My new co-teacher is a straight-up ignorant bigot. If something drastic doesn't happen in the next few months, I will leave the school and I will be contacting EPIK to explain why they need to partner with the schools to better prepare and train the Korean teachers for the arrival of foreign teachers, because this is just ridiculous. I can handle it. I'm a big girl. But it's not acceptable. You can't control everyone in Korea, and you can't control everyone in the school. But you can sure as fuck make sure you aren't placing a foreign teacher directly into a situation where they are answering to someone who does not have a fucking clue that foreigners are human beings. It's not too much to ask that my direct senior whose job it is specifically to work with the foreign teacher isn't literally the most offensive person I've met since I've been here.
In the meantime, she wants me to teach "about culture" during the English teachers' class. We're going to have some interesting discussions. She may be my senior, but she needs to fucking learn.
- I'm no Picasso
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7 comments:
Yikes. Good luck.
oh SHIT this does not sound good. :( so, so sorry.
I've always known I've been spoilt shit rotten with my co-teachers. And this is possibly a slight overreaction due to the fact that I am really missing my old cos at the moment. But it's pretty fucking bad.
Just got to keep my patience and hope that eventually she clocks on to the fact that things she is saying are offensive, and why.
Anyway, in the meantime I do get to hear fun facts like how Kim, Park and Lee are very, very popular family names in Korea! Bonus!
Do you know Korean wave? It's a Korean culture is popular to foreigner! I want to be your best friend and teach you the Korean wave things.
Also, I can warn you about spicy foods too hot for foreigner to eat. Just say to me.
Haha. The thing is, I'm over the spicy food thing. I'm over the chopstick thing. Over the double eye lids and small face comments.
The face she pulled when she found out my boyfriend is Korean this morning was probably the worst thing I've experienced in Korea so far. The comments that followed definitely were. I know I'm new to this whole Korean S.O. game, and maybe I'll get used to that eventually as well, but I'm extremely disappointed that someone whose specific job is to work with foreigners would be so unprofessional. Not to mention the piles and piles and piles and piles of other comments she's already come out with.
Dude, knowing that your SO is Korean should be shutting the conversation down earlier rather than later. Korean boyfriends are so boring! After all, Korean women have them, too, and know all about them. The only question is whether or not you'll choose to marry them and live in Korea forever or whether you will break up when you go home (because clearly the man isn't going to follow you! That would be weird!)
Seriously, all the conversations about my SO with Koreans are incredibly short:
"Oh, so your boyfriend is Korean. His English must be really good . . oh, right, you guys speak Korean together. Ok, will you marry him? You don't know . . .? Ah."
Your new co-teacher sounds like a basket case, and somebody eventually is going to tell her off. I hope you will be there (possibly doing the telling) to say "oh, snap!" This can be part of teaching "about culture."
Yeah I mean my other co-workers who hear about it ask a load of questions about it, but that's because I've been here for 2.5 years and they've never seen me have one yet. As far as him being Korean, I didn't even have to bring it up. The head PE teacher just looked at me and said, "Korean?" and I nodded and then everyone else nodded and then they went back to grilling me about how this could have suddenly happened.
Burn... she's a disaster. But I'm glad I'm not the only one. At least the students are on my side. I have to do everything in my power to control my face while she gives them her opening lecture about how she's been teaching English for 21 years and may have taught one of their aunts or uncles, so they should ask around about her and they better behave. The students start shooting me looks like, what the fuck is going on here? And I have to pretend like I don't know what they're reacting to.
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