What bloody schedule?!

When Christina dropped the encrypted bombshell a couple of weeks ago that as of November I would no longer be teaching Elementary I made a bit of a joke out it.
Step One: No classes.
Step Two: No apartment.
Step Three: A field trip to the airport with all my belongings and my passport, “we are off to see the planes.”
On Monday I was ready to skip straight from Step One to Step Three. Warning, in this entry I will ramble, and I will rant...and I will not apologise for that.

To be sure, as I have mentioned on this blog, my Elementary schedule wasn’t overly fabulous to begin with. But I was starting to make progress, even the boys in Grade Five were better behaved, and the kids in Grade Three were finally warming to me. Over half my battle had been due to the fact my schedule kept changing, and so I couldn’t get into a proper routine with the kids. Oh, and not to mention that the department hadn’t been told the students that Fely was gone. I was always suspicious of that, so imagine my “surprise” when I arrive to work on Monday to see that she’s back and taking over my classes.

Trying to get a straight answer in this Hagwon is a lot like trying to fasten your shoelaces with your hands tied behind your back. So Fely telling me she was back because the kids kept asking for her didn’t exactly calm my fears and paranoia that I was going to be fired for my teaching not being good enough or something equally bogus. “Hey Timmy, you know how much you miss Hammy the Hamster? Well, we’ve raised him from the dead just to shut you up!”

I was told to call Christina, who did nothing to soothe my fears, she just told me she would talk to me “later.” It turns out that my director is opening a new English and Maths academy on the fifth floor of the building. Over the last couple of days I have been given slightly more information. Apparently the manager of the Elementary department “has no need for a foreign teacher.” Read: she has no need for a foreign teacher who can’t speak Korean. Though unless she had a problem with the job I was doing, I don’t really see how this is an issue. I was hired as an English teacher, not to be her new best friend. Last week Grade Three made me laugh when they showed such shock and pity that I couldn’t speak Korean, bless.

I am so fed up with the whole situation right now. Yet, I know I should be enjoying this time while it lasts. I am still teaching my three one-on-ones, a task which amounts to two hours of work a day. At the moment I don’t have to work Fridays. Christina has no idea when the new academy will be open, or when I can expect a new timetable, and I will still be paid the same wage. Obviously I am not arguing with this logic, but I didn’t come to Korea to sit around in my apartment wasting the days away or blowing all my hard earned cash on crap I don’t even want.

The burning question I have had over the last couple of days is “Why the *beep* was I hired if there isn’t a job for me to do?” Seriously, is that good business practice? My schedule and workload has been so haphazard and inconsistent during my time here, that I wouldn’t be surprised if I was asked to work on reception for a couple of weeks. “여보세요, 서울 학원. 네, 네, 네.” Job done.

More than anything, I would have preferred to have seen out my teachings with the Elementary kids and then gone home to the United Kingdom thinking that I made a slight difference to some of the students. Now I won’t be able to have that because I will have to start again with a new bunch of students. Who knows how long it will be before that changes, and I have to move to the second floor of the building (which is empty) to teach parrots how to say “Welcome to Seoul Hagwon. Fred the Fly…..” oh wait….

I guess all I can do now is wait and see what this new schedule brings, and hope I don’t end up broke by the end of the week. It looks like I will have to spend more time with Christina. While it will be a nice change from the stony silence of the “Third Floor,” and I am glad she can communicate in English, I have a feeling it’s going to be a rocky relationship.

I don’t think I can be arsed with anymore of all this change though, my patience has worn so thin it would win America’s Next Top Model merely on the merits of its cheek bones. Meh……