This is definitely my school.
Or at least... it is this year.
Good grief! things have gone all topsy turvy at Daepyung, and I can say it is NOT in the fun way.
A lot of things have changed this year; but with the Korean school system - that is how things work. Teachers are required to change schools every 4 years, while vice principals, principals and other head administration people change every 2 years. They say it is to keep any one person from becoming too powerful/influential at a school, but I say it's a bunch of phewy.
Anyways… this year, at my school nearly half the staff changed! The first couple weeks were disorienting for me - seeing all the new faces and having to figure out who was who and what they were teaching. However, not much of it effected me.
What did effected me was: a new co-teacher, Jeong eun, and a new vice principal.
Jeong eun is great! She is really kind, friendly and willing to help out with all manners of troubles that I have. The new VP is… he's new.
And being that he's new (both to our school and to the job - yay!... this is his first every job posting as a VP…) he comes across a bit timid and reserved. That coupled with this persistent need to consult my contract and adhere to every letter of it is driving me ever-loving-mad.
Sure, I will admit that some of the things I have asked him for, I did so (mainly) because in the past, with my old VP, I would have been allowed to do as I wanted and gotten no gripe for it. So this year, I've asked for things thinking that since the principal is the same - part of that old mantra had to still be around.
Right?
Noooo, wrong. So wrong.
It's all gone out the window! and with it some of my sanity and 83.7% of my patience.
Why the correlation to a latin dance? Because...
With the program I work for, EPIK, when NETs renew their contract for another year - they are given a bonus vacation. It's 10 days that should be used after the start of the new contract and within the first 6months. It is encouraged that this bonus vacation be taken in conjunction with a holiday/when school is not in session period of time. Most NETs take their renewal vacation during Spring Break at the end of February.
- I had asked my school - back in November of last year - if I could pair my renewal vacation with my summer vacation (8 days) so that I could go back to America for a long period of time.
- I asked back in November, because I wanted to make sure all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed to ensure that everything was in order before Mrs. Jang left. (at that point I had no idea who my new co-teacher was going to be. And co's can be a real toss-up here.)
- My VP said yes, my principal said yes - I hugged her - and I told my family and all of Facebook I would be home for a month this coming summer.
And now the dance…
I asked Jeong eun if we could get my vacation dates confirmed this week, so that I could start looking-to-buy a flight home and get things sorted with family and friends as needed. She was all for it, and on Tuesday (the day of my amazing open class) we asked the VP if he could sign off on my leave.
He said a lot of things in Korean, most of which was not translated to me; but the part I was told was that:
- I couldn't take that much time off.
- I couldn't miss school.
- I had to do camp.
- It wasn't possible.
- I couldn't go home.
What I did was cry.
It was a giant step backwards. Not only for my summer plans but also for my coolness.
But as Mr. Brault said above, it's a cha-cha.
And so it was with my school. Because within a few days, my VP and principal turned around and said I could have the time off and leave on the date that was agree upon back in November.
Good grief indeed!
cha-cha-cha!
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