No man is an island...

except for this one. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Lost but lately I’ve had this distinct feeling of isolation as if I am on an island by my lonesome out here. While it can be humorous, odd, or even a little maddening at times being totally out of the loop and the last person to find out EVERYTHING, this island, unlike the cold, overcast gloomy mid-April “spring” weather I have been bitching incessantly about on facebook, can be quite warm and sunny in the middle of a tumultuous ocean.


Knowing full well coming into this job that I’d be the only foreign teacher at this school there was no expectation that this would be a situation like my previous hogwan position where I was among friends and westerners and we ran the school. The job itself has surpassed expectations but is also odd in how I do so little compared to the other teachers. As you all know, I teach English “conversation” 12 hours a week. I give no homework, no tests, no grades, and have no stress when it comes to the job. I am expected to be in or around the office or my classroom from 8-5 Monday through Friday but am given little or no responsibility outside of preparing for and conducting my 12 classes in whatever manner I see fit.


As I write this sitting here on a Friday afternoon the other teachers are in their weekly meeting, which I am excused from. I went to the last three meetings until the principal asked me if I understood anything they were saying, to which I said: “Ummmm, not really.”. Thankfully Principal Kim used a form of common sense rarely seen in a Korean school or bureaucracy and said: “You don’t need to be here and waste your time.” Hallelujah brother!!! Trust me, the other teachers were just as bored in those meetings as I was but have to go every week because they speak Korean.


Because they are Korean, speak Korean, and are obviously fluent in Korean the other teachers are required to fill out an inordinate amount of paperwork on each student due to the complex ranking system in Korean education. Instead of A’s, B’s, C’s and so forth there is a 1-8 class ranking where the students compete against each other for the opportunity to rank high, low or somewhere in-between and from their ranking get the opportunity to go to Seoul university, work in a restaurant or something in-between. The teachers, needing face time in the office to prove they are hard-working show up at or before 7am and don’t leave until… well, much later--I’m always out of there at 5:00 on the dot and wouldn’t know. Being a foreigner, I am not trusted to give grades or file paperwork, not that I could anyway because it’s in Korean, of course. While everyone around me is up to their ears in bureaucratic duties I am finding ways to occupy 5 or 6 office hours a day planning for 2 or 3 classes, a process I covered in detail last week.


There are classes here every other Saturday and all of the teachers have to come in, except for… you guessed it. Last Saturday I had a game at 12:30 and the vice-principal, unaware that I am not contractually obligated to work Saturdays wondered why I wasn’t in the office. I received a call and was sweating the idea that I might be late to or, God forbid, miss my game. So I went straight to the principal’s assistant, who talked to the principal. The point was that I have no club activities nor could I, no classes, and nothing to do. Like the meeting, common sense won and I was excused from coming in on Saturdays.


Next week is mid-terms and there is an air of tension and apprehensiveness amongst teachers and students alike. The weekend will be bustling as the students prepare like Korean students for their mid-terms and the teachers make last-minute adjustments to their tests. My duty next week, other than having no classes and having to hang out in the office or my classroom, is to supervise the students while they take their exams. This means I stand in the room and watch to make sure they don’t cheat for two hours each day. I can’t make any noise, can’t read, the ipod is out of the question and this is my only contribution to the entire midterm process. Having absolutely nothing to do during this time I’m sure I’ll space out and daydream of my vacation the following week… perhaps I’ll visit an island.