just another American teacher in SK

I fear Ct1 may be teetering on the edge of madness.  Seriously ~ I think Ct1 may be showing some signs of mental instability.   The woman talks to herself ALL DAY LONG (Korean, Konglish, English … it doesn’t matter …),  she rocks (rocks, sways, goes back-and-forth) at every meal, and she is completely neurotic about personal contact.  Today I watched her punch herself in the stomach and slap herself on the arms for about 20 minutes ~ I’m hoping that it is some sort of weird attempt to improve her circulation or digestion or something.  Bizarre.

It’s very difficult to understand some cultural concepts, including nunchi and kibun.
In a culture where social harmony is essential, the ability to identify another’s ability to establish social relationships nunchi, is crucial. For example, a socially clumsy person can be described as 눈치 없다 (nunchi eoptta) meaning “absence of nunchi.”
The word Kibun has no literal translation in English. The Kibun is regarded as both an internal and external force that can be harmed via other individuals lack of awareness to it. If someone damages, or harms, your Kibun, they will alter the way you are able to interact with others.

Why on earth the foreign teacher is paired with Ct1 is unexplained, except for the fact that she has the least number of classes and an abundance of unscheduled time every day. She dedicates her time audio English translation (please, god, can someone give that woman a set of HEADPHONES, so the entire office doesn’t have to hear the same word repeated 37 times? …) or listening to “pop music” (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon” is her most recent favorite.)

I must do something about this situation without harm to Kibun ~ or I am going to lose my mind.

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