I'm a conservative?

I get some interesting information some days by just sitting around forcing the Korean teachers to speak in English. Yesterday afternoon I was eating cake and talking to Sunny. We were talking about Halloween coming up and what I was going to do for it this year. I said as much as I love Halloween in the states, really wasn't planning on joining in on any of the craziness this year here. I knew there are things planned here, but after last year I realized that it probably wasn't the best idea. She asked me why I said that. I explained that I'd realized it really didn't help the cause of foreign teachers here to dress up and act foolish. That it just gives people a bad idea about us.

She then quickly looked up a word in Korean online and then said that I must be really conservative. I almost snorted my coffee out my nose. I explained that no I really wasn't conservative but I realized that I had to act more conservative here so that I could be respected.  She said I was well liked by all the other teachers because I acted respectful of their culture.

I started thinking last night about how much I hide here. I don't just hide the big things but there are little things I change. I don't do it to be deceitful but I know that if they knew everything about me their opinion of me would change drastically.  I know I'm not conservative but I know I act like one in someways here just so that I can be respected. Its one of the prices I pay to make sure that I'm seen as a real teacher not just a dancing monkey that most foreigners are seen as.

ok time to go teach...  will work on this more later

The Best Job in the World.

My favorite co teacher is taking an English discussion course this fall. So of course I offered to help her with her homework and anything else I could do to make it a little easier on her. Yesterday's topic was the Best job in the world. I quickly threw out that I knew I had it. She was like "WHa?!?" I said I know I did... but then again it might just be the best job for me. This then followed with a mixture of discussion about why I loved it.
I started listing the reasons. 1. I get to travel and live in another country while getting paid for it. 2. I get to work with children which means I get to act like a kid about 75% of the time. 3. I have all the respect and perks of being a teacher with about a third of the paperwork I would have in the US. 4. I have a good schedule and a decent amount of time off.

About half way through she was agreeing with me. I do have the best job in the world. I told her my theory that if you don't like your job either you're in the wrong job or you're working in the wrong place. I'm wondering how the class went. I'm sure we'll talk about it a bit this morning as we get ready for to teach the 5th graders.