Echoing Endurance

Well, week 2 and the weekend are now over. My classes are progressively getting easier to manage... I've organized all my classes, etc... into a binder - much better. Actually, demands are still pretty high and unrealistic at school, and every Friday there is a foreign teacher's meeting including the Korean principal and 2 other Korean supervisors. This is when all the teachers vent, big time. Even the vets that worked here last year were saying how much more stressful this year is in regards to duties and expectations in the time we are given. The Korean supervisors keep piling it on and that's not gonna cut it. ha It's like I'm in a union; us versus the Koreans- it sounds bad, but this is what hagwons are like. Korean private schools are run like businesses (people with degrees in business, not education)... trying to milk you dry so they can get there money's worth out of you. Jonathan and all of his friends have said the same thing... you just have to say no sometimes or they'll just keep piling it above the brim.

Anyway, I've attached some pictures of my apartment. Today, I did my first load of laundry - water flooded the room, then I realized the hose (to release the water) wasn't even hooked up properly ((shakes head)). I'm still waiting for them to install an A/C - it'll be getting warmer soon, and the tv doesn't work either... I'm timing it.

Yesterday, Jonathan and I (other peeps) went to this really cool Taekwondo performance (They were all 3rd degree blackbelts). I WISH I would have brought my camcorder - it was pretty sweet. They choreographed fighting scenes, broke wooden planks, bricks, etc... The guy that took us (Metari?) is from Ghana and is a 6th degree blackbelt and teaches classes in Seoul.

I almost understand all of the Korean letters, except for a few combination letters. Anywho... watching a movie and then it's on to looking over some lesson plans, peace!