Waegookin.

"Most of the native English speakers don't have much affection toward our children because they came here to earn money and they often cause problems,'' Park said.

I'm having a really shit day, thanks to those students I don't have any affection for, and this is the last thing I need to see.

I'm not one to gripe about my situation here. But Jesus F. Christ. He goes on to suggest that hiring gyopos would be a better option, because they have ethnic ties to the country and, therefore, the children. The same children who can break my heart when 1 out of 2,000 of them makes a comment about me being a "fucking foreigner", when I don't give a fuck what anyone else on the face of the planet has to say about. Because I care about them so little.

And where do you think they get these bullshit comments from?

Sitting through a meeting for the NETs yesterday, listening to this woman from the MOE lecture us about how our jobs are not guaranteed, and it's our job to make the children happy, meanwhile douchebag higher-ups are quoted in articles about how we are ultimately useless and the lesser of all evils available to South Korea, while they sort out the mess that is their English education system. Shh, shh. Calm down everyone. We're just using the native speakers until we get our shit together. We don't want them here anymore than you do. We don't care if they stay for another year or not, because they aren't even real teachers.

Meanwhile, those of us actually in the industry happen to know that the positions available for native speakers increase exponentially as the semesters roll on.

A big "FUCK USA" written on a table in my classroom will remain there until one of my co-teachers forces me to erase it. And the students responsible for it will receive a translated lecture next week about how I'm not ashamed to be a foreigner, because it means I've had the bravery to leave everything that is familiar to me, my entire family and all of my friends (save the one) behind, and face challenges they can't even begin to imagine within the scope of their small, short lives.

I'm not ashamed of where I come from, or of who I am. I give my all to my job not because I'm paid to, but because I love it. And I love my students. And them being Korean has nothing to do with anything. And as long as the MOEs and other miscellaneous assholes in high places keep running their mouths off about foreign teachers, they can't expect those of us who actually give a shit to stick around too long. Because one bad day like this can offset a hundred good ones, instantly.

You're already grasping at straws, Korea. I suggest you stop biting the hands of the few native English teachers who care so much about "your" children, sometimes they could just cry.