Summer Classes Begin

Starting today (Monday, July 20), our summer classes begin at Jungchul. It's slightly different from what we did in the winter, and there's no real explanation why.

We'll switch from our usual 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. schedule to the 10 p.m. to 7 p.m. schedule. That is the same as the winter.

What's different is that each winter class was one hour long, and each teacher taught two classes. For some reason known only to Sunny and Mr. No (yet surely misunderstood by them), the classes are two hours long and each teacher has two.

I was supposed to teach a writing class and Eli, our other American, was supposed to do a speaking class. But now that he's at Songdo full time, they combined the two classes. There one huge, glaring problem with that: The kids are on entirely different levels.

I'm not talking about how every class has one or two kids that are a little slow. I'm talking about combining upper-level middle school students with mid-level elementary school students.

Through no fault of their own, the younger students just aren't prepared to write advanced essays. They simply haven't spent enough time studying English. So I'm at a loss of how I'm going to handle the class.

The one good thing is that they've hired two part-time teachers who will help cover the extra and regular classes. That means that this time around, I'll have no 8-class days to deal with. I think I have one day with 7, two days with 6 and two with 5. That's much more reasonable.

What's not reasonable is how the bosses are treating the teachers. There's a lot of anger at Jungchul right now, and no one is sure shy. Our bosses continually criticize the teachers for not working hard enough, even though they continue to pile work and responsibility onto them. They all went into the school today for an 11 a.m. schedule meeting, and one of the bosses failed to show up until 4 p.m. Now that's just ridiculous.

Also, one of the many secretaries who was recently hired and fired, left on Friday after about two weeks. He told our boss that the problem with the school was the teachers. Well, I can't believe he has any real credibility since he only lasted two weeks here.

I am a little mad because the bosses still owe me roughly 513,000 won ($405) for my July 15 paycheck. What's really frustrating is the reason it hasn't been paid yet. I am the one who sat down with one of the bosses and worked out the figures for the hospital bill and other bills owed. She sat with me and claimed she's "not good at this kind of thing."

Well, even after watching me do it, and then listening to an explanation, I've not yet received part of my money because the other boss wants to check it out again. If he wanted to check it out, he should've done it in the first place! But I'm roped into doing it, and now being told, more or less, that my work is not trusted.

These many little reasons add up to put a lot of stress on people and cause a lot of problems personally. I've been under the weather since my surgery, and the enormous stress is not helping kick this little cough I've had for the last two weeks.

Anyway, I have approximately 6 weeks left, and then it's home for a visit and mind (and soul) restoration. A person tends to lose those things when trapped in a country full of people lacking them.

At least the weekend was good. It was a relaxing Friday night at a local bar. Then, on Saturday, my buddy, Kevin from Pitt, came to hang out. We went to a baseball game and went to the square to check out what was happening. It was a fun night.

Let's hope this week starts out well.