The Korean Way

So, I'm getting all wintered up, wardrobe wise. I bought another sweater last night, and some corduroy pants. And some turtle necks. It was an unexpected trip, Robert was going to Mokpo, and invited us along. I went, and Jessie stayed home to work on a proposal for her principal.
The proposal can be summarized as "I have an unreasonably long commute that was not what I agreed to when I signed the contract, and I spend most of my time sitting around at school playing computer games and writing e-mails, so it seems reasonable that two birds will be killed with the single stone of letting me go home early".
So far, the idea has not been received well. Not staying until five is not "The Korean Way". What is the Korean way, you might ask? Apparently, the teachers go on a forty minute hike after classes, that eats up the time until five, but usually runs over. If Jessie chooses not to participate in the hike that will probably make her miss her bus and therefore not get home until almost 6:30, she is still required to sit in the school, with no other teachers, until 5:00.
A classic example of the Korean way happened on Monday actually. Jessie's coteacher asked her "You will go to the bank?", and Jessie said that wasn't really necessary, she didn't need help, and would do it herself when she got home. Her coteacher then left.
She returned a few minutes later, and asked again "You will go to the bank?". Jessie said no again. Then her coteacher thought for a moment, and said "I go to the bank. Will you come too?". Jessie figured, why not, there was nothing else to do, and it would eat up aprt of the afternoon. Well, going to the bank actually consisted of a trip to the bank, followed by a trip to a walk-in clinic for her coteacher, and then a trip to a pharmacy to get a prescription filled.
But she can't go home early, that's not "The Korean Way".

"The Korean Way" has a few simple principles.

1. That's the way we do it, because that is the way it is done.
2. You can't do it that way, it's never been done that way before.
3. I know it doesn't work, but that's the way it's done. So do it.
4. If it doesn't waste time, it may not really be worth doing.
5. You will be given four hours to complete every five minutes worth of work. You will then be required to sit absolutely still for the remainder of that time.
6. Should "The Korean Way" change, you will be given no notice of these changes until the point at which those changes become important to you. ie, you will not be told until it is too late.

I hope that clears things up.

That's all for now.