First Week At Shool

Hej all and sundry. First week of the new job is behind me now and I liked it. The school is great and my co-teachers are also really nice. Having 40 kids in a class isn’t as daunting as I first thought it may be. Spring is here, the weather has been in the high ‘teens throughout the week, and although we had a max of +4°c today for some reason, it will be better again tomorrow.

Everyone has their own stories to tell, which got told over a couple of dozen jugs of beer on Friday night. About 25 of the new teachers got together for lager and chitchat in a pub called O.B. CAMP and it was really interesting to hear all of these stories as we all work at different schools and under slightly different rules. Some teachers have been busy signing autographs, some have been offered half their wages again to do 10 extra classes per week, most have had run-ins with some students, literally running into them while they play chasy or soccer in the hallways between classes. One teacher finishes his classes at midday everyday but is contracted until 5 so sits around for 5 hours daily. He was told to make lesson plans during this time but his pleas for a desk, computer or any other equipment didn’t gain him much headway, nor did his statement of the bleeding obvious that 5 hours per day isn’t necessary for planning 3 hours and 20 minutes of lessons (by the way, that is one 40 minute lesson repeated 5 times at 40 minute intervals). But that’s one aspect of Corea in a nutshell. (I can’t put a name to which aspect at the moment, but as I so often say, if you’ve ever lived here you’ll know what I mean).

I say that so often that I think I will shorten it to “IYHELH,YWKWIM” Yes, that’s much better.


My story of the first week was attending the 2006 welcoming assembly. Part of the assembly was that the new teachers were introduced to the 1500 students assembled. We didn’t have to make a speech, I had checked this beforehand. If we did have to, I wanted to be prepared. I knew I wouldn’t be told if I didn’t ask, regardless of how obvious it would be to us that if you are making a speech to one and a half thousand people you should be warned (IYHELH,YWKWIM). I was fourth in the line of new teachers and broke into a little sweat when the first, upon hearing his name called walked forward toward the mike, I quickly turned to the person in charge of settling me in (not a new teacher, but standing behind me, even on stage, never being more than 4 feet away from me all the first day) and whispered “No speeches, really?” She replied, “No, it’s o.k.” Sure enough he didn’t make a speech, neither did the next two. My intro was a bit longer, but I thought “That’s o.k. It is the first foreign teacher this school has ever had, it takes a little more intro.” I was readying myself for the walk to the front of the stage, to take a bow and walk back (that’s where the first dude was heading when I thought he was going to the mike, when his name was called. The principal finished his last sentence in my introduction and my relatively poor Corean skills picked up on something that I wasn’t happy with, but I let it go and took my first step forward just as the looker-afterer-me-person grabbed me by the shirtsleeve and said “Oops, I’m sorry, he does want you to make a speech after all”.

It was obvious from the beginning of this story that that was going to be the final line. I couldn’t be angry, she didn’t know, I even think the principal didn’t plan it, he was just so jolly about having a weiguk working for him that he lost his compass for a few seconds and seeing the agitation of the students, blurted it out and then it was up to me to do it. I am lucky I have enough Corean to make a small speech and enough confidence to do it in front of 1500 students. But I just couldn’t help thinking if it had happened to one of the many that have been here for only 4 days before starting work………………. It could have happened (IYHELH,YWKWIM)

But thinking about making a speech, unprepared, in front of 1500 students is just rosy compared with thinking of either of the following two thoughts 1) sending my children (which I don’t have) to a private English learning school (which I would never do anyway) or 2) eating a breakfast anything even remotely similar to that which I ate this morning.

