Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rock]

At night I feel my mind spinning again and again. The adrenaline keeps on pumping after a day of teaching or something, making me feel even more stressed. Anyone experiencing 'brain drain', or this aspect that you're just mentally lethargic and dull about teaching during the day due to too much repitition, detail, eye-strain and what not?

I think a little informality would be of great help, but we always have to go by the book at my workplace. I feel like just taking the kids to the park. All that eyestrain is getting to me too.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Teaching can be an extremely stressful job.

There are lots of ways to relax. Some of them are actually helpful. Some of them are harmful. The helpful ones include things like yoga. The harmful ones include things like alcohol.

[Flossie]

After two years teaching the same books to what felt like the same people, I was definitely in the same boat as you. My solution was to change jobs and work, still teaching English, but in a completely different field. Worked well for me.

Some other tips:

1) Ask your boss if you can have a 'free' class once a month. By this I mean teaching, but in any format that you want. Tell him/her that it will be really something for the kids to look forward to and you can incorporate lots of preparation activities into your existing classes, such as voting for where to go or what to do (within your and your director's guidelines of course)

2) Try and hang out with non-English teaching mates every now and then. As much as I really enjoyed spending time with my co-workers, I found the conversation typically gravitated to teaching issues. Having a group of friends, Western or Korean, who are not involved in teaching, opens up different conversations.

3) Try and get away with your partner or some friends for a weekend (unless you are like me and work every weekend) of just plain, simple mucking around. Sitting together by the beach somewhere with some beer (yes, I know, alcohol can be destructive, but for a one-off it can also be really great to help you let your hair down)

4) Do the exercise thing. Of course, this is one of those 'do as I say, not as I do' suggestions. Never been able to go to a gym longer than to pay the registration fee myself. Seriously though, exercise produces endorphins that help you feel better about both yourself and life in general, as well as shaping and toning up in time for summer.

5) Getting out and involved in group activities, especially volunteering, can be a great way to get a change of scenery and a change of perspective.

Hope this helps a bit.

[captain kirk]

Most of the time here I was deep into meditation, the first three or four years. I figured I was going from my own culture to another and without backup, so had to take care of myself, meditation providing a distanced perspective in order to recoup, adapt. I recently saw on TV a buddhist saying that meditation is essential, but of course he's a buddhist priest; he would say that. To him it's part of human nature, and I guess he should know having rather more insight than most people, to get all mucked/fouled up too close to the action. Which is a problem because what's real, isn't.

I still don't get that, really. Like once a b-priest said to me, 'listen, you shouldn't let people bother you so much; they're not real'. Okay then. WTF are you talking about they're not real? Of course I didn't say that to him, but I suppose enuff experience gaining a wider perspective and ensuing equanimity becomes more real than getting in a knot over what?
People who, undisciplined, dash around reacting to this and that thinking it's real, I guess.

When you think about it, when I think about it, it's only process that's important, not results so much. Sure you have to make a living, save money, prepare for retirement, be a good person, not hurt anybody, and so on. I'm thinking, 'it's not what happens to you, but how you handle it'.

I used to leave the haggie at night feeling my head spin, my guts knotted up, and so on from all the shennanigans, culture gap, madness of undisciplined children. But I'm better at running class and so on and actually expect at least a couple of hits a day below the belt from the rascals, be they elementary or middle school. They're not far from the age where they'll be crying hysterically in a shopping cart bellowing for mom to buy them some candy. Is that realistic behaviour? I can see what the buddhist priest meant about 'people not being real'. Maybe, they don't behave realistically because they don't know who or what they are, ultimately?

Something, some activities to integrate into one's life that allow one to let go. Like, ridiculous as it sounds, doodling, opening up the creative font and letting sketches come out. That could lead to getting some paints and canvas board and messing around in a 'wow, look at this, semi-professional manner' (yikes). Meditation is the ultimate kind of letting go to reaccess from a mountaintop in one's mind. Or exercise. I tear around on motorcycles quite a bit, hope the traffic isn't real

[eamo]

Throw boomerangs!!

[Mashimaro]