(13) 90 in 90: "Take a Rest"

"Kyle, please take a rest."

This is a phrase that has been told to me many times by various teachers at my school. Whether its a cancelled class, a day that I don't have to come to school, or even a holiday, these four words are the words of both relief and excitement for a slightly easier work day.

However, I seem to be one of the only ones living up to these words. Due to my work contract, I only am needed to work 20 to 24 hours a week. I do not have to work on the weekends, I have every major holiday off and I get a larger amount of time off in the summer and winter months.

The other teachers at me school are not so lucky.

Often I see and hear about teachers working to 8 or even 10 PM with few breaks. They are often required to do massive amounts of work both in and out of school and are often asked to come into work even on the weekend, all with no extra pay or incentives. They do it because it is what the culture has told them to do. Hard work is expected, it is part of working in Korea.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about these long work hours. I often felt sorry for my teachers as they would lament the lack of time to go visit the places they wanted to visit and see the people they wanted to see. It seemed that while I had than enough free time to do what I wanted, my fellow teachers were left with nothing but things to do.

However, I have asked my teachers what exactly they do the entire time they have to spend at school. I was curious and wanted to know exactly they spent time doing for hours on end.

The answers surprised me.

"Well not much, its not a lot of work, just having to stay late," one teacher told me.

"I mostly just have to monitor," said another teacher. "Sometimes, I feel like I am at my school doing nothing worthwhile."

Other teachers have more work to do in a much smaller time frame.

A few days later, I was spending time with my girlfriend at a restaurant. It was a national holiday that day meaning most Korean people had the day off. When asked what her parents would do with a day of no work, she replied that they would do nothing. Sleeping, watching TV and eating were the only plans to celebrate their day off.

"Koreans, especially older generation Koreans don't really know how to use their days off from work. They just aren't used to days where they don't have to work," she said.

The thoughts on Korean work habits and break time came to mind after reading a recent article in the Korea Times. This article was an opinion piece on Korean work habits and how effective they were. In an attempt not to spoil the entire article, the numbers showed that despite being one of the hardest working countries in the world, Korea only ranks 28th in overall work efficiency.

This is due to much of long work day being spent doing "busy work" to look good for the boss and make it appear that they are always busy when in truth, this work is not efficient or effective, more or less wasting the time of everyone involved.

I'm not here to say which way or getting a job done or working is better, there are lots of cultural aspects and backgrounds that go far beyond what my short read of the article would justify. However it is something interesting to think about. Does having more time at work and less free time hurt or hinder work progress? Is this something Korea can change? Do they want to change?

I don't have answers, and even a opinion would be half-baked at best. For now, I can only think about the long hours my co workers put in, and realize my luck ability to participate in the Korean work environment, while still being an outsider looking in.

The original article from Korea Times

(12) 90 in 90: The one day vacations

Yesterday was Korean Independence Day. While it was an important holiday, most Koreans choose to spend the holiday relaxing and enjoying their one day chance to rest and relax before going back for one more day on Friday. Instead of staying my home, I choose to take a day trip to Seoul to visit my girlfriend.

Normally, these one day breaks I don't like to do anything too crazy or venture too far from my town. I always feel like if I do something too big and too adventurous I'll keep being distracted by the clock and knowing that despite all the fun I'm having, it all has to end soon and I'm left with the task of making sure I can make my way home in time to get a decent night's sleep for the next work day.

This was different though. I have plenty of experience traveling and walking around Seoul and Incheon. I've visited my girlfriend many time before and have become familiar with both cities and what they have to offer.

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, a late lunch and a trip to the DVD room to watch a movie, along with dinner at a Mageli place. Nothing too exciting, but still immensely fun.

I think what made the day so enjoyable was a near perfect amount of relaxation, visiting someone I cared about and getting out of my own house and town. It's my ideal perfect day: spending time away from home so I don't get too stir crazy and doing something fun and relaxing as not to disrupt my peaceful state of mind.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy doing exciting stuff, but like I said earlier, one day adventure fests are never fun to me. I never have fun as much as I worry. Maybe that's why I disliked Majora's Mask, that damn time limit and the moon threatening to crash down on me.

We tried a mageli sampler. It did not taste as good as this picture may lead you to believe. 

Lately though, its getting harder to leave once the day is over. For me, there is still this longing to be there longer. My initial need to go home in a timely manner is suddenly replaced with a moment of illogical thoughts of staying longer, staying the night even and catching the earliest train back home in the morning, knowing very well this is very stupid and is worth more trouble that its worth.

My traveling mind makes no sense to me. It goes from being logical and on time to wanting to have fun and forgo all responsibilities the next. My adult, responsible self constantly at war with my immature side.

However, my adult side always wins, even if its painful for a few seconds upon departure. I know we will see each other again soon and I'll most likely have a lot of fun again but, I want to have fun now. Not later. Once again, my inner spoiled child starts crying again.

A few minutes later though, I'm on the train on my way home. Tired, knowing that I have a three hour ride ahead of me and knowing that by the time I get back, it will be way past my work day bedtime. I could have planned it earlier, but I just had to squeeze those last few minutes of fun out of my mini break day.

I guess in the end, the adult and the child can come to a compromise after all.