Chapter 15: "The World Is Plotting Against Me"

I don't think this is going to be a very funny post, so people who only like to read about amusing Korean students should prolly get off at the next stop.

First, a bit of a rant on how it drives me nuts when people move my stuff. I'm a messy person normally. I'm pretty relaxed, not very many pet peeves, generally very good at adapting to my situation. But one thing I depend on is that stuff is where I left it. My workspace can be super clean, or an absolute pigsty, but if I left a cassette on my desk yesterday at the end of the day, I expect it to be there when I need it today. Yet it's not there. I freak out as I rack my brain, trying to remember where I could have left it, horrified that there's such a void in my memory....

It gets worse when I try to ask the other teachers, and they blow me off or act irritated that I asked at all. I know when I ask where my stuff is, it makes me look incompetent. So here I am, feeling like the stupid teacher, cassette-less five minutes after my class has started....only to find out that some other teacher took it to use for their class, and forgot to tell me or bring it back.

*headdesk*

This happens once or twice a day. I don't understand why I have to feel like an insane/stupid person so often for something that legitimately is not my fault. The worst part is, I can't make them bring it back. I'm the assistant teacher, so the Korean teachers are pretty much higher-ranked than me. But I'm capable of returning tapes and books to the Korean teachers. If a book or tape is my copy, why is it not on my desk??

If anyone doubts my anal-retentive tendencies for finding my things where I left them, ask my sister about my issues with tweezers.

*takes deep breath*

*twitches*

On another subject, today I gave a lot of my classes quizzes and speaking tests. This is routine Friday-stuff. I have one class full of very lively boys and one girl. They are all pretty smart, but they act like they're on crack most of the time. They finished their quizzes and speaking tests, and I started grading the papers.

The first kid whose quiz I graded made 85%. Not a bad score. I've known many many people in my lifetime who would've been ecstatic with an 85%. I have students who make 5% on their tests and don't even care. But he started crying when he saw it. I told him that it was a good score, but he didn't stop crying. Then the girl in the class told me that his father hits him on the neck (with a stick I assume) when he doesn't do well.

I felt so bad that I gave him a hug and omitted the hardest part of the quiz for everyone, so that he would make a 90% instead. But my boss told me that it's common for parents to hit their children when they do poorly in school. He even openly admitted to doing it himself. Now I don't even want to give kids bad scores, because then I'd feel partially responsible for them getting beaten :-(