And the Beat Goes On....

If this seems like a long “I Hate You” letter to my boss, its not. Its more like a… “You Annoy the Shit Out of Me” letter.
We all know that I am not overly fond of the principal after the ill-fated noriba (karaoke) debacle, and I could have used a nice break from the man in order to at least tolerate him better. He apparently cannot read the finer points of body language because he didn’t get that memo.
Friday was a welcome day, it ended a week where I taught 23 classes, plus 2 after school conversational English courses, and I needed a break. One of the teachers even commented that I looked exhausted and needed to go home and rest. So, I was not happy when the Principal dragged his ass to the office I am stationed in and informed me that I would be teaching a conversation class for teachers that day, after school.
I must have looked confused because he called Mrs. Lee from her office and told her that she and I would be required to stay after school and teach this class. Mrs. Lee looked as frustrated as I did, she being very busy and having a family, at having this asshole tell us this on the SAME DAY he wanted the class to be taught. I was a) tired as hell, b) totally unprepared to teach this course and c) pissed off. Not a good combo for a teaching.
So, after school I show up and there are three people in the class, the Principal included and I have nothing prepared for them to do. He then comes up to the board and write some shit down like “I am because you are” and asks me what it means in English. WTF? I wasn’t a philosophy major, so wtf? I say I’m sure it has a lot of different meanings, because it’s a popular proverb and try to give my understanding which was apparently unsatisfactory because he got up and explained what it meant in Korean and then tried to give me some half-ass Korean lessons. One, why would you ask me what it meant if you already knew the answer? Two, the last time I checked your English was almost nonexistent so when did you become the instructor? Mrs. Lee told me that he wanted to be “my Korean teacher” and I’m thinking “Isnt this an English conversation course????” cause I am way to tired to try to learn Korean from someone who cant string three words of English together and happens to greatly irritate me. I muddle my way through the class, during which the Principal assumes the role of English instructor, where he over-talks me and tries to teach English in Korean. Eventually, I sit down and clean my nails because he has not shut up since I walked in the door and I cant understand a word he’s saying.

Side Note: I understand that this is my boss. I should have the greatest professional respect for this person, regardless of my personal feelings. He clearly is well-informed if he was hired to run a school, so there is a lot to be said about that. However, that does not mean that I have to like him. In fact, I have made it clear that --for whatever reason-- I instinctually dislike him. But I try to remain respectful and as pleasant as possible in the workplace, so don’t think I am a total bitch about him. I do want to keep my job, after all. I realize that seeing him outside of the workplace is a bad idea being that he makes me uncomfortable and irritable and those are emotions that are, frankly, hard for me to hide, so this is a good learning experience for me. Try. To. Be. An. Adult. Lacey.

So, this weekend Mrs. Lee and her husband took me to Suwon Castle, which was gorgeous. It was a wall and fortress built in the 18th century that surrounds the city of Suwon. Apparently, it came in handy for when the Chinese decided they wanted to try and sack the region. It also had a sick waterfall, the only of its kind, that has water gushing through natural stones into a man-made reservoir. It was tres cool and quite beautiful.
I was not so fortunate when it came to my company. I was pleased that Mrs. Lee and her husband wanted to take me, but then the principal of the school invited himself and I was less then happy about it. I swear, I really want to like this man-- I mean, he IS my boss for the next 50+ weeks, but I cant seem to. I literally have to remind myself, “Lacey, be nice. Be polite. Don’t look annoyed.” And I am annoyed, and yall know I don’t hide my annoyance or dislike too well. Sigh. I try, really, but it takes more effort then I usually like to give.
He really just skeeves me out. Intellectually, I know he’s not a pervert, but my instincts are like “He’s weird.” So anywho, he came along and demanded that everything be translated and then proposed to lead the tour for me, even though he doesn’t speak a lick of English. So we went to lunch, where again he drank waaay to much for it to be 11:30 am. Remember when I went through that burping phase? Arent we all happy I outgrew that??? Well, my principal is still going through said phase and he’s sixty, give or take a few years. Let me set the scene:
I am sitting down, about to start eating my meal when he lets out this huge fucking beer burp over the dinner table. It got really silent and I looked up at him like, Are you fucking kidding me? Mrs. Lee and her husband just looked down at their food apologetically, like they were embarrassed. Mr. Principal just grinned at me ands proceeded to let out another burp over the food. I imagined whatever nastiness was in his mouth hovering over my food and then settling down on it and it ruined any appetite I may have had.
And then he took issue with the fact that I didn’t want to drink liquor in the late morning time with my much older boss and co-worker. He tried to liquor me up, but I said a firm “NO THANK YOU” and poured myself some Coke. That didn’t stop him from making the whole table do several rounds of “Cheers.” If we didn’t do it loudly enough or in complete sync, he made everyone do it over again. Then he made Mrs. Lee ask me what “Cheers” meant and why we say it. How the hell am I supposed to know? I just said it meant have cheerful day, which everyone seemed to accept as true, thank God.
At this point, my irritation was apparent because Mr. Lee was trying to distract the principal from further annoying me and Mrs. Lee leaned over and whispered, “Our principal is a very nice, smart man. He is so excited to learn English!” I wanted to whisper back, “I’m sure he is, but its too bad I cant stand to be around him long enough to teach him!”
So, we’re at this beautiful castle and touring the wall and Mr. P is STILL burping. Its those loud, beer-y burps too that sound wet and nasty. And as I’m walking, I swear I hear him let out a loud fart. At this point, I don’t think theres anything he can do to repulse me further, and then Mrs. Lee tells me that Mr. P would like to do this once a month with me if possible. I ask, “Do what?” She says, “Spend the day on the weekend with you.”
I think of my sanity and say politely, “Well, I don’t know what my weekends are going to look like, what with work and spending time with some of the native English speakers I’ve met so I cant say that I will be able to.” She smiles and nods, and I assume that she understands this is an affirmative “Hell. No.”
On to better, tolerable topics. Lol. I spoke to H for like the first time in forever on Friday. It was good to hear how he’s doing, which is very well. The job interview in Santa B was awesome and one of the schools there contacted him for a teaching position too. It looks like H will be bicoastal soon. He said he loves Cali and could picture himself living there. I could too; he’s so mellow and laid-back I’m surprised he didn’t think of moving there before now…
So, yeah then he said that he needs to give his passport more use and said he wants to come visit, which would be awesome. I could soooo use the company, but he wouldn’t be able to come until the spring or summer and we all know how much can change by then so I’m not counting on it.
I still miss him, but I’m not sure in which capacity I should miss him in. Right now…I miss him in all ways. As a friend, a person, an adviser, a boyfriend, a kisser ( ;-), a punching bag, someone who makes me laugh. But, I really feel like this is going to be good for both of us to move past whatever’s happen and really look to the future with other people. I know that we’re closing the chapter that involved one another and I could hear the distance on the phone. There were these pauses that weren’t there before, had never been there, and we couldn’t seem to fill them with anything. Those pauses will eventually turn from seconds into minutes and then into hours and days and then weeks and months. That’s not me being morbid, just realistic. I feel it in my bones.
Song(s) of the day: I Hate Everyone, by Get Set Go & Starts With Goodbye, by Carrie Underwood