world's goodest teacher

and that is honestly a shirt i saw this past weekend.

and that is how some of my co-workers prop me up sometimes.

not to toot my own horn.

but because of this story i'm about to drop on you.

a little story about the game of 'musical teachers' being played at my school.

(the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

i'lll try to make it as simple as possible.

i will attempt to give you, the reader, pure facts, omitting as much personal opinion as possible.

let's rewind....

so it's mid-january-ish, and our foreign teacher setup is me, teacher A and teacher B.

three months in to his or her twelve-month contract, teacher B is fired, sighting his or her lack of teaching ability;

it is now the middle of april and the school gives him or her his or her contractual two months.

teacher B is due to leave my school 18 june.

foreign teacher status (FTS) = me + A + B

it is now the end-ish of may.

teacher A suddenly quits.

in order to depart as quickly as possible, teacher A lies to the school (to this day unbeknownst to them), circumventing the contractual 2 months notice from either party.

amidst the schools visible efforts to secure a replacement for teacher B, teacher A decided leaving was in his or her best interest.

bear in mind that teacher B is now only a couple weeks away from departure.

my school is down a teacher for 1 day.

other teachers have to pick up the slack.

we find a scab, teacher C, to fill in.

he or she is NOT a contracted teacher, only working for a couple or few months.

note that he or she, without a contract, could leave or be asked to leave at any moment.

FTS = me + B + C

meanwhile, on the korean teacher side of things, teacher D quits without word or warning.

again, other teachers have to pick up the slack.

back to the foreigner side.

it is now early june.

as teacher C searches for a more permanent job, teacher B's departure is quickly approaching.

teacher C then finds a suitable job.

he or she notifies my school he will be leaving 25 june, a week after teacher B leaves.

if this plays out, we will have two teachers out and two more teachers in within 7 days.

with the knowledge of teacher B and C's planned departures and considering the vast financial expenditures and sheer miracles required to bring in 2 contracted teachers within one week, my school un-fires teacher B, giving him the option.

fortunately for my school, teacher B accepts and decides to stay.

teacher C is then asked to leave on 18 june.

FTS = me + B - C

teacher E comes to my school following teacher C's exit.

FTS = me + B + E

on the korean side, part-time teacher F is hired at the end of june to replace part-time teacher D

commentary aside, this is what has happened at my school since mid-may.

i probably made it a bigger deal in my head with my all own comments at each step.

maybe that combined with the element of surprise at every development.

question or comments?

chat me.

message me.

i'll reserve all of my opinions for more private arenas.

for now at least.

lots of love.

jo

football. no, not that football.

that football.

the kind that the u.s. still can't play.

rather, the u.s. still can't compete.

how could i be so disappointed?

partly because i was heavily pulling for two teams.

in part because i was probably expecting too much.

was i expecting too much?

probably.

hmmm....let's investigate.

question: was i expecting a run to the semi-finals (or beyond???)?

answer: yes. very much yes.

clearly, that was the problem.

the group stage and all of the u.s. clutch goals to put us on top of our group filled with me too much hope.

u.s. vs ghana. korea vs. uruguay.

i was more expecting a u.s. run to the semis, after beating ghana then korea.

that would have sucked, but certainly not as much as it sucks right now.

but korea could have gone, had they beaten uruguay then topped ghana.

the korea run would have been tougher, considering the number of goals allowed by uruguay in the tourney so far (that grand total is 1, the goal allowed to korea in the round of 16 match).

half of me is just hoping japan doesn't go any farther; paraguay is favored to win the match.

a japan defeat would satisfy my korean half.

half of me has so much to say about the u.s. team.

but it's all already been said after the usmnt heard this on the other end of the receiver: "good morning, america. this is fifa calling from the world cup for the wakeup call you requested. have a pleasant 4 years. we hope to see you in brasil!"

i could talk about the problems that need fixing.

i could talk about the wholes that need filling.

i could.

but i won't (but you can ask me about it later ^^).

but all i will say is this:

to the USMNT, i salute you.

