Cherry's Wanderlusting

I had issues from the get-go. First, off the apartment I was given, I had to share with the principal (FYI The principal is also the owner of the Feinschule franschise). Despite saying the apartment is mine, the other room was full of her stuff and she came and went into my apartment as she pleased and even stayed over despite my protests she couldn’t and me constantly changing the door code. This was extremely stressful and even when I went on vacation and a good friend volunteered to pet sit for the duration of 2 weeks at my apartment, I was told the principal would be staying there and she couldn’t so I had to find another way for someone to pet sit my cat. Which of course was very stressful and infuriating. Not to mention this apartment meant taking 2 buses to get home from work. The principal also used to gossip with the teachers about the cleanliness of my apartment and any male friends who came to see me. The next day all the teachers would know about it.

My time working there was horrendous, they overworked me, changed timetable so often, I got confused about times of classes finishing. I had no support or co-teachers to assist me in my classes and I felt alone and a complete outsider. They had high expectations but hardly any materials to supplement my classes as the principal was very greedy with money and it was clear to see she didn’t want to put money into the Hagwon at all. 

The contract means nothing when working for this company, they always made me stay behind after work with no notice, unpaid and they refused to let me go home even If I declined. They also were very forceful in working on weekends and Friday nights mostly. Even when the contract stated 5 unpaid Saturdays, I am certain it was more than that. I was never compensated for any extra work at all. One occasion the teachers ganged up on me and physically blocked the door so I could not leave because I had to stay behind after work which they told me only 3 hours before it took place.  Time off work in the contract does not mean anything either. I was meant to be at work at 10am. I was told I had to help on the school bus from 9am and yes that wasn’t paid for overtime. Not to mention they changed the finishing time to 30 minutes later than my contract which I again, did not agree to and was not compensated for either.

There was one teacher there that was just as bad as the principal, she was always in a bad mood and took her anger and stress out on me for no reason, sometimes she would be nice but most of the time she was in a foul mood. One time I was humiliated because I had an emergency personal appointment at a woman’s clinic and I was told I had to be at work at a certain time, I, of course, didn’t make it, despite them being aware I wouldn’t be back in time. I have never been subjected to such emotional and verbal abuse until I worked there. I was worn down so far, I was depressed, no self-confidence and low self-esteem.

My 1-year contract finished and I decided I would stick it for 3 months so I can join the next intake for the public school system. I was shocked when they gave me a 1-year contract, I knew this wasn’t right and when I addressed this with them, they told me it was solely for me leaving the country for vacation for immigration so I can get back in and they would provide me with a new different contract. They never did. I bought what they said and signed and this caused further problems later.

It was time for my departure from the school, they told me I had to provide a 1-year lesson plan for Kindergarten and a 6 month for Elementary. When I submitted it they were still not satisfied. I think this was solely done out of spite, as I cannot fathom to see how that would be necessary. 

Before leaving, three teachers knew I was changing to public school, these people made me believe they were my friends, but it was clear to see they were also just as snide and sly as the other teachers. The principal doesn't speak English at all may I add, so these 2 teachers usually had to speak to her on my behalf. This teacher straight up told me she didn’t tell the Principal I was leaving but I was going back to England to study because she won’t release me from the contract otherwise (the 1-year contract signing for a 3-month extension was another way they could blackmail and control me).  They later denied this and the teachers believed them over me and said I was a liar. 

So I left with my pay but no severance, (they said they would pay that within 2 weeks, it never came) and I went to orientation for 2 weeks with my new job, when it came to going to immigration for my new job it started to become a huge problem. They called the Hagwon, the principal lied and said I had run away. (Which makes no sense as they provided me with a reference letter for that very job). This became an issue, so as one final way to control and spite me the Principal invented up a false scenario. Apparently, the apartment I had stayed at was completely wrecked and cost more than my severance. So, they blackmailed me into getting a release letter if I accept the severance can pay for “damages”. I took them to the labour board and I didn't win either, despite the law stating the school are not to withhold my severance, as that's my money I paid into every month from my pay.

I would highly suggest If you want to stay sane and not be taken advantage of to stay away from this place. I can genuinely say they have affected my mental health severely. So much so when I worked at my next job at a great Public School, I was always on edge I was going to annoy someone or get shouted at because I made a simple mistake, this of course never happened because they treated me like a human being, not like property. I would not wish this place on my worse enemy. Prison labour isn’t this degrading and mentally debilitating.

Considering Korean culture is all about saving face, I was shocked I experienced such humiliation and degrading behaviour, not to mention that Korean’s are private people so it was weird that the Principal wanted to share an apartment with me. 

STAY WELL CLEAR OF THIS PLACE!!!! The principal is so drunk with power and greed she will do anything to control you and find ways of avoiding to paying you. I know past teachers and a teacher after me also experienced similar difficulties in pay and their experience of working there.

I'll leave you with this random video, one of many random videos we filmed whilst in Seoul. 

