Feeling the Crunch and Taking on the Man

Hello All!

So how is the great old U.S. of A? I hear that there seems to be quite a bit of chaos going on there thanks to the intelligence of Wall Street and the ingenious economic policies set forth by the current administration. Wasn’t it a republican who was in office when Wall Street fell about 80 years ago? So much for “economic responsibility” being their creed…that is if you believe actions and fruits speak louder than words. Then again, what to do I know, I’m just a kid playing teacher.

Korea is good, although I know they have been hard hit by the economic crisis in the U.S. too. This became apparent when on Thursday the head foreign teacher called us for a meeting and informed us that we would no longer be getting paid overtime.

I had started the day with a smile. I was eager to get to my lessons and still on a high from the Friday before when my class literally applauded my arrival. They had had a different teacher the week before due to poor scheduling, and they were ecstatic that I was to be their new teacher from now on. Let me tell ya, there is nothing that will put your teacher in a better mood than a standing ovation upon their arrival. On the same note, there is nothing that will put them in a worse mood than finding out that the extra hours they are working are no longer going to be compensated.

I was livid when I heard this and I made it very clear that I was not going to stand for it. I know in Korea contracts are not really taken seriously, but the way things are going right now, if I were to not get paid overtime I could be making the same amount of money in the U.S. for the hours I am putting in. The reaction of the other teachers wasn’t quite so vocal as my own, but nobody was happy about it. The head teacher claimed it was out of her hands, so I promptly told her that I would like to talk to the director myself.

Thankfully God places random people in our paths for not so random reasons and with that in mind I e-mailed Joey, a teacher/trainer at a University in Seoul that I had met the week before in Hongdae. I informed him of my current situation and asked for his advice. (Quick Sidenote: Joey is really cool and we totally bonded over the fact that he had worked in Ecuador years before and set up an English school there. He is also from Idaho, so he is familiar with some of the quirkiness of Mormons and had some good stories and jokes to share. He is also a psychology graduate now TOESOL instructor and NOT looking for a girlfriend….so we had a great time with none of that weird “I hope he doesn’t think I want to be his girlfriend” awkwardness that tends to accompany many first encounters of the male kind.) Since he’s been around the block a few times here in Korea he assured me that I was not overacting and that the school did not a have a right to do that and that there were indeed organizations around that could help me, or if it came down to it, he could find me another job. I was not stuck. I was worried about the whole visa thing, but he calmed my fears.

With this as a kind of security cushion I went into the office of the director on Friday and informed him of my frustration. Danny, that’s his name, is a good guy and I like him as a boss and person. I know it’s not his fault that this is happening, the orders come from the main office, but since the guys at the top do not speak English (yet they run an English Hagwon…go figure) Danny has to be the go between. As a result I just made it very clear that I was not stuck, that none of the teachers were stuck, and that if we wanted to we could leave at any time. Furthermore, in our contract, at the time of our signing it, we were to be paid overtime for working more than 6 teaching hours a day. When we signed the contract it was our understanding that each class was 2 teaching hours. The main office was a attempting to change that even though across the board at other hagwons, this is the norm. It is a bad business move, but that is beside the point. It is a breach of my contract and even though I have really become attached to some of the kids and I’ve become pretty comfortable with my apartment and surroundings, I am not about to sit passively by while someone tries to take advantage of me. No way. I don’t know if there is anything that makes me more angry…except for lying…which is just another way of taking advantage of my gullibility and optimism. Gratefully, I didn’t have throw a big production as Danny took my concerns to heart and ended the meeting with “Please have some patience, this weekend I go to war (referring to his meeting with the main office) on Monday I will tell you what they say."

I offered to buy him a Samuri Sword, he almost took me up on the offer.

I left smiling and feeling like the conqueror (in the words of Danny…my brother). However, as Monday draws closer I am feeling the uncertainty starting to gnaw at me. I’ve worked for big corporations before and I know how they work. I know that most times the only concern they have is the immediate dollar. Long term thinking/goal setting and employee satisfaction is the last thing on their minds…even though focusing on these items would ensure greater dollar amounts and security. The Big Guys tend to be so far removed from the actual work of their company that due to the distance they are ill equipped to make any kind of intelligent decisions concerning employee compensation, work or schedules.

Yay for capitalism.

So that is the current issue that I have on my plate. Other than this mammoth of an issue, everything else is good. The middle school English teachers have the week off due to the Korean testing that their students are taking to level up in public school, so they’ve been available to pick up some of the hours. That’s been nice. I also am feeling more and more at home with my classes and everyday they are acting more and more on par with my own expectations of behavior. The majority of them really are quite intelligent and want to learn, it is just a matter of getting those that don’t, to just shut-up…and that seems to be happening more everyday. I also found another salsa club thanks to a woman I met named Jody and a cab ride with the ONLY cautious/slow taxi driver in the entire country of Korea due to the shut down of the subways at midnight. There I met a Korean dance instructor who pulled me into this production called a Rudeo. Basically three guys and three girls dance salsa while switching partners and moving clockwise around this invisible circle. One of my friends compared it to a “salsa hoedown”. I simply felt like I had been thrown into a blender, but it was thrilling none the less. Before the night was over my foot was mauled twice by someone wearing those stupid stilettos and I got hit in the head once…but that is the norm. If these things don’t happen, than you’re not dancing enough. I also ran into a guy from Puerto Rico and once again I had to note how different the style of dance is between Latinos and Koreans. If there is any one act that can sum up the overarching theme of any culture, it is the form with which they dance. Every Korean I dance with is excellent, but the dance is much more uptight and regimented than anything I dance when I am looking a Latino in the eye on the dance floor. (Koreans rarely look you in the eye) I don’t have a preference for either form, I just thought it interesting how apparent the differences are.

The following evening I hung out with Matt, the bearded man from New York who I went to Guam with, watched “Hot Fuzz” a quirky British comedy and then headed out to a Noribong. One MUST try out a Noribong while in Korea. It practically IS Korea. “Nori” means “sing” and “Bong” means “room”. So “Noribong” means “singing room”. Am I talking about Karaoke? Yes. That is exactly what it is, except that in Korea one gets a private room to sing karaoke in rather than just a space at the front of a bar. There are couches, and tables, and some places serve drinks and others just serve food. It’s a pretty big deal, and people actually become famous for being good “Noribongers”. For myself, I don’t see any hit albums coming out anytime soon, but I did have a blast and Matt was a great partner to have in the jam session.

Oh, I also found out that “salsa” said with a soft “ah” means “poopy” water in Korean. I found this out as I explained to my class that I liked salsa. I had to have them explain to me why they were all laughing. Ooops. What I don’t understand, is why on earth they have a specific word for that kind of water. Hmmmmmm. Think about that one.

Okay. That is all for now. I’m still filling up time with grad school stuff and I hope and pray that all works out well with the hagwon, but if it doesn’t, I guess I will just have to find another window to crawl through, and that’s okay. Or that’s how I’m feeling right now. I’ve been reading a lot of Paulo Coelho and that has put me in a pretty positive state of mind, in spite of the cold cloudiness that has recently taken over South Korea. We’ll see how long that lasts.