Grr
I'm so annoyed my head is about to come off my neck.
Even before I took the language course, I understood a LOT more Korean than my school thought I did. I mean, let's be real here, I have lived here for more than a year and am able to live and get almost every taken care of with either English or my limited Korean - I'm not a freaking idiot.
So this morning, my principal introduces me to the staff and says that I only speak English and no Korean at all. Fine. I introduce myself to the staff in Korean and let the rest of the meeting crash over my head in a wave of words.
A few minutes later while we were waiting for the opening school meeting to start, he starts asking me questions that I answer in Korean, including things like, do I know what 감사합니다 means. I mean, really? I don't know the word for thank you? Anyway, the conversation continues, and I don't think he even realized that I was answering his broken English with Korean.
A few minutes ago, one of the teacher just walked in the room and asked if I knew where my co-teacher was. I didn't know, and he said something else quickly and mumbly, and when I asked him to go slowly, he just walked out of the room as if I didn't exist. Now, either he didn't understand my Korean or he did and is just an asshole. I'm still really annoyed by the whole thing, and sort of want to find him and tell him that while I don't speak a lot, if he goes slowly AND DOESN"T LEAVE THE ROOM I can at least understand what is going on. GRR.
Oh, and I have a new co-teacher this year. She will be leaving for maternity leave in a couple months and had to look up the word "try" in her electronic dictionary today. She is nice, but let's say I'm glad I'm not a new teacher here.
2 comments:
I feel ya. I don't even respond to mumbly Korean anymore, because half the time they're just talking to themselves anyway (and the other half they're being mean).
If one of my former coteachers hadn't had a baby a few months ago, I'd have thought you were describing her. From one of my rural schools last year . . . very, very sweet lady, probably the nicest woman on the planet, but didn't speak a lick of English. She was very, very pregnant, too, and it made me nervous just to see her walking around. It was sometimes hard to communicate with the students, and I always felt bad if I needed her to explain something.
Hi Jess...I am sorry your principal made such a statement without really knowing you. This will serve you well, however, when people try to talk about you behind your back.Ha ha. Answer them in Korean and let's hope they have the good sense to be embarassed. Love, Mom
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