BIG CHANGES.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. A new teacher at Johnny and Tommy’s school arrived on Friday, so we met her. Her name is Coleen, and she’s from Boulder, Colorado. Based on the stories she told us, she’s pretty much a world traveler. I think she will adapt just fine to Korea. We showed her around town a little bit, and got her acquainted with all the basic places she would need to know.

On Sunday night, Johnny, Coleen, Lisa, and I all went to Suwon Station for dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant, which was delicious!! That was my second time going, and it was just as good as the first time! It’s actually owned by people who are from Nepal, so the food isn’t REALLY Indian food like you would expect. It has a hint of Nepali in its flavors…Either way, it was yummy!

So, there are some big changes happening at my academy. Currently, there are 4 Korean teachers (Sue, Kate, Iris, and Jessica), and 2 foreign teachers (Amanda and me.) Sue and Kate’s contracts are ending on March 1^st, and they were asked to not re-sign new contracts. They are both excellent teachers, but the owner of the academy decided to just have four teachers total, 2 Korean, 2 foreign. The schedule is also changing a bit, and the classes are going to look completely different. It seems really overwhelming right now because I teach 8 classes a day with one break, so I’m not sure how my schedule will look beginning in March. I’ve talked to my boss, Darren, and he seems really optimistic about the new changes.

I decided a few months ago that I want to stay for another year here. This whole time I’ve been thinking of just re-signing another contract for this academy. I have had a wonderful experience here, the kids are great, Darren is really understanding and accommodating…everything has just been wonderful! Now that these new changes are taking place, I’m not quite sure how I will like it. Technically, I’m supposed to tell Darren in March whether I want to stay here another year or go elsewhere. I talked to him on Friday and asked him if I could have the entire month of March to decide. He agreed.

I’m hoping that these new changes will be really good for the academy and won’t be stressful, like I’m anticipating. I definitely want to stay here another year, but maybe I will have to start looking at other academies in the area. I think I’ll know pretty soon what my decision is. I’m really hoping I can stay here, but I don’t want to completely burn out. That will defeat the purpose of teaching overseas in the first place. It will ruin my experience if I’m constantly stressed out at work.

So...on THAT note, send some happy thoughts and prayers my way as I make a big decision!! I'm trying to stay positive about all this. Sue and Kate will leave on February 29, and our new semester begins March 2.