In Korea, you are expected to work. If you are not dead, then you are at work. My coteacher is like 14 months pregnant, and she's at work, wheeling about in her desk chair and hitting the students on the head with papers when they misbehave. (I'll miss her so.)
So I have an ear infection (granted, this is a self-diagnosed ear infection since the doctor wouldn't even look in my damned ear yesterday when I went complaining of severe ear pain, but since I've had an ear infection at least yearly for my entire life, I feel confident of this judgement). I'm congested as hell and can barely speak. But I'm at work! My coteachers tried to send me back down to the nurse's office to rest, but I insisted that I can go to class and watch the "How to Train your Dragon" Christmas special. So I'm skipping the first two lessons, where the kids are actually learning, and sitting in my office blowing my disgusting nose, coughing pathetically, and blogging. I'll "teach" from 10:40-12:10, eat lunch, teach again from 13:10-13:50, and then go sleep in the nurse's office until it's time to go home.
In the meantime, I'm sure I'll infect one of my coteachers with some sort of horrifying funk. Will it be the pregnant one, the one with a three-month-old baby, or the one with an immunodeficiency?
I was not a fan of Hungary's policy of "Oh, you've got a cold? Stay home for two weeks." But I have to say, I'm not a fan of Korea's "Oh, you've got a cold? Come to work and then do nothing!" policy either. What's wrong with staying home for a day or two and actually getting better?
So I have an ear infection (granted, this is a self-diagnosed ear infection since the doctor wouldn't even look in my damned ear yesterday when I went complaining of severe ear pain, but since I've had an ear infection at least yearly for my entire life, I feel confident of this judgement). I'm congested as hell and can barely speak. But I'm at work! My coteachers tried to send me back down to the nurse's office to rest, but I insisted that I can go to class and watch the "How to Train your Dragon" Christmas special. So I'm skipping the first two lessons, where the kids are actually learning, and sitting in my office blowing my disgusting nose, coughing pathetically, and blogging. I'll "teach" from 10:40-12:10, eat lunch, teach again from 13:10-13:50, and then go sleep in the nurse's office until it's time to go home.
In the meantime, I'm sure I'll infect one of my coteachers with some sort of horrifying funk. Will it be the pregnant one, the one with a three-month-old baby, or the one with an immunodeficiency?
I was not a fan of Hungary's policy of "Oh, you've got a cold? Stay home for two weeks." But I have to say, I'm not a fan of Korea's "Oh, you've got a cold? Come to work and then do nothing!" policy either. What's wrong with staying home for a day or two and actually getting better?
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