Whack-A-Mole

This week was pretty trying. The minute I thought I had one situation under control, another would spring up. It was kind of like playing whack-a-mole on 5 machines at once. God did give me many encouragements throughout the week though. I was constantly reminded this week of how God will not give me a trial too great to handle. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, he would pick me up.

On Tuesday, I had to deal with a lot of unprofessional behavior that happened on Monday from both the teachers and the Korean staff. Joe vs. the world. Dealing with the teachers went well. They were very receptive and acknowledged their fault and agreed to perform better in the future. The Korean staff was a different story though. I started by taking the person aside and in private telling them what I thought could have been done differently. That suggestion sparked an inquisition. I had a meeting with my manager which was interrupted by the branch manager coming in to talk with me about it. After classes that day, I had a meeting with the owner about it. The owner was surprisingly understanding about the whole thing, and ended up siding more with me than anything else. The other meetings didn't go so well. It brought back memories of being on death row, I mean seeing the dean of men at BJ. Whatever the result, I know that I did the right thing, and I remained very respectful during each of the meetings.

When I met with the owner, she actually gave me a very good compliment. She said I had "the blood of a Korean." I really had no idea what that meant until I asked a friend. It means the following: most foreigners come into this country and have no regard for its customs or rules; however, I conduct myself differently from all other foreigners so that even though I'm not Korean, she considers me as one of them. I was kind of taken aback. I walked into the meeting expecting fire and brimstone to rain down on me, but instead I got compliments and validation.

High fives are a big part of teaching. I use them to wake students to just get them motivated. The minute all the students start coughing and sneezing, I always hate myself. Why did I just high five you? It's the whole college dorm feeling all over again. Once one person gets it, you can just start the count down. I got hit pretty hard on Saturday. It was a combination of evils. First, I was invited out to dinner with the owner and some others on Friday night. When you're invited out to a Korean dinner, you shouldn't expect to get back before 2:00 AM. For some reason, I didn't sleep well at all on Friday night either. When I woke up on Saturday, I couldn't really speak.

I eventually found my voice and trained 2 new teachers. I was impressed by how professional they were. I was explaining something to them when they interrupted me, "Excuse me, can I take notes on what you're saying?" Why yes. Yes you can. (My name is Joseph Lee, and I approve of this message.) They practiced teaching their lessons in front of me, and before I could start giving them feedback, they were asking how they could improve and become better teachers. As a whole, I was very pleased with their attitude towards everything. I finished training just in time. About 30 minutes afterwards, everything I ate came back out. Yes Dad, there were chunks, and yes, I'll be sure to chew my food better next time.

I skipped church this morning and slept instead. I woke up with a pounding headache, but after some good ol' Campbell's chicken noodle soup and Tylenol, I was feeling better. I went out for a walk and say this bad boy. The picture doesn't really show how big it is, but I would say it was about the size of my thumb. I would not want to be one of those bugs.

I'm currently looking up different visa options for my stay in Korea next year. The owner pretty much offered me a job next year if I decide to come back. I think researching has to be the most mundane part of anything though....

Say What?

I must have the weirdest schedule ever. I rest up on the weekdays and burn myself out on the weekends. The beauty of working in the afternoons is that I never have to set an alarm. I can just wake up and then
have hours before I have to leave for work. It's the lazy man's dream.

On Saturday, I went skeet shooting with some guys from church. All of them were talking about how much they shoot back home, "This one time I took out a 8675 950 BBGPYT rifle and shot it." "Well once, I was able to shoot a Tomahawk Expansion Tri-Force Infinity Blaster. Joe, what about you?" "Uh... I had a bee-bee gun when I was growing up..." [insert cheesy smile] I guess having "Southern" roots counts for more than military training when it comes to shooting clay out of the air. I made 19 out of 25. The closest military person was at 14. I was voted most valuable in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Personally, I would pull out this strategy if that ever were to occur.

Friday was my birthday, and so we all went to a karaoke room after dinner. Apparently, since it was my birthday, I had to sing/dance "Gangnam Style" as the opening act. You just check your shame and judgment at the door and have a good time. The karaoke rooms are one of my favorite things to do here. You just have to go with the right crowd, and you always have to make sure that you aren't the worst one there. (Maybe I take a little bit of judgment in with me. I smuggle it underneath my jacket.)

I got a lot of compliments on my Korean pronunciation this week. It was really encouraging to hear. I still know I have a long way to go though. Here's me speaking Korean (translated to English for your enjoyment)
Me: "I want fish and rice please."
The waiter: "You want .... AHHHHH fish and rice? right?"
I just say yes and chalk it up to the noisy atmosphere. It just seems to be noisy wherever I go. Koreans must just have a hearing problem. In all seriousness though, it has to be one of the most frustrating things about learning a new language: trying to get the pronunciation right. The above situation doesn't really happen too often, and when it does, I can hear where I went wrong. The only issue is then fixing the problem. There are sounds that I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to make. I spend a lot of time watching how Koreans form letters and trying to mimic their mouth movements. Koreans say that I sound about 90% correct on things that I'm confident in saying. The less confident, the worse my pronunciation.

I get the first week of October off. It was kind of a surprise for me to find out, but I'm definitely not complaining about it. A few of my coworkers and I are going to go to Beijing. At least, that's the plan right now. The tickets have not yet been booked. On the trip, we plan on hitting up the great wall, tiennamen square, the Chinese circus, the forbidden palace, and other sites in the area. I'm really looking forward to it. I never thought I would ever have a chance to visit the great wall. It was just something in books, but now it's becoming more of a reality. I'll be sure to bring my camera on the excursion.

Today, I played piano for church. It really is nice to have some kind of musical release. I really miss being able to play the piano whenever I want. I know that when I actually get my hands on a real piano (the one at church is a keyboard), I'll play for a day straight. I just want to sit down and play depressing music. Rachmaninoff and Chopin are definitely the men for the job. Afterwards, I played soccer in my league. We played a girls' team today . . . . The score was 7-0, and yes, we won. It was pretty nice to have a relatively low stress game as goalie. I wish my team would give me more of these games. I also found out that the whole "hit it with your purse next time" gets lost in translation between American English and English English. One time, a guy totally whiffed the ball, and I yelled, "You got a hole in your foot?" He then bent down to examine if his foot was OK . . . . My humor must just be too refined.

On Saturday this week, I have to train 2 new people for the job, but these aren't just any 2 people. They're a couple. I'm hesitant. Maybe it's just my pessimistic mind taking over, but I've had very few "couples working together" stories ending happily. The best thing about having a pessimist's outlook is that you're rarely disappointed.