Summer Vacation? What's That?
The end of the semester is coming up for students, so they're spending the next three weeks studying for finals. As I mentioned earlier, that means we have a super light schedule because we only have elementary school students, or about 4 half classes per week. Then comes summer break, which you might think would mean vacation time for us...but you would be wrong. When kids don't have to go to regular school, it means they can spend even more time at private institutions (hagwons) like Boston. Parents really don't like their kids doing nothing (i.e., playing), so summer and winter breaks are our busiest times. We had an intensive session during the month of January and will have another one in August. Can't wait!
I really wonder if there's a Korean word for vacation. They don't seem to have that concept! For the vast majority of Koreans, vacation comes during national holidays, and that's all. Our contract states that we get four weeks of vacation, but that includes national holidays (and if a holiday falls on a Friday, that whole weekend counts). It seems to be pretty standard among hagwons, although some let their teachers take their vacation at the end of the contract by simply leaving two weeks early. We're not quite sure if that's the case with us, because we can never get a straight answer when we ask. Of course, they work even more hours than we do, so it's hard to complain too much.
Last night I had a dream that I found a $99 plane ticket to Madrid and then was going to go on to Budapest, Hungary, and Romania. Must be because of The Historian (which I finished) and because we're trying to plan a trip for the first week of October, which is a big Thanksgiving-like holiday called Chuseok. We really do have to plan this far ahead because EVERYONE takes trips during holidays, and that's the biggest one.
I think we're going to go to Beijing, but when I was doing research, I found out that China has a bunch of holidays that same week and, like Korea, everyone will be traveling, meaning buses, planes, trains, hotels, etc. get booked fast. We know some people who took the same trip last year during Chuseok and they had no problems with it being the holidays, but still. It's the principle of the thing! I thought the U.S. was behind with its 2 weeks standard vacation time, but we're positively enlightened when it comes to leisure time compared to Korea.
Lack of vacation is definitely my biggest pet peeve about Korea. I can live with it since it's not for the rest of my life, but it can be frustrating. It's tough being in the heart of east Asia and not being able to go anywhere!
I really wonder if there's a Korean word for vacation. They don't seem to have that concept! For the vast majority of Koreans, vacation comes during national holidays, and that's all. Our contract states that we get four weeks of vacation, but that includes national holidays (and if a holiday falls on a Friday, that whole weekend counts). It seems to be pretty standard among hagwons, although some let their teachers take their vacation at the end of the contract by simply leaving two weeks early. We're not quite sure if that's the case with us, because we can never get a straight answer when we ask. Of course, they work even more hours than we do, so it's hard to complain too much.
Last night I had a dream that I found a $99 plane ticket to Madrid and then was going to go on to Budapest, Hungary, and Romania. Must be because of The Historian (which I finished) and because we're trying to plan a trip for the first week of October, which is a big Thanksgiving-like holiday called Chuseok. We really do have to plan this far ahead because EVERYONE takes trips during holidays, and that's the biggest one.
I think we're going to go to Beijing, but when I was doing research, I found out that China has a bunch of holidays that same week and, like Korea, everyone will be traveling, meaning buses, planes, trains, hotels, etc. get booked fast. We know some people who took the same trip last year during Chuseok and they had no problems with it being the holidays, but still. It's the principle of the thing! I thought the U.S. was behind with its 2 weeks standard vacation time, but we're positively enlightened when it comes to leisure time compared to Korea.
Lack of vacation is definitely my biggest pet peeve about Korea. I can live with it since it's not for the rest of my life, but it can be frustrating. It's tough being in the heart of east Asia and not being able to go anywhere!
posted by AJ at 7:26 AM
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