the jumping of ship is in process.
i've had two job offers, one in hiroshima, one in nagano. jobs there seem similar to the ones offered here - except HOLIDAYS are a concept the japanese seem to take very seriously. one of the job offers said "we'd like to arrange a phone interview with you. we return to work on jan. 4". at that time it was dec. 29.
i got one extra day off for new years. i stayed in seoul. i was a little fucking choked about that.
after talking with some less-than-thrilled koreans i realized my suspicions were correct - koreans are, in general, afraid of idleness and holidays. i saw a news story a year or so ago about the proposed 5-day work week and a bunch of salarymen were pissing and moaning (no doubt their corporate heads put them up to it) about "what am i going to do with that extra day?" as if their kids were going to make them spend money to go to lotte world or everland and a nice expensive family dinner at outback...
why not just go to the park and throw a fucking frisbee, douche? kids like that too. entry fees to national parks are less than a dollar. go climb a mountain.
anyways... i'm overworked these days. generally incommunicado. i had one of the most hellish teaching spells i've ever had over the last 3 weeks. 2 weeks of being one of only 3 TEACHERS OUT OF 13 who had a 9am-8:30 pm workday, report cards and then another week of 9-6:30.
two new english words invented by students - "anotherwhere" and "disremember". i especially like "anotherwhere". it's much better than "elsewhere".