Martin's South Korea Living!: DON’T CRY FOR ME FUKUOKA

I was supposed to be going to Japan in the morning and I was all psyched for it. I’m dying to escape from here for a bit and the thought of a few days in Japan sounded fabulous. But it will have to wait. It will either be next weekend or sometime during the next week.

I need to get my work visa. Once I get that I can get my medical insurance. And, I will get a driver’s license. I don’t know how much I’ll drive or I’ll join the driver’s who think that red lights are optional. I don’t mean just shooting through the intersection as the light changes. I mean if there are no cars going with the green light, then the ones at the red light just carry on. I thought it was some strange law but apparently it’s breaking the law. I’ll fit right in.

I am so very disappointed that I’m not going tomorrow. There is one major factor that is the cause of this. Japan is an extremely expensive country. Since it’s off-season if I leave on a weekday and return on a weekday then the boat is cheaper. That was why I was going from Friday to Monday. Go on Friday, drop my passport at the embassy, and pick it up on Monday. Meanwhile I have the weekend to wander around. However, the one hotel that is reasonably priced (about $55 a night) has no room on Saturday. Every other hotel would be a small fortune which no one wants to spend. So if there is room next weekend, I’ll do the same thing next weekend. If not, I’ll just go during the week, this coming week.

This unfortunate turn of events put me in a most miserable mood. I think that if some advance planning would have gone into booking this by someone who will remain nameless (first initial of first name is a “K”) then I’d be off tomorrow. I’m very fragile and quick to be displeased. I spend all my energy on keeping a smile on my face for the kids. Therefore I want everything else to go smoothly. Ha and double Ha!

So what else can I complain about you’re wondering. How about this? Some awful bratty little bitch of a girl in kindergarten kicked me today. She thought it was quite funny. I of course wanted her to suffer an immediate and painful death. But I refrained from striking back. I just told her if she did it again I’d break her legs. I don’t know if she understood but she didn’t kick me again. But here’s the kicker. When I told Kelly she just laughed. What is with these people? Where were they raised and with what kind of values? I let it pass because I had to go to class but tomorrow I’ll let Kelly know that if it happens again then I won’t go back in that classroom. I don’t care if these kids pay to go to this “school”, they don’t pay for the right to abuse me. They can rub my head, laugh at my accent, or do whatever. But no hitting or kicking.

The mixture of the 25 year-old and 13 year-old in class looks like a disaster to me. Their levels of English knowledge are very far apart. The book I use is much too advanced for the youngster. When the chapter you’re working on wants you to have discussions about how you’ve changed in the last five years or discuss the parking situation in your city you know you’ve got the wrong book. I honestly don’t know the solution to this. That’s the problem with a school being a business. There is too much of a conflict of interests at times.

I took some pictures today in school. It kills class time. I do hate when the kids mug for the camera but sometimes that can’t be avoided. And it’s impossible to teach a class and surreptitiously take pictures at the same time. I’ll post some at the end of this little writing exercise of mine.

In fact, I’m going to stop writing now. If I don’t I only think of things that annoy me and that’s getting old. On a positive note I saw today that the flight to the States for June and Leah’s wedding won’t be the $2200 it looked like it would be back in January. Now I can get a return for about $1350. It’s still a lot of money, but it’s better than $2200. Who would have thought a day would come that I’d be happy with a $1350 plane fare?