How are you spending your free time?

I think I've said before that Korea is a very different place. You can give them as many McDonalds, Popeye's and 7Elevens as you want, but it will always remain a extremely confusing and exotic land. I really learned that lesson yesterday when I had a very odd conversation with one of my co-teachers.

Before I begin my rant, though, let me give you some background information. I have a contract which I've signed that spells out clearly how many lessons a week I can teach and how many hours a day I'm supposed to work. Even though I have this signed contract, I do volunteer a few extra hours a week to do various random things, like a weekly TV show for my school and a bi-weekly English club. I really don't mind doing these things, but they do take up a lot of my extra time.

Yesterday, one of my co-teachers, a Korean English teacher, asked me if I had time after school to discuss the TV show. I had already set aside much of my time the previous couple of days to discuss the show, so I felt fine with telling her the truth. I had plans to meet up with some friends that afternoon, but I also agreed to discuss the show with her the following period.

After our discussion of the TV show, my co-teacher tells me, in the very formal and unnatural English that all Asian people seem to acquire, that she does not mind that I have plans after school, but many of the older co-teacher do not like that I have plans and do things after school. I was told that Korean teachers are always very busy, so it is offensive if I go to dinner, or a soccer game or do anything that appears as if I am not working hard. Remember, we're talking about the time after my contracted hours and not even including all the extra hours I give to them.

This was obviously very off-putting for me. I do understand a little bit of what she was telling me, though. Korean teachers work 13 hour days. They all have very long hours and, on the surface they all appear to be busy. The thing I've noticed though, is even though the are scheduled for 13 hours, I never see any of them actually working hard. Most of them have far fewer classes than I do. I think they just have to keep up the illusion of being busy.

Anyway, after being "chewed out" by my co-teacher for my extra-curricular activities, I basically told her, in a very polite way, that in my country, we mind our own business. As long as we get our work done, which I do more quickly than most other teachers, no one really cares what you do with your time off work. My philosophy is, until I get paid for the time I'm not working, I can do whatever I want.

JW