If you’ve ever taught English in Korea, you know of the joys of desk warming. I did a Google search for “desk warming” and the whole first page was about Korea, so it seems to be a largely Korean phenomenon (maybe Japan as well). Basically, it means going into work when there is no work to do and killing time however you want. It is what I am doing right now.
There are two main strains of desk warming. The first is during the school year. Normally, English teachers in a Korean public school teach 22 classes a week, which equals about 15 hours of class time for me. However, we are expected to be in school about 40 hours a week, preparing for classes or whatever.
Now, if you are in one school, that is not unexpected. You probably have a desk or maybe even an office and can sit and do what you want until it’s time to go home. I, however, teach at four schools a week. I have known teachers who have taught at up to 7 schools in a week. When you are at multiple schools, you don’t get a desk. You either go directly to the classroom or sit in the teacher’s room, awkwardly out of place. So, a bizarre situation arises where you are supposed to stay at school all day but the school doesn’t necessarily want you there. You can go to the Education Office to kill time but they don’t necessarily have a place for you either, although they can stick you in a corner somewhere or in an empty meeting room.
Yay! I’m being productive!
The other type of desk warming is during vacations. The average English teacher gets a week or two of vacation each break but the school vacation is always longer than this, which means any day we don’t have a vacation day and there are no classes, we have to go into the Education Office for 8 hours. Some people read, watch TV shows, play computer games. I knew a teacher that curled up in a blanket and slept on the floor every day. The bosses don’t care what you do, as long as you’re physically present.
Laptop, Kindle, Chinese textbook. I’m in for the long haul.
Summers aren’t too bad. The summer vacation is only about 4 weeks long now and after doing some English camps, I ended up only having to desk warm for two days this year. In the winter, though, the school vacation is over 2 months long, which means you generally end up sitting in a cold meeting room for about a month.
I’m the only one here today. I took the picture above this a few minutes ago. Either the other teachers have classes today or they just didn’t come in. I’m not really complaining since it’s not a bad gig to get paid for doing nothing.
Still, I could do nothing at home.
The Green-Walled Tower 
August 22nd, 2013 at 12:07 pm
That would be annoying. All I could think about is how I’m wasting my time doing nothing when I could be at home…paid or not.
August 22nd, 2013 at 12:42 pm
It is a bit of an exercise in futility. Nothing like commuting to do nothing. I try to write, but the atmosphere’s not that conducive to productivity.
August 22nd, 2013 at 1:27 pm
oh I get you, taught in a school for four years. My case was a bit different cos I was working in one school and my work was voluntary that meant no money and I joined in the school to help them out so that they accommodate my daughter who is autistic in a normal school.
sitting in the staffroom was always very uncomfortable cos for teachers I was a parent working voluntarily so they were always confused about my rights ….I remember putting a chair and table in the garden whenever the weather was good and writing stories and poems or playing with kids. four years in that school , the gardener became a good friend.
August 22nd, 2013 at 2:32 pm
As much as it might be a bad thing to say for me, I WANT THIS! I WANT THIS SO BAD! ARRRRRGH!
August 22nd, 2013 at 3:13 pm
You’ll get your chance to desk warm someday. I agree that it could be worse.
August 22nd, 2013 at 8:06 pm
I was going to say, “Well, at least you have a nice v-” and then I realized those are pictures. It’s very early in the morning here.
If it makes you feel any better, a lot of us do this at work even when we do have work to do.
August 22nd, 2013 at 8:19 pm
Well, I did have a decent vacation, although it ended yesterday. It’s odd: I would much rather do this than have to do other work, but there is something baffling in the sheer pointlessness that makes the mind rebel.
August 23rd, 2013 at 1:11 am
That is not too bad of a way to pass time. With your ‘desk warming’ there you are not being made to get up and push a broom across the floor, or go empty trash cans. 🙂 That is what some employers here in the U.S. would have an employee do if there was no real ‘work’ to be done. If of course one is that lucky to just look busy, and not be laid off of their job.
August 23rd, 2013 at 8:04 am
When I worked in a factory in the US it was like that. If there was no work, we cleaned everything again and again. It was just so we’d be doing something.
August 27th, 2013 at 10:47 am
The boredom would be difficult to tolerate. And also the lack of productive work..but if they want you to physically present, there is nothing you can do..
August 27th, 2013 at 10:54 am
It’s annoying to have be there but at least we don’t have to do any busy work so I usually write when I can.
August 27th, 2013 at 10:57 am
Is your fiction published as yet? was away from the laptop for a long time. Just reading, ‘Interview with the Traitor’. Thank you for remembering the prompt:))
August 27th, 2013 at 11:35 am
Sorry it took so long. I was trying to make it perfect. ^^
August 27th, 2013 at 8:05 pm
That’s okay. You said your short story has been selected by a journal. Has it been published yet? If so, do pls give us a link :))
August 27th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
not yet. It won’t be until January. I’ll post a link when I get it.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:11 pm
lucky Koreans 🙂
August 28th, 2013 at 3:36 pm
That’s one way to look at it. 🙂
August 29th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
🙂
September 5th, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Hi David……hope your new school year is going well……:)
September 5th, 2013 at 10:50 pm
Well, in Korea the school year starts in March, but this is a new semester It has been a bit rocky but I think it will be okay once things settle down.
September 5th, 2013 at 11:13 pm
Okay….that’s interesting….I didn’t know that….enjoy the adventure…..:)……blessings to you!