So it's been five or six days since I last posted.
It's been hectic once again; as we had three days of welcoming parents into our classrooms. The school holds annual open events over three consecutive days, and we had to prepare for them. The event was extremely high pressure, the pressure was entirely placed upon us by those who had previously participated, and our bosses. I went into the event expecting to be eaten alive; I come out of the event realising that the people I work with might be borderline autistic, such is their inability to communicate with other adults. Maybe, after several months of working in this field, I too will become afraid.
The way my colleagues talked about the parents was reminiscent of a first watching of 'alien,' or 'the hills have eyes.' The fear was palpable, and the smell was only superseded by the noxious insect repellent they happened to spray through our windows in the buildup to these events.
As events unfolded, my suspicions grew. Could the parents here be particularly awful? Maybe the ridiculous amounts of money they earn give them the pompous self-entitlement some of the children possess? Maybe they have acid for blood?
The school holds an annual contest between the different classes within a grade, so during the open days we were to hold in-class contests to find the most suitable combatants. The parents were tasked with the impossibly challenging: stand at the back of the class and do nothing.
So were they demons?
No. They were all just normal people. Some were extremely kind, some even smiled, believe it or not. Most just talked through the other childrens' presentations, talked on their mobile phones or talked to their own children. Some applauded after every presentation, some after their own child, some didn't applaud at all. Some left after their own child had finished, some stayed the course. All things considered, they are normal people. I don't know why everyone else is so afraid. I'm nervous that I missed something, or that my cruise-control attitude means that on Monday, I will wake up to having no job, on account of being uncouth.
Unless I am very much mistaken, they are normal people. Terrible parents, but normal people nonetheless. (Not all Koreans are terrible parents, some subdue their crying babies, some even talk to their children!)
On a side-note, I recently found out the scale of the ship building activities here. One company is currently building eleven oil drilling ships, each with a value of five hundred and fifty million dollars. These are being built concurrently, alongside container ships and oil platforms. I don't know how many other ships are being built right now, or their value. This half of the island houses the second and third largest shipyards in the world, and the largest is just up the road. I can't remember whether I mentioned this or not, but they rebuild the pavement every few months here, adding different patterns and colours. I mentioned that it is a chronic waste, but the fact is, they have too much money here.
If you've seen in the news that there's a massive oil spill down Mexico way, that drilling ship was built here too. It's an extremely interesting case of, 'I wonder why we didn't see that coming...' and the story is readily available on the internet should you want to find out exactly what happened, but I'm pretty sure if I say it here, people will disappear, only to reappear three weeks later on the beach, wearing concrete shoes.
On a lighter note, I participated in an eating contest of sorts on Wednesday. I still feel rough, and I would not recommend anyone eat too much pizza; having tried it myself I can say it was an awful, if not somewhat entertaining experience.
I vowed never to eat pizza again, only to eat it the next day for dinner.
I'll put some pictures up with the full scoop at a later date.
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