Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

As it turns out, I did make it back to Korea on Monday with few problems. I made a phone call to Korea on Monday morning and talked to my boss who told me that I was flying stand-by and that I should get to the airport as early as possible. Well, I didn't even know that you could fly stand-by on international flights, but I ran to the airport, got to the check-in desk (where not a person was stationed because there were no outgoing flights for that airline until much later in the day) and then searched the airport in a panic to find out what my status was. I located someone who was a little confounded by my panic; she checked the computer and informed me that my boss was an idiot, I needn't have run to the airport and that I had a seat that I could check in for 4 hours later...

So I spent a beautiful Spring day inside the Fukuoka airport instead of outside, but at least with the security of a confirmed seat (11A, thank you very much) and just enough money for lunch. So I guess all is well that ends well.

When I arrived home, my phone was ringing off the hook with bosses and managers and co-workers and friends who wanted to make sure I arrived. I walked in the door to find a tired roommate and crying cat with no food in her bowl and a cat box that hadn't been scooped since the day before I left. The floor hadn't been vacuumed, the dishes hadn't been washed, and all of my laundry that I had just washed (but apparently never dried) was filling my room with the smell of mildew. I was already tired and stressed out, and now to add to it all, very annoyed.

But there was no time to deal with any of that because I had to wake at 7 the next morning so I could get to work early because I had an inordinate amount of catch up work to do due to my prolonged stay in Japan. I walk into a confused, disorganized office and tried to get going only to find that the copying machine was broken, none of the computers in my office were connected to a printer and I had left my personal jump drive at home and our office had nothing I could use. So I spent the day fighting over our limited computers (which we all need all day right now), emailing documents to myself so I could print them downstairs, and trying to pacify the worries of our 2 new teachers who have never taught before, never planned a lesson and who have received no training for their brand new job in a brand new country.

I worked at the kindergarten until 6 and then rushed off to teach my 3 hour middle school class from 7-10 pm. It was a brand new, unbroken in class and really hard to teach. Middle school students can really just suck the life out of you. So by the time I got home at 11:30 pm I was feeling broken and tired and so my house is still pretty much in the same state.

And Wednesday? Pretty much the same as Tuesday. Except on Tuesday night the GS finally picked up on my weariness and did some laundry and took care of the cat poo so our house is a little bit less disgusting.

And today? It's a national holiday so I finally got some much needed sleep, prepped for my class tonight (for the middle school students at the school that does not observe national holidays) and should be finishing my lesson plans for the kinder school, but instead I just feel like complaining. Sometimes life just feels like boot camp, but I'm not sure what I'm training for.

Tomorrow is our first day of teaching. Hopefully it'll go more smoothly than the week of preparation has been...