Getting Home!

So there isn't really an official countdown for my return home for vacation :(  The reason for this is that after pulling in tons of favours and sweet-talking my boss(and basically setting it up so she couldn't say no), I finally managed to get 3 weeks of vacation time.  Now, between travelling time, jet lag and whatnot, this will probably translate into only 2 weeks...still more than most people get for their vacation time.  How did I do it?  By being brilliant ;)

Actually, I decided to take a chance and see ask my boss if it was legit to get a substitute for extra time that I wanted off.  I started off small and reminded her the terms of my contract and that I wanted to get my entire ten days (unfortunately, this included weekends) off but that I was hoping to get some extra time so I could make it to an additional wedding while home.  She said that if I could find a foreign teacher that was Canadian or American (there's so many South Africans and Brits around here that I wish she hadn't put those conditions on it)then it would be ok. Awesome right?  Vacation time here I come!  All I have to do is dangle money and the hours in front of a few people, right? Easier said than done.  Apparently, this is the absolute worst time to take a vacation!!!  EVERYONE is going on vacation!  Public is finished and teachers have a week of vacation during that time and all of the university students get out around that time!  UGH!!!  Ok, so after talking to dozens of people and pulling in some major favours, I managed to find a girl who knew a guy who knew a girl who miraculously was able to take the position...but only for evenings...darn.

Now, I have a crappy schedule and unfortunately that is the curse of anyone who works at a hagwon, especially one that caters to adults as well as the usual clientele of children.  So I had to sweet-talk my morning class into attending my evening class and get my coworkers to pick up my kiddie evening classes and voila!  Nope, if only it were that simple.  So I decided to become a little greedy and get a second teacher for an extra week in August.  As long as they were a warm-bodied-foreigner capable of carrying on a conversation who cares, right?  Wrong once again!  So my boss is shocked that I've managed to be so self-sufficient in arranging all of this (not that she has the time or the energy to do so herself) and although she admits that it seems all fine and dandy, I can't possibly take that much time off.  And why, she asks, do I want all this time off?  Well I couldn't just come out and say, "because I'm rundown and exhausted and I want out of this place just for a little while and have conversations with people where grammar and vocabulary aren't continuously running through my head while I speak!"  So instead, I mentioned that I wasn't sure if I would make it back home for Christmas and that I wanted to make this time with my family and friends as good as possible. 

Well she was sympathetic but then she decided to drop the hammer on me and tell me that the reason for these vacation restrictions was that the hagwon had recently signed a new 3-month long company contract and that restricts the teachers vacations...translation...no one gets vacation time during this contract.  Ummm, I don't think I'm going to roll with that :)  So, I've managed to get my time covered but I do feel so bad for my coworkers especially because we are also picking up extra hours because one of our korean teachers just finished up and moved to Seoul.  

Okay, so long story short (rather than tell you about the many aggravating hours that I spent on the phone), I'm going to reaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllly enjoy my vacation this month!  Now, to finish booking my flight and get home.  Note to self: never leave bookings until the last minute especially when you are depending on the permission of your workplace.  Next time, I'm just going to book it and let them know and find a way around the system...it's what I do best...especially with all of my experiences dealing with Mr. Murphy :)