Recession

This image has no relevance to the blog. Just thought it was/is fun.

Having picked up, which I think will be my final installment from Guardian Weekly, it dawned on me, as I flicked page after page, that every story was somehow, or in some way, linked to the recession in the UK. It was quite amusing, not the recession I must add. I would turn a page, and there would be yet another story on the financial crunchy. 95% of the news stories were genuine, factual, informative, and a little depressing, articles about real life situations, as a result of the meltdown. Some other stories were just neatly linked into it all, and did carry a certain degree a relevance. One story had absolutely no connection with recession, money, finance, credit, crunches, shares or anything else. The story was about birth rate. However, they still managed to open the short article, by saying “At last, a story without any recession content”. Was there really any need for this opener?

I carried on turning the pages expecting to see headlines neatly linking everyday happenings to recession talk.

Man gives birth to baby, whilst counting his pennies, to pay for gas bill. Not a genuine headline of course, but an example of how absorbed the newspapers are into this recession.

I guess I’m too far away from the heat of the headlines to really appreciate the severity of the situation. To be honest, I haven’t read too much into it and again, to be honest, I wont be doing so, anytime soon. Giovanna and I, whilst cupping our warm winter coffees, discussed the recession for about 15 minutes and our conclusion was, after much amateur deliberation, “It’s because people don’t buy anything anymore”. We are experts on not knowing what exactly causes all this money jazz and I think it’s probably best that we’re far away from it all right now.

Whilst, in the UK, you’re experiencing a reduction of your GDP, here in Korea, and more specifically, at Kids Herald School, we’re seeing a reduction in familiar faces. Very soon, end of February to be precise, will see the departures of two foreign teachers.

First up is Chris. He has been at the school for 5 years. He has seen and heard it all in the four walls of Kids Herald. He has decided that 5 years is enough. The place won’t be the same without him. Imagine your fridge without milk, or your CD Collection with Radiohead, it just doesn’t quite make sense right? Secondly, we will be losing Anthony Teacher. I’ve gotten quite close to Anthony Teacher over the last 15 months. We’ve worked out at the gym together, we’ve shared many Shabu Shabu meals together and of course, countless stories about our kids. It’s the day to day banter at work that will be most deprived of his presence. Fortunately, he’s not leaving Korea all together, just yet. March sees the new schooling year start. We find out, next week, what age kids we will be blessed with. I’m hoping to teach the four year olds again. They’re that little bit cuter, but more importantly their parents aren’t so Hitler-ish about their kids English ability. Once they reach aged 5-6, that’s when the temperature rises and the gloves are off.

Fingers crossed for the 4 year olds.