The Usual Suspects

With a full week down at the new job, I can safely report that I think we have hit the gold mine.  As I mentioned in the previous post, our apartment is amazing, especially for Korean standards.  Rachel and I thought it appropriate to offer Mr. Yang (our most magnificent handler) a bottle of fine imported liquor.  OK, so it was a bottle of Jack, but yet it’s a luxury here. 

Now, after a week I have gotten a good idea as to the characters that surround us.  Keep in mind that we haven’t started working yet.  What we do have is around 2 months or so to plan and write our curriculum.  So instead of classroom antics or dealing with students, we have settled into something resembling a more traditional office setting.    Allow me to take you on a journey through the cast of characters that make up our office. 

The Man with The Golden Watch:  Our owner, whom we have only seen once, screams money.  What he said was that he wanted the best education that money could buy for his daughter, so like anyone who has too much damn money, he did the most logical thing, and built a goddamn school.  Not that I am complaining, but jeez, talk about pressure.

The Well-Manicured Man:  Below the owner is our man who runs the day to day operations of the business.  Like the owner, he screams money, and style.  Seriously, I envy him for dressing as well as he does.  I am fairly certain that his cufflinks alone cost more than my car.  Clad in his finely tailored suits (no tie), magnificently wavy hair, and more often than not a matching scarf, he screams class.  Even with all his class and cash, he is a really nice guy.  His son is going to school in Boston and he even has a driver’s license from the state of California.  Obviously, communication has not been a problem.   

The Mysterious Mr. Kwan:  In a room off to the side of the main office is our principal.  He looks very stern and gives the impression of someone you do not want to be on the other side of the desk from.  I can’t write too much about him, simply because he doesn’t speak too much.  But from what little we have talked, he is supportive and understanding. 

The Good Witch of the South:  As many people who have kept up with our experiences here, have some reason to fear for any new boss that we have.  Just to recap, our last boss was a cross between Marie Antoinette, Ms. Trunchbull, and the Wicked Witch of the West.  Justine is very much not any of these. Justine has been very nice, almost too nice.  To go a little further about how different and refreshing this has been, I want to describe a little about leadership styles.  Marie A. was a micro manager.  Everything needed her personal OK and that was rarely given without a casual remark of “Bla bla bla, classu.  Bla  bla bla however.  Bla bla bla floppy (comments removed by editor)” Justine on the other hand is more of a “do whatever you need to do” kind of person.  She gave us some tasks and the occasional emails to check and see what we are doing and beyond that has left us alone to do what we need to do.  Overall, she has been a wonderful manager. 

Not Dr. House:  NDH is far too complicated isn’t it?  Well let’s just call him Jerry then.  Jerry is an older man, and quite the character.  He has been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping over the last week, and has started to show signs of sleep insanity.  No, I’m not kidding.  It was when he mentioned that he had a stock pile of sleeping pills and may start mixing them with a large amount of beer, was when I started getting really worried.  It wasn’t so much the joke about suicide, as it was the question I had in my mind as to why someone would have a stock pile of sleeping pills.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, but even as he said himself, he isn’t very good at small talk.  Basically, he is the teaching equivalent of a computer geek.  He does teaching, and that’s about it. 

Mr. Lorre: The last of the teachers (for the moment) in our cast is a quiet guy whom is more than a little socially awkward.  He is very well dressed, except for his jackets being just a little too small.  I know because he never takes the things off during the day.  He’s from San Diego, so he gets cold very easily.  I admit to laughing a little when walking down the street with he and Rachel, and I feel very comfortable and everyone else is looking very uncomfortable.  I am a terrible person.  (The Editor is scowling at me while I am writing this)  He is very polite, and on occasion suffers quite a bit from people like The Well-Manicured Man.  Case in point what I shall call the Doughnut Incident.   Mr. Lorre mentioned that he thought a girl at the local Dunkin’ Doughnuts was kind of cute.  The Well-Manicured Man suggested that he should go after her.  It turned out that Mr. Lorre had already tried, having found and messaged the Dunkin’ Doughnuts girl on a dating site. She deleted her account the next day.  The Well-Manicured Man then suggested that he should try face to face communication because “You are a man!”  Now, Mr. Lorre was looking increasingly uncomfortable as time went on.  The Well-Manicured Man continued offering to come with him when he talked to the Dunkin’ Doughnuts girl.  In fact, the Well-Manicured Man suggested, everyone from the office could come as some completely non-terrifying, glass fogging, comitatus of wingmen, because “you are a man!”

Well that’s all the news from Korea.  Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.