the year because I was afraid of what would happen to me. I didn't tell him everything because I wanted him to do something about it, I finally told him because I wanted him to be aware in case she tried to do something to me. I've heard stories about English teachers being fired in their 11th month for bogus reasons. I also don't want the next person to have to go through the same crap I did.
My recruiter said he was really sorry and he agreed with me that what she was asking was unreasonable. He told me he wouldn't send another teacher to this school ever again and he asked me what I wanted him to do. I told him I just wanted to finish my contract and get the hell away from her.
She came up to me the other day and said, "The morning class must be really difficult."
I said, "Yeah, it really sucks but there's nothing I can do about it."
She then said, "Uhh, yeah. I'm sorry about that." And then she just walked away.
I have three months left. I just have to get through the next three months. I've been looking for the next contract and I want to get as far away from here as possible. I've been looking for jobs in Busan or Jinju, which are both cities on the south region of South Korea. Basically I want to get as far away from this woman as humanly possible and since I can't afford to go home, that means I head to the southern coast.
I just really hope the next three months fly by.

Red, White & Blue

This was the first 4th of July I haven't had to work since I was in high school and, go figure, I'm in a different country. But fun was had by all!
My friends and I got together to have an Independence barbecue on the rooftop of one of our apartments. Since my friends are from all parts of the world, we decided to not celebrate any one country. We had Koreans, Canadians, Irish, Kiwis, Americans and South Africans at the barbecue. It turned into an American and Canadian party, however.
I showed up with watermelon and Budweiser. I don't even drink Budweiser in America, I think it's crap beer, but I had to drink it for the party! Somebody else brought an American flag and one of the Canadian chicks brought graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows for s'mores. Yeehaw!!!
At one point, three of us Americans broke out with the national anthem. I couldn't remember I actually remembered the words. It's been so long since I've actually sang that song. Then the Canadian chicks followed suit and had to sing their national anthem, too.
We also shot off fireworks and had sparklers. Yay for lighting shit on fire!!!!!
The police eventually showed up because, apparently, we were being too loud. Keep in mind this was before 10 p.m. on a Saturday. Luckily we had Korean friends at the party and they managed to get rid of the cops. If this had been a Korean party, there would have been no issue. But god forbid the Meegooks and Waegooks celebrate their independence. Whatevs. We had a great time regardless.
I didn't get to go camping, float the river or watch a parade, but I still had a great Independence Day celebration with good friends, beer, barbecue and fireworks. Sounds like a pretty successful Independence Day to me.
Happy Birthday, America!!!!