To desk warm or not to desk warm....that is the question.

For those of you who are not familar with the term "desk warming" let me explain. This is when you have to sit at your desk at school with little to nothing to do. Your job is to be at your desk all day...that's it. This is something that many foreign teachers hate doing as it is a major waste of time and the school's money. The alternative to desk warming is having time off work which is much better than trying to amuse yourself at school.

When I came to Korea to teach at a school I was lead to believe that everyone would have to desk warm for a few weeks over vacation periods. I was happy to hear that desk warming was not an activity that occurs at my school. Apparently the last teacher was never made to desk warm.

A few weeks before vacation my main Korean co-teacher told me that this year all teachers at all schools have to desk warm. I was told that the office of education is enforcing this new rule. After speaking to other teachers from other schools I found that this wasn't entirely true...but I couldn't do much about it anyway.

So once again I accepted that desk warming was something I had to do. I even grew fond of the idea of being able to do whatever I like at my desk all day. But then, from out of no where, 2 days before my desk warming adventure would begin, the head teacher at my school spoke to me. He called me over by saying my name. This alone surprised me quite a bit. This guy speaks very little English and I didn't even think he knew why I was at his school, let alone my name. We exchanged a few sentences in our native languages. After he relised we couldn't communicate he called an English speaking Korean teacher over to translate. He told me that I did not have to desk warm and that I could have all of the vacation time off. I was wrapped. This teacher is far higher up the hierarchy than any other teacher.

The very next day, 1 day before desk warming would start, I had some heart breaking news. It turns out the head teacher was unaware of what my co-teacher was told so the decision was reversed and once again I was told to desk warm. I did not take this news well. Previously I was fine with the idea but after being promised freedom then having that stolen from me, I was pissed.

I am now in my 3rd day of desk warming and have calmed down. There is no one at school with me except one teacher, the gardener and some guys installing new windows in a classroom. I have no work to do and am very sick of spending my whole day doing the little things people do in their spare time (watch tv, play video games, surf the net). This may sound like a good thing, and don't get me wrong it was but one person can only do this for so long before insanity starts to kick in.