Around the office

I had a morning full of exams, but in one class, it was a listening exam. The listening exam only takes about 30 minutes out of a 75 minute class period, so I found myself with some time to kill in the office. Really, I could have started grading the exams my students just finished, but instead, I decided to get lunch and have a moment of quiet.

This is my oh-so-inspiring lunch today. Strawberry yogurt, chocolate milk (it tastes more like dark chocolate and less like liquid pudding!) and a piece of sketchy cheddar cheese. 

This is what my office looks like. The desk with the map hanging above it is mine. We use the middle table as a general catch-all for student papers, a drop off/pick up point for our TAs, and anything else we happen to need. To my right sits Jonathan. He's from Wales, and he's been in Korea four or five years. Out of all of us in the office, he probably fits the absent-minded professor stereotype the best. He is always rushing around looking for things and  muttering under his breath. After we are done teaching for the day when we are all doing office hours and such, he tends to throw out the most random information. He's great fun. 

To my left is Ryan, from New Zealand. Ryan has been in Korea for about eight years. He and I teach a lot of the same classes, so we tend to collaborate a lot on lesson plans and extra activities. Also, he isn't very good with computers, so I fix things on his computer at least once a day. Out of all of my office mates, I probably know him the best. The other guys leave early on Wednesday, but Ryan and I have class until six, and some other stuff to do after. So we usually chat more about life in general on Wednesday night. 

The desk against the window belongs to John. He's also American, but he is significantly older than the rest of us in the office. He has been in and out of Korea for the past 20 years or so. He doesn't spend very much time in here on the days that I'm in, because he prefers to do his office hours alone. So he comes in on Tuesday and Thursday. I don't know him well at all. But he loves to talk about politics. Unfortunately, he is one of those people who assumes that everyone agrees with his political opinions (which I don't), so I often have to watch what I say around him. 

This is the view from the other side of the room. Jonathan's desk is on the left. The desk on the right belongs to Richard, from England. He has been here about six years, and he speaks quite good Korean. He tends to be the person that we go to when we have problems with the online system. He and I also spend quite a lot of time discussing linguistic differences between British and American English. This mostly happens when one of us says something that is idiomatic or culturally specific, without really thinking about it, and it doesn't quite compute. So then we have a discussion about meaning, regional variations and etymology. It's great fun. 

So this is where I spend my days. Or at least, some of my days. The boys are great fun, and they've been super helpful as I try to figure out what in the world I'm doing this semester. They also really appreciate chocolate chip cookies :)