The day it all unravelled

Maybe I jinxed myself with my happy post about my coworkers. Sigh.

So I was merrily working yesterday....finishing my job at my school I really like, where I've had an excellent experience...where the pay and hours are excellent, the co-workers are nice, I can walk five minutes to get to work, where my girlfriends work is 10minutes away..... an oasis in a sea of corrupt bosses and contract disputes....an Oasis where I think they are the best bosses possible, and they think I'm the best foreign teacher they've ever had.....

I was merrily working, finishing the day, having reached the 11 month mark of my contract, and being quite sure of my desire to come back and work a few months more after summer....while I wait for said girlfriend to find out if she wins the working holiday visa lottery to go to Canada.

As I said, I was merrily working when my bosses sat us down (me and Chad, the American teacher) and said "Next week, starting Monday, we need to start giving English classes for this company, over the lunch hour....at their office....in a different town. Every day. Forever. And by the way, you don't get paid extra." (Of course, I'm paraphrasing....but anyways )

Followed by awkward silence. Lots of it. "Diplomatic conflict avoidant" Matt waged a brief, valiant, but ultimately fruitless battle against "That's insane" Matt. Diplomatic Matt lived on, but I'm afraid C.A. Matt didn't make it.

What does one say to that anyway? Let me break it down in case you missed it....

3 hours of extra work including travel time....every day being 11:30-8:00 instead of 2:30-8:00

0 extra pay.

0 known end date for this horrendous schedule.

3 (At least) places that this idea goes against the contract I signed.

Needless to say my "keeboon" 기분 (mood) was not exactly "cho-ah" 좋아 (good)

Not sure why they think we would agree to this....I mean, the teaching hours are within the

amount that we agreed to in our contract...that part is fine....but I can't help but think they

are using the fact that I'm dating Jenny and thinking I won't say no because of that...

Got news for them....there are a lot of schools that want teachers in Wonju....and this change

takes my schedule from the best to the worst....so what kind of idiot would sign that deal

again??

Illusion shattered. Comfort zone obliterated. Plans in flux. Inflatable Oasis hissing air and losing

its shape. Sigh.

Small comforts

So, Wonju has slowly been adding things that make it just a little bit more comfortable for me.

Over the last few months, the stores have started selling some of my favourites...Cranberry Juice, Ginger Ale, and Tonic water. All of which has made it a little more comfortable....plus a new restaurant Black Angus that actually has a real hamburger...wow...things are looking up. Plus they put workout machine in the park outside my house...so free gym...

And today, an internet store opened near my house, and they want someone to take pictures of their products...so I can practice some studio photography...they have lights and softboxes and stuff to practice my studio skills. Good times. The area is looking up....

The Cast Part II (work)

I couldn't find a picture of my uber boss. Esther. But she is the best boss I could possibly hope for in Korea. So many horror stories about bad bosses. I'm really lucky/blessed to be here. And it works both ways. She's lucky too. She really likes me and she's happy she has someone who comes more than 5mins before class starts and doesn't smell like alcohol (yes, sadly, that was the teacher before me) Sorry about the lack of photo...moving on to:






Gabrielle - The Day to Day boss of my school. Hmm. What to say about her. She is very cutesy...as a lot of the girls here are....um....

She has three purses over $1500....insane I know. Her english is very good. Um, I think she's seen every English movie ever made...has a list of her favourite directors....

She was my first Korean teacher.....she lived in Italy with her husband for a while, but she couldn't work, and said Italians don't really speak English....so she came back. And her (ex)husband is an idiot. I feel weird writing someones personal life who doesn't even know she's being blogged about, so, we'll leave it at that.

Oh and she's the one who wrote Amy the lovely letter.

This is Kate (the one on the left). The only co-teacher to make it onto the cast, beca use, she has been here for like 9 of my 10.75 months so far.... the other teacher has changed multiple times. Kate is a badminton allstar and always smiley and happy at work. She is good to have around the workplace.The one on the right is Judy who was around for my first 4 months I think.





This is Amy's replacement Chad. He has been at ELC for about 3wks now. I knew him before, cause when all the English teachers would get together then me and Him and Kyle would talk hockey. He is big and loud and American for sure....the coolness factor of the hockey is slightly reduced by the fact that he's from Detroit...but I let that one slide. I actually got him the job, because our school was looking for someone to replace Amy and having a hard time finding someone...and he got fired from his sucky evil academy. So I facilitated a meeting. People get paid $1000 for finding a teacher for these institutions...but I don't think I'll bring that up to my bosses. And now he lives downstairs in my building.




I should also mention Phil. Even though I don't work with him. He is the Englishman who worked with Kyle at the evil school and now works with Kristy (the South African in my last blog). He's hilarious, a fellow Korean studier, and I like him very much. These days, I don't see him as much but we play a lot of Bball together...you also may have seen him in the ski trip story back in winter.

The Cast of the Adventures of Mattsimus

Our Hero. Need I say more? The one and only Mattsimus the merciful, to whom this epic blog is dedicated. Our Hero embarked on this Asian Adventure at the End of July 2009. Since then he has travelled the country, fought vicious insects, (see photo), learned crazy languages, bought many lenses, captured beautiful images and found a lovely lass. 

The aforementioned lovely lass. Though our heroine made her first brief appearance only in month five of the adventure, and didn't start dating our hero until month six, she quickly established herself as the main character in this drama alongside our hero. Part English teacher, part princess, part farm girl and part mom. All parts fun and quite probably the sweetest girl ever. Let's just say the 2nd six months have gone much faster than the first six. Her English name is Jenny. Korean name Kim Jeong-Yoon. 김정윤

Ze Friends. Ze brown haired one on the right has been in our hero's life for many years. Through Imadene and family trauma, the Christian Book Store and Providence. Ze blond one met ze brown haired one at Providence and they've hung out since. A little. Ze blond one was the one who extended our hero the invite to come work in Korea. They worked together every day for a good 9 months. Ze Friends and our hero spent many a weekend together as well, going to church, exploring Seoul and some crazy mountaining adventures as well. Though it seems to have been a hard year away for Ze Friends, it was fun to be on the adventure together and our hero hopes they are doing well on their next adventure. Kyle and Amy if you aren't on nomenclatural terms. 

Ze Friends might actually have been a better title for these two (because of their Germanic connections), but anyway we'll call them de vrienden. So, de vrienden came in February just as Kyle and Amy were gearing up to leave and they have really been a godsend. They are from South Africa and are really cool. Kristy, on the left was a youth pastor last year, so they are also into going to church together which is awesome. Let's just say 2hrs to church by yourself in a different city would be lame. Kristy teaches at Kyle's old school, and Renee is a partime architect working from home They've been a lot of fun, and I can even practice my Dutch because they speak Afrikaans. Wow. 

To be continued...........Next episode....the "work" cast of the adventures of Mattsimus