Origami swans Thursday

Well, my influx of classroom time was short lived. I managed to be in two classes today (out of 5) and during that time I got to read 12 lines of text once. I'm a bit surprised that I am still complaining about this really. I mean, it's been the same for nearly a year now. Apart from that one glorious week at the start of the school year when Mr B gave me a third of the teaching schedule as 'English only time', and I got to teach alone. It only lasted, maybe, six days though.

Anyway, cute-as-Grandma's-kid (that almost sounds like a race horse) gave me a couple of origami birds he made. It was really sweet :) Sadly, it's my last summer-camp after school class today. I'm not sure what's going to happen next week. I assume I'll get a new after school class. Well, I hope so - it's sort of the only pleasure I get out of my work day. It's also the only work I do in my work day :)

I've got a pretty busy weekend planned! I'm looking forward to it. Tomorrow night I'm meeting up with a bunch of other teachers in Osan and we're going to dinner and then to Songtan to some bar that does country dancing (Yeah, I don't know, but it could be fun? Haha, mum). On Saturday I'm going to a meetup with TMI Amy to Seoul Grand Park and out for pizza for dinner. Then on Sunday I'm going to work on something for Jess' wedding (which I can't go to, but I am happy for!). I'm also going to make an awesome intro video to send to prospective employers. 

You'll notice the lack on Andy in the above plan? Well, that's because I keep inviting him to things and he says things like "I don't know" or "I'm not sure", or the weirdest "I have no idea". (Seriously: "hey Andy, I want to go hiking with a meetup group next Saturday. Would you like to go with me?". Answer: "I have no idea". Oooookaaaay). I assume all these things mean 'no' because if you really like someone and want to do things with them, you'd just say "yeah, I'd love to!", or at the very least "Hm, I don't really like hiking. How about we hang out on Sunday instead?". So, rather than sit around home and wonder when he's going to feel like randomly contacting me to hang out in a coffee shop (because he's decided the air in my house is not good for him - "it has no freshness"), I'm gonna go get on with things and he can get his fresh air elsewhere.

In other news, I can hear the intro videos mr B is watching as he tries to find a new English teacher to replace me. They all sound like such nice people. Interestingly, it's all girls. I think they first teacher this school had was a guy, maybe they had a bad experience or something. Anyway, the one who chooses, if she's got her wits about her, should ask to talk to me about the job. I will be professional.

Sadly, this job doesn't even have that as a perk.

Lol, it's not 'stay late', it's "come to work today".

Mwahahaha! That was fun. And now that my work bitterness if out for another day, let's have a look at today's five things:

1) Tiny origami birds made by a cute kid are awesome.

2) I ate an entire bag of marshmallows last night and completely ruined my dinner. Now that I'm 25, I am totally allowed to do this.

3) I'm cooking up another idea for something to try and get published (still waiting to hear about the last one). I'm going to try and work on this one with my laptop in coffee shops, because that's where cool people work, right? Plus, I need to get out more. Amazingness is probably not hiding in my apartment.

4) A parcel from Jenni is waiting for me to pick it up today after work! Wooooo - I'm so excited! I hope it has yummy things inside it!

5) It's nice and cool today. Most of the humidity has gone, so I'm enjoying not feeling sticky 24/7. I have plans for this winter. Involving leggings and boots.

Wet Wednesday

So there's this kid in first grade, and he's a bit unusual. His English is pretty good, he's a totally good two shoes suck up, but is such a sweet heart you can't hold it against him, and is just a bit socially retarded, in a cute way. I've been dealing with him a lot in my after school classes, and I was thinking about him yesterday. In my head, I was like "he's exactly like a kid who's been raised by his grandmother". I'm not sure why I thought that, it's just what this kid is like. And lo and behold, today I find out he's been raise by his grandma. There was no real point to that story, just funny how I had tat feeling and then it turned out to be right.

