I was at YTN studios filming my birth family appeal, and the following few days it still wasn’t posted on their website.  After which came the problems with my school district coming to a head, so I forgot to check.  Anyway, it’s there now and probably been there for over a week, so HERE IT IS.

That is my post bronchitis voice, btw, and whoa!  note to self – don’t flat iron hair before going on t.v.!  Which, actually IS a note to myself, because SBS t.v. is coming to film an interview at my apartment Monday.  Crazy!  I guess the media really likes that I’m so open saying I think HOLT SUCKS…

Oh, and btw, Holt, if you’re reading this – an abused adoptee is entitled to her OPINION, so go ahead and send me some more registered mail…

So my lesson this week was on alter ego’s.

There’s still another day left to the week, and am hoping to collect some interesting examples, but unfortunately some of the best ones were earlier in the week.  Here is one I had the presence of mind to save:

Alter Ego

who:  Obama

what (does he do):  kill white

why:  because white is a bad men

when:  whenever he want

where:  wherever in America

how:  by use gun

yikes!  I know the kid was just being funny, but it’s still disturbing…

Anti Japanese dogma has also appeared in some of these as well.  Interestingly, there have been several boys who chose past leaders in Korean history, as well as Hitler, (very funny – not) Jesus, and Ghandi!  There were also a couple of comediennes listed, as well as some Korean names that were listed because they were kind and, of course, some characters from RPG games.  I must say, the girls were not nearly as creative…

ADDED:

Some more chosen alter egos were:  Warren Buffet, Bill Gates (4 times), someone who can walk on water, Walt Disney, The Incredibles (first time someone chose multiple characters), a time traveller, a person who can not get hurt, an arab princess.

Oh!  and I almost forgot to add:  Leanne Leith.  Why?  Because she is very clever.

I’m especially proud of this because it was in the worst boy’s class, and I can’t give grades so there’s absolutely no reason the boy would need to flatter me!  ha ha ha!  Me – clever!

A 10,000 won note, that is…

Y, Seven Star, Nine Stones (supposedly these descriptions are derived from the way their Korean names sound) and Mr. Oh are taking me on a cultural trip to, I believe, Andong the first weekend in June.  Turns out Nine Stones’ wife is a descendant of King Sejong (pictured on the 10,000 won note above) and his in-laws still live in one of the residences that belonged to some famous philosopher attached to a nearby famous Confuscian Academy.  Their home is one of Korea’s tangible assets – which is kind of a pain for them, because they aren’t allowed to make changes to make it more modern and convenient and everything must be preserved as-is.  (I guess it was moved once, when the near-by river got dammed, so it used to be next to the Academy but is now a little remote.  So we’re going to travel there and have dinner and spend the night.  I was warned that it’s very rustic, and that the bathroom is a detached pit latrine, etc.  But they all know I am really interested in traditional culture and have arranged for this visit.

I guess there’s a total of seven teachers going, and Nine Stones’ wife’s presence is imperative because they speak a different dialect there.  (it’s in Gyeongsangbuk-do in Central Korea)  Whatever dialect it is, (not Jeollanamdo) none of the teachers here can understand it either, and they’re all a little nervous to go without an interpreter.  So we’re all really excited about that trip, and I really do like some of the teachers here a lot.  It sucks they all have their own lives and I can’t really get to know them better.

And, at the same time I blew up at school was also registration for a cultural field trip for native English teachers, which I signed up for.  So next week I will go for two days and one night to the Gangneung Danoje Festival.  So will get to stay in a traditional hanoak estate over night, and there will be a lot of folk culture events going on there.  So that should be fun and interesting.  It’s brilliant, these cultural offerings the school district offers native English teachers to keep them interested in Korea.  I just wish they spent more time on their contracts and honoring them…

Oh, what will next year bring?  The past three and a half months seem like a year…

ADDED:

I saw on the subway that a printing company will print a birthdate and Happy Birthday on money for you to give as a gift.  I was kind of surprised this was allowed, especially after coming from Thailand, where you have to treat money with reverence (and any image of the King) and to not do so is a serious offense.

So my recruiter has offered me a plea bargain:  they’ll reimburse me the first leg of my trip as long as I agree in writing not to sue the school district.

This from the head guy stationed in Portland.

My Vice Principal also agrees that I probably have a case, and is willing to stamp my original application and send it on to the school district.  Even though miss you-know-who has threatened to penalize the school in some way should I pursue a  lawsuit through the labor board.  (what a woman)  At any rate, I am much happier with the school for proving to at least have some ethics, which is what one would hope since it’s a missionary school.

Also, tomorrow Y’s teacher union representative will also be bringing up my case to the school district, since we native English teachers don’t have any formal representation.

Why are they offering me this bargain?  Because they know they got caught with their pants down, colluding with someone to practice a bait and switch operation.

Principles would demand I ignore this offer and press on until I get this injustice corrected for all.  However, I don’t know and haven’t seen that anybody else cares about justice or standing up for their rights.  In addition, the next contract has already been drafted and I have already seen GePIK jobs advertised where they speak of airfare reimbursement (with provisions).   So this isn’t a mistake they are going to make again.  I have posted on facebook to see if anyone wants to join me, and will wait to see if ethics for all those already injured are worth protecting.  If not, I will just protect myself and my loved ones, who sacrificed to get me here, by accepting the plea bargain.

So all of the above response is validating.  I mean, you don’t go through all I’ve been through and allow those “what just happened here?” questions to pass by.  You trust them.  And you have to check and make sure, absolutely sure, that you’ve not been victimized yet again.  And then you stand up for yourself.  And fight for your rights.

