Priceless butterfly

David Graas created an accessory called "priceless butterfly". There is no price for this item; a customer determines the price, and buys the butterfly after writing the price on the tag. http://www.davidgraas.com/.
It is a cool concept. It s almost like putting a price tag on your own self-worth. From marketing and sales point of view it is a smart idea too. How many people are going to miss out on the opportunity to determine their price and make the buy. Also I wonder if customers get to see the old price tags for comparison. It is priceless anyways.

Korea and Me. The relationships.

I was writing an email to a friend who immigrated to Australia with her Korean husband and kid, and admitted that Korea and I have a very special relationship, the one you might find between a victim and her abuser. No need to explain. Victims when abducted and harassed get very dependent on and even attach to their abuser. Objectively speaking, I suffered all sorts of abuse - physical ( ex. being overworked), emotional (being blamed for my Russian origin non stop), financial ( being underpaid, money being stolen from me by my ex-husband, my recruiters, land lords, employers, "friends") . I lost faith in me and others because of just too much bad stuff and too little good stuff happening to me. I worked and tried harder than I thought was humanly possible. Sometimes I say that with the amount of effort I put in doing something here I would have become a president under Mr. Putin in my own country. But not here. I simply keep losing, I keep taking the abuse in all its forms. Yet, I am still here. I am attached to my violator. I am close, dangerously close to running out of excuses of why I am still here.

It sucks to suck ...or... to suck or to be sucked

I get lots of support from my friends, and I want to thank John too for telling me that I will get through Korean irrationality and unpredictability and will be able to find those few souls not so lost as others so they are able to recognise the light I am shining on their xenophobic heads. Those rare people will be able to trust me enough to give their kids into the hands of foreign educators like me and my husband. I appreciate the support and love my friends give me. I do need it, and it keeps my spirits up. To speak with fervour at times I feel I represent many foreigners who Koreans invite to work in this country but do not recognize them as true and trustworthy professionals, instead after giving them work expect them to behave like mindless sheep with zero creativity and individuality.
These days this support from my friends and my husband and the thoughts of me being heroic sustain me through the trenches of doing business in Korea. So far we have sucked terribly in attracting a single customer. I made a flyer ordered 8,000 copies of it printed and posted in apartments around our school. I have gotten two phone calls which are dead leads (in marketing term it means the people who called will never become potential let alone paying customers) . So after this I am like HM. It really sucks.

To my follower, Bruce.

I was playing with blogger templates and so messed up that lost all my wedgets, which are blog lists and my one precious follower. Bruce, if or when you read this, may I ask you to give me an honor of becoming my follower again. Lots of warm love.

Love the World

After dinner in kimbub nara, there was a big commotion in the kitchen. An old man tried to kill a moth. He repeatedly struck it several times but missed. The cook and the waitress were cheering the man and giving out occasional screams when the moth flew near them. The Ever Curious and Protector of All Alive Nathaniel was telling them not to be scared and not to kill the moth. Finally the moth made its way out of the kitchen torture chamber, sat on a chair where Nathaniel got it. He later let it fly away.

Playing with Kids

Blue Potter

This is what my tele has been showing recently. Blue potter and blue Korean guy from shopping channel- he looks sexy.

Losing is gaining

Today we lost two students. An adult student left. I was expecting her to leave anyways. She was too busy and missed way too many classes. Adults do not last. The 4 team for 600,000 got broken down after a month. The middle school kid can not come because of his bad school schedule. I agreed to keep his sister on the discounted price they had been given for a team of 4. The mother said she couldn't pay full price. I had a very long talk with this mother. Now I am starting to get a bit clearer picture of where we are and how people view us. Some of the conclusions I am coming to: people view us as side kick teachers, not a school to be trusted with their kids English education. What I mean is they think they need to be going to a "real" English institute with "real" English Korean teachers. They can come to us for some speaking practice. One of our students actually goes to two English schools: our school and a private class with a Korean teacher who teaches him "proper" grammar and reading and doesn't speak a word in English. There is a great disillussion among Korean mothers with native only classes. These classes used to be very popular a few years back when schools like Kids Club- English kinder, and CDI-6 hours with a native teacher were opened. Now parents see results of the education offered by such schools. Kids speak OK, know lots of key words, listen OK or good, but they have no idea about grammar, structure, and text comprehension. As a result, these kids after having spent years studying English from foreigners, fall behind their peers when they go to middle school and are made to take written tests. They simply do not do well. What I was getting from this mother is that she is scared, worried, and she does not have enough money to afford to make mistakes with her children education.
Main points of the talk: 1-our tuition fee is too expensive ( I might actually consider going cheaper, I think from 220,000 to 180,000) 2- we do not give enough homework (I disagree, we give enough, but I will start giving some reading outloud homework)3- mothers do not trust foreign teachers because kids get some fluency but loose on accuracy big time. (I will have to explain this point to mothers again. How our kids are getting paractice in both.I will do so during our open class which we are planning to hold in early October.)
Nathaniel was upset and is still feeling very sad about losing. I, on the contrary, am very positive and optimistic. I am psyched to get honest feedback and to know what I am dealing with. I see a way. I see many ways and enormous hope for the future. We are in a new business, wondering in a dark forest. Mothers like this, talks like this, losses like this help create a roadmap for us. Generally, I am pretty happy I started doing something I was designed for.

A week past. Updates.

When I started the school time seemed to creep so slowly. There seemed to be endless problems to solve, and too much stress caused by the unknown. Now I am sort of used to going to my own office, basically anytime I wish, and doing my own things. I stopped worrying about not having any new students, or not getting any phone calls. It doesn't mean I am settling down or giving up or getting clinically depressed. It is a learning curve. I realize students will not come unless I proactively go out and aggressively advertise myself. And even if and when I do so, there are still very slim chances of me getting any real customers. Instead I am focused on building a strong foundation for the business, and I read, read, read, and read everything and anything about management and marketing. I learn to use graphic design programs, create and write brochures, and flyers. I am grateful I have this time and this will to learn the skills I need for the business. So I have been basically working 12-13 hours a day, and not making any money. This is a very alien concept and a way for me to be. To work and not get money. I am much happier than before though. I get this shot for the future,and it is terrific. I know students will come when we are ready.