Upon my late arrival to school that first Friday I was told to "take a rest" by one of my co-teachers and I spent the remainder of the day at "my desk" on "my computer" looking up bus routes. I figured they were being nice since I had gotten lost and I was jet lagged. Little did I know that I had just been introduced to my new normal for the year: desk warming.
Urbandictionary.com defines desk warming as:
a principal delight of ESL teachers in Korean public schools, where they spend vast amounts of time at their desks, with no particular assignments or tasks to complete.
Another definition I found online from another native teacher in Korea is:
A period of time spent at school in which the foreign teacher can participate in any activity that does not coerce, upset, hurt or infringe upon the rights of another. Dancing, singing, drawing, talking (to oneself,) lesson-planning, gaming, grooming, surfing the net, facebook-stalking and sleeping are all valid forms of entertainment and work in order to get through and maintain sanity during the mandatory 8 hour work day. Teachers must be present on school premises and accounted for at all times.
You get the picture I hope. I have been maintaining my sanity thus far by reading, editing an old story, playing snoopy's street fair, reading blogs, (and I'll be honest) facebook-stalking! I am seriously considering bringing my knitting soon.
Thankfully my day isn't solely desk warming. I typically arrive at school between 8:30 - 8:40 am and head right up into the English room. I sit at my desk (warming up for the upcoming desk warming) and I also review my part of the lesson that day. Then at 9:10 am begins the back to back classes of loud kids until either 12:20 or 1:10. (Monday is 3rd grade, Tuesday is 4th grade, Wednesday is 5th grade, Thursday is 5th and 6th grade, and Friday is 6th grade). I then follow whichever co-teacher I had that day for lunch. Lunch is always a gamble because I never know what I will be eating, especially in the soups! On Thursdays and Fridays I have one class after lunch and then I find myself sitting at my desk waiting for a co-teacher to tell me what the next days lesson is. At 4:40 my 8 hours are up and I gladly hop on the bus back to my end of town.
So far I haven't had a "typical" workweek where every day follows the class timetable the kids are on. My first full week the 6th graders were on a trip so I didn't have their classes that week. The second week some of the 5th grade classes got pushed to a different time and one of my co-teachers had an open class that I helped in. The third week was midterms so I didn't see the 4th graders at all. The fourth week I was at training for two days. And this week I just found out that I don't need to come into school until 10 am because there is a University entrance exam happening tomorrow and I guess the traffic is bad. Plus a few of my classes on Friday got pushed to a different time. See why being flexible is so important?
I'll end this post with another lens I am trying to use: humor.
I have found that sometimes all I can do is laugh at a situation instead of allowing myself to become upset over it. Especially when most of the situations I find myself in on a daily bases are cultural differences.
One of my friends here suggested I look up a blog called kikinitinkorea and that has been a great source of relief and laughter. Here is one post about desk warming: here
I am very thankful for that lens and for being blessed with this job opportunity. Bless friends.
Desk Warming.
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