It’s cold. It’s very, very cold. Below freezing temperatures, an exhausting work schedule (I - Jessie - had an extra two classes daily because it’s winter “vacation” and that’s what they do here), and a general bout of sicknesses among our children culminate in... the flu.
By “the flu”, I of course mean crippling fatigue, fever, nausea, dizziness, coughing, and misery. All of which is contagious, as Jay was hit with all of these symptoms a mere two days after I first collapsed into my pillow after work on Friday. Come Monday morning, however, I was up at 9 to teach her intensive classes. Sure, it took all my willpower to move my feet down the street to work, and sure, I may have been dizzy, coughing, and very contagious, but the class must go on. Jay and I taught. Without interruption. We simply donned lovely white masks for the first few days to try to prevent our coworkers and 80+ kids from getting sick. Why did we work through it? Was it loyalty to the company? Hell no. Dedication to our students? I don’t think so. Masochism? Possibly a remnant It’s-in-your-mind-so-push-through-it mentality in my case, courtesy of Pio Swimming, but no.
We went to school and worked because we had no real choice in the matter. Our school (and all other Hagwons for that matter) operate under the general idea that you should load up your teachers’ schedules to make them as full as possible, and never expect any sick days. So, if one person is deathly ill, the manager will grudgingly come in and take over his/her classes (after dragging the poor, probably dying teacher to the hospital to make sure he/she is really miserable). If two are sick, as in our case, there’s not a lot they can do short of passing the classes on to other (already overworked) teachers. We realized this and considered that, given the fact that we could technically walk to the hospital, we probably would not be seen as sufficiently sick to warrant such a hassle, so we told the bile to stay put and went to class.
A week later, we’re both feeling much better, but it’s frustrating to have to teach all day when you can barely stand up. Knowing that a system exists (substitute teachers), but that Hagwons don’t like to think in realistic terms simply drives home the fact that we cannot do this for very long. Even extending our contract for a short time may be implausible without many vacations or (any) sick days. We’ll see how we feel in a few months.
Other than that, things are going well. We are enjoying our classes, exploring more of Korea, and enjoying the little free time we have for our own pursuits (Jay is practicing the bass guitar; I’m trying to learn Korean) and exploring Korean cuisine.
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