Leap Year...

Well, the past few days have been crazy! Totally unpredictable.

A few weeks ago our hagwon expanded and all the high school and middle school staff moved to the fifth floor in our building while the elementary staff stayed on the third floor. We were using new classrooms and just getting organized in our new offices. It seemed as though the school was growing and all was well... I was wrong!

At about 9:30pm on Tuesday, I was just getting my things organized to go home and one of the supervisors came into the office and told everyone that they needed to pack all their things and move them back to the third floor. Very surprised, and a bit nervous, I gathered my things and started moving downstairs. A group of five big Korean guys started tearing down the offices... unhooking computers, moving desks, clearing furniture and hauling it out of the office. Within thirty minutes the fifth floor offices were bare and it was obvious that something was very wrong. Two of the supervisors pulled aside the foreign teachers and explained that the investors had just fired the principle and that the hagwon was being downsized, back to its original size. Our jobs were safe. Everything was fine. But, Mr. Lee (the principal) had been lying about the hagwon finances and he was immediately fired.

It was incredibly chaotic. It felt like a movie scene where a fly-by-night organization was being shut down in order to get out of town with all the money they stole.

But, let me give you a few more interesting details.

A few weeks ago we lost one of our most important teachers at the school. She was tired of Mr. Lee's disorganization and disrespect so she decided to take a vacation and then work somewhere else. We had been really struggling to fill in the gaps. But, then last week another really important teacher, Cathy, just quit. Out of the blue, she just said she wasn't coming back. If you have been reading this blog, you'll remember the previous post about how the school was too disorganized to fill-in for her classes and it was a last-minute scramble to cover the schedule. Well, on Tuesday night when I was moving my stuff back to the third floor, Cathy was there. I was really surprised. Here is what happened....

The Korean teachers at the school have hated Mr. Lee for a long time and tried to get him fired, but failed. So, when the first teacher left a weeks ago things got chaotic, but not enough for Mr. Lee to be fired. So, Cathy plotted with some of the other teachers. She went to the major investor, told him that she was quitting entirely because of Mr. Lee. After she left, the Korean teachers knew that her classes needed to be covered. (The Korean teachers are amazing... So smart! So organized! Really fantastic!) But, this time they decided to just let Mr. Lee and the supervisor do their jobs. They weren't going to step in and cover the classes. And, of course, just as the Korean teachers predicted... Mr. Lee didn't do his job and the classes were awful and the kids and parents complained. This incident and the financial "discrepancies" were enough to inspire the investors to fire Mr. Lee.

Of course, I found out about all of this later over beers with the other teachers. It was brilliant! As soon as Mr. Lee was fired, the investors immediately asked Cathy to come back (thank god!) and things are already MUCH more organized. I am particularly happy because Cathy sits next to me in the office and she is an awesome desk-mate!

And the last detail... I got a text message from Mr. Lee yesterday. He wants to meet with me and talk "important business." He sent the same message to another English teacher at the hagwon. He's going to try and steal us to come work with him. There is no way that is going happen!

Crazy, huh?
Gotta love this shit!

Onto other fun stories...

The debate tournament this weekend has been so much fun! I had to give the PM speech in the demo debate and I was excited, but SO nervous. My hands were shaking. It was only about 100 people and I got a knot in my stomach! No kidding. I can assure you that debating is not like riding a bike. When it comes to debating skills... Use it or lose it!

And, I have an embarrassing confession. I was the PM, but either my partner or I could give the final rebuttal speech. I was so nervous that I let my partner give the speech. I acted as though I was being generous and gracious... But, I let me nerves get the best of me. It was pretty bizarre and personally unacceptable for irrational fear to take control. But, I'm trying to defy my tendency to be too hard on myself, and I've decided to let myself have this one slip-up. Here is my rational. Leap Year! It was Feb 29th when I acted like a total debate-pansy! It must have been the extra day, the moon cycles or the pattern of the stars that was throwing me off. So, I'm going to allow myself to wuss out once every four years. But, that means that I've already met my quota for the next four years. I'm going to have to step it up!

Jacki is not a pansy!

And while I am not a pansy, I am a total hobo! Last night I met up with a couple of my friends in Gangnam. We had such a goofy time. These guys are really funny and every time we go out, it always ends up being a kickback, go-with-the-flow night! Well, by 2:30am it was down to just two of us. We were done drinking and grabbed fast food just as the restaurant was closing... but we had no place to eat! Looking for warmth, we just sat on the floor in the subway station. Seriously. Leaned up against the wall and kicked it in Gangnam station. We looked like homeless people! I have no doubt we probably contracted numerous diseases and viruses from the filthy station, but it was really fun. Good times.

One more debate note; my students are winning rounds! They are so proud... glowing with energy and excitement! And I am more than happy to reward them with double high-fives for their achievements!

Finally... I have an awesome purse! It is an authentic Harvey seat belt purse that I've had since Christmas, but just never used. I pulled it out my closet and it is finally making its debut. It looks awesome and is my new favorite purse. Way to go Mom... Great present!