Today I will mostly be writing in red as this is going to be a rant of sorts. I considered SHOUTING THE ENTIRE POST BUT DECIDED THAT SINCE TRYING TO READ SOMETHING WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN CAPITALS IRRITATES ME, THEN CHANCES ARE THAT IT WOULD IRRITATE OTHERS. And I’m not in the irritating business. At least not at the moment.

So I had a particularly bad day yesterday, the kind of day when it seems that everyone is personally going out of their way to get on your nerves, even if they’re not. The kind of day when things that don’t normally bother you become unrelentingly terrible. That kind of day. I can’t explain why it happens and it rarely happens to me. I like to think of myself as relatively optimistic and reasonable, but Tuesday saw me lose the rational part of my mind (I later found it soaking in the sink along with a couple of pans).

I will be adopting a bullet point style now. It seemed most appropriate…

• So I showed up for work today on time. I don’t normally show up late, or at least I didn’t think I did until I was informed that I was indeed showing up late and that I should be arriving around 10 minutes earlier. No problem, I’ll just catch an earlier bus. So the next time I make sure that I’m there on time. Right on the nose. There’s no one there. I can see people have been there. There are bags and things inside the school and the lights are on so I know people have been there. But they’re not there any more. ‘OK’ I think, ‘I guess I’ll just wait for them to get back from where ever they’ve run off to.’ So I wait…and I wait…and I wait a bit longer. 20 minutes later they show up, it looks like they’ve been out for coffee. Not even a ‘Sorry! I hope you weren’t waiting long!’ Now I know that 20 minutes isn’t all that long but when I was previously told that I really need to come in earlier it just didn’t sit well.

• The kids yesterday seemed to be out to frustrate me. Pretending they don’t know what I’m asking them, running about, hiding under tables, fighting with each other. And of course the endless ‘TEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAACHEEEEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!!’ when I’m not currently paying attention specifically to them. That can get real old, real quick.

• For some reason whenever I hear of a kid leaving (either because they’re moving house or just changing to a different academy) it’s pretty much always, without fail one of the ones that I like. One of the smart ones. One of the ones that helps push the lessons forwards. One of the ones I look forwards to teaching. Never is it one of the disruptive ones. One of the ones who instigates trouble with the less confident kids. One of the ones who can put me off an entire class. It’s always the good ones that leave.

• I was asked if I could give one of the kids a bit of extra tuition ahead of a test he’d been selected to do by his school. I didn’t mind this at all as he’s great. He’s bright, learns quickly and is always offering answers in class. What I did mind was being told 25 minutes before I was expected to do it. The conversation went something like this:

Director: Just do some basic conversation practice with him, that’s what he’ll be tested on.

Me: OK. What format will the test take? Will it be a series of questions or just free conversation.

Director: It will be questions. Three or four on each subject. They get more difficult the more he answers.

Me: All right, what subjects are they going to be testing him on.

Director: We don’t know. Just do basic conversation.

Me: Oh. That’s pretty broad. Can you give me a general idea of what you you think might come up?

Director : [Opening a text book] Just do about seven subjects from here. Three or four questions for each subject should be fine.

Me: Well that’s 21-28 questions. It wouldn’t be a huge problem except you want me to do this in 25 minutes time and I’m teaching a class for the next 25 minutes, so that creates a slight problem.

Director: I understand the problem. But his mother wants him to have extra teaching time.

It’s nothing new, Korea operates on a last minute notification system. But this episode just happened to fall on a day when I was already in a bad mood.

• On the way home (I walked instead of taking the bus. I thought maybe the warm evening would cheer me up) I saw something that I see way way too often. I guy on a motorbike/scooter with his little kid on board (this one was no older than 5). Now it’s not that the kid is on the bike so much (although I don’t approve of that either) but it’s the fact that neither the guy NOR the kid were wearing a helmet. I mean REALLY?! A 5 year old on a bike whizzing through traffic without a shred of safety gear on it. Just plain stupid.

• Actually on the subject of road safety, seatbelts aren’t used in Korea (I’m generalising here). Apparently the laws of physics don’t apply within the confines of a car. Scientists aren’t completely sure why this is but I hear they’re working on it as a top priority.

• A dog has four legs and they love walking. So why oh why do you insist on carrying yours around like a baby?! It looks ridiculous! Sort it out!

• Staring is something that I’ve got used to here now. It’s not an issue…usually. Yesterday it seemed like a competition to see who could stare at the foreigner for the longest without bumping into something. Even the older school kids who are usually fine were in on the act! SERIOUSLY! WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?! You’ve seen foreigners before. Chances are there’s one at your school. What’s so fascinating about me today?!

• I went into a shop to look for some t-shirts on the way home. I didn’t last long. In Korea, when you are shopping, especially for clothes, the assistants really do try to assist you. It’s not like at home. They genuinely follow you around in preparation for any assistance you may need. Some people might really like this. Personally it just makes me feel very uncomfortable. And it was just too much at the time, so I had to leave.

• What brought on this bad day? Who knows. But it was potentially a massive bite I got from something (I’d guess a mosquito, but probably one the size of a gerbil) on my ankle. Which not only was itchy, but also uncomfortable to walk on. I have now purchased a plug-in thingy with tablets that will hopefully keep the bastards at bay.

• I decided that I would go into the next convenience store that I saw and buy a big can of beer that I could drink on the way home as I felt I deserved it. I went up to pay at the counter and they woman said ‘이천원’ I knew what she was saying but she gave a smile and held up two fingers to let me know that it was 2,000 won. Normally this would annoy me as I try to practice Korean whenever I can and I don’t like being given the answer before I’ve had a chance to think. However today for some reason I didn’t mind. In fact, it made me smile that she wanted to help. I guess it’s also perhaps impossible to buy beer and be in a bad mood. But from that point on the day seemed to take a turn for the better. Thanks convenience store lady.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh…that’s better! I feel more blue than red now.

Well I can’t have all this bad without some good, so here it comes. Brace yourself!

One of the kids gave me a letter a couple of days ago. It was really sweet of her and although it’s not one of the best bits of writing you’ll ever see, she is in one of the youngest classes and it still made my day. Here are a few of the best bits:

The whole letter in itself didn’t make a whole lot of sense, evidently she had some help from a parent who didn’t have a great grasp of English. And yes it does sort of read like a goodbye/suicide note but she came into school the next day alive and complaining about how spicy the ramyon she’d just eaten was.

The good days really do crushingly outweigh the bad days but I thought ‘Why should this blog be so upbeat and happy? I need to inject some much needed negativity.’ And that’s just what I did!

Hope it upset you!