The Earnest Truth

As each day passes, I find myself engaged in this constant struggle against some douchebag people. If it is not a certain school with their administration, it is another school coming to collect the the belongings of the previous inhabitant's apartment.

It is an awkward mix of comfort and agitation that fills most of my days in Korea.
I am having issues with one school in particular. I have lost my desk and computer to the P.E. teacher, the administration mocks me and I have been told that my wild hair is not acceptable for school. There is a new English wing to the school and I have been told that I can set up my computer there. So it will be nice to not have to see the administration on a daily basis and have my own private area.

There was a final dinner meeting with all of the teachers from Naeto elementary school. It was a fun time; I got to hang out with my friends, talk to another foreign teacher and get to meet some of the teachers that I did not meet during the school year. I went to the Noraebong (Singing Room) again, just to be a good sport, and found that it was enjoyable to get to know my colleagues. I was constantly harassed by this forty year old woman who kept asking me to marry her. I hope that it was just a joke, but she was persistent and wanted a kiss at the end of the night. NG, there was no amount of alcohol that would make me fall into that pitfall.

At 10, in the morning, I was greeted with a knock on my door and a demand for items back. I moved into this new apartment because of the outbreak of mold that infested my old room. There is a new foreign teacher that will be moving into that apartment so they are cleaning it right now. If they would have just fixed it like I had asked for then I would not need to move and save us all the trouble, but since they were stubborn I had to put my foot down and demand to move. So now, they want all of the stuff that Grace (my friend who lived in this apartment before me) back for the new teacher. I do not mind giving up the things that I have doubles of or do not need, but some of the items have become an extension of this apartment. Bookcases that prop up appliances, dishes, a cabinet in the bathroom. It seems as if they are trying to make a fuss for the purpose of doing so. In other words, they are being douchebags.

Thank goodness that I have made friends that give me the complete different perspective of Korea. I was talking with another foreign teacher and even though I was defending this country for it's contradictory standards, I was also getting agitated by the lack of respect that we are shown in this country. I do not like the standard of oppression that they show towards women. I do not like how we, as foreigners, are not shown respect by some of the older generations. I understand that we are coming into their country; many for the first time, making better money than them without having to partake in the painstaking amount of work they had to endure and pose as a reminder that their system would rather trust an outsider to teach their kids than them, but we only signed up for what was thought of as an opportunity to see a different side of the world.

I am also having issues with some of the friends that I have made. It seems as if this one particular individual has become more of a bother than anything else. Her implications that I am dating my neighbor, have feelings for my co-teacher/friend and intrusive behavior has begun to turn me off of this friendship. She is usually really nice, but she has no concept of when to scale back.

I am getting more frustrated by the situation at hand. The only thing that keeps me in this place is the friends that I have made and the kids. There are still many aspects of Korea that I enjoy, but right now I just needed to vent about the frustrations of this country.

Kick It Up!

So I have been on vacation for the past week. It was sad to say goodbye to some friends that went back to California this weekend but it was nice spending some time in Seoul with one of them. Eating western food was never more enjoyable. I got some CPK and a Long Island, so life was pretty good. In truth, my Long Island's are better, but you have to take what you can get.

In the midst of all of my happiness, there are a few dark spots that bother me about Korea. Although my recruiter was not completely truthful with me in regards to my contracts and obligations I cannot hold it again him or cannot get myself to waste the energy to. I know that people are upset with me because my school schedule does not sync up with the vacations they originally planned but that is truly out of my hands. I do not control the school boards and cannot make them give me time off. I technically should be at school with the other teachers during some of this break time but they wave that. My vacation was too sporadic for me to travel anywhere during winter and it sucks but I am over it. I just hope that during summer vacation I can travel and see the countries around Korea. Right now it is nice that I am able to explore Korea though. I am learning that truth hiding/evading/neglecting is part of the culture in Korea and it is not worth getting agitated over.

I have to say that Korea has some awesome fashion. It is all of the stuff that I wish I had at home. Zippers that are not symmetrically placed on the jacket, high collared jackets, connected hoodie scarves, hoodies with bold prints and masks sewn into them and everything you could ever imagine. I need to lose weight to fit into some of these things, but on a brighter note, I have lost 14-15 pounds since coming to Korea! I just need to lose another 40 pounds or just slim down and build up some muscle.

I called my mom today to see how she was doing. She is not in any pain but the medication that she is on makes her dizzy and sick most of the time. She is going in for an x-ray tomorrow to see if everything is ok. The conversation started with her crying but I was relieved to see that she was smiling and laughing half way through. I had the talk with my mom that I have been dreading and it went better than I could have imagined. She brought it up by telling me about how my dad thinks that I will stay in Korea because I seem to be enjoying myself here. I asked her what she thought if I stayed for an extra year and would she be ok with it. She said that she would be fine as long as I am happy. I told her that I would get a month vacation if I renewed my contract and they would pay for my plane ticket home. With that, I might stay longer.