I'm also not looking forward to having to argue my working hours again on Monday, as they want to extend it by a further 30 minutes which is not in my contract and extra work I am not getting paid for plus the time I travel to get home, settle down eat, workout etc. it literally means going home and going straight to sleep with no time to unwind. 

Aside from that I'm ok, I'm planning for Busan but it might get pushed back into August just for more preparation time etc. Either way this summer I'm hitting the beaches, pushing back dates is not necessarily a bad thing as my birthday I can hold a crazy booze filled weekend and gives me more time to get this body in tip top bikini ready shape. The weight loss is going amazing! I have been here just under 2 months and i've lost more weight than I lost in that 3 months in England. I say weight loss, but the scales have not done much in changing, I however have been measuring myself regularly and I am noticing real changes!!! I reckon all the protein I'm eating means I'm gaining muscle at the same time hence the lack of weight changes. My fridge is packed full of eggs, protein milk, fruit, organic vegetables, chicken! WIN!!!! 

So the weekend was crazy, I've been so good with my spending since I got here, I've been out on the lash once and that was when I arrived, I go out Saturdays to eat and cycle with the gaturi sister, Jest came over one weekend and we drank a load of beer and soju but nothing that broke the bank, Korea I love how cheap you are! I really don't spend much money on food, it's kinda samey at the moment, but as I eat lunch at school, I find it doesn't bother me so much. So this weekend I went a little crazy on the shopping for the first time, I bought quite a few beauty things, stuff for the kids at school, stationary, some clothes and accessories. I also want to add there was sales everywhere so majority of the stuff I bought was half the price, so despite buying so much stuff I really didn't spend much at all.

The sis and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, it was banging! We had a seafood fried rice and pho and an appetiser, with some ice jasmine tea, it was immense, it was so clean and healthy I was so full but not feel bloated it was awesome!  

After that we got started on the retail therapy, it felt like christmas for me, everywhere were sales and things were so damn cheap! That may seem like such a typical female thing but shopping with me is not a normal affair, in fact put me with someone just as mentally unstable together in a town full of shops *COUGH*Mimi*COUGH*, you have trouble on yours hands. I like to mess about, play and experiment with things that aren't necessarily age appropriate, be an idiot in general public in all honesty I revel in what I do best and thats be 100% crazy! Embrace the madness...or so I keep telling myself ;). Here's some fine examples of what we get up to when we were out and about in Downtown.  The weather was complete sh*t though but that didn't put too much of a downer on my weekend.

So after shopping the plan was meant to go out and have a mad all nighter getting crunk with the Jestmeister and Yunwoo, the first people I hit the clubs with when I got here actually. I haven't seen Yunwoo or spoke to him since then actually. Anyways the reason I didn't get to see them, was well a huge ass storm decided to come by and fuck up my weekend and I was buried under a load of paperwork, so Cherry's mad weekend turned out to be a quiet night in, banging out vocab sheets and tests. It wasn't so bad though, I got it all done with plenty of time to spare today, so much I had done my shopping, pampered myself, cleaned again, watched 4 episodes of game of thrones and it's still reasonably early. Is 10.30pm early? 

It's been a chill weekend and its only 10 days until payday, I still have so much dough left for this month! I still can't fathom that I send home half of my wages and still have way too much money to live off for a month!

I'm gonna close this post today with a thought: I question my sanity at times, I can't work out if I'm genuinely fucked up or if it's a coping mechanism. Is it really true, all the best people are crazy?

The Gaturday adventures (finally!) which I'm sure most of you came here to read, the day always starts by meeting my Korean sister Chloe, she suggested we rented bikes from the subway station as it was free and they were a lot nicer! We hopped onto our bikes and drove around Samgu like we just escaped a local asylum. We managed to cycle all the way to downtown, which if you know is like 10 minutes from my apartment, to put some perspective on the distance we rode, I live 1 hour and half away from Samgu by bus, so the distance we cycled was pretty far, but I guess time passes by so much quicker when you're taking in views, concentrating on ways to stop your ass hurting from the worst bike seat I have ever sat on and listening to Oasis, Bruno Mars and Korean artists resonate from Chloe's phone, all of course whilst we were howling at the top of our lungs because it was our jam! 

After cycling around like the loonatics that we are, with Chloe having a few close calls with bushes attacking her whilst cycling and getting lost, our two hours were up, so we took the bikes back and we headed for a Korean dessert restaurant for some red bean paste milk dessert. This is no exaggeration when I say that it has to be the best thing that I have ever had in my mouth, hell its even better than chocolate! I would pick it over a bar of chocolate any day. It consists of a "snow" made from milk, dried crushed beans and topped with a paste made from red beans, rice cake things similar to "mochi" and some slithers of dried dates, It was huge and I reckon some people could probably finish one to themselves if they are greedy, but me personally as orgasmic as it tasted, it would have been way too big for me, plus sharing is caring and way more enjoyable when you share it with a friend.  Korean cuisine is probably the best thing I've ever discovered, after just one week, I've lost 3kg! I love Korea!! I have definitely been contemplating settling here for good once I have finished travelling.