Seoul Travelers: Avalon Annual Christmas Party

This weekend we had our big company Christmas Party. It was in Gangnam at the COEX in the Ballroom of the Grand InterContinental Seoul. Our company has upwards of 1,000 people, so only the ballroom was fitting! ;-) Each campus sat together, my campus was at Tables 1 and 2, and Serg was seated across the room at Table 67. We forgot our camera, so these pictures were taken by some of our friends from Sergio's campus, (thanks Jedia and Dickie). My campus (Dongbaek) won Best Teacher and Best Campus. I was curious about how they chose the winners, so I asked my Korean co-worker to translate. She had to translate because the entire ceremony was in Korean. Now normally, I would be understanding, being that I am living and working in Korea. But, I work for an English Teaching Company, where more than half of their staff are English-speaking. Alls I'm saying is a little subtitle, or translation would of made the 5 hour ceremony a little more enjoyable. Anyways, I was told that the Best Teacher is chosen according to registration rates (because that of course is a direct translation of teaching ability), and Best Campus is a combination of multiple factors, with enrollment rates being a huge part of it. We did receive 3 Million Won in prize money, though. So, what I gathered was my campus is ‘extra’ good at pleasing our clients (this being the parents of our students), because after all, this is a business! To show their support and appreciation of their hard-working teachers, our directors bought us pizza the following Monday, after they received $3,000 in USD of bonus money. HAHA- I love Korea! We were treated to a talent show of singing and dancing, and a 5-course meal. The main course was a big, juicy steak- no complaints here! We ended the night in Hongdae for some cocktails and dancing. Overall, it was a good night, a good reason to get dressed-up and a fun time had by all!