Rain rain go away

I will do a quick and dirty post because I know we've been slacking a little. Both Paul and I are exhausted from mind overload so plese forgive any sentences that don't make any sense.

First of all , it has been raining in some way, shape or form everyday since we got here. The last three days it has been raining hard all day long. I don't even remember what the sun looks like. Our training has been intense, but that is because we are both working hard now to avoid future confusion. The problem is that we don't know who's schedules we are taking over so we can't focus on those particular classes. Everything is rather disorganized and we're doing our best to take it with stride.

Korean people work extremely hard. It is still a traditional society in that men go to work and women stay home with the children. Although that is changing with the younger generation (most of our Korean teachers are women - unmarried women, but women nonetheless). They work 10-12 hour days six or seven days a week. The Korean teachers work harder then the foreign and get paid a whole lot less. I imagine it must be hard for them to hear foreign teachers complain about their jobs. Most of the foreign teachers at this school are young, fresh out of university and have never held down a "real" job before. They complain a lot about having to work hard probably because they don't realise its the same way at home, but you actually run the risk of getting paid less and they certainly don't pay for your housing.

Right now that is the hardest part of the job. Overcoming all of the negative energy that is around the school. A lot of the teachers are unhappy, either because of hours, money or some other stupid reason. They walk around like the world owes them something and unfortunately it is a spreading. Anytime a new teacher comes to the school they seem to be infected with the "piss on this" virus. I've spoken with my roommate at length about the situation (Rachel) and she agrees that the trend has to stop. She is glad to have people like Paul and I there who are willing to work hard and have fun at the same time.

As for the actual training, so far everything has been done through observation. Can we say BORING! There is no training manual and no set system of how to learn things. It has been our responsibility to find out what we need to know and then ask the right questions.

I guess we won't really know if our hard work has paid off until we step foot into a classroom. Fingers crossed.

I'll write more later, but right now breakfast is served. And just as a side note. I may have made everything sound negative right now, but there are good people at the school (they are just in smaller number). We are both remaining positive and that is a good first step!

Peace Out!