Final Kids Camp of 2007...and BFA Pete departs. Shame.

December 19th will forever be an important date in the history of the place where I work (the name of which I will not mention in order to protect the people who work there...and myself.) This was the day BFA Pete left. Did he go quietly? Not a chance. It seems he has never been told that it's not a good idea to burn your bridges. If he had built say, 10 bridges, he burned all of them. He also destroyed the bridges that had not even started to be made yet.
The day before he left, he declared to the management that he was not going to pay his bills for his final month, and had a blazing row about it with the Korean supervisors. As no deposit had been taken, this was a problem. So the deputy head of the school and a supervisor snuck out and went to BFA Pete's apartment. They then let themselves in with a duplicate key...and took his luggage. I haven't found out yet what BFA Pete's reaction to this was...but I guess he exploded. Anyway, it seems he changed his mind and paid his bills. He left the next day, but will return to Korea to blunder his way through another year teaching at another poor place, before being asked to move on again no doubt. He will be sorely missed here. The two best memories I have of him are when he told a group of students that he doesn't have an accent, and the time he corrected a Korean students Korean. I did get a Christmas card from him, which was nice. But he didn't say goodbye. I'm not sure if he liked me much, but I did manage to not have a row with him during the time I was here. However, I did lose it in the very last week, when I shouted at him in front of all the students and teachers cause he wouldn't shut up. I was trying to explain something to the kids who had all stopped talking when I asked them to. He looked stunned that I had shouted at him, but did shut up. He is just a big softie really, as well as a complete buffoon. He got away with a lot during his time here, mainly because the Koreans respect their elders - even idiots, they respect higher rank...which BFA Pete is not, but because he is a native speaker he is considered an 'expert', and also he is a man of the cloth and claims to have some high position in the church. Many Koreans are obsessed with Christianity in a kind of 'we believe in God, but don't ask us why cause we are not quite sure' type way. Oh, and he is American. Americans are loved and hated in about equal measure here it seems. Mike, now my 2nd best friend in Korea, is American...but he one of the good ones. Sometimes.

For some unbelievable reason, Crazy Korean/American did not leave with him. Apparently the reason she has been kept is because she 'has made an effort to get along with the people she works with'. She was warned some time ago because the Korean management noticed she was a useless teacher and said bad things about everyone. Now they think she is a useless teacher, but doesn't say as many bad things as before. Well, not when they are in earshot anyway. And that was enough for them. But the SIGNS!! The signs she put up all around the building show she is useless and unfriendly. I don't think anyone else notices them. When I mentioned the signs to Ellena recently she didn't even realize there was anything wrong with them. When I pointed out the mistakes, she said 'Oh, it doesn't matter'.
I said to her 'But we gotta teach Inglish more gooder, ain't we...don't ya fink?' She said 'Yes'.

Gerald, Ellena's boyfriend has also left and returned to his homeland. His contract expired and he didn't want to stay. He was alright, but can be summed up by the word 'blah'. Ellena will follow him in 6 weeks time, and it seems there is already a race on among the male population of this city to see if she will remain faithful. At Gerald's leaving party, when he left the room, all the males drew lots to see who would test Ellena first. BF13 (Paul) got number 1, and I got number 3. Ellena was in the room at the time, and it was all done in good humour. She is from Canada, however.






The final middle school group of the year were just about the best. Really nice people...always smiling and eager to chat. I was going to have a photo with a couple of students to begin with, but then a few more joined in. Unfortunately so did Crazy Korean/American, who couldn't stand being left out. That's her in the pink jacket on the far right with the really shiny head. Click the photo and it gets bigger...but I must warn you, so does Crazy Korean/American.



One final message left on my board.
I got along really well with almost all of the students this week.












Geralds replacement arrived at the place I work just a few days ago. I will change his name to protect his identity, as I sometimes do on here. So Kwistofer has arrived. He was an obvious choice to work here, and I have seen his CV. His main qualification is as a tennis coach. He has a lot of experience as a leader and teacher...mainly of tennis. He has represented his country at tennis, and can speak fluent Polish...as well as English. Tennis does dominate the CV somewhat, and must have impressed the management here, who like the occasional knock around. He does have an online teaching qualification, and taught for one year in Korea previously. Bizarrely, a good mate of mine taught at the same place as Kwis did, and knows him. I found this out after Kwis had been offered the job. My mate's reaction was 'You what?! My God...I can't believe he has come back to Korea!' Good choice, Korean management. You've done it again. Well done.