Today was supposed to be the first day of the new semester at Chung Dahm (CDI) and I was all prepared for class. I even made the effort to come in a couple hours early so I would be fully prepared for my new classes. Then, our head instructor called everyone into the meeting room with the announcement I hadn't expected: CDI classes are shut down until next Wednesday.
A new group of CDI trainees came in last week and on Friday, the medical reports came back showing that one of the instructors has swine flu. This means that everyone in that training class, everyone who taught the training classes, everyone in the research and development department (whose offices are in the training building) are all quarantined. To make matters worse, the medical reports came back AFTER a few teachers had already been shipped out to their branches outside of Seoul (like Daegu and Busan). Because of that, those branches have been shut down and the employees quarantined. So we have no research and development team to get us our teaching materials and the school has been overwhelmed with phone calls from concerned parents wanting to know if our branch was affected.
The good news is that I am the newest teacher to Korea and I have been here three months. The bad news is that the Korean media has overdramatized the situation and inferred that CDI knew that one of their teachers was sick and ignored it, showing disregard for the kids. That is another reason the branch has closed down.
More bad news: We don't get paid for this week of spontaneous "vacation." It definitely throws a wrench in my plans.
Side note: Al has been here for a few days and we've been having a great time. More about that later (but just know that for Koreans, the name Al is apparently very difficult to say).
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Better get KJI under control soon! He's a madman! How's it going over there? Haven't been able to check out your blog lately since Xtina never wants to send me your link. Anyhow, we moved in to our new house in Lewis Center that you think is "ghetto" since I work at the CUO! And I finally passed my Praxis II's. When are you coming back to see your goddaughter? She keeps asking about where you are. What am I supposed to tell her? That you've moved half the world away from her? O well, talk to you later- have fun.
ReplyDeleteThe North Korean missile launches have been in the news here...are people freaking out over there or is everyone just going on with their lives? It gives your blog name a whole new meaning...
ReplyDeleteStay safe.
It states in the memo sent out by CDI HQ that all staff will get paid minimum wage outlined in their individual contracts during the quarantined period.
ReplyDeleteIt seems strange to me that Koreans would have difficulty with the name "Al". I recall from some Korean lessons on CD that "al" means to know. For example, "al gess-oy-yo" means "I know what you mean". Yes, my Romanization is probably poor, but it sounds to me exactly like his name. Maybe they just think it is a strange word to have as a name. I can't wait to hear them butcher "Kevin" since they have no "v" sound in the language.
ReplyDelete