So, some at this point some people may have noticed a nearly month-long lag in updates and stories from our experience here. Well, there's a good reason for that: it's been a very quiet month. We have not had any classes, but we have not had any vacation. I will explain.
You see, an odd quirk of the Korean school year is having a "Winter Break" running during January for 3 weeks (during which we had to teach our "camps" and took our vacation to Seoul) followed almost immediately by a "Spring Break" during February for 3 weeks. The two breaks are separated by a week of "classes" where the students put in time until the graduation ceremony at the end of the week. Anyway, since Hannah and I were allotted 10 days of vacation time during the winter break and 8 days for our summer break (August), we were not entitled to any vacation time during the spring break, despite having almost literally nothing to do.
Hence the term "desk warming", meaning we come in to work to keep our desks warm.
Now, many foreign teachers will take this moment to complain about how bored they are and how it's a waste of time and yaddah-yaddah, but I've found this time to eventually be pretty peaceful. At first the days drag by and you try to fill it by playing on the internet and watching movies (in lieu of watching movies, I've been keeping abreast of the whole North Korean nuke situation), but eventually you use the time to reflect on things and sometimes discover things about yourself- good and bad- through ample introspection. I suppose it could be likened to a temple stay in that you have time to meditate and reflect. Regardless of what you do with your time, desk warming is somewhat a rite of passage for EPIK teachers: something you have to do, like it or not.
Unfortunately, whereas my time has been filled with reading the news and thinking about life, Hannah's "desk warming" has been anything but for the most part! Poor thing has been run ragged by a couple of her teachers trying to throw together lesson materials on-the-fly. For instance, one day she was told that she needed to come up with about 30 different books and activities for each... within 2 days. She actually pulled it off without too too much hassle, but it could have been easier for her if she were given more notice and more say in which books (one teacher especially is incredibly indecisive and, while she is not shy to shoot down Hannah's ideas, is loathe to provide her own). Thankfully, now Hannah has had at least a couple of days to watch shows at her desk like most of the others do.
Now, sitting at the end of it all, I find it astonishing how quickly the time has passed! I write now with only 2 days to spare until the weekend, with classes beginning again on Monday! I originally thought I would have the entire first month of lesson plans completed and polished, but have found that I've only made outlines for 3 of the 5 with 2 of the lessons completed (that being said, I have plotted out an entire curriculum of topics and general lesson plans for all of my lessons for the next 5 months, so it's not exactly like I've been staring at the ceiling the entire time). However, the time to pause and reflect I have found to be unexpectedly crucial for this job: the winter break was much too busy with camps and running around to be at all refreshing and I came back to work actually worse for wear for that middle-week. In the end, though many dread it, desk warming turned out to be a good thing.
I've reflected a lot on a variety of things during this time- how to approach teaching in a better way, what I want to see and do during the next 8 months here, whether I want to stay another year (I don't), and what lies for me beyond this year. I've also reflected on a lot of unpleasant things that could only be approached with considerable time and effort, which desk warming afforded me for a short time. Regarding my current mentality, I love this country, my co-workers, my new friends, and even some of the students, but struggling to teach English to classrooms of raucous middle schoolers is not how I want to spend my life. In the meantime, I need to enjoy my time here, not take my job too seriously (which is probably the root of my frustration with teaching), and be grateful that I have this wonderful opportunity to learn and explore and share with people that I would have otherwise never met.
**That being said, the job itself is a good job for those who are passionate about teaching English. I've just realized that teaching classrooms is not my passion in life, which is something I sought to explore by coming to Korea. Others like me came for the adventure and want to stay because they like teaching! Regardless, I have no regrets coming here and know of very, very few people who do.**
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