IT’S SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST TASTE IT

During school today I’d tell the kids, “You’ll miss me when I’m gone”. Of course none of them understood a word I was saying, but they will. I think that they’re surprised by how lax I am compared to my Korean counterparts. One girl asked me today why I was so happy. She didn’t exactly use those words but I’m translating here for her. I told her I’m just a happy guy.

I find I’m watching the clock. At the start of class I wonder how I’ll survive 50 minutes, but I do. If they talk too much, I just let them. It uses up time. Today I said, “who wants to read”? Now that is not the right thing to say because in some classes there is no way anyone will volunteer and this was one of those classes. They all point at someone else. Today it was truly funny. For about 10 minutes they played “paper, scissors, rock” to see who would read. I thought it would never end but I was entertained. Paper, Scissors, Rock is a favorite game among kids for deciding things.

One thing that gets kids trying real hard to use English is when they are trying to insult their classmates. Usually it starts out with a “he’s crazy”. Then the other kid will say, “No, he’s crazy”. Then if they’re clever, it escalates. Today I heard an excellent one that just cracked me up. One boy pointed to another boy’s head and said, “This is an accessory”. I wanted to stand and applaud. They can be clever when they want to be.

Jason (the Korean English teacher) tells me today that I should fill out the attendance sheets because Kelly needs to phone the parents when the children aren’t there. I just laughed. I used to do it, but then noticed I was doing it more than Jason or Kelly so it was hard to take seriously. Now I’m not exactly in the mood to be helpful.

I saw Kelly briefly tonight for the first time since the weekend email war. I was leaving and she was standing in the front entrance. She said, “Hello”. I just ignored her and walked out. There was no way I was going to give any appearance of friendliness. Now this might be childish, but so what. I would just as soon spit on her as talk to her. (Those sound like fighting words).

I got an email this evening from her. Maybe my cold shoulder paid off. She told me my salary was in the bank and gave me a list of my deductions. She deducted my plane fare but I’ll fight that battle later. She also said, and I quote, “I'll sign up for your releasement tomorrow. Let me bring the document with me tomorrow”. Translated that means she’ll do the visa cancellation document and give it to me tomorrow. I’m sure there must be an English-Konglish dictionary somewhere.

Naturally that is my main objective. Without the visa cancellation, I’m going nowhere except outside Korea. Now I’ll have my cancellation filed by Friday and the new school can go ahead and get my new visa. Her timing screws up my plans to go to Japan next week as I won’t have the visa issuance number to get my visa for another week or so. By then I’ll be in my new job. I’ll try once again to have a Friday to Monday trip so I can have the weekend in Japan, but I’m not counting on it.

I have orientation for my new job on May 22nd. I’m also moving to Paju on May 22nd. That’s just 11 days. I can hardly believe it. Sometimes I feel like I’ve done 3 years at hard labor instead of 3 months of teaching (or what passes for teaching). I will admit I’m a little nervous that I won’t like it. If I don’t then I’ll have to pack it in. A lot of it will be luck in that the kids have to be decent to work with. Some kids are good, and some kids are demon spawn. In my head I imagine the kids to be like the middle school kids I currently have. If they are, then I’m home free. If they’re not, then I’m homeward bound.

I’ve eaten about one small meal a day for the last seven to ten days. The only big meal I had was my Outback meal. I have no appetite. Even though I feel weak from hunger at times, the thought of eating repulses me. I have to force myself to eat. I know this isn’t good but I hope as the cold/bronchitis disappears, my appetite returns. Or maybe it’s just waiting until I exit Gwangyang. It’s probably a good thing it’s a rented tux for Leah’s wedding because if it was my suit I had to wear, it would need alterations.