The Bad Week

They said it usually happens around Christmas in your first year teaching overseas, but I definitely had my "freak out" week a bit sooner than many. While many people have had their issues adjusting to a new culture, new food, new lifestyle, new langauge, and an all-around new way of doing things, my biggest struggle has actually been with the people I am working alongside at my elementary school. The country and culture itself is fascinating, and I truly LOVE it here!! Work it seems...ain't so great at the moment. The people at my work are not bad people inherently and my issues have not been related to culture so much as they have been towards the all-around lack of communication, assistance, and effort being put in to an average day of work by my main co-teacher and the immediate surrounding staff. She is a sweet lady and a very nice and social person at times, but she has very poor communication skills (and I don't mean in terms of language/dialect) in the sense that she does not share things with me and does not inform me of things, and several times I've ended up teaching a class solo because she has shown up to work an hour or so late. It figures that I would travel to the other side of the world and end up working alongside the one lazy Korean in the country, and the one that reminds me most of the people I have struggled working alongside at several jobs back in the states. In addition, due to my co-teachers overall lack of communication and attention to details, I was paid a week late, and the only reason the issue was even resolved was because I eventually had to get help being paid from another nearby elementary school. Otherwise, I may never have gotten paid. I still haven't received the full amount of my first paycheck, but I'm choosing to be thankful I have any money at this point. The biggest roadblock I hit this week was that I was told by my co-teacher that I am no longer permitted to lead-teach any classes or plan the lessons, and that I now have to serve as the assistant to my co-teacher, the same way I mentioned above who has issues with responsibility. It wasn't for anything I did or didn't do. It was just a decision that was never passed down to me, and I had apparently already done above my pay-grade in the classroom. Now all of this above may sound (and basically is) a mental vomit of a terrible week in the life of someone living in Korea, but I certainly hope I don't give off such a negative vibe that people think I'm starting to hate being here. It's not that at all. I LOVE KOREA!  What all this above has taught me is humility and patience, both of which I would be lying if I told you I have attained from all of this, even as I type this. I have learned that an English teacher overseas needs these two qualities to survive, to remain sain. Otherwise, you will expect way too much and be way too disappointed. The moral of the story- "go with the flow". This was actually the first English phrase I taught my co-teacher when I arrived here, and now it is my daily motto for life as an ESL teacher. You're not going to have everything fall into your lap, and many times this job will disappoint you, even crush you. The question is- what do you do to get back up and how do you respond? You're not going to be the world's best teacher, and you're certainly not going to Robin Williams your Korean school Dead Poet's Society-style! :) If you keep things in perspective and allow mistakes to be made by both you and others, you can grow in immense ways and learn more about yourself than you ever really cared to. The bottom line- you're going to have a week like mine. You're going to scream and curse and want to rip your hair out. You're going to want to quit the job and grab the next flight back to your home. Don't. Don't give up. Don't give in. Do exactly what you expect your students to do every time you step into a classroom- LEARN.