I worked for the MES longer than most and it was by far the most intense and dysfunctional year I have experienced under any type of management.

In the beginning there were 15 of us and as far as teaching in Korea was concerned we all felt like we had won the lottery. I think we all agreed that what they were offering did seem too good to be true but we were all willing to take the risk and roll the dice.
Deluded by his dreams of grandeur the owner laid out the most lavish spread for us all, he showered us with beautiful meals at lavish 5 star restaurants, suits for the boys, full length mirrors for the girls, he set us up in fully furnished $1000+ per month apartments, flew us all home for free at Christmas time and gave us 2 weeks pay to boot.

Unfortunately on our return we were told that the vacation was over. We hadnt even reached a of the projected number of students sign ups and to say that the owner had overwhelmingly lofty dreams would be a gross understatement. The owner realized how much of his fathers money his generosity was wasting and decided it was time to trim the fat and quick.

Things started to change quite dramatically after that, the one Sunday a month tour of Korea went first, and then the monthly meals, then teacher after teacher began to fall. The reasons were too numerous and varied to list but lets just say that over 30 teachers and staff had quit or been fired for various reasons within the first 12 months of operation.

I think one of the funniest firings was when the owner walked past a classroom and overheard one of the teachers saying gee I wonder who is going to get fired next. As good enough reason as any to fire someone I suppose (that and the fact that his stubble had a nasty habit of growing back to quickly) and a week later he was sent packing.

The unpredictability continued to keep me on my toes throughout the year and I never knew when would be my last day. I held on for dear life in what felt like a sinking shit and managed to make it to the final 4. I was one of the few who didnt get vote off and was lucky enough with a little manipulation to get what I was promise.

For the fragile few that didnt get voted off the island we all tried our best to keep our senses of humor about it all and hold on for dear life as we rode the wave of a drama chaos and uncertainty through to the end.

I personally dont regret working at MES because in a very roundabout way it taught me more that I could have imagined and because I enjoyed life outside of work so much. With all the drama the teachers really stuck together which made for an amazing group of people to work and play with.

For those of you who dont heed the warnings and do decide to take the plunge and work on The Show (thats what we called it) and try to survive a year at MES you definitely need to be willing to play the game, whose rules change on a daily basis, you need a very thick skin and an incredibly flexible moral backbone.

Do I think either the owner or the managers were bad people as individuals? No, but as a group of three trying to run a school that has been floundering and hemorrhaging money from the beginning you couldnt ask for a more volatile and toxic trio.
If only the management would let go of the reigns just for a second and let the wonderful teachers that they keep on attracting do their job.

As the famous Chinese proverb goes the scab will never heal if you keep on picking at it.