Montana

Today was an all in all good day.  But, things took a a turn for the strange when I met a man named Montana.  He came into my classroom, introduced himself as a new employee and asked if he could sit in my class.  Of course, I obliged.  I found his English nearly incomprehensible, but not for the reasons you'd expect.  He is fluent and his vernacular is very American, but he speaks so quickly that his accent (though not very pronounced) obscures everything he says.  I didn't even catch his name until I asked him again after work.  His name in Korean sounds like "Ian" which apparently means mountain.  He worked as a cook for the Italian army for two years, so he took the name Montana to reflect the root of his Korean name.

I noticed that he took notes during my class.  When I was finished for the day, he came in and gave me a can of flavored water.  He came back a few seconds later to tell me that Julia wanted to say a few things to me.  He told me not to take it personally.  Our Korean coworkers are constantly telling us not to take things personally.  I wonder if this reputation for sensitivity applies to all Americans or just Ian and I specifically.  So, he and Julia sat down and gave me some notes regarding the class that Montana reviewed.  They mostly dealt with my apparent inability to control my students and garner their respect.  That class was in especially psychotic form today, namely Tom who knocked over his desk, fell down and nearly broke his glasses.  Tom is difficult to control on a good day, let alone a day like today.  All of my students acted as if it were a full moon tonight.  They were just silly with energy.

Montana will apparently be moving into a house with Danny soon.  He said Ian and I should come over sometime for bbq, his apparent specialty.

It seems Julia has finally replaced Gene with his near antithesis.  Where Gene was nervous and careful, Montana is frank and to the point.  He seems like a nice guy, but I'm reserving judgment until I get to know him better.  Julia must not be too concerned about money if she feels comfortable hiring a new, only somewhat necessary person.

I spent about twenty minutes talking to Rahee after work.  She told me that in a meeting between her mother (who is a home teacher for Yoon's) and Julia, her mother asked about Rahee's position at Goam.  Julia told her that Rahee would be finishing work at the end of July because she didn't want to work anymore (implying that Rahee has a poor work ethic).  In reality, Rahee had told Julia that her flight back to Europe was on August 25th and that she should leave Yoon's about a week prior.  Upset, Rahee's mother called her and asked what was going on and why she would say such a thing to her employer, leaving Rahee to explain everything.  She was pretty upset about it.  Apparently, Julia also recently worked her magic on Stephanie and Sue, turning them against each other.  Julia asked Stephanie to work a month longer than she had planned and then turned around and told Sue that she couldn't be put on the payroll because Stephanie had asked for another month's work for more money.  Now that the business is fully failing, Julia is completely out of control.

By the time Ian and I leave, we'll have seen nearly two complete staffs at Goam (and Haso has had several changes, as well).

Did you notice the new countdown to the right?

Good night!