Upcoming Summer Vacation

Actually my vacation starts in two weeks. And it is a 4 week vacation. I will have a plenty of free time. Last week, I went to Phuket, where I could enjoy beaches, foods, massages, and clubbing. I am thinking of going somewhere too. I want to be relaxed and enjoy good food.

Working as a teacher ends at the end of August because my contract will be expired. I am not extending my contract. For now, I am not sure what to do next. Actullay I have two options:

1. going back to the publishing company where I had been for 3 years.
Working there is fun. Work itself is challengeable and I can be paid more. I think I have potential to be a capable editor. But working conditions are not good. I will not have long vacation anymore. At most, I can one week vacation all through the year. I will have to overwork, especially when it is the time for deadline. And I cannot be teaching anymore.

2. studying for an exam to be a regular teacher
I have been working as a substitute teacher for 2 and half years. I work by contract, not engaged as a regular goverment offical. In order to be a regular, I have to pass an exam, which is very hard to pass. For example, there are 150 applicants but only 1o of them can cut the line. The exam takes place only once a year. I tried two times. I failed at the end, interview at the both times. Teachers in Korea are not paid much but they are guarenteed to work until 60 years old and are given two long vacations and training sessions to have their teaching skills improve. I have a nightmare where I fail the exam again this year and I don't want to study now. I am sick of preparing for the exam.

Life....sucks

Monday

I feel like a zombie every Monday morning. To wake myself up, I have coffee, which does not work at all.
I have a lot of work to do within this week. I hope this week goes fast.

Checked my old posts

I read my old post. I started blogging in 2004 and this blog is almost five years old.
I found that while I abandoned the blog, some people left comments on my old posts and I could not notice their comment at all.
Some people visited here because they are interested in Korea and some in totally different areas and we have different mother tongues.
I'd like to say hello and thank you for giving me comments even though it is too late. ;)

the sensitive

My school has departments as most companies do. (Teachers in Korea do a lot of paper work concerning administration of school and out-of-classroom educational activities as well as teach their subject matters. ) My my department has five people. One of them is my supervisor teaching English. And the rest is a school librarian, Ethics teacher, a English-native speaker teacher who is from Canada, and me. Among them, Ethics teacher, who is junior to me by two years hangs out with me and other teachers of our age from time to time. We share a hobby: he likes drinking and I like drinking too.

I did not know why but unfortunately I did not feel comfortable with him last week because I could feel he was angry with me though we did not have any explicit trouble. So I decided to ask what was wrong with us by treating soju ( a kind of Korea liquor and it is powerful always...) . It turned out that he had been burdened with his work but I did not notice that and ask him whether he was okay with the work. And he seemed to think that he has much more work of our department than I do. It was quite understandable. Anyways it was good to solve the subtle conflict, which I consider it nothing now.

While having soju together, I could find he is very sensitive to other people's feelings. He told me when I looked uncomfortable, sick, crazy, and happy by glimpsing my face. (Well... I am listener type rahter than a talker, so some people sometimes tell me that I don't unveil myself easily. And usually we don't have much conversation at work. ) It was quite striking because his assumption was 100% correct.

I came across him today while going upstairs to my class and we had a talk for about 2 minutes. He asked me if I am sick today and said I looked pale. I was shocked again because my period began today. I decide to watch him. He is very interesting.

need a listener

I was reminded by MJ that I have a blog! Thanks!

My life in June?
Actually I got to have many friends at work at the beginning of this year, which was good at first, because I could talk behind my principal and some evil teachers and share nasty secrets about people we hate.
But now I feel sick of talking with them somtimes because some of them rely on me too much. Whenever they have trouble with work, they run to me. Whever they have a problem with other teachers, they come over to my office to talk, talk, and talk.
I've realized that I am more a listener than a talker. But it is not always good to listen to other complaints. I need a listener too.
I don't know who is reading my post. My friends who know me offline do not know the existence of this blog. Anyway, thank you for listening.

Too much free time

What do you do when you have enough free time?

I am on vacation now. I don't have to work until the beginning of Feb.
I sleep in everyday and waste time without doing anything meaningful.
That's one of the reasons why I made my mind to start blogging again.
I feel bored during vacation. I prefer working to being dull.

Don't be strong

I happened to know I should not look strong and smart to marry in Korea when my friend and I were talking .
The friend really wants to marry in 1 year or so and she has been doing blind dates since last year. Recently she had 3 or 4 dates and while doing so, she came to know that guys tend to prefer girls who look mentally and socially fragile. That is they avoid girls who have strong tastes and social status.
The followings are reported by my friend.

1. Their faces turn stiff when girls say, "In my opinion," "I think..." "The politician is doing wrong..."
2. They do not welcome professional girls. Guys think the girls are beyond their capacity and they cannot control them because the girls make more money than they do.
3. The less girls talk, the more boys ask for the second date.

Alas!