We have a new Korean teacher at work. She seems super sweet and she is my co-teacher for my first class of the day on MWF. I felt so bad for her on Monday because I saw her after that class and she was... stressed. Later that day, I had to offer her some chocolate because she seemed super frazzled. I had to smile at her because that is one of my younger, and therefore more rambunctious, classes. I told her some of my tips for them, but they were off the CHAIN today! I think the kids were happy to have some kind of normality again. They are cute little people... just hard to manage sometimes. For example, at 2:25 classes are supposed to start. I had to capture 2 boys who were set on escaping the classroom. The good news is that these little boys were playing, but it can be hard to get them to realize that we can play at break time and after our work is done, not before. It's an interesting thing, teaching young kids in a language that isn't theirs.
Otherwise, the kids weren't the only ones excited to get back to some kind of normal. I'm really looking forward to this next paycheck with ALL my pay on it. Not that I'm in danger of starving, don't think that for a second. It'll just be nice to get all my pay for (hopefully) the next few months.
The teacher looked better on Tuesday, so that's good.
I have to tell you about what J and I are terming my "Almost-Karen Moment." If you are online at all, you may see memes about "Karen" - a name given to any overly entitled jerk who berates customer service people about any and everything the "Karen" finds annoying. Well, here's my back story. In Feb I ordered 4 pieces of clothing from a company that makes them in India. Every piece is ethically handmade, dyed, and shipped. The company had 2 pieces in stock and they were shipped right away (it usually takes 3 weeks for me to get anything from them because they use DHL and they are always routed thru Germany). The remaining 2 pieces had to be made and then shipped later. The company tells you that it will probably take 60 days for them to be made, then you'll get an email when they ship. I got the notification in early March (just as Corona was becoming an international THING) that my package had been shipped. As usual, it was routed through Germany and in April I got an email saying that it was un-deliverable due to border restrictions and would be sent back to the factory. I have not heard anything since. I emailed the company a couple of times (early May) and they said they would be willing to make me another 2 pieces, but it would be 60 days before they could be made. I decided to wait. Fast forward: it is now June. I have not heard anything about the package being received by their factory, I can't find where it got stuck with the DHL tracking #, I figure the package is either lost or stolen, and I'm out X amount of dollars. I was getting ready to send an email to the company, ripping them a new one and demanding 2 new pieces be made and shipped to me ASAP. Then I re-read their email and this sentence finally registered - "The only problem would be that they will have to be made new for you and it could take around 60 days since we have much less workers at the moment." Much. Less. Workers. Meaning that due to all the crap going on, they have had to cut their staff, possibly put people out of work, and still have to deal with irate customers like myself. I will NEVER understand why things are routed through Germany, but it was the same when I ordered stuff from the States. DHL is a German company, so it probably has more to do with them than it does with this company. I have been berating myself for almost sending any kind of irate email - with all that is going on, I have not been harmed. Yes, working at 70% pay sucked, but at least I was getting paid. Not only that, but I also don't have to worry about rent or healthcare or feeding my family. If my biggest problem is that something I've ordered is taking a long time to get to me, then I have no room to complain. I still want to because I come from a country where I pay extra to make sure I get stuff from Amazon in 2 days. I don't often have to tell myself to check my privilege... but for this, I did.
So I guess the thought to take away is to remember that other countries are also having a hard time with the 'rona, so be kind to each other, and to yourself. I don't know who cursed us, but we are certainly living in interesting times.
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