Change

Hi all, 

It's odd, seeing how things change. Sarah and Amber, two long-standing members of the team at work, have headed home, their contracts here finished. We had to say goodbye to them at the end of February/early March, and it was odd to realize that Jen and I were, suddenly, among the most experienced/oldest ones in our branch of our school.

I mean, seriously? We're the old hands, now? After six months, we're supposed to be the experienced kids in school. Really?

We miss Sarah and Amber. Sarah helped me and Jen to acclimatize when we first got here. Similarly, Daniel, one of the others who joined us in September as new teachers, helped Sionna and Paulina, two new folks 2 months ago, to settle in. So, the older teacher helping the newer one(s) is a bit of a tradition in our school. It was therefore weird to say goodbye.

It was weirder, still, when Naomi, one of the Korean workers in our school, chose to leave. Naomi had been there from before Sarah and Amber's time, so at least two and a half years. She's one of the folks who helped keep us all sane, and to keep the branch running. I'm slightly nervous about how well we'll operate with her gone. The counter teachers are all hard-working, but of all of them, Naomi seemed to basically know where everything was at all times, and how to keep things working.

I wish her the best, of course, and understand why she left. She was working, essentially, 70 hours a week, while being paid for far less. That kind of stress, no-one deserves to have to handle. I've been volunteering to teach a kindergarten class with the school on Saturdays, and I'm exhausted from 50 hour weeks for the past two months. I can't imagine how Naomi felt.

It's odd to see that happening here. Maybe it's cultural, maybe not, but people seem to be putting themselves through hell, whether in the academy as a student, or at school, or work. Maybe it's a left-over from the devastation of the 2nd World War and Korean War--a desire to work hard to rebuild, or to make up for what was destroyed by the fighting... I don't know, maybe it's something else. Whatever the cause, the consequence of over-working is obvious: stress, and loss of staff members like Naomi, and Liz, another Korean staff-member leaving at the end of March.

I hope nobody else leaves--I do not want to be the most-experienced staff member, period, in the school. While that is unlikely, it does worry me. 

All else goes well. With the new essay classes I'm teaching, and problems with some of the test books, I've got a lot of work to do, but that's normal. It's nothing I can't handle. I just keep wondering about the future of the school, and looking forward, in some small ways, to coming home. I'm on the other side of half-way to being done with my contract, and it's weird to start counting down, instead of up.

Cheers,

Chris