In the US, teachers are massively under appreciated and some people actually outright despise them. This is not the case in South Korea. The teachers in South Korea work very hard to get there they are; testing, studying, achieving some of the highest scores in school and then more testing. They essentially worked their asses off to become teachers and do deserve the right to held up on a higher level then the average Korean individual. Given the fact that the teachers are highly respected, it would make sense that the principals of the schools are held in even higher esteem. However, the principal at my school must have been a special case.
My school contract said that I had to always be at school unless there was an official holiday. That sounds logical except for the fact that there are lots of unofficial holidays where nobody comes to school; except for the two idiot English teachers. This would have been exceedingly boring except for the fact that my co-worker, Edmund, and myself had located a special ping-pong room located above the gym. Once our paddles were purchased, fun times were had.
This room was a bit odd. It was surrounded on three sides by windows so it was very well lit. It also had a series of chairs along the walls that were all facing the central ping-pong table. I didn't really put it together that this room was made for the sole purpose of being a venue for ping-pong matches.
One fine unofficial holiday, Edmund and I were talking about our inane thoughts on the world while casually rallying back and forth. All of a sudden the door opened and in came the principal with 4 of the youngest and most attractive female teachers. They were all surprised at our presence, but very quickly the principals look of surprise turned into a sort of knowing smirk. He told us that he did not know we enjoyed playing ping-pong and asked one of us if we would like to play. Edmund immediately declined, but I said that it sounded fun.
I don't want to boast, but I am awesome at ping-pong. It wasn't that I was naturally good; I just played a lot of ping-pong in the garage with my dad growing up so my right hand knows how to kick some ass.
I asked him if he wanted to warm up, but he declined so we began. He started out with the ball and did some sort of one leg hop over the arm move thing that caught me off guard so he got a point. It wasn't that it was a good shot, it was more that I was just surprised at how absurd he looked. He gave a big smile, the girls all giggled and I decided that I was going to try my best to make this guy look like a complete asshole.
The next serve he did the same thing only this time I was ready. Without moving my feet, I back hand sliced it right towards the end of the table; my famous shot that is essentially impossible to get. He lunged forward, almost slipped and even so still wasn't even close to the ball.
The demeanor in the room had totally changed. No more giggles from the girls, no more prancing around and Edmund wore the only smile in the room. The game went on for a while. Even though the principal was a massive show-boater, he was still really good at ping pong. We were very evenly matched and it came right down to the last shot where I........missed the table and lost.
The fact that I had lost did not seem to have any affect on the room. The principal gave me small wave and then shuffled off with his gaggle of girls to parts unknown. I wasn't too bothered; we played a really good game and he deserved to win.
The next time I came back to play ping-pong with Edmund the table had disappeared. When I asked one of the other teachers where it had went, she just blushed and said that it had broke. Also, the principal never looked me in the eye after that game. He walked by me in the halls like I wasn't even there. One of the other teachers also told me that me and Edmund did not have to go on the field trips anymore. I asked her if I could still go if I wanted, but she said that wasn't anymore space.
It had appeared that my ping-ponging had slighted the big boss man so much that he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. Luckily he changed schools only a few months after that (some say it was due to some underhanded dealings with one of the renovation contractors) so I didn't have to really feel the pain for so long.
If I had to do it over again, the only thing I would change is that I would win the next time around. He might have my right-hand cut off, but that is a risk I am willing to take.
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