Oh the humor...

So much has happened that I hardly know where to start. Really most of it is work related, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. I have been in Korea teaching English for 10 months now and numerous things are beginning to get to me. Lately I have been quite annoyed and frustrated, so I am trying to remember humor and see things in a more positive light.

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop next to my school. There are a bunch of little Korean boys running around acting like power-rangers. I have just finished a morning of teaching Kindergarten so normally I would be annoyed that these kids keep coming up to me. They are so cute though, that I can only love them. :) They run circles around my table, then stop and stare. All so normally I begin to make faces at them. I stick out my tongue, puff up my cheeks, pull out my ears... Their mothers watch me from a distance probably thinking I'm a crazy waeguk (foreigner). But the rise that I get out of these kids is wonderful! They are so happy and full of life.

So work....Oh my! In the last 10 months this has been the most stressful job as well as the least stressful job that I have ever worked. Things are one day great and consistent, and the next day everything is pure chaos with on one knowing what to do or what is going on. August was a particularly bad/chaotic month. But I think January may rival it.

In January Heather and I came back from our Thailand Vacation only to start a hectic new year in a new school as well. Our school moved and with the move brought new students, new schedules, new classes, new classrooms, new and chaotic everything. I also started a split-shift day with Kindergarten class in the morning and elementary/middle-school classes in the afternoon/evening. My school day has gotten way longer now because of the split-shift as well as the fact that I can no longer just walk home during my breaks. (I take a bus to and from work now.) Kindergarten has been fun, but it brings an all new set of challenges. I love the kids though, they are adorable and always full of energy. Somedays it's hard to make them work because I just want to play and have fun.

So long story short, aside from the new classes and schedules our school decided to fire one of the foreign teachers two weeks into the new year. He was a great guy, good teacher, but a parent claimed that he was sexually touching their child. He's an honest guy, but the school and the parents didn't believe him so he was fired. That left the rest of us teachers to take over his classes. Then, the newest foreign teacher decided that she didn't like our school and quit. Luckily she is now staying on until some more teachers arrive from the States and then she will leave. All of this on top of the new school craziness though, is causing tons of tension at work. Some days I am so frustrated I just want to scream! I love the kids, and I love teaching, but I hate how hogwans are run. I hate the politics of the hogwan, the unstableness, and all the fakness that I get from some of the Koreans who work there. Bah-humbug!

So to add a bit of humor, I somehow managed to get a piece of my earring lodged in my ear canal. HAHA! It took me a whole day to figure out what on earth was stuck in my ear. Then I finally realized it. Now I just need to figure out how to tell the doctor what is wrong. I tried to get it out on my own, but in the process just lodged it further, ahh! I contemplated going to the ER to get it out, but I went to the ER once before and they just stared at me like I was an alien. I'm pretty sure they'll think I'm a crazy person if I go back there claiming that something is stuck in my ear. Oh my! So I guess tomorrow I'll venture on over to the doctor who enjoys speaking his English far too much, and see if he can help me. How do these things happen to me??

Oh, I also happened to get a doggie. :) She's a teacup terrier. I'll tell her story later.