The Down Side

I've been accused before of only seeing the bright side, and I think it's mostly true, and I'm glad it is.  But in this blog I want to write about the down side of being here in Korea, because things aren't all roses (not like my wallpaper).
Being an English teacher in Korea comes with it's drama.  There are plenty of horror stories of teachers who just don't get paid, or who are overworked and underpaid.  This isn't true at Poly school; we are paid on time every month (actually today was pay day), and in my opinion, we certainly aren't over worked,  But that doesn't mean that there isn't our share of controversy at Poly. This week, other teachers have started pushing to get our pension because we've realized that it's a Korean law that we receive it, but it's not part of our contract.  So it took some effort on the part of other teachers, but things seem to have worked out and we will get our pension.  Now I don't know anything about pensions, and I would have obliviously went without it if I were on my own.  But I tell this story as an example of the misscommunications that occur between our Korean directors who don't speak much English and the English teachers who don't speak any Korean.  And this has caused some frustration no doubt on both sides of the coin.
Second,  the foreign teachers group here has been very welcoming and I'm very lucky to be in a place with people I can get to know.  But predominantly the thing to do with this group is to drink and hang out (with an emphasis on drinking).  I don't have anything against drinking, I've really enjoyed getting tipsy with others and getting to know others in that setting.  But when I've thought about it, it's somewhat disappointing.  It would be nice to have some more creativity in a group of teachers who are representing a different culture.  (This does not mean that everyone here is like that.)
So that's my downside blog.  Overall, things are going well.  I found a pretty sweet chair on the side of the road a couple of days ago.  We called up Sarah and Jonas, out sweet friends with a car, and they picked up the chair and brought it to my apartment. It's a good addition to my pretty empty home.  And I'll provide pictures soon.
Thanks for reading.
Michael