The J.O.B.

When I first started applying to jobs in Korea I figured I was going to join the masses of ESL teachers who are abused at their hagwons. I was going to fight "the man" for my vacation, my overtime, all the while being cursed at in Korean by small innocent little monsters with toothy grins. See here

I longed for a public school job where there is respect, loads of vacation, and morals, (monsters still included). The children wasn't what scared me. I was a high school teacher who had broken up fights, been afraid to come to school because of the pyscho emotional zombies called teenagers, and had taught students with criminal records longer than you can imagine. No, I wasn't worried about dealing with children. It was the job I was worried about. Alas, fate smiled down upon me and handed me the golden job, much like Charlie entering the Chocolate Factory, I waltzed into LG Chem.

I teach five classes, two adult and three children. My first class is an adult class at 8am. I have six students on roll. The second adult class at 12:30 has four on roll. The adults are taking the class so that they may pass the LAP test and become promoted within the company. Most of the students are men, who are too shy to speak, or so I thought. More on that later.

The kid's classes are at 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30. Fifty minutes each and with a total of eight kids in all. Pause as teachers around the world throw rotten fruit and curse my good, amazing, fantastic, out of this world luck. Going back to America to teach will never be the same. Ah Korea, the land of awesomeness.

Now the kid classes are a little different. They are held in one of the apartments at LG complex which makes things seem less...official. The children don't really take it seriously and the previous teacher pretty much let them do what they wanted. Enter JENNIFER TEACHER. I'll let you know how it goes.

Working for a company such as LG is pretty fantastic. Take last night for example. The previous teacher had a going away party that the big boss paid for. We went to Outback Steakhouse. When I say we I mean me, the other teacher and ten Korean men. If I thought I was stared at before, I had no idea. I'm not really sure I want to know what people thought when they say a foreign woman with 11 men, 10 being Korean. After the party, there was the after party of course. About six of us went to a bar in Naju where I watched the Korean men drink, while I sipped my lone beer (it was a weekday!). We stayed out until 11. One of the guys? Maybe. It's all part of the culture. By participating I was being accepted into their world. I learned a great deal about Koea, the respect for elders (a junior at the company, cut up the bosses meat and we all stood when he stood), the closeness of friends, and how much Koreans love to laugh and enjoy each other's company. Ah Korea, may long you stand.