It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an entry!
When we last left our intrepid hero, I was jobless.
Well, scratch that.
Since my last update, I've actually gotten not 1, not 2, but 3 jobs! Yeah, I know, pretty amazing!
Job 1 is some English tutoring I'm doing on the side; started it in late July and worked steadily through August. It's mostly been either real basic English with young students, or conversational English with older ones. Either way, it's been an enjoyable job and the pay is decent enough to where just a few clients make for a nice supplemental income.
However, that job has hit a dry spell the last few weeks. More on why in a minute.
Job 2 is my old post at the local paper in town. Writing for the sports department a few nights a week. I was offered a return back in June and when nothing full-time came about, I decided to take the offer in early August. It's pretty much the same-old grind, but it's good to be back, even though I still don't (and never will) consider sportswriting a career option, really.
Job 3 is the one I'm really excited about and just thrilled to be doing. Shortly after I accepted the job with the newspaper, I was interviewed at a local college here and hired in as an ESL Instructor! So, yeah, I'm actually teaching AT A COLLEGE! It's pretty cool, as that was a goal I set for myself while in Korea. I just thought it would take a bit longer to get there. But, so far, so good!
I'm teaching 2 classes Monday thru Thursday, and it adds up to be 16 hours of classroom time, plus prep and planning. But the pay is soild, and the students all seem pretty nice. We're two weeks into the semester now and things seem to be moving in a good direction.
I have a 2-hour class that meets 4 days a week and a 4-hour class that meets twice a week. The 4-hour one is going to prove a challenge in making sure to plan for that long each day. Thankfully, I've got a lot of resources and some really great co-workers to lean on for ideas and advice.
Yes, this does also mean I got a car. A nice little red Mitsubishi with just 49,000 miles on it. Should be a good ride for me. It's pretty slick.
I am hoping to move into my own apartment sometime in the next few months; I wanted to get a feel for the college teaching job first, make sure it's not going to be a 1-semester-and-out situtation. It's possible I move out in the fall, but I think December might be more realistic. Either way, it's good stuff.
Once I get moved out, I'm going to try to grow my social calendar a bit if I can. I'm hoping to take advantage of my English tutoring to try and connect with some of the other tutors a bit, as well as the teachers at school. I may try going to a church other than my dad's too (remember, he's a pastor, so I live under his roof, I gotta support his church...fair enough), but we'll see.
Beyond that, things are just going really good. I'm weirded out by fall, as I hadn't experienced that change in South Korea; it just goes from unbearably humid summer to cold, rainy "winter" where I was at. Plus, I finally feel like I'm settling in here a bit, which is nice, but also weird when I stop and think about it.
So, yeah, things are good.
Well, scratch that.
Since my last update, I've actually gotten not 1, not 2, but 3 jobs! Yeah, I know, pretty amazing!
Job 1 is some English tutoring I'm doing on the side; started it in late July and worked steadily through August. It's mostly been either real basic English with young students, or conversational English with older ones. Either way, it's been an enjoyable job and the pay is decent enough to where just a few clients make for a nice supplemental income.
However, that job has hit a dry spell the last few weeks. More on why in a minute.
Job 2 is my old post at the local paper in town. Writing for the sports department a few nights a week. I was offered a return back in June and when nothing full-time came about, I decided to take the offer in early August. It's pretty much the same-old grind, but it's good to be back, even though I still don't (and never will) consider sportswriting a career option, really.
Job 3 is the one I'm really excited about and just thrilled to be doing. Shortly after I accepted the job with the newspaper, I was interviewed at a local college here and hired in as an ESL Instructor! So, yeah, I'm actually teaching AT A COLLEGE! It's pretty cool, as that was a goal I set for myself while in Korea. I just thought it would take a bit longer to get there. But, so far, so good!
I'm teaching 2 classes Monday thru Thursday, and it adds up to be 16 hours of classroom time, plus prep and planning. But the pay is soild, and the students all seem pretty nice. We're two weeks into the semester now and things seem to be moving in a good direction.
I have a 2-hour class that meets 4 days a week and a 4-hour class that meets twice a week. The 4-hour one is going to prove a challenge in making sure to plan for that long each day. Thankfully, I've got a lot of resources and some really great co-workers to lean on for ideas and advice.
Yes, this does also mean I got a car. A nice little red Mitsubishi with just 49,000 miles on it. Should be a good ride for me. It's pretty slick.
I am hoping to move into my own apartment sometime in the next few months; I wanted to get a feel for the college teaching job first, make sure it's not going to be a 1-semester-and-out situtation. It's possible I move out in the fall, but I think December might be more realistic. Either way, it's good stuff.
Once I get moved out, I'm going to try to grow my social calendar a bit if I can. I'm hoping to take advantage of my English tutoring to try and connect with some of the other tutors a bit, as well as the teachers at school. I may try going to a church other than my dad's too (remember, he's a pastor, so I live under his roof, I gotta support his church...fair enough), but we'll see.
Beyond that, things are just going really good. I'm weirded out by fall, as I hadn't experienced that change in South Korea; it just goes from unbearably humid summer to cold, rainy "winter" where I was at. Plus, I finally feel like I'm settling in here a bit, which is nice, but also weird when I stop and think about it.
So, yeah, things are good.