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[Russteacher]

   I work at a High School in Yeosu and today was the day when we finished our semester. Winter Camp begins on January 4th and takes place until January 30th. The new semester begins on March 1st. So.....a whole month in which to take a 2 week (10 days paid vacation days) vacation back home to see the family. Ofcourse, I have to be back in Korea 3 days before the start of classes. And that is in my contract. Sounds pretty simple, right?

   But there's got to be complications. For a start, the Jeollanamdo Board wants it's teachers to do an orientation (sightseeing trip) to Busan and Gyeongju on February 17th to the 19th. And it has been stated by them that there's NO getting out of this.

   No big deal...just simply go home on the 30th and come back on the 15th of February.

   But now my school has told me that classes """OFFICIALLY""" start on February 10th. It's
only for one day. But everyone must be there. And certainly the Korean teachers have to be there too.

   This was never mentioned to me before. And I was given the go ahead to go home for the two weeks. But then, this 'official' start of classes day just suddenly popped up. Or rather it was only mentioned to me yesterday.

   Has anyone else had this happen to them?

   This seems like some kind of bureaucratic principle, waste of time edict put out by the board. I stress that this whole jazz is within the contract, but it's not being told about this '10th Feb' date beforehand and having it suddenly cut down my plans that does leave me somewhat annoyed.

   Can anyone else out there tell me if this has happened too? Was there any way of getting around it. Going home for 7 days is a bit impractical.

   Happy New Year, R.