Year Two: Changes at JLS

My second year at JLS saw a number of changes in personnel as well as in the way JLS did business.

I might argue that the changes in the school actually began in February, 2001, when Travis joined our crew (soon to replace the departing James). In the office one day, while Leslie was standing nearby, Travis mentioned something about masturbation. Leslie was not impressed. I would argue that the attitude in the office amongst the foreign staff took a 180-degree turn that day. In the six years since, nary a day goes by without discussion of masturbation, farts, breasts, or whatever. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Now, onto the personnel changes. First, with Leslie not being re-hired, a new guy named Jeremy was brought in to fill the void. In at least one respect, Jeremy was a suitable replacement for Leslie -- both were from Prince Edward Island in Canada. I remember seeing this Jeremy character in the office, sitting with his Korean girlfriend. Later, Jeremy would tell many positive stories about her... how she always stood by him, and how her family fell in love with him. Even five years after they broke up, Jeremy still feels a warmth in his heart towards this girl. Yeeeaaahhh, riiiiggghhhtttt.

Later in May 2001, two more teachers were added to the Bundang roster. One was a guy named Joseph. (I will save commentary on him until my next post, specially written for him). The other was Patrick, a guy who would spend 3 1/2 years with the school. When Patrick started in May of 2001, the impression he made on many people was that he asked far too many questions about everything under the sun. Not that he was being intrusive, but rather he seemed to need to know what we all thought about our jobs. This aspect of his character was something we would tease him about, but overall he was one of us now.

JLS continued its rapid expansion throughout 2001. In late summer, Patrick introduced one of his -- what? -- acquaintances? ex-girlfriends? (nobody was positive about what their previous relationship had been) to JLS. Her name was XXXXX. I actually am not permitted to use her real name here because she wishes to remain anonymous on the Internet. XXXXX arrived at our humble school, and she didn't seem to hold many of us in high regard. Maybe it was because she had "taught high school in Edmonton", whereas most of us were somewhat lower life forms in the education world. Anyway, XXXXX stuck it out at Bundang school for a couple years, and then she got herself transferred to the new Suji branch of JLS so that she could get away from all the 'friends' she had made at Bundang. I will say one thing on XXXXX's behalf, however: she was one of the very few foreigners in Korea who bothered to learn Korean. That's one quality that she genuinely held over the rest of us.

In other changes, Mr. Huh (the owner/president of JLS) began to bump up our salaries. First, my monthly salary made the usual one-year jump from 1.75 million won to 2.1 million. Then, shortly after, he made another salary increase for everybody at JLS, and my pay went up to 2.3 million. Add in my Saturday overtime and my housing allowance, plus numerous bonuses for everything from Korean holidays to showing up for work on time, and I was genuinely feeling like I had struck the mother lode at JLS. Thanks to all this money I was making, I was able to finish paying off my student loans. A year later, I would finish paying off my uncle in New Zealand, who had also loaned me quite a bit of money for university. As well, I began to lavish various electronic toys upon myself, including my first MP3 player, a digital camera, and an Xbox.

But, what was the biggest change of all during my second year at JLS? Without a doubt it was... click here!