Well this week started off pretty good. After getting up and making some food before going to work, I went outside to find the weather quite warm for this time of year, somewhere in the -2 range. Once at work we were all wondering if John would be in, and eventually he did show up feeling relieved to be out of the hospital, but still in a heap of pain and on a bucket of meds. I did the best I could to catch him up on what went on with his classes last week, but given his condition, he had very little in the way of attention span which seemed to span the week. In fact throughout the week he was more concerned with getting his texts off than his job, which made me want to choke him and him so unorganized it was unbearable. After work Monday, I hit the gym for the last time, as my membership ran out on the 27th. That being the case I tried to workout extra hard, because I knew I wouldn't be renewing until after my first pay of the new year. After the gym I went home and put on a football game while I made some food before bed.
Tuesday morning I woke up late in the morning and did nothing but get ready and head off to work in hopes that the day would go by and that the coming winter intensive schedule that everybody has been talking about would be explained to us before it was too late. That never happened and later in the week the proverbial shit hit the fan. After work it was straight home to watch another football game and try to get to bed at a decent hour, which also didn't happen.
Wednesday, since I didn't have a gym membership, I didn't go to the gym. Instead I made some food and headed to work, and walked right into confusion central. It's funny you know, every year winter comes at the same time, which means winter vacation for the students which in turn means winter intensives for most hagwons (academies). Even as a non-Korean I know this, yet the school couldn't wrap it's head around the idea of getting things organized before it was the day before. That being said, and keeping in mind Koreans inability to plan ahead, or to organize things in a sensible fashion, it was a veritable madhouse at work with teachers and administration running around trying to finalize schedules, and all the other things that should have been done weeks ago. So while all the craziness was going on, I thought I might ask about what was going to happen with us foreign teachers, and was met with the surprise that I didn't already know. That put me into a pretty bitter place, and I quickly made it known that it isn't the Korean facultys' responsibility to inform us, but that of the administration, especially since Jean our usual liaison was away on family business. Then on top of that, though there had been hints of us having to start grading the online essays of the upper level students, it wasn't until half way through Wednesday that we were given any sort of clue as to what we were supposed to do, and even then things were so busy that we couldn't get online to have a look. At approximately the end of the day, we were told that we would have to be back at work for the new winter schedule at 930 the next morning, and that broke me. I voiced my opinion on how poor the communication and organization at this school is, and how it is really hurting the way things get done, or not done to be more precise. After work John and I went back to my place for a few beers and to snip some photos off his hospital disk so he could put them up on Facebook. Eventually John went home to get some sleep, and I threw on a football game before heading to bed.
Having only gone to bed at 3am, I had to get up at 8 in order to make some food and make it to work for 930. Once at work the confusion continued as teachers were coming in late and scrambling to get ready for classes. Typically during intensive schedules, the number of hours is increased by a few, but the day is shifted forward so that the kids come in the morning and afternoon, but everyone gets to go home early and have a life. My school seems to be different, and the owner believes that the kids will come no matter what time as long as we offer classes. That being said we run classes from 10am until 9pm MWF, and 10am until 630pm TTH. So our night classes were shifted forward to the morning and a couple extra classes added between when they finish and the regular afternoon students arrive, giving us a one hour lunch break. While at work John and I tried to get a handle on the new online essay marking program, not that it's that difficult, but with any new program there is a learning curve. While doing so, we were getting pressure from administration to get all the essays finished in on afternoon, not understanding that in a typical week we would have 3 or even 4 days to work through the essays that average 10-12 minutes a piece to mark. There just wasn't enough time and we were unable to get to them, and by 630 the kids were gone, and I only stuck around until 730 to wait for the Korean teachers to be done before I gave it up and went home myself. Once home I put on another football game while I cooked some food for the next day before heading to bed around 230.