So, I'm not sure what's up with Andy, but he seems to be pulling away from me even further now. I barely saw him over the weekend, he's upped his gym time from twice a week to three times and now never comes o see me afterwards, and has stopped doing all the nice (but unnecessary) things like opening doors for me and holding my hand. He barely replies to most of my text messages and call only rarely. There was one point there where he called me every morning before work to say hello. He also won't (or can't) talk about it, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. If anything. Just get on with my life I suppose, and if he comes around, take it from there. I am actually learning a lot from this experience about myself. He is a lot like me in many ways, so it is interesting from that perspective. I do keep getting hurt when he semi-abandons me, though. Ok, 'semi-abandons' is totally over stating it. Which is exactly what I mean about learning about myself - I'm just used to a different kind of relationship and have never dated, so... learning. Or possibly he's an emotionally unavailable dick-wad. I think he's doing his best with what he's got... I truly do. Which is why I'm sticking around to see if he gets his shit together. Not sticking round too much longer though :)

I swear, I am more lonely being with Andy than I was without him. How does that work?

Anyway, today's five:

1) Just did a hilarious 'draw a robot' game with the after school class before watching the first half of "Wall-E".

2) I'm going to try making my own bulgogi for dinner tomorrow. I'll try to remember to photograph it.

3) I was in 5 classes today plus taught 2 hours of after school class. While the 5 classes weren't me teaching, and I sat there doing nothing about 85% of the time, at least it was slightly more entertaining than being at my desk all day. God, this job sucks.

4) I'm wearing the pretty dress I got in Japan. In hindsight, a full length dress wasn't the best choice for a day pouring with rain, but I feel nice wearing it.

5) Wall-E is such a cute film :)

Little things Tuesday

So, you know a few weeks (months?) ago I wrote about how now the VP of my school wanted me to get this attendance book signed by myself, my co-teacher, and him every single day? And I had trouble chasing him down every single day? So I decided to leave the form on his desk so he could sign it at his leisure? And I didn't have to chase him? Well, now Mr B informs me that leaving the booklet on the VPs desk is 'a little bit rude', and so now I have to do it in person. *Sigh*. When I do do it in person, the man never even looks at me. He never speaks, no matter whether I say 'hello' and 'thank you' in English or Korean. He never even smiles at me. Now, I'm all for understanding cultural differences, and I certainly don't want to be rude to him. Now that I know it might be rude for me to leave my form there for him to sign, I'll do it in person, but I do feel just a tad indignant. Really, if I've made the effort to do as you've asked and get you to sign this thing every day, you could at least smile at me like I am smiling at you. You could at least look at me like I'm a human being, right?

These little things. Oh, these little things.

Anyway, today's five things to be thankful for:

1) I made Korean seaweed soup yesterday and it turned out pretty good. Obviously, I'm no expert, but I like it.

2) It's raining and stormy. I'm going to go home after school (Ergh, at 6pm) to eat some chocolate and curl up in bed!

3) Because I finish at 6 tonight, I didn't go to work until 10am, so I got a couple of hours of zombie killing time this morning, which is a pretty good way to start the day :)

4) I've signed up with two or three more recruiting companies, and will post some job requests on Facebook when it's closer to October. No one's been in contact yet, but it's pretty early for Korea time.

5) I just finished reading a good book. Nothing beat escaping into a good book.

8 weeks to go Monday

Yes, that's it folks. Just eight weeks to go before I'll have been working at Namsa for an entire year. Where did it go, I ask you? It's certainly been an adventure. Not the work, so much, but being in Korea. I am really excited to be moving on! I'm seriously keen to try something new and ridiculously hopeful that I'll get to be a teacher for the next year. I can't say I've been disappointed with this job, as I didn't have any concrete expectations from it, but I am relieved that they saved me from my lazy self by not renewing my contract. I think that if I felt they had given me any chance as a teacher and *then* decided not to keep me, I'd feel differently because it would mean they didn't think I was any good, but I honestly feel that have no idea of who I am or what I can do, so their decision is either personal or economic (you get increased pay and more holidays if you stay a second year). I don't much like them as people, so I don't mind if it's personal, and I obviously don't care if it's economic, so I don't feel bad in any way. My ego hasn't been damaged, so all is well :)

