I see a lot of Tom’s shoes in Seoul. There must be a store somewhere… I bought some new H&M clothes.
Slowly,… I’m reading through Understanding Reading by Frank Smith. It’s a good read.
There are a lot of books I want to read, but I still can’t get through the ones I have. Still reading the one above and Seneca. Although, I have been rereading passages and taking notes. Oh, when will I finish these. I need to start reading when I have small breaks, rather than long blocks of down time.
I knew one of the upcoming classes for my Grad program. I was reading through the books for it. Now, it appears that the class professor is undergoing back surgery, and the class will be pushed back. So, now, I want to know the books for the next 2 February classes, so that I can start reading them.
I updated my laptop to Ubuntu 10.10. I was baffled why I wasn’t getting the update until I dug into the settings and learned that it was set to only Long Term Releases. Now, all my software has been updated and shiny!
Saturday, I went to a Korean traditional hanbok fashion show. It was held at one of the palaces. Sunday, I went to a the school librarian’s wedding. He used to live in the same building as me, but now he’s moved out and taking the week off.
I need to crack the whip on a couple of friends. I need those Letter of Recommendation NOW!
Friday, this teacher held a coffee cup over my beloved plant. I stared at him like, “What do you think you’re doing there?” He poured it in my plant, and I just sat and watched. I was like, “That for damn sure had better not kill my plant!” But it appears to be ok. Discomfort level: Null.
Occasionally, I hear foreigners talking about Thanksgiving plans, and I want nothing to do with them. One website has a list of restaurants that will serve Thanksgiving dinners. They’re all expensive and will most likely be disappointing. Eventhough, I love me some mashed taters and green bean casserole, it has to be homemade the way my family does it. The Korean interpretation would be subpar, because their idea of a Thanksgiving dinner is different than mine,… as everyone’s is.
Years ago, Black Friday was a secret kind of thing only for the early risers, who picked up the newspapers. I mean – we only had the newspapers to go on, and you only knew about the Black Friday deals the day of. It was much smaller. Now, it seems like Black Friday, is it’s it’s own holiday. Now that the secret is out, it doesn’t seem as alluring.
I have iPod headphones, but I think I want to buy a pair of headphones to keep at school. I’ve been listening to the 24 hour NPR stream at work. This week, they’ve been talking a lot about Thanksgiving food, the alternatives, and the tradition breakers.
Last week, I read that Microsoft started denying XBOX Live accounts to people using modchips. Without XBOX Live, people started selling the 360s for cheap. Since, I…well…never play online games. I thought that was interesting. If I were back in the States, I’d probably buy one of these hacked XBOXs and load it up with off-line titles.
I always watch The Ultimate Fighter. I’m looking forward to the finale, but Wikipedia shows that the coaches wont battle it out. Rampage is pulling out of the fight, because he took a movie role. Lame.
I looked at the St Rams record, 1W – 11L. Terrible… I still want to watch some football these days.
E-book readers interest me, but I dont know why. I’d only buy one if there existed an online library. I’d like to check out books for a rented period of 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, it would automatically delete or I could renew it for a small fee like $.05. For someone like me, I think a fee would be good, because it would give me an incentive to hurry up and finish the book. I could be a procrastinator or pay up. The money would then go to the online library.
BTW, I’m still reading Hyperion. It’s been over 3 months.
Today, 2 of my classes are canceled. A teacher said the students were getting lectured on the flu (again) and receiving flu shots. FLU SHOTS! I asked the teacher about he and I. Could we get flu shots? He said, “No, we have to die.” He chuckled and walked away.
I know Mom wants a Blu-Ray player for her HDTV. I dont think she’s ever watched anything truley HD on that TV, yet. I keep looking at these mini computers, because they have more flexibility. A set top Blu-Ray player is just a minimalist computer, anyhow.
You know that scene in Kill Bill 2. Michael Madsen’s character is a bouncer for the strip club. He shows up late for work, and gets called in the boss’s office. Madsen’s reasoning for being late is based on the logic, “I’m a bouncer, but there ain’t no one here to bounce.” The boss retorts, “Let me get this straight. I’m paying you to do a job, and you say you have no job to do.” That’s kinda what shook down today.
Since I’ve been at the school, I’ve witnessed the Winter final exams and Spring mid-term exams. During these 4 day sessions, I have no English classes. Students come to school from morning ’til the afternoon and take exams. That’s it. What do I have to do? … Nothing. There have been additional days when there were no classes as well.
Previously, the heads of the English department went to the Vice Principal, and asked if I could be excused from attending school. Many times this was on short notice, like thee day before short notice. The Head of the English department would come to me and say, “Tomorrow, and the next 3 days you don’t have to come to school. You can just enjoy you’re time.”
Yes, it’s great to have some days off. But, the last minute-ness of this really pissed me off. They would then ask, “What will you do on your vacation?” … What?! You just fucking told me about this. In the last 2 seconds, I haven’t had time to make a daily fucking itinerary?!