Another early morning on Friday marked the start of a stressful day. After I got up and made it to work the pressure was on again about the essays John and I 'desperately' needed to finish. That being said, our vice principal, who likes to make everyones job difficult by creating more of a business atmosphere than academic one at work, then started asking other Korean teachers to help us, which made them freak out thinking they had to do a bunch of extra work that they were unfamiliar with. Eventually, the vice principal came into the teachers office to have a word with me, but found herself getting a word from me. Before she even started, I told her that if she was coming into the office to create more confusion and chaos, then she could walk herself right back out because John and I had it under control, and nobody needed her running around creating chaos. She wasn't sure what to say to that and tried to explain herself, but since I'm a dick and was in no mood to listen I let her know that what she does at our school makes no sense, because it always results in panic and hard feelings. She didn't know what to say, so I continued to explain to her how on a regular week John and I could do the essays with little worry, but only having one day was a bit ridiculous. After that she left the office, and to be honest I felt a bit worried I might be called into the directors office, but I had the same message for her and less than an iota of care in me. That never happened though, and as much as I would hope a lesson will be learned, I know it won't so whatever. After work, which by the way didn't finish until 9pm on Friday according to a new schedule we got in the middle of the day, I went straight home to bundle up for our New Years Eve outing. Since I have still not received my winter clothes from home, I doubled up on sweaters, put on long-johns, and grabbed some gloves, then headed to Jonggak to meet Alex and Louise, James, Garrett, Brett and MiSeon, and Thomas and Jeanne for the street ceremony. I met James, Louise and Alex at an Indian restaurant first for a bit before going outside to meet with Brett and Miseon, and Garrett, then fill my backpack with beers to drink while we waited. Thomas and Jeanne were already lost in the crowd, which was slowly becoming a massive pile of idiotic Koreans all trying to cram into the centre of the square not understanding that there was no space left. We tried to stay on the outskirts since there really wasn't anything pressing to see near the centre but eventually our circle started getting crushed as more and more people tried to cram towards the centre. It was at that point we started bracing ourselves to preserve our circle, and I may or may not have thrown a few elbows at the people pushing the crowd. I know it is a result of the pushing going on behind them, but I am confident that had a crowd wide panic/fight broken out I would have been just fine. Eventually the crowd stopped pushing and settled down to wait for the countdown about 30 seconds before the end of the year. Ten, nine, eight, we all counted down, three, two, one......HAPPY NEW YEAR the people erupted and cheered, and then the bell began to toll twelve times as is the tradition at the square. Immediately following the ringing of the bell, guess what happened. If you said mass exodus of the same people who crammed in just minutes before, then you are correct. As if being outside for more than 5 minutes after midnight would kill them, the Koreans started pushing their way back towards the subway station, giving zero regard to the thousands of people in front of them, because apparently the self is the most important thing in Korea. Luckily we were far enough to the side and still holding to our circle that the crowd flowed around us like water around a rock, and eventually brought upon us Thomas and Jeanne who joined the circle as we waited out the crowd. After the street was cleared to a manageable couple thousand, we bought some fireworks and finished celebrating with those who were not deathly afraid of the -14C weather. Eventually even we got cold and decided to catch the last subway to Sincheon at 130, for Gold Bar's New Years Eve party. There we met Brady and SoHyun, Frank, and a few other friends for some more drinks. By 4am James had had enough and I was elected to take him home. It was a good thing he lived close because I had to take the taxi to his house with him, then carry him in, and then go back to the bar to pick up my coat and bag. I got back to the bar by 430, and Alex and Louise left shortly there after. Thomas and Jeanne, and I figured since it was already almost 5am, we might as well get some McDonald's breakfast and take the subway home. And that is exactly what we did, then I was off to ride the subway and was home by 8amto call it a night, and a year.
Saturday afternoon I got up around 130 feeling pretty good considering how late I was up. Good thing I hadn't drank that much. I sat around watching a movie until about 4 before getting motivated to have a shower and head over to Alex and Louise's for ceviche, which is a seafood dish from Latin America that Alex makes now and again. He invited a bunch of us while we were out Friday night, and Brett, MiSeon, and I all showed up to try it. And I have to say, what a great dish. When I got there we sat around talking and snacking on nachos and beer until about 9 and then dug in on the ceviche. After some food, Brett and MiSeon left so Alex and I got some more beer, and sat around drinking with Louise until Garrett showed up a bit later. Four strong, we worked our way through the beer and the last of the ceviche, while sitting around shooting the breeze and having some laughs. Before long it was passing 430 and Louise had gone to lay down while the rest of us finished up the last of the beer, and waited for the subway to open up at 530 so that Garrett and I wouldn't have to take an expensive cab ride back to our places. Once again I was heading home on the subway after six in the morning, but was far more tired this time than the night before and couldn't wait to get home and to bed.
Having had two late nights in a row, I didn't get up until 3pm Sunday, and even then I didn't move to far from my bed except o get groceries between movies. Eventually I made my weekly call home, made some food for the coming week, then called it a night.
And so another year comes to an end. I hope you all had a great night, and are looking forward to a fresh new year.
