Happy Suwon Busted Village

Our school in another 6 months (dramatization)

I remember when we first moved to Korea and started working at Seoul English Village we thought the facilities were impressive, but worn. When I asked how long the school had been open I was shocked to find out that it had only been operational for 6 months. There were piles of broken chairs in the back of the science classroom, the restaraunt had few unbroken plates and all of the magic tricks had been destroyed. Well, Suwon English Village has only been open for 7 months and I'm sad to say that we are in a similar situation. Although a lot of money was initially invested to get the school going, it seems like money is harder to come by these days for upkeep. Don't get me wrong, the school is still nice and the kids don't complain but it is interesting to see what has happened over time, and some serious problems have emerged.

The most obvious and alarming problem is our incredible sinking hallway! The floor outside the "Homestay" classroom sunk one weekend, and it's only a matter of time before someone falls through! The drop is now about 3-4 inches and I'm always tripping over the damn thing. Some of us (Shaun) jump on the crack everytime we walk by just to see what will happen. Dad- come to Korea, your carpentry skills are desperately needed!

There is a crack on the wall and also the ceiling around the sinking floor... coincidence? I really wonder if they'll ever fix it or if they'll just let the school snap in half?

The glass tabletops on all the desks are broken, I suspect as a result of the teachers regularly sitting on the desks- I know I broke one that way. The jagged shards of glass have not been removed (presumably because the desk would fall apart if there wasn't glass on top), but instead left there to cut our students and faculty.

One of many broken lobsters ("robsters!") from "Supermarket" class... that's his claw on the right hand side. There are many broken fish and eye-less squid to keep him company.

Want to raise or lower the screen? Or put on a DVD? Don't do it with one hand touching the underside of the button or you'll get a really, really, really bad shock.

Why these seats were purchased boggles the mind. They practically encourage the kids to not sit upright and roll around constantly, but they might want to be careful where they roll because these seats look like they're harbouring some bacteria...

Want to check out the map of the english village? Don't look too closely or you'll get a metal wire in the eye!

According to our boss the internet "these days" isn't that reliable. Is this true? Are you guys having a problem with your internet "these days"? Mine's working fine at home. When you're teaching "Animation" class and the kids can't log on to the animation website, it puts a few kinks in your lesson plan!

Our sports classes are taught in a large field that is fully of rusty nails and broken glass. To the best of my knowledge nothing has ever been done about this, which is unbelievably irresponsible. There's always random ajummas in the field picking grass for their suppers, so I really think someone needs to give them some won to clean up the nails too.

This is the scaryiest of all- in case of a fire, there is only one exit AND you need a security key to use the door. All the other doors are chained shut like the door above! Our school is just one long hallway on the second floor of a building, and it's 5 minutes from the furthest class to the only exit. And that's if the building doesn't crack in half from the heat or you don't fall on a rusty nail on your way out.

We've only got 2 months left... cross your fingers for us!