Oh yeah, and Mr. Lee did not show up for class today.  Until Ms. Baek came back and informed me that the Vice Principal has instructed me to report him every time he doesn’t show up. Sure.  Happy to oblige.  He was in class 1-1 period 7.

Hopefully their fear of me and consternation over what to do with me turns into greater respect after this.  I do not grease palms.  Nor do I give in.   Korea.  Exile.  Fighting.

I wonder if I would still be like this had I grown up here and gotten the social screws applied to me.  Or if I would still be this little maverick principled bulldog.

One more day of this battle to go, and then we will see what outcome I can get.  But I feel better already.

So, today’s lesson is “Alter Ego.”

I’m having the kids write about their alter ego, and explaining about it with the who what where why when how. Then getting into groups to vote on the best one to present to the class.

As an example, I chose underdog.

I AM an underdog and always have been.  I am both the weak and oppressed, and the superhero defender.  Especially today, as everyone is up in arms about my fight for justice.

• the recruiters don’t want my lawsuit to go through, because of course they aided and abetted the school district by telling everyone oh-by-the-way, you won’t get full airfare reimbursement.
• the vice principal, because he blocked my application for full reimbursement so he looks good to the school district.
• my native teacher representative, D.B., because she is PAID by the school district
• the school district, because they made an oversight while drafting their contracts, and their hopes to recover that opportunity to save a few bucks by stiffing a few of us out of reimbursement money did not go as smoothly as they wanted.  To honor my contract means they would have to pay back all those they stiffed, so of course they tried to employ whatever strong-arm tactics they could to make me forget and go away.
• my fellow native English teachers, who can afford to eat this injustice and choose not to rock the boat.

I wish I were like them, but:

1. it’s a bad precedent to set, allowing the school district to not fully honor contracts.
2. it’s against all I’ve come to hold dear:  that being truth and honest dealings.

Well, the shit has hit the fan and we have to see where it falls.

I get so tired of being this tiny little defender of truth and justice.  I just want to sit under a cork tree and smell flowers.

So this weekend I needed to:

• buy another Korean workbook
• buy more teaching materials
• study Korean
• prepare a lesson plan for the week as filler until Miss Baek wows me with her stress-time lesson

Friday I went to find the bookstore, which the internet said had a branch four subway stops from me.  Of course, no branch existed, and the internet entries were out-dated, and then I was hungry, and then I bought a trash can at the Emart there because mine didn’t have that one and because I really rather have a step can and not have to touch the garbage…

Saturday I had to go to Seoul and try to find bookstores again.  When I got home, I had to look for new jobs on-line (there seem to be some options out there) and then this morning I reviewed Korean and went to my Korean lesson in Idae.

I had thought Idae was the name of the neighborhood in which Ewha women’s university was located.  However, my tutor informed me that “I” is short for “Ewha” (the “I” has a long “E” sound) and that “dae” is short for “daehakyo,” which is the Korean name for university.    Similarly, Hongik University is called Hongdae for short.

After the lesson, I stupidly stopped and got lunch, even with so many other things to do.  And then, of course, I was in Idae which is a cheap fashion shopping mecca, so I had to look.  I bought two shirts.  Not because I am frivolous, but because I literally have only about four shirts I can wear now that the weather has changed.  I have either fall weight clothing or clothing I brought for Thailand (which turns out is too skanty to wear here)

So I was probably counseled by the Vice Principal that I have to wear sleeves because perhaps a bra strap was slightly visible.  This all too common occurance that westerners don’t think about that much caused my tutor to gasp and I guess it’s considered very slutty.  (even if my neck is covered, every other part of my body is covered, even if I am wearing a gunny sack)  sheesh!  It was an accident!

I told her that was another culture shock thing, and then she relayed how she was traveling abroad and had to switch to wearing only pants, because she was shocked to have western men look at her like she was a prostitute when she wore her mini skirt and high heels out and about.

All I can say is, it’s going to be a very overly warm summer and I am going to die…

Then I came home and sat down to do my work, but realized I just absolutely couldn’t continue because:

• my 7 mm pens were driving me insane
• my notebook with ruled paper was driving me insane
• my tutor’s writing her thoughts all over my books was cluttering up the pages until they were unintelligible and it was driving me insane
• and I needed to highlight things but highlighters drive me insane…

So, I had to run over to Emart and correct the situation.

What can I say?  I’m a sensualist.  And an aesthetic.  And a perfectionist.  Now, I have a notebook without lines, (incredibly hard to find, btw) a second mechanical pencil so my tutor and I can both write in pencil during the lesson (I had to insist she writes in pencil so I can clean up her scratching later – my first book is totalled now) and pens that are .38 mm wide, (you can’t go back to .7 after you’ve had a .38) and colored pens to underline and highlight with (.38, of course!) erasers that feel good in your hands and have a narrow edge to them, and some crayon-like pencils so I can draw puppets with.  Eh, who needs food?

Ahhh…NOW I can get to work!

But wait!  An email from Jane.  We are going to Chuncheon next Saturday to work with the artist who made the giant puppets for the protest last weekend.  Aside from the every day impossible job, I’m really excited to combine my love of puppets AND activism!

Ut oh.  On the computer.  Must check a few more job openings.  Must post this to the blog.

Damn it.  Quarter after ten and I’ve still got Korean and lesson plans to write.  Welcome to my neurotic life!

Think I need some tea before I get started…