I'm always amazed at how efficient I can be when crunched for time, and how incredibly lazy I can get when I have all the time in the world. This week was super busy for me, but I still managed to keep my head above water. I went to school in the mornings from 9-1, ate a quick lunch, left for work, got back around 11:30 pm, did my homework, turned in around 2 am, and woke up the next day and repeated the process. I would get to work with no energy, but surprisingly when the students would walk in, it would come from nowhere. I usually ended up leaving work with more energy than I had before. I only have one more week of it, so please keep praying that I'll have the strength/energy to get through.
One thing that has gotten me through this week is the "free" breakfasts. I say "free" because it's just included in my rent. I go upstairs (I live in the basement) and the landlady is making something delicious. I slap some rice on my plate and enjoy whatever else she's making. She usually has some kind of soup and some other main dish. I also get to pilfer all of the incredibly yummy side dishes she has. Every morning I come up, she says, "Ah, Joe. You're here. You better eat a lot!" as she slops a heaping amount of deliciousness on my plate. However, the best part isn't the incredible food, but the fact that I don't even have to do the dishes. She just takes them after I'm done. It's a dream come true, and once I stop working, I'll be able to enjoy the dinners here too!
Tomorrow, I have to give a report on a newspaper article that I found, and lead a class discussion on it... or I have to debate international marriage... I'm not really sure actually. This level is a huge step up from previous ones. The vocabulary is now coming much much faster than before, and the projects are definitely getting more intense. I don't really have sufficient time to study all of the vocabulary that I would like to, and I'm already at a disadvantage to my Chinese and Japanese classmates (everyone but me and another girl). They have a distinct advantage because 80% of Korean is based off of Chinese. Just like English, the more complicated words are either rooted in Latin or Greek. If you speak these languages or have background in them, you can understand what's going on to some extent, but it's just sound to me. The teacher keeps saying, "Think about the Chinese characters, and it will make sense." I don't know if she got the memo, but my last name doesn't qualify me for Asian citizenship.
It's all OK though. The challenge of it is enough to motivate me. If it weren't challenging, I would probably not try. And whoever said being competitive was a bad trait? It's what has kept me in the race thus far. Teachers generally like me because (even though it's not always as good as my other classmates) I do my homework and participate in class. I'm finding more and more that my Asian classmates are either not used to participation or just a little bit shy when it comes to participating. I view it as an opportunity to speak and be corrected in a 'safe and friendly' environment. Being a teacher myself, I know what makes a teacher happy in the classroom. And being a student, I know how my students feel when I ask them open ended questions and lack the motivating energy in my lectures. It's a learning experience both ways really.
I'm gonna get back to doing homework now. Gotta keep pace with the competition, and I never study better than when I'm under pressure. I'll keep you posted on how things are going. Stayed tuned until next time
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Sunday, January 5, 2014
I Am Now an Olypmian
After I landed in Korea on December 19th, it's been one hurdle after another: pretty much like an Olympian running the hurdle track that never seems to end. Just keep jumping those hurdles... Life just doesn't seem to let up. First, I had to deal with my baggage not arriving with me. It decided to mosey on over a day later and then take another day to be shipped to me. Once I got everything, I realized that my guitar key, which I so wisely used to lock my case before I checked it into baggage, dropped in my dad's truck on the way to the airport. So now I have a pretty good looking guitar case with a temporarily unusable guitar.
After my luggage got sorted out, I decided to try and tackle immigration. My visa was set to expire January 4th, which left me little time consider the Christmas and New Year's holidays. On top of this, I also was dealing with a full schedule at work, which meant waking up extra early in order to be the first one at the immigration office. Once I got there, I was informed that I didn't bring the appropriate documents, even though this was not listed on their website (which I checked, double checked, and tripled checked prior to my visit). But there's no arguing with the greasy wheels of bureaucracy.
