In Korean culture, money is given in a white envelope. And on Monday (6/11) I was given a very big envelope!!
A few months back, I had been asked to present at a Korean teachers' training seminar. The length of the seminar would be short - just six days over two weeks, the pay would be good, but the work leading up to it would be a lot.
I think I was focusing more on the money, or perhaps I didn't realize how much of a procrastinator I am or how difficult it would be to come up with twenty four pages of materials; because needless to say, I was suffering!!
I was only teaching one class, yet I needed to submit twenty four pages. The Busan Education Training Institute (BETI) requires you to hand in four pages for every class you will teach. And since I was going to be teaching six classes, I had to submit twenty four pages; despite the fact that I was teaching the SAME class six times! >.<
But thankfully, and somehow miraculously, I got my manuscript done on time, put together a PPT and then put the whole thing out of mind.
I didn't think about it again until this past Monday, when I left school early with less than a clue as to where I needed to go. "Ride the subway to X, then ask a cab driver to take you to Y. That should get you there!" EEeeee!! Do they not know I'm horrible with directions! I have actually been lost in my hometown! And that is suburbia!! This is a giant, big, scary city!!! EEEee!!!!!
But I got there and I could not be happier, because I was given my white envelope.
I knew going in that I'd possibly receive about a million won for my work. But that was before taxes. And being American, I expected the government to have a heavy hand in my money and take the majority of it away. But then this is Korea!!! and they do not do that here!
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