Feelings of Frustration

Well, I've been in Korea now nearly two months. Things are going about as well as they can I suppose. I am still trying to get used to the customs, the people, and the culture.

I have been feeling a little frustrated lately with the whole "lack of communication" thing. It's rather irksome to not be able to communicate with people. The thing is, I'm not frustrated or irked at the people who don't understand English; I'm frustrated with those who can (the Korean people that is). I think what it boils down to has to deal with translation issues. I try to explain things to one particular co-teacher and she just doesn't seem to understand. Her English is very good though. One example is just yesterday I was asking her if she could ask the computer teacher if he could change the language over on my computer at school as well as the lap top they gave me to use. Everything is in Korean and I can't understand it; therefore I can't really use the computer. I'd like to do Power Point in the classroom, but I can use it because the program is in Korean. I'm trying to install a webcam on the laptop, but it's not working because the program (cd) is in English, and the computer might not be recognizing it because of the language thing - at least that's what I'm thinking because my friend Sarah has the same computer in her apartment (from her school) and her's is in English. She also has the same web cam and her's works fine. Anyway, long story short, my co-teacher went to ask him and a couple of the other Korean teachers got in on the conversation, one of who is another of my co-teachers. This co-teacher comes over and tells me if I'm wanting an English site to just type it into the computer and it will come up English. I said I know that, and I do that. I want the whole computer changed over so I can use the programs and know what to do when the boxes pop up on the screen with errors and whatnot....aarrggghhhhh!

My last class on Thursdays are horrible. These kids, I've been told, are the worst class in the school and they also have the lowest marks. I can totally see why! They don't listen. They talk when they shouldn't be. They are smartalecky (or however you spell that). They are loud. They just don't care. My co-teacher said that all the teachers, including the Korean teachers, can't control this class. Nothing seems to work, and finally I am at my witts end - I've given them all the chances they are going to get. My co-teacher was only in the class for five minutes and she was yelling at them and hitting them (that is still allowed over here...I don't agree with it, and I refuse to hit them). She had to leave, and was gone the rest of the class. I told her afterwards that I didn't get anything done (again) with that class and that I told them next time they are getting kicked out of my class. I don't know how well the boys understood me, but I asked her if kicking them out into the hall or somewhere else was allowed. She said it was. So next week as soon as someone starts acting out, I'm kicking him, or them, out. I don't care if I'm left with the three or four or five that actually seem to try to listen and do the work.

Thankfully, my classes today aren't like that. They are pretty good, so I shouldn't have any problems with them. There is another class similar to this class I was just talking about, but they aren't nearly as bad. That class is on Mondays. I pray that my classes go well, and that I can especially handle that Thursday class.

Well, I had better go and start getting ready for work. Have a Christ-filled day!