Yes, I realize I’m bitching. I actually have work pretty easy at my school, and a day off is a day off. But I never understood why I they had to ask permission all the time from the Vice Principal, and they couldn’t tell me this news sooner. We have the school schedules. We know when the exams are coming up. Do I have to be here or not?
Well, this particular time, I have to remind you who is the current Head of the English Department: The Godfather. He’s a blessing and a curse. In this case, he was lazy, the Vice Principal felt like being a dick, and I made the mistake of assuming.
Wednesday, I knew that final exams were coming up. Thursday was the first day of tests. Friday was the school’s birthday? And exams would resume from Monday through Wednesday.
Eventhough, I never actually heard the phrase, “Mers, you don’t have to come to school during final examinations.” No one said, “Mers, you DO have to come to school to do XYZ during the final exams.” My only job is to teach these English classes. When I’m not teaching, I have nothing else to do. I went ahead and assumed that I didn’t need to come to school. I didn’t have to come the last 2 times, why would this be different.
So, let me reiterate. I AM bitching. I do understand Korean culture. Korean teachers work over twice as hard as I do. Along with regular classes they have to monitor their students, and they have individual tasks within the school. I have things pretty easy. Even though, I can get these days off. Korean teachers sure as hell wouldn’t get any slack or sympathy. They are employed by the school, and they’re gonna be there and put in a full day. Period.
So back to my story.
Today, I woke up and lounged about my apartment. The doorbell rang, and it was the Korean teacher, who I get a ride to school with. I told him, I wasn’t going. I have no classes. He was ok with that answer and left. But in the back of my mind, I thought that was odd. Every other time that I’d been “officially” given the day off, he knew about it. Why was he ringing my doorbell, today? And that got me a little worried, no one “officially” came to me and told me I had these days off.
I was enjoying my time off. Rather than using ATMs, I like to personally walk into the bank to pay my bills. On school days, there’s no time for this. I’m at school from the time the bank opens and closes. The same applies for the post office. So, I paid my bills, picked up a crisp new 50,000W bill (just issued), and mailed letters. Any other week day, I have no time for this. I got home and started flipping through my archive of photos. Around 11:30, I get a call from the Godfather.
Godf: “Mers, where are you?”
Mers: “I”m at home. Why?”
Godf: “Why didn’t you come to school today with Mr Chin?”
Mers: “The students have final examinations. I have no classes today.”
Godf: “Yes. But, Mr Vice Principal asked about you.”
Mers: “Am I supposed to be there.”
Godf: “I want you to enjoy your time.”
Mers: “Okay.”
Godf: “So, you should come to our school, now.”
Mers: “… *sigh*”
So, I threw on some clothes and taxied it to the school.
Let’s be clear. The Godfather is THE Godfather. He, of all people, understands the need for time off. He doesn’t teach his classes with me, like he should. He sleeps in his chair. I told him that none of the students were attending my after school classes. He said, “You’re still getting paid. Just enjoy your time.” The Godfather couldn’t care less if I showed up today or not. He knows I have nothing to do. He has seniority, … except from the Vice Principal. And that’s why this went down. This one time, the Godfather didn’t ask permission if I could be excused for these days.
So, for whatever reason, the Vice Principal noticed that I wasn’t in the office today. I wasn’t blatantly sitting at my desk with my thumbs up my ass, reading blogs, and downloading videos. You know, … “working”. He had to inquire about me. “Where is Mers? Who said Mers didn’t have to come today?” And that responsibility fell on the Godfather.
I arrived at the school and went to see the Godfather. The Godfather wasn’t upset with me, but he had to save face with the Vice Principal. His character and personal responsibility were on the line. It wasn’t mine. We went to the cafeteria, where the VP was eating lunch, and we explained our situation. I played the role of the innocent confused foreigner. The Vice Principal didn’t seem to give two shits, and he said that I could take Monday through Wednesday off.
Thank you, I’m glad we cleared that up. /sarcasm
This is Korean society for you, and like I said I AM bitching. I’m thankful that the Vice Principal thinks and includes me as one of the Korean teachers. I’m thankful for the trips and many lunches we have, but painstakingly, I’ve gotta put in that time.
And now that I was back at the school, I had to put in that full day of work. Examinations were finished for the day, lunch was served, and the students were going home. It was 1 PM. So that left me with 4 hours of “Shoot me in the head. I don’t have my laptop or Korean study books. I’m fucking bored, and I have to stay here unitl 5PM. FUCK … ME.”
June 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm · Filed under Little Things
Long story short, I met a guy this week who said that he majored in Sign Language.
*head explode*
It was surprising for me. I suppose Sign Language has it’s own right to be a University major. After all, I need not go into the many *bulgogi* majors out there. But I had never heard or met someone who was majoring in Sign Language. However, a greater explosion came after he told me that he was picking up “Korean Sign Language”.
*head more explode*
WHAT! Sign Language isn’t universal! Out of every language or form of communication, I thought this was standardized. Nope. I guess that only makes since too, right?
It’s unfortunate to think that Cocoa the Gorilla has to learn another country’s signs to speak with Korean or Swedish Gorillas.
...