Vacation, Interrupted

Sigh.

S called me this afternoon from her car and mentioned something about winter camp being canceled and me doing daycare instead. She had to end the call early since her son was energetically babbling in the backseat which left me with an hour feeling very upset that Asia Time has slapped me in the face yet again.

When S called back, I thought it was actually pretty lucky, and maybe a part of her plan, to let me stew and then recover from the shock before explaining the rest of the situation.

In fear of the coronavirus, winter camp has been canceled. But that would leave me with two free weeks which would be unfair to… the government? Whatever. In any case, S, the VP, and the principal called my technical employer SMOE which is the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to see what I should be doing instead.

SMOE told them I still had to work (in a pandemic? Ok sure) so I have been relegated back to desk duty and one hour of English class per day to the first, second, and third grade school day care. S said “you’re supposed to teach 4 hours a day but we agreed just do one and we’ll mark it as four”.

I cannot tell you why daycare was not canceled seeing as children are more susceptible to diseases but I can tell you those will be my new charges.

Because I have been reassigned to desk warming and daycare, I also have to move my vacation since daycare doesn’t have a break until the last week of February.

So I will return to work after one week off, work two weeks, then have another week off, then start the new semester.

The good news is that I am quite sure all the teachers and staff feel very sorry and I will squeeze this sympathy for the rest of the semester. At the very least I will be taking extended lunch times.

There’s no use being angry (anymore) since I am in a weird intersection of Asia Time, health hysteria, and contractual obligations. I’m a little excited to meet the tiny ones and planning on the fly shouldn’t be too difficult. S is also going to come in on Monday to plan, teach, and eat lunch with me.

But can you imagine the staff’s faces when I return? Hahaha.