Working Hard or Hardly Working?

I don't think I've ever been directly affected by the strength of the Canadian currency, but right now the high dollar is killing me. Back in January, every 1000 won I made translated into $1.25 Canadian, which translated into a pretty decent paycheque every month. Now, it's down to $1.05 Canadian, and I've been missing out on several hundred dollars over the last while. I could look at things differently and note that perhaps I should be thankful to have gotten such a good rate back in January and think of that as extra money earned, but with the Korean dollar sitting at more than a 5 year low to the Canadian, I've been thinking of ways to start new rumours of Quebec once again looking to secede from Canada. If only I had that kind of international influence.

I don't know what's been up with my school this past month, but I think I've taught less than half of my scheduled classes. Yesterday I taught for only 2 1/2 of my 8 hours at school. I actually snuck out early, only a little after 4, since it's getting to be quite a bore sitting at the computer all day with nothing to do. So far today,3 o my 4 classes have not shown up, and I'm thinking that I should again slip out early. It's tough to do though, sine every student in the school is an inadvertent watch-dog, alerting people to your presence. The moment they see me, they blurt out a barrage of "hello" "hi" "how are you" and other English phrases so that everyone within ear shot knows I must be walking down the hall.

When it comes to days like this, where I've got nothing to do and I'm ready to go home, I end up moving out of the school in the most ridiculous of stealthy fashions. Sometimes I'll go out of my way to use the far washroom, then grab my shoes on the way back to my classroom so I can slip out the door. On days when the teachers are playing volleyball and I don't want to be "asked" to join, I'll try and make sure no one is near the front office before I dart across the hallway to the shoe closet, hoping no one saw me and won't come running down the hallway calling "Ree-cha-duh! Ree-cha-duh!"

The school year though has been going really well. I know the materials I'm teaching much better now, I'm able to better cope with wild students and classrooms, and I feel more in control of things. My big problem now is one of personal motivation. Now that I've crossed the hump from being a "really bad" teacher into the position of "OK" to "pretty good" teacher, there's been no motivation to improve more. There is no grading or review process set up for me, no one notices the difference when I spend 2 minutes or 2 hours preparing for a lesson, and and with nearly half my classes not happening lately, sometimes I find myself not even knowing who I'm supposed to be teaching. My two best classes, the ones that come on time and whose teachers help things run smoothly, I'm usually good at putting together something stimulating for them. Otherwise, I'm inching closer and closer towards the bare minimum.

It's 12:35 now, and I don't teach again until 3:30. Since it looks like there's some kind of school-wide activity happening today, and since it's Friday, I imagine 75% of my 3:30 class won't arrive until nearly 4:00.

Yep, I'm definitely earning all of my pay today.