It seems like there are three main elements of my life at the moment – Habiba, work and illness.
After having taken a new course of steroids (starting at six pills per day and slowly coming down to four a day now) my bowels are slowly returning to normality (whatever that means). A few weeks ago I needed to use the bathroom almost on a half-hourly basis. Pretty exhausting. Now, I just need to go a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening. Once I’ve taken my medicine after breakfast my guts remain stable (although not always comfortable) for a good chunk of the day.
For the last two weeks I’ve been working 8:30 to 4:40 Monday to Friday and 8:30 to 12:10 on Saturdays. Despite this, the summer intensive classes haven’t been too bad – I don’t have any really terrible classes, although they’re not all great. I haven’t been feeling too tired at work, but I haven’t been 100% awake much of the time.
I should have been paid my bonus of ₩2,300,000 with my July packet, along with a raise of ₩100,000. Neither materialised. When I told our boss, Sharon, about it she seemed annoyed that I’d brought this to her attention. Then she explained that the person who did the accounts at E-Castle had left without telling the Ginius people about my pay arrangements. It seems like a pathetic excuse, but she said they’d sort it out next week. I’ll see if it’s happened by Wednesday. If not, first I need to talk to someone and see what they tell me. If I get fobbed off again I should think about getting some legal representation and taking my case to the Labor Office.
The atmosphere at work – especially around me, it seems – hasn’t been too good lately. A few weeks ago there was a meeting – apparently to introduce the different staff members to each other. No one explained what was going on to the foreign staff (or at least to me), and no translations were provided. I probably didn’t make a good impression when I introduced myself: ‘I’m Sean. I from the UK…. I’m finished.’ A couple of weeks ago there was a staff meal after work that I didn’t go to, preferring to spend time with Habiba. I slipped away without saying goodbye to anyone. Since about that time I’ve noticed a little less friendliness being directed at me.
I suppose I’m not really that bothered about it, but – along with the pay issue – it makes Habiba’s suggestion of coming to work with her much more appealing. So much so, that I’m seriously thinking about applying for a job at her place starting in March (the start of the Korean academic year). The main problem for me is the hours – Habiba works something like 9:20 to 5:40 daily. I know that doesn’t sound bad, but afternoon/evening working hours are a major part of the attraction of teaching English in Korea.
Habiba is away on holiday in Montréal this week. She’s been looking forward to this trip – for the whole of this year, it seems. I hope she has a good time over there – the way she’s been talking about it makes me a little jealous. My own vacation starts in two weeks’ time, though. Then it’ll be back to a normal schedule for the rest of the year.
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