These eight weeks might be a bit of a drag, though! Hopefully I get a great job offer and can get everything settled. No worries if I don't though. They've introduced a nifty new visa (the D10) that'll let me stay in Korea for 6 months looking for work. I'm pretty sure I won't do that/need to do that, but it is a relief. It means I won't have to resubmit all the pesky documentation I had to do to get here (serious pain in the butt!). I actually want to teach at a kindergarten. Perhaps I've gone temporarily (??Or not??) insane, as the minute I mention this to people they tell me how awful it'll be (just FYI: none of them have actually done it), but I'm kind of eager for a challenge. I guess I feel like I've wasted the past year, work-wise. Perhaps that was what I needed after working so hard for so long at school and university, but man, I'm ready for something more! Bring it on!

I am also ready to not have a co-teacher. More specifically, I am ready not to have to work with or see Mr B ever again. Just now I got finished asking him a simple question: when does after school class start today. God forbid we have a schedule or anything. It changes every day. Any way, he asks someone else, goes over to look at the school day written on the board and tells me "thirty three". I was like, "What time, sorry?", and he repeats "thirty three". I pulled my screwed up, I don't understand face and said "I don't understand", and so he goes, really slowly, loudly, and pretty rude actually -ly "THHHHRRRREEEEEE THIIIIRRRRTTTTTY". I was like ooooooohhhh, right. He has no idea that the first two times he told me 33. It's not the mistake I mind, it's that he was rude. Which is actually not normal for him. He's a pain in the ass, but not rude. Must have been having a bad day.

I just got finished emailing a bunch of local universities. I doubt anything will come of it, but it was worth a try. I'm also a bit early in looking for work. By about the middle of next moths the timing should be right, but doesn't hurt to get in early. I'm also setting my start date back by two weeks, to the beginning of November. If I take a private school job, they only give 10 days vacation, so if I take two week before, 10 days during, and then some after, maybe I can not go crazy As much as I want to work in a good job, I like my holidays, too!

Ok, update on the weekend: It was really quiet. I spent Saturday playing The Secret World and having a blast, and then I spent Sunday hanging out with Andy ( and having a blast, too, might I add). We went to a coffee shop and chatted, and I read my book, and he did some study. Then we went to E-Mart and got some picnic food and went to the river in Jinwi and had a dinner picnic. There was a sandy island in the middle of the river which we waded out to and had dinner on. Ok, 'island' is over-selling it a bit. It was a sandy bit of ground not underwater :) It was nice, anyway.

Right, that's it from me. Five things, and then I'm off to find some Korean recipes to try out. I'm feeling like cooking.

1) It's raining, which means it's cool. Wet, but not boiling hot for a change.

2) I have after school class today. I'm going to make the kids do weather report skits. If I can get a video camera, all the better :D

3) My order of coconut oil arrived on Friday! I cooked with it that night and it was pretty good. It smells very coconutty, but wasn't too overpowering in the food. I like it!

4) I finally got around to emailing the local universities. That's one job out of the way!

5) Lunch today was good.

Feeling good Thursday

I have done lots of work today! Not the work I'm being paid to do, but still work :) I've fully cleaned my desk and my work computer, everything is sorted, filed, of thrown out/deleted. My CV is up to date and I've written the cover letter, emailed my reference letter to Mr B so he can put the school letter head on it and sign it (I hope - not telling with him), and stared checking job boards. All the jobs start a little too soon for me to actually start applying, but from what I can see, I should be able to find something suitable. Tomorrow's job is to make a list of local universities and star sending them my details on the off chance they want me :)

Although the new semester started today, I once again have a day at my desk. This is because Mr B wants me to teach two hours of after school class today. That's cool, but he only told me about it this morning (after telling me last week that it'd be tomorrow), so I'm actually going to work over time by an hour today. But whatever - I'm pretty sure that's why he told me he'd teach alone today. Luckily, this morning I decided to come to work at 9am instead of 8 like I normally do - that'd mean I'd be doing 2 hours overtime and would probably refuse.