I don’t know which one I should go on with first. I guess I have said enough about my old boss Mr lee, an un-evil dipshit. Not a terrible guy, just a dipshit, really harmless. He invested all of his money into starting an English school. He thought that his English was really great. He really thought that big banners and newspaper commercials were the way to make parents send their children to the school. He had this huge banner made, it was about 1 metre wide and 4 stories long. It hung from our 4th floor school almost down to the ground and read “DAVID ENGLISH HOSE”. I never had the heart to tell him that it was (only) missing a “U”. He never noticed, it probably cost a thousand bucks, I never told him. I did however tell him that the stuck on letters, which he himself had stuck on, above the desk at the school read “ENGLISH SHOOL”. He decided that it wasn’t a big enough deal to be bothered changing it. However he didn’t hang a flyer that said this………………



The other part of my day that made me scared was Parky’s breakfast this very morning. It’s been a while, but she has gotten so freaked out about being in a big city and having so many new products at her disposal that she decided to cook them all at once. A very few of you will remember my group mail from 2002 when I introduced her to continental breakfast, and she put all of the ingredients on a single piece of baguette, I can remember what they were, but I won’t go into it. Today I had cooked for me (now I am a workingman and she is a hobo, she has been doing the cook bit, and she really is a great cook, with the exception of today’s breakfast) a dish that I wish I had photographed. We had buttered toast with brown rice upon, topped with sliced fresh strawberries and peanut butter, sweet potato, egg, carrot, oregano, baked beans, vermicelli noodles AND BLOOD SAUSAGE. This concoction was covered with mozzarella cheese and served up with hot chocolate. I ate three quarters of one piece. I think it was the third meal in my life I simply just couldn’t finish. But I do love the enthusiasm for trying new things, that floats my boat. I married her and I am blessed. Varying degrees of blessedness, but I figure as long as I’m doing the cooking from now on, I am truly blessed.

Before I sign off, something just occurred to me. I have never said how much I love my wife on this blog. It makes no difference to her, as she never reads it anyway (she lives it with me). I LOVE YOU WIFEY-O. I’m not a huge fan of your breakfasts, but I surely love you.

and what the hell are these copters doing flying aroung the city?

Welcome to Gimhae

hej all and sundry. Life is great in Gimhae. I have started work in earnest now. I have my own desk and computer with high-speed internet and c.d. burner, and best of all I have a lot of time to study, as my university course has also started in earnest. Tomorrow I have 3x40 minute lessons and a staff game of volleyball. That is my entire schedule for Wednesdays. I have absolutely nothing amusing to say at all. Sorry about that.

Unfortunately Parky has been a little unwell and spent last Friday until Sunday in the hospital, but she’s good now, possibly better than she has been for 12 months. Everybody is happy and there isn’t anything amusing there either. The new motorcycle is going like a trooper. I’m loving driving around South Gyeongsang. I left Parky at the hospital Sunday morning and rang her just over an hour later to check up on how she was doing and I was just as surprised as she was to learn that I was nearly in North Gyeongsang. If it goes any harder I might have to trade it in for one of these.

The music teacher at our school gave me 2 tickets to a concert of a traditional Corean musical instrument today. It is called “ga-ya-gum”. It is both a 12 or 25 string traditional guitar-like-thingy. It looks more like an Indian zither. I have an example of it here on the blog, but if you would like a much better version click on the link that i will place over on the right with the other links and choose either 56k or 200k depending on what you have available to you.

I must say that I really enjoyed the performance this evening. I am not being facetious, it was very enjoyable. There were six songs in all, a Mozart piece, a tango number, a traditional Corean number with 25 Ga-ya-geum players alongside a big bamboo flute and Corean bongo drum (that is in the photo, it was nothing short of excellent, to be sure) as well as a version of AHA’s ‘take on me’ (also a gas) one other something-or-other and the finale, which was meant to be the highlight of the evening. Corea’s most celebrated Ga-ya-geum player, flown in from Seoul just for the performance. She only played for about 15 minutes, thank god. She looked like a Corean Amanda Vanstone. She played the ga-ya-geum like Amanda Vanstone with Parkinson’s Disease. I don’t mean to be stupid here, actually there is no way to justify that statement and not appearing stupid without playing you the video. Here it is.


I must also say that this bike gave me a good old fashioned giggle. Who chooses the names for these Corean made products. I love it and I want one.