Big Time Venting

Yesterday, I was called into the English Dept. head's office for the third time this school year to be reprimanded. It was also the third time tha I was reprimanded WITHOUT ANY JUSTIFICATION.

A recap:

Number 1

The first time Julie (English Dept. head) called me into her office was less than a week after I arrived. Our former co-teacher, Grace, was quitting, and everyone was stressed to extreme capacity and taking it out on the native speakers. Welcome to Korea (1).

I was introduced during morning announcements with another new, Korean, male teacher. I didn't know who he was though. So at lunch, I pointed to him and asked Grace, "Who is he? Who's the new teacher that was introduced with me."

I could tell she didn't fully understand what I was asking, but I didn't realize how dumb she was. Even if she didn't know who he was, she could clearly see me pointing right at him and asking who this particular person was.

Well, Julie came to me later to ask me who told me about the new English teacher and about who told me Grace was quitting. I told her that Grace informed me she was quitting, and no one told me about an English teacher.

Julie then insisted I knew who the knew English teacher was (even though one had NOT yet been hired). She even went as far as to interrogate me about what other Korean teachers I've been speaking with lately.

Finally, I was able to convince her that I was asking about the man who turned out to be the volleyball coach.

Number 2

The second scolding is worse than the first, because I was doing something which I was actually instructed to do.

Julie forced Geoff and I to do a teacher's class. We went to the designated spot and waited. The teachers were not there, but Koreans are notoriously late. The day before, for the same class, they arrived 20 minutes late. Well, we were there for 30 minutes, and passing time by talking to Katie, who is another native speaker.

Well, Julie saw us sitting there and was furious. She asked why we didn't go back downstairs, and demanded to know what we were doing.

I told her we were waiting for the teachers. They were late the day before, so we were just waiting for them to come.

She told us that next time no one shows up, we should go back to our office.

But I'm willing to bet that if we went back to out office, we would get yelled at for not waiting for the teachers. It's a no-win situation. Welcome to Korea (2).

Third time's a charm

Once again, Julie asked me if I had time to chat. So yesterday, I went to her office and heard a laundry list of false statements and insults.

First, she said the head teacher told her I was always "hanging around" the classroom. I'm not even 100 percent sure what that means. She then informed Julie that I always left the classroom during class time to "Twitter." Yes, that's exactly what she said.

I angrily told her I was offended and insulted and that I NEVER leave the classroom for anything like that. The only reasons I leave the classroom is to make copies and get pencils and erasers. That's it.

To make this lie even worse, the head teacher has no way to even see me in the classroom. My classroom is connected to my office, but neither can be seen from the receptionist's desk. And she's never actually come into my classroom. So where did she even get this shit from? Welcome to Korea. (3)

Then, Julie brought up the fact that I'm now opting out of lunches. I was told from day one that I could opt out of our school lunches. I have to pay something like $44 equivalent/month to get a school lunch every day. And it's food I don't like. It's always rice, kimchi, a gross soup and some meat. Maybe once a month we'd get chicken. Other than that, I wasn't satisifed at all.

So after our winter camp, during which we brought out own lunch, I decided to opt out. It's cheaper for me to bring my own lunch and I can eat food I like.

Well, Julie said the principal asked why I haven't been at the cafeteria. She told him, rightfully so, that I don't like the food.

So yesterday, she said I should really think about getting the school lunch again. I told her that was absolutely not possible in any way.

She then said I shouldn't look so upset when I do go to the cafeteria. She told me that it's unprofessional to show my emotions. Maybe I could just give a fake smile, she suggested. Welcome to Korea (4).

She then went onto apologize about the classroom leaving accusation and say our talk is not a big deal.

I told her, at this point barely able to keep from screaming, that our talk was a big deal and I was incredibly insulted. I was called unprofessional and accused of being a poor teacher. At one point, she even said she was disappointed in me and that I had a great opportunity here and I shouldn't blow it. That's exactly what she said.

The fallout

I don't know fully yet what it will be. I'm in my fourth month at this school and I've been reprimanded three times for absolutely no reason except whatever fairy tale is in their heads.

To make matters worse, we have ANOTHER goddamn school dinner tonight. But for this one, we're forced to pay 20,000 won ($20) to attend. I told Ridia I would go but I wouldn't eat or drink. I have dance class tonight and I don't want to go anyway.

Well, Julie informed me that she paid 20,000 won for me. I told her there was absolutely no way I was accepting that. She kept insisting that I can't pay her back and that I could owe her a favor. As soon as I heard "favor," I went down, grabbed money and brought it back up to her.

As much as I don't want to pay to go to a dinner with bad food and terrible employers, the last thing in the world I want is Julie to hold a favor over me.

This is the big problem with Korea. I was having a pretty good time here so far this year. I obviously had some complaints about the shitty way this school is run, but I was able to brush it off.

But it's getting closer to the last straw for me. I'm an adult. I'm the best teacher that they have. I work very hard to make sure the students have a good in-class experience.

I refuse to be treated like a child. And I won't accept they're excuse of: "This is just Korea culture." I don't care if it's culture. It's childish and it's petty and it's illogical.

If the people of this country ever hope to be taken seriously by the rest of the world, they'd better change their fucking culture. I do my very best to fit into Korea and accept things. But the way they treat native speakers, whom they desperately need at this point in time, is totally unacceptable.