as an american, i feel honored that the team did what they did.

sure, some things could have been better.

but, oh well. they weren't.

and certainly, things could have been worse.

but mostly, i'm proud to have those fine gentlemen on that pitch wear those colors.

maybe i'm too naive or optimistic or too forgiving.

maybe this is just a mechanism to help me get over it.

but as much as those guys know they blew it in certain ways out there, they're also incredibly honored to represent the u.s.a. on the biggest of stages.

and because of that, i am proud.

have a pleasant four years.

see you in brasil!

jo

what's what

i haven't been putting it off unintentionally.

but i am going to make a real post soon.

two actually.

one concerning work culture. it's just now settling down and i was waiting for that.

the other is about U.S.A soccerrrrrrrrrrrr.

we've reached a milestone in this go of the tournament so i'll write my thoughts on that in a blog soon as well.

before saturday, i'm hoping.

i hate coming home after a couple drinks and not having any ramyun/라면/ramen.

that's what's really on my mind right now.

lots of love,

jo

cows provide milk

(the shirts just never stop coming)

oh, yeah. i have a blog, don't i?

summer is just about here. it's been like 30/86 all week and weekend.

humidity is pretty high.

feels like an 'alabama spring.'

ughhhhhhh i hate summer.

i found a soccer team in suwon.

inter suwon, as they are called.

mostly english dudes.

a couple of canadians and americans.

the odd other nataionality.

great group of guys.

trained with them for the first time thursday.

played my first game with them today.

i could have been better but i was good enough, i guess.

stopped a few shots and got a souvenir to boot.

we won 4-2

feels good to play team sports with some cool dudes, even in miserable weather.

unfortunately, the season is almost over.

i suppose i'll rejoin the side in august for training and the new season.

in other soccer news, in case you haven't noticed the world cup is upon us.

and i'm pulling for two mid-major teams (the ROK and the USA).

we'll see what magic happens.

either way, it's the world cup and i love it.

i can't make any predictions because, even though i love the beautiful game, i'm like most americans and not exposed to world soccer, other than the u.s.m.n.t.

cheers to those of you who are going or already there.

im like totz jealz.

but i just thought about this while in the shower:

in 4 years, i'm going to brasil.

world cup 2014.

who's with me?

i've always wanted to go to brasil and is there a better time?

i think 4 years might be enough time to save up for a month-ish off chilling in brasil enjoying the world cup.

shiznay has been ridic at work recently.

i'm going to have to explain on my next post.

lots of love.

jo

you can not look me in the eyes because tou taik dehind my rock

(thank you b.millz for that photo of one incredulous shirt.)

field trips.

cripes.

today was nature school.

another welcomed pause from the all-to-familiar classroom grind.

a slightly warm day, but certainly tolerable compared to the spring weather back home.

(i know it's a chord i strike a lot, but for me, weather back home has certainly irritated me.

i feel like the weather of where i live factors in to how i honestly feel about a place.)

a little bit of playground time, a little bit of nature-necklace making, a little bit of sweet potato planting and you've got yourself a day at nature school.

thoroughly physically exhausting, but it's assuredly easier to deal with kids playing all day than it is dealing with kids stuck in a classroom.

also, i got to see my old boss, lisa teacher.

lisa was my boss until moved to the school adjacent to our nature school.

good to see the lady who brought me to korea, for which i'm forever thankful.

anyway, i don't know what's going on in youngtong, but i think i'm seeing more and more foreigners everyday.

just walking to and from school, with the occasional grocery stop in between, i've seen a lot more 'way-gooks' recently.

maybe everyone is emerging from winter hibernation.

in korea, saturday is teacher's day.

so go hug your teacher.

or any teacher.

maybe we'll get blown up with all kinds of cakes and cookies and coffee and shit at work.

next friday is buddha's birthday, a national hoilday in korea.

now if only i knew what to do with a long weekend....

i'm hoping me and my crew will make a rendez-vous with havoc in some part of korea unseen by us.

d-day = 71 days

jo