(no subject)
One more year down. I have had a pretty good track record of avoiding regrettable decisions.
Interesting discovery: the people I admire most (Jiyoung, my mom, the Dalai Lama, Madeleine L'Engle) are COMPLETELY different from the people I envy (friends who travel the world, partying a lot and talking to random people they meet in, say, a random hostel in Stockholm). I SORT of wish I lived a life like that, but the decisions I make tend to gravitate towards a more stable, introspective life. I am becoming more like the people I admire, and less like the people I envy. I think I am happy about that.
This year:
Work: I have been working at the same academy in Seoul for the entire year, with my workload slowly and steadily increasing, first being given responsibility over the Honor's Club curriculum, and then being promoted to Head Writing Teacher (which actually requires a lot more work, but ironically no pay raise whatsoever...though I've been promised more vacation days, at least)...Recently I also started giving presentations to parents, which as far as I know, is very unusual for foreign teachers, since we can't speak Korean. But I've started writing powerpoint presentations to give in English, and Esther (my immediate supervisor, whom I really like) translates them into Korean. I work much harder than I actually need to. David pointed out that working hard is not necessarily supposed to give material benefit, but strengthens you as a person, give you a greater ability to overcome difficult work in the future, and also helps you prove to yourself what you are capable of. This is true. I have done some very nice work. I have also learned that I am a workaholic. I hope this is something I can curb a bit this year.
Love: I've been in a significant relationship with David Lee (이승현) for over a year (421 days...Koreans count days of relationships, which makes them seem much longer), and things continue to go very well. Honestly, I've had awfully good luck with relationships in my life, shared some great times with great people. But with David, things are just more...solid. Like, you just think, ok, this is exactly how I want my love life to be. Exactly. We spend most of out time together cooking, and hanging out at bookstores, and going to interesting places. Still working on how I am supposed to act in terms of Korean culture, especially around his parents, but I have a feeling that is the kind of thing you can never really be perfect at, you can just get better little by little.
Family: I cannot, cannot, cannot express how much I STILL miss my family like you tore a rug out from under my feet. I saw them for a week this year. Yeah. I can't do that much longer. We have skyped a couple times, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, which helped a lot. I call my mom fairly frequently. I talk to my brother and sisters online...it's never enough.
Abode: I love my apartment! It's pretty much fully stocked now, I can cook and clean and invite people over. I have two pet turtles and a plant. And FLOOR HEATING! Ok, most apartments have floor heating. But still. The size and high quality of my apartment are the main benefits to my job.
Self-image: I lost about 12 pounds over the past year, and look fairly awesome. But I don't eat enough protein or B vitamins. I need to eat more vegetables. And sleep more. And, you know, get over my terror of exercising. I'm not unbelievably healthy, but not too bad either. The sheer pressure of superficiality in the city of Seoul is an overwhelming burden, I never feel like I am good enough, particularly thin enough. Fortunately it is better now, because it is winter and everybody wears tons of layers and clouds of scarves around their heads, so I don't feel nearly as inferior as I do in the summer.
Life in general: pretty good! I need more friends and I need to take better care of myself, and I need to see my family more. But I have a good job, a great boyfriend, a happy, healthy life, I paid off my student loans this year, I see interesting people and places.
All in all, not a bad year.
Interesting discovery: the people I admire most (Jiyoung, my mom, the Dalai Lama, Madeleine L'Engle) are COMPLETELY different from the people I envy (friends who travel the world, partying a lot and talking to random people they meet in, say, a random hostel in Stockholm). I SORT of wish I lived a life like that, but the decisions I make tend to gravitate towards a more stable, introspective life. I am becoming more like the people I admire, and less like the people I envy. I think I am happy about that.
This year:
Work: I have been working at the same academy in Seoul for the entire year, with my workload slowly and steadily increasing, first being given responsibility over the Honor's Club curriculum, and then being promoted to Head Writing Teacher (which actually requires a lot more work, but ironically no pay raise whatsoever...though I've been promised more vacation days, at least)...Recently I also started giving presentations to parents, which as far as I know, is very unusual for foreign teachers, since we can't speak Korean. But I've started writing powerpoint presentations to give in English, and Esther (my immediate supervisor, whom I really like) translates them into Korean. I work much harder than I actually need to. David pointed out that working hard is not necessarily supposed to give material benefit, but strengthens you as a person, give you a greater ability to overcome difficult work in the future, and also helps you prove to yourself what you are capable of. This is true. I have done some very nice work. I have also learned that I am a workaholic. I hope this is something I can curb a bit this year.
Love: I've been in a significant relationship with David Lee (이승현) for over a year (421 days...Koreans count days of relationships, which makes them seem much longer), and things continue to go very well. Honestly, I've had awfully good luck with relationships in my life, shared some great times with great people. But with David, things are just more...solid. Like, you just think, ok, this is exactly how I want my love life to be. Exactly. We spend most of out time together cooking, and hanging out at bookstores, and going to interesting places. Still working on how I am supposed to act in terms of Korean culture, especially around his parents, but I have a feeling that is the kind of thing you can never really be perfect at, you can just get better little by little.
Family: I cannot, cannot, cannot express how much I STILL miss my family like you tore a rug out from under my feet. I saw them for a week this year. Yeah. I can't do that much longer. We have skyped a couple times, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, which helped a lot. I call my mom fairly frequently. I talk to my brother and sisters online...it's never enough.
Abode: I love my apartment! It's pretty much fully stocked now, I can cook and clean and invite people over. I have two pet turtles and a plant. And FLOOR HEATING! Ok, most apartments have floor heating. But still. The size and high quality of my apartment are the main benefits to my job.
Self-image: I lost about 12 pounds over the past year, and look fairly awesome. But I don't eat enough protein or B vitamins. I need to eat more vegetables. And sleep more. And, you know, get over my terror of exercising. I'm not unbelievably healthy, but not too bad either. The sheer pressure of superficiality in the city of Seoul is an overwhelming burden, I never feel like I am good enough, particularly thin enough. Fortunately it is better now, because it is winter and everybody wears tons of layers and clouds of scarves around their heads, so I don't feel nearly as inferior as I do in the summer.
Life in general: pretty good! I need more friends and I need to take better care of myself, and I need to see my family more. But I have a good job, a great boyfriend, a happy, healthy life, I paid off my student loans this year, I see interesting people and places.
All in all, not a bad year.