I really am glad to be teaching. Do I sound like I'm trying to convince myself? Maybe I'm at that stage where I'm asking myself, what have I gotten myself into? Really, it's cool to be teaching again, but currently feeling a bit overwhelmed – I really do want to do a good job.
So Tuesday was Gary's last day – he is/was my predecessor. Several of us teachers, along with Gary and the two directors/owners of the hagwon (academy) went out for food and drinks after work – since this is an afternoon academy, that means we were out from around 11 pm through 3 am. But Korea is definitely a night-owl culture, and many bars and restaurants and such are open very late. Social drinking is, of course, extremely pervasive, but I resisted the suggestions of soju (korean native vodka-type stuff) or beer and stuck with saida ("cider" = really this is 7-up or something like that).
But there's nothing like seeing your coworkers get drunk for getting to know them. Ha. So, Gary was the raison d'etre of the party, and life of the party too – the life of any party, such an expansive and energetic personality. Grace is a korean-canadian, fully bilingual, and has been with the school since it's founding, 4-5 years ago. Marly, a maori new zealander who's been around for about a year, and seems quite competent at teaching and is quite friendly. Lastly, Danny and his wife Diane are the owners/founders of the academy, a korean couple who lived in south africa for some years. So they're my "bosses." I really think Gary was right, I've landed in a good spot -they seem very conscientious and dedicated to providing a quality product to their students. I met an "alum" of the school Tuesday afternoon, who was visiting but was now enrolled at the University of Chicago – that speaks pretty well for the skills and competency imbued, given the high standards and reputation of that school.
So we stayed out till about 3 am, but since work starts at 2 pm, this is not really a problem. I feel for the students, who essentially go to school from 7 am to 11 pm (with food breaks, I guess) – public school in the morning, hagwon in the afternoon. And this practice is universal. No wonder Korea kicks U.S. ass in educational statistics, right?
Yesterday Danny and I drove to an immigration office, where I had to surrender my passport in order to get an "alien card" - I've always wanted to have my alienation confirmed bureaucratically. I feel naked without the passport, but I have a little piece of paper that I use as an ID, meanwhile, and I should get the card in 2 weeks, and this will allow me to do things like get my own cell phone, bank account, DSL connection, etc – all the accouterments of modern life.
I am, by far, the "old man" here, but I felt comfortable with these people and I'm feeling optimistic.
I have approximately 13 classes, most of which meet twice a week and several meet three times a week. I'll tell more about my schedule and students later, as I get to know things – for now I'm just going to go "by the book" and follow Gary's lead (to the extent I can make sense of his notes – heh) and Danny and Diane's curricula.
Given the quantities of free food on offer at work, and the fact that my rent is paid for, I can already tell that I'm going to be hard put to spend my earnings here – but that's good, I guess.
One piece of disappointing news: my vacation schedule is such that I probably won't be able to take any long excursions out of Korea – the 2 weeks are distributed across the calendar and there's not a lot of flexibility. So I guess people will have to come visit me, instead. I will have weekends free, regardless, and South Korea is small enough that you can see most any part of it in a weekend. But the slow boat to China, traipsing off to Darwin and points south, and other adventures will have to wait, it seems.