Goings On
2004-08-29, 11:32 a.m.

I'd like to write more updates on what I've been doing and all the crazy goings on in Korea but I find that most of the time I'm just too tired. This experience has been so draining in so many ways. I spend most of my weekends sleeping and I usually take a 3 hour nap on Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait to go home.

Before I go back to bed, I want to write about what they (my school) did to the The Stalker they hired. The guy is strange and it doesn't take long after first meeting him to realize that he has either some type of mental illness or is mentally disabled. The guy really creeped me out and I avoided him at all costs. But regardless of how I felt about him, nothing can justify the way he was treated.

He was hired after the supervisor at my school branch did an interview with him. I'm not sure how he managed to make it through the interview. Although, I have to admit that our manager is pretty clueless and is severely lacking in any powers of observation. He's a poor judge of character and can usually be counted on to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

After working for the school for about two weeks, it was obvious that the guy just wasn't going to make it as a teacher. The school decided to dismiss him which was necessary because he couldn't teach and students were quiting their classes.

The truly unfortunate part of the situation is that the poor guy didn't have a round trip ticket home, he had purchased a one way. Although the school is legally obligated to buy a round trip ticket for the teachers they hire, they often don't.

The way things are supposed to work is that the school buys the teacher a round trip ticket with a one year return date. But at our school, we have to buy our own ticket and the school is supposed to reimburse us. This arrangement is technically illegal but that doesn't seem to bother the school.

So, this poor bastard is stuck in Seoul with no money, no place to live and no airplane ticket home. They didn't even pay him for the time he had worked. I felt even worse for him because his family has pretty much disowned him so he can't count on them to help him get back to the states. Also, he was fired from a job the last time he was here and his church bailed him out, so he couldn't go back to them for help again.

Although he made several mistakes in even coming to Korea, the school made an even bigger one by hiring him. It's my opinion that the school was morally and ethically obligated to buy him a ticket home because it's obvious that the man is not in full command of his senses, but a hogwon can't let morals get in the way of making money.

It's just another reason why I'm glad to be going home. I've met some of the strangest people I've ever met in my life in Korea. It's even stranger that these people should end up here of all places. I don't think I'll ever understand it.

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