The document I needed was my housing contract, so I went to my landlord to obtain it. (I didn't have one before this because it isn't really needed in Korea. People usually just shake hands and that's that.) My landlord must have been feeling particularly lazy, because he came up with a million excuses of why he didn't want to write me a housing contract. He even tried to get me to move out a few days early so he wouldn't have to do it. After many meetings, text messages, and phone calls, I finally had my contract which I then took to immigration on New Year's Eve.
After arriving, I realized that I was number 24 in line. (Time for those greasy wheels to start spinning.) And then I looked and saw that only one person was working, and the people currently being "served" were arguing about something. (Side note, I think all immigration workers should end with each customer by saying, "You got served." It would make for a more humorous work environment as well as happier immigration workers. And that pretty much makes everyone else there happy as well.) Anyway, I was pretty discouraged because doing the math, I figured that there was no way I was going to make it before I had to go to work.
Needing to cool off, I went outside and took a walk around the area. After getting bored and thinking enough time had passed, I looked at my watch and realized that this was not the case. Only 20 minutes had gone by. I went back in to see my progress, hoping that maybe I had advanced to number 23. To my surprised, I was only 4 away from "being served." This soon changed to 0 because everyone else was waiting outside and didn't respond when their number was called. God really was looking out for me (maybe at the expense of everyone else though).
My next task in the list was moving. Probably the most loathed task of all, which is surprising considering how much I loved dealing with the kind, friendly bureaucrats at immigration. Nothing more depressing than throwing everything you own into bags and carrying them 15 minutes to another place, and then having to take everything out of those bags again. Talk about a symbol for the monotony of life. I'm still in the process of emptying everything from my bags. I think I'll take this one slow. Just take things out as I need them. After all, what's the rush? It's not like I'm moving in 2 months... Oh wait...
Pictures to follow once I have put the room in some semblance of order.
After my luggage got sorted out, I decided to try and tackle immigration. My visa was set to expire January 4th, which left me little time consider the Christmas and New Year's holidays. On top of this, I also was dealing with a full schedule at work, which meant waking up extra early in order to be the first one at the immigration office. Once I got there, I was informed that I didn't bring the appropriate documents, even though this was not listed on their website (which I checked, double checked, and tripled checked prior to my visit). But there's no arguing with the greasy wheels of bureaucracy.
The document I needed was my housing contract, so I went to my landlord to obtain it. (I didn't have one before this because it isn't really needed in Korea. People usually just shake hands and that's that.) My landlord must have been feeling particularly lazy, because he came up with a million excuses of why he didn't want to write me a housing contract. He even tried to get me to move out a few days early so he wouldn't have to do it. After many meetings, text messages, and phone calls, I finally had my contract which I then took to immigration on New Year's Eve.
After arriving, I realized that I was number 24 in line. (Time for those greasy wheels to start spinning.) And then I looked and saw that only one person was working, and the people currently being "served" were arguing about something. (Side note, I think all immigration workers should end with each customer by saying, "You got served." It would make for a more humorous work environment as well as happier immigration workers. And that pretty much makes everyone else there happy as well.) Anyway, I was pretty discouraged because doing the math, I figured that there was no way I was going to make it before I had to go to work.
Needing to cool off, I went outside and took a walk around the area. After getting bored and thinking enough time had passed, I looked at my watch and realized that this was not the case. Only 20 minutes had gone by. I went back in to see my progress, hoping that maybe I had advanced to number 23. To my surprised, I was only 4 away from "being served." This soon changed to 0 because everyone else was waiting outside and didn't respond when their number was called. God really was looking out for me (maybe at the expense of everyone else though).
My next task in the list was moving. Probably the most loathed task of all, which is surprising considering how much I loved dealing with the kind, friendly bureaucrats at immigration. Nothing more depressing than throwing everything you own into bags and carrying them 15 minutes to another place, and then having to take everything out of those bags again. Talk about a symbol for the monotony of life. I'm still in the process of emptying everything from my bags. I think I'll take this one slow. Just take things out as I need them. After all, what's the rush? It's not like I'm moving in 2 months... Oh wait...
Pictures to follow once I have put the room in some semblance of order.
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