These are the women I have been sharing an office with for the past four months. (We were at a noraebang - a singing room... so fun!!)
Two of them are my co-teachers who teacher English with me, the others teacher science and music. They are delightful women, however they don't speak that much English. I usually end up listening to Korean chatting at lunch time, and whenever we go out for a meal. Although I truly cherish these women, it makes it difficult to feel a part of the group when you don't understand what they're talking about. Every so often someone will lean over to me and give me a one sentence synopsis about what they're discussing, but that's not enough for me. I want to be able to participate in discussions and not sit there with a fake smile on my face, trying to act like I'm interested, and not bored.
One of the things I've struggled with most in this job is not being able to communicate with the rest of the staff. I am the only native English speaker at my school (which is not odd in the public school system). My principal and vice principal do not speak English which means that I rely on my co-teachers to help me communicate with them. I can't get materials out of the supply room without my co-teachers because you need to sign things out, and I don't speak enough Korean to do so. Even getting photocopying done here is a struggle.
Jeff and I both love Seoul. We have great friends here, we LOVE the subway system, and the city in general. But, we don't love our jobs. We don't hate our jobs, we just don't feel passionate about what we're doing. I don't get up every morning (or any morning for that matter) excited about the day. I would love to have my own class, and teach lessons that are no so regimented by the text book. I would love to be able to communicate with my students beyond "How are you?" And, I would love to know my students' names - I have 300 kids, which makes it difficult to remember all their names. I love teaching because of the relationships I get to form with the kids. My current situation does not allow for a lot of relationships to be formed. There are definitely some kids who are awesome, but I don't even know their names!!
I look forward to the weekends. It is for that reason that we are looking into other jobs for next September. Unfortunately Korea has recently changed their visa and immigration policies due to a Canadian pedophile who was caught after having spent time in Korea. These visa changes mean that we may not be able to work here next year. In addition to visa issues, there are not many (I've only found one) non-religious international schools we could work at. So, we're looking abroad.
Apparently New Zealand has a huge teacher shortage, and someone else mentioned Hong Kong having lots of international schools. A couple of our friends here are thinking about England (I LOVE England...)
So, our plans for the new year? Well, we're not sure. In some ways I hate not knowing what I'm going to be doing in less than a year, but in other ways I find it exciting. I would love to stay in Seoul, but who knows what the future will hold for us. (We'll let you know when we know...)
For now, I'd like to wish you all the best for the new year, whatever adventures it may hold for you.
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