(no subject)
I moved into the student's house for about 24 hours, and I didn't feel comfortable living there and there was a complicated situation with my brother's homestay place, so for the past two months, I've been living in a large closet of a room called a "private study room." These rooms are purportedly used by college-aged students who are studying up the wazoo for law school or med school or any other big test, but disturbingly, I've found that it's more densely populated by old weirdo men who smoke WAY too much for their health and for my health. (I get paranoid about second hand smoke.)
I have TEN days left here. I've been counting the days for a month now. I'm tired of it all. I've been counting the days, but I haven't actually counted up how many hours I've been working a week until today. If I had counted a few weeks ago, it would have been too demoralizing. Since I have a little over a week of actual teaching to do, I thought it would be okay to actually be aware of how many hours I work. I counted 48 hours a week, and this is not including transportation in between apartments (which is usually a 10-15 minute walk, so if I teach 8 groups a day, there's about an hour and half dedicated to just walking in the sweltering heat.)
To sum things up, I wasn't very happy at all with my summer. Because I haven't been able to do what I wanted to this summer. It just seems like a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Oh yeah, except for the loads of money I made. After teaching, I'm so spent, I can't do what I want like read books or try practicing on the violin (that is, with a mute that muffles the sound since "private study rooms" don't permit much noise.) I don't have the heart to do anything that requires energy, so I usually end up turning on the telly, and watching re-runs of (usually bad) American TV shows or movies, or some Korean shows, mostly because it's mindless.
This summer, I found teaching English to children, especially unappreciatve ones and especially the beginners, so thoroughly uninspiring and unfulfilling. Maybe it's because I taught a lot of 6 year-olds who had attention spans that fizzed out after a few minutes, and so would resort to kicking each other, first from under the tables, to then brazenly scratching each other over the table. I didn't find it very interesting to spend most of class time answering students' spelling questions. The summer has been so mind-numbingly dull I would like to say I'll never go back to teach... ... and I really wish I could say it with the utmost conviction and have it come true.
What a dreary evaluation of my summer.
On the plus side, I've gotten to "know" myself better. Which means, this summer more than ever, I've realized the extent, no scratch that out, not the extent, but the seriousness of my insecurities and departures from basic logic and reason. I have some pretty crazy doomsday plots I conjure up for myself.
Also a note to make - I'm probably exaggerating my dissappointment about this summer. I've been painting this fairly dismal picture of my summer, but there were some really nice spots in it. About every other week, I'd meet some friend of my mom's or one time, my friend's mom and her aunt (since through some thorny visa situation, the actual friend can't come out to Korea.) I'd get to eat a super nice meal and have a relaxing time with very kind-hearted people.
I guess my point is... I can't wait to get back to school and get some human contact outside of (largely unappreciative and spoiled rich) Korean children and their (largely catty) mothers. But being the indecisive person I am, I have my reservations about going back, too. *Sigh* I just need time out, somewhere, I don't know where.
Here are the pictures I took this summer:
Green Tea "Pat-bing-soo"
Korean home shopping channel - Advertisement for a machine called the "S-liner," where you place a fleshy body part on the device, and it jiggles and wiggles it, supposeldy "exercising" it and sliming it down. It's one of the most ridiculous things I've seen. It's especially funny when people use it for their stomachs. (Last summer, I recall infomercials for cremes and lotions that supposedly, somehow, magically zapped out fat from under your skin.)
I have TEN days left here. I've been counting the days for a month now. I'm tired of it all. I've been counting the days, but I haven't actually counted up how many hours I've been working a week until today. If I had counted a few weeks ago, it would have been too demoralizing. Since I have a little over a week of actual teaching to do, I thought it would be okay to actually be aware of how many hours I work. I counted 48 hours a week, and this is not including transportation in between apartments (which is usually a 10-15 minute walk, so if I teach 8 groups a day, there's about an hour and half dedicated to just walking in the sweltering heat.)
To sum things up, I wasn't very happy at all with my summer. Because I haven't been able to do what I wanted to this summer. It just seems like a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Oh yeah, except for the loads of money I made. After teaching, I'm so spent, I can't do what I want like read books or try practicing on the violin (that is, with a mute that muffles the sound since "private study rooms" don't permit much noise.) I don't have the heart to do anything that requires energy, so I usually end up turning on the telly, and watching re-runs of (usually bad) American TV shows or movies, or some Korean shows, mostly because it's mindless.
This summer, I found teaching English to children, especially unappreciatve ones and especially the beginners, so thoroughly uninspiring and unfulfilling. Maybe it's because I taught a lot of 6 year-olds who had attention spans that fizzed out after a few minutes, and so would resort to kicking each other, first from under the tables, to then brazenly scratching each other over the table. I didn't find it very interesting to spend most of class time answering students' spelling questions. The summer has been so mind-numbingly dull I would like to say I'll never go back to teach... ... and I really wish I could say it with the utmost conviction and have it come true.
What a dreary evaluation of my summer.
On the plus side, I've gotten to "know" myself better. Which means, this summer more than ever, I've realized the extent, no scratch that out, not the extent, but the seriousness of my insecurities and departures from basic logic and reason. I have some pretty crazy doomsday plots I conjure up for myself.
Also a note to make - I'm probably exaggerating my dissappointment about this summer. I've been painting this fairly dismal picture of my summer, but there were some really nice spots in it. About every other week, I'd meet some friend of my mom's or one time, my friend's mom and her aunt (since through some thorny visa situation, the actual friend can't come out to Korea.) I'd get to eat a super nice meal and have a relaxing time with very kind-hearted people.
I guess my point is... I can't wait to get back to school and get some human contact outside of (largely unappreciative and spoiled rich) Korean children and their (largely catty) mothers. But being the indecisive person I am, I have my reservations about going back, too. *Sigh* I just need time out, somewhere, I don't know where.
Here are the pictures I took this summer:
Green Tea "Pat-bing-soo"
Korean home shopping channel - Advertisement for a machine called the "S-liner," where you place a fleshy body part on the device, and it jiggles and wiggles it, supposeldy "exercising" it and sliming it down. It's one of the most ridiculous things I've seen. It's especially funny when people use it for their stomachs. (Last summer, I recall infomercials for cremes and lotions that supposedly, somehow, magically zapped out fat from under your skin.)