Work woes.

I'm having some, uh.... issues with a couple of coworkers, which are coming to a head due to the office shifting. One has just returned back from maternity leave. She's nice enough, decent English....

It's just that she's got some strange ways of seeing the world, and is able to express herself just enough in English to piss me off from time to time. And I guess her way of seeing the world isn't that different from how most people do -- just sort of one dimensional and from the exacting perspective of whatever she is.

She's the one who made the comment about how Americans treat foreigners yesterday. That in and of itself is, whatever. Just like everything else she says. Like when they were asking about my studying Korean and I explained how the ㅡ sound is hard for English speaking foreigners, and how we get it mixed up withㅓ, which we tend to not put enough of an "o" into, turning both of them mostly into a joint "uh" sound. Which isn't right, in either case.

She then proceeded to look exasperated and tell me that ㅡ and ㅓ are two completely different sounds.

I know that. Thanks.

I just explained that, myself. All I'm saying is, that for English speakers, they are confusing and hard to make correctly. Sort of like how you call me "Lees" and the English Zone is the "Englishee Jone-uh". Because we have accents when we speak foreign languages. Because that's how the world works.

In the ongoing finding-Liz-a-Korean-husband chats, she somehow manages to make faces like condemning a Korean man to spending the rest of his life with me is the worst idea ever, while also letting me know that I would be extremely lucky to have one, and should try my best. "Korean men are very kind." Really? All of them? Wow.

In the car yesterday, she was asking how work was going, and I told her I'm just really bored and eager for classes to start again. Somehow we got on the topic of all the teachers who were leaving. I explained that, when I first started hearing all of these teachers were changing schools, I was confused, because in the American public school system, teachers stay at schools for decades, but that I had since learned that South Korean public school teachers can't stay in the same school for longer than five years. That's all I said -- no tone, no indication that I think either system is better than the other. She launched into a rant about how in Korea, everyone has an equal education, because they shift the teachers around all the time, so that no school is better than the others. I didn't even bother raising the point that, from my perspective, the South Korean public education system could do with just a tad more stability. And while I think the idea behind the constant merry-go-round of educators is a good one, I can see the merits of both sides.

I know when I'm fighting a losing battle. Or rather when not to bother fighting an impossible battle. Or a worthless one.

Anyway, I don't like her. And I don't want her sitting in the cubicle next to me for the next year.

Then there's the little guy. No idea what this guy teaches -- I've never even really looked at him before. But he seems to be convinced that I'm dead set on seducing him or something. On the infamous noraebang bus night, when Mr. K took me to the other table to make some introductions, Mr. K made the joke that he should be my new friend, since Mr. K was leaving. This guy looks at me like I'm a fucking whore -- the dirtiest up-and-down I've ever received in my life, and responds to Mr. K in Korean that he doesn't think his wife would like that.

Well. I don't think I would like your wife. And I know I don't like you. I've ogled a fair amount of male teacherness at my school the last four months, but not one time has this guy made a single blip on my radar. He's practically invisible. He made a terrible face when I walked into the office yesterday and he realized he's going to have to share the same oxygen as me for the next 8 months. He was the only one in the office when I came in this morning, and when I greeted him in Korean, I didn't even get a "neh" in response. Just another one of those up-and-downs, as he turned uncomfortably back to his computer.

Prick.

Well, we all know Western girls are whores, don't we? I mean, who hasn't seen Sex and the City?

Yeah. Don't project your fucking dirty mind onto me, buddy. Just because you chose the straight-and-narrow doesn't mean you have to take it out on those of us who want to have just a little more fun, in a life that can be either very short or very, very long, depending on what you make of it.

I don't like the new office. I miss the music teacher and the smartass teacher and the married PE teacher... I miss the kind lady teachers who always give me handfuls of little oranges and awful little rice cakes. Just have to remember, I never spend much time in the office anyway. It's not going to be all day, every day for very much longer. After all, I've got the new posh English Zone to tend to. Next week I meet my new main coteacher. Please say a prayer she's a decent-minded individual....

And that there's at least one charming young man amongst the temporary English teachers. Hey. I'm just saying. Work can get boring sometimes. Still doesn't give the Little Prick the right....