Well, its getting near my time of expiration at my institute. Just the other night, we had the traditional "welcoming in and going away" party for those teachers leaving the institute, and those teachers who are about to start. As usual, we went for Korean bbq at our favourite Galbi restaurant (its like this -they treat us like royalty at their restaurant because when you show up with twenty-five hungry teachers, we represent a nice bill). However, this time, I was center stage, for the first time since I had arrived. I don't even remember the dinner that well when I first came to my institute, but I do remember two things in particular - I couldn't use the bloody metal chopsticks at all, and the "traditional Korean" restaurant we ate at had brutal food, with no beer (for those of you living in Korea, stay far, far away from HanCook restaurants - the food their is awful - I had better food at the hospital.)
My going away dinner however felt strange to me for a number of reasons. First and foremost - it was for me leaving. I've been here in Seoul for over 21 months without going home. I'd been to so many going away dinners for other teachers that they had long lost their luster for me; I just partook in the free food and plenty of beer to go around. I always got to listen to their going away speeches, and make fun of them while they stood up there and froze, not knowing what to say, say for the usual "I'd like to thank my director, Mr.Lee for giving me this job. Yes, it's sometimes frustrating, but overall, the experience was really good for me...yada yada yada." Usually the teacher would talk all sorts of kind and sweet words, but after their speech was over, they'd go back to bashing the institute, and spewing some sort of fire over what they saw as illegal shistering over their pension, or some other area they were convinced they were being ripped off in. (For those of you who don't know - Foreign teachers in Korea ALWAYS talk tough when it comes to what they think of their institute. However, when it really comes down to the nitty gritty, they like the attention that they get, and they're really sad to be leaving....at least at my institute.)
The second reason it felt strange was because it was a little premature. I finished unofficially teaching this past Friday, but I'm actually working at my institute for another four days, where I will be training and doing model classes, and doing curriculum development for books that are poorly designed and shouldn't really be used for teaching. So everyone is telling me goodbye at the dinner, but I'll still be coming into work - many of them know this, but for the sake of the party, they're saying goodbye, because they feel like they should say goodbye at a going away party. Its a little strange.
Other than that, not much is new. I'm looking forward to some free time to spend in Seoul - it will be different being able to look at certain parts of Seoul in the daytime, and to see parts of Seoul that I wouldn't otherwise bother looking at, because of lack of time. Things like shopping without having to worry about time loss, or, even worse, getting lost when I'm on a schedule, or being confused, and just taking the easy way out; it will be nice to get confused. So I'll have to see what the next two weeks hold for me. It should be fun.
Take care all, and apologies for the lack of interesting news. I'm sure that if i get lost, it will make for a much more interesting story
God Bless,
me