'Tis The Season

This week I participated in one of the most common, and supposedly effective, methods of advertising over here; that is, going door to door in apartment complexes and hanging up flyers. I've written about the clutter that greets me on the door to my apartment each evening, which I casually toss on the ground outside. These flyers are meant to inform the citizens of Cheonsang and Beomseo, which is just on the other side of the Taehwagang, about Elite's special offer to prospective students (or, rather, parents of prospective students) during the upcoming winter vacation. Apparently, the longest school vacation in Korea is the two month break in the winter. However, this doesn't mean that the children will cease their studies altogether. To the contrary, they will spend even more time in hagwons of all kinds: English, math, piano, tae-kwon-do, etc. My schedule will be changing dramatically as I will be teaching an extra three hours in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for which I will be compensated with overtime payments (sweet!). It seems that most of our competition is making similar changes, as just about every day I return from work to see a flyer from one of the many English academies in the area. This week's publicity blitz did mean that I had to get up before I usually do, but at least climbing up and down the stairs (mostly down) gave me some much needed exercise, and I did get two free, delicious lunches out of it. Check out the spread at this seafood restaurant we patronized on Tuesday: