My meeting with the Director...

This morning at school I was observing a class when one of the Korean teachers poked her head in and asked me to come with her. She told me that the Director wanted to meet with me. It was a little scary, just because she is the super big boss, even above the principal of the school. Up to this point my only encounter with the Director was when she gave a welcome speech to all of the teachers from all three Jayeon schools. The speech was given through an interpreter because apparently she doesn't speak any English. I think she knows a passable amount, but just doesn't want to say anything wrong, so just chooses to not speak any at all.

Anyway, the Korean teacher interpreted for us during the meeting. She asked how I was liking the school and how I was adjusting, and I responded with fine, fine... then we got past the pleasantries. The Director rambles on and on for about 30-45 seconds and the Korean teacher says to me, "Do you know about the bad world economy?" "Uh, yes." More Korean talking... "Enrollment is quite down because of the bad economy." "Oh, is that so?" Excruciatingly long break for more Korean talking. "The Director met with the principal from the franchise school you are supposed to go to, and they cannot afford to pay another teacher right now because there aren't enough students." "blank stare..." More talking... what is she talking about? Why do I only get 1 sentence of translation per 30 spoken in Korean??? "So we would like to know if you would be willing to stay here and teach for the full year." "relief."

So, I'm going to be staying in Suji! Which is what I've wanted ever since I got here. And apparently the Director is really happy because I'm being flexible, so - bonus! So I'm in a really good mood, and couldn't be happier with the way things are going so far. I'm also insanely tired right now, as I have been every night. And I'm only teaching one class a day. Starting Monday I have 6 classes MWF and 7 TuTh. I am so not ready for that schedule.

Since I'm going to be staying at the beautiful new Bojeong branch of the Jayeon ESOL school, I will dedicate a whole post to it next. Actually describing life at the school could be two posts. I think I really underestimated how much my life would be dominated by my job.

Also coming up soon I will describe Suji a little more, describe the Korean people and my interactions with them, and talk more about Korean tv, because I love it. Also maybe more bathroom talk, since that seemed pretty popular.