But, I'm so happy. I think it's having work to do, like a project to work on. With an actual point that has some benefit. Plus the prospect of not having to work with Mr B any more is fairly cheering. I'm just sad about losing my apartment. It's 95% certain that my next place won't be so nice :( But, what do I need really? Warmth, light, comfort, somewhere to cook, sleep, and an internet connection. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Also, if I have to take a Hagwon job, I'll only get 10 days vacation for the year, so I'm thinking I'll maybe get a start date two weeks after the end of my current contract, and take a vacation then :) Leaving Korea between jobs would make the visa stuff too complicated, but there're lots of good places I haven't been yet here. Maybe a holiday on Jeju?

Thursday's 5:

1) Today's my mum's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mum! (I know I said your present was on it's way, but I lied. I was going to post it today - but now I have to work and the post office will be closed. I'll send it tomorrow.)

2) I'm looking forward to packing up my apartment. I want to get rid of all the crap! There's not much, but I want to simplify again.

3) Andy and I have decided that instead of eating out every time we get together, we're going to cook at home more. I said that was fine, but I was worried that I'd end up doing it all, and I wasn't keen on being 'the cook'. He totally understood, and says we can do it all together. We'll see how it goes, we cooked lunch yesterday and it went well.

4) I emailed the journal I submitted my article to, and the lady replied to say they hadn't forgotten me and she was going to chase down the reviewers who had my article :) I'd be really excited to get it published.

5) I've decided that when I get a new job, to celebrate, I want a pair of sheepskin lined ankle boots for winter.

Something like this:

or 

5 for Tuesday

Better get back to 5-ing it! Gratitude is clinically proven by 9 out of 10 nutritionists to increase your happiness by 4/3rds. Or something like that.

1) I ordered some coconut oil online. I have read outrageously amazing things about how healthy this stuff is and how you can use it for everything from cooking to moisturising, to conditioning your hair. While I'm going to keep the oil out of my hair for the time being, I am looking forward to seeing how adding a healthy fat source to my diet makes me feel.

2) My favourite season in Korea is autumn. It's sunny and warm without being crazy hot, sky is mostly blue, and towards the end the leaves to amazing things. And Andy tells me it's officially autumn now, and it's definitely cooled down a bit.

3) Tomorrow is a public holiday. I'm going to go for a picnic by the river! Andy might want to come :)

4) I'm stopping my 'whole30' eating experiment. It's just stressing me out. While I agree with its basic principles, I'm not ready to make them a priority. So, we'll just stick with regular, moderated healthy eating for now.

5) Sadly, I'm not going to Busan this weekend. Not only were all the good trains and accommodation booked, but there are some gross, huge jellyfish floating around - a kid even died from them. I'm not sure if they're down in the Busan area, but I'm not taking any chances. I'll try to get to the water park (like Wet'n'Wild) in the next few weeks. The longer I wait, the less busy it will be!

Talking myself up Tuesday

I'm working on updating all my work documents to look for a new job. Mr B said he should know by this afternoon whether the school is going to keep me. Regardless, I will be looking for a better job, but if they do renew me, it takes some of the pressure off. If they don't, no worries, I'm awesome. As you can see. This is the draft of my cover letter. I like to write like this first and then translate it into formal language later. Though, I might leave this a bit less formal - if I'm going to stand out of the crowd, they're going to need to know about my awesome-ness :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear sir/madam

Thank you for your consideration for the position of _____ at _________.

I am the perfect candidate for this role.

I love teaching. I love Korea. I love teaching in Korea. I'm also really good at it. I can lesson plan like a boss, have the most amazing time management skills you've ever seen, and am a really nice person to be around. I'd honestly be an awesome addition to your school.

I work really hard. I'm continuing to develop myself as a teacher by doing independent research and writing articles for publication. I make my own worksheets, I design my own lessons. I try to get a good balance of activities within a lesson. I try to give the students some control over their own education. I try to actually listen to what students say and give them what they want. I am respectful. I am punctual.

I'm a great teacher and I love teaching. Here's some feedback I've had from past students:

[put feedback here]

In short, I am a fantastic and dedicated teacher and would be an asset to your school.

I want to continue to develop my teaching career with your school.

Thank you and best regards,

Sam

The best ESL teacher in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Man, *I* want to hire me!