Making Progress

I’m just about at the 3-month mark of my time here, and life is good!  I’ve started forming very basic Korean sentences, and I’ve been picking up words here and there when I hear my co-workers talking to each other.  There was actually one day when I heard them say the word for refrigerator about 10 times in a span of thirty seconds.  I was excited because I knew what they we talking about, but also quite confused as to why the word “refrigerator” needed to be said that many times in rapid succession.  Sounded like a very juicy conversation indeed!  (I’m also a bit confused as to why “refrigerator” was one of the first words I studied in my language learning app.)

Things at school have been going great as well.  I no longer get very stressed about lesson planning and feel much more comfortable with my 900+ students.  My co-teachers are extremely friendly and helpful.  They even took me out for drinks last Friday!  I feel very lucky with my placement as I know not all teaching gigs in Korea are equal.  Also, only a couple more weeks until vacation!

I keep busy during the week with studying Korean, playing Frisbee, or shredding some gnar with the longboard crew in Ulsan Grand Park.  It’s a good life, and I’m very thankful for it.  Happy Sunday everybody. 

Living in the Present Moment

I can remember a day-long session during orientation in India last year on Hinduism and its philosophy.  It was a long, hot day of sitting on the floor and attempting to comprehend a thousands-year-old philosophy.  We meditated, sang and listened to hymns, and even performed a puja…all the while attempting (at least I was) to figure out just exactly how one sits comfortably on the floor for hours on end.  Admittedly, it was quite hard to concentrate, however one lesson from that day still sticks out in my mind.

The lesson was all about living in the present moment, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  As time goes by I struggle with this more and more (doesn’t everyone?).  I have a tendency to either replay fond memories in my mind over and over - as if they were the absolute pinnacle of my lifetime and nothing will ever compare - or I’ll daydream about the future and where I’ll end up in the next week, month, or year.

Sometimes I’ll get sucked into a nostalgia wormhole and flip through pictures from JYM or Mackinac Island only to snap out of it and realize that I’m living in Korea!  Sometimes I’ll spend an entire evening trying to plan out the next few years of my life only to snap out of it and realize, again, that I’m in Korea!  Then suddenly, that day from India pops back into my head.

One of the best ways of dealing with this I’ve found is to just sit still and close my eyes for 30 minutes, listening to everything going on around me.  Then I’m really living in Korea.  It’s a beautiful country through and through!


But enough of that.

In other news, ultimate Frisbee has been a friggin blast and we have our final tournament this coming weekend.  I’ve also introduced my team to the wonderful German (Bavarian) drinking game of Flunkyball.  Hopefully, we’ll get a tournament of that going this weekend as well.

I’m feeling more and more comfortable in my job and have been able to not wear ties to work anymore (yussssssss!).

I am absolutely in love with the school lunch.  It’s the best thing in the world (just google Korean school lunches).

I’ve also been self-studying Korean for a couple weeks now and have started forming very basic sentences.  I love the idea of learning another language, but man oh man is the motivation hard to come by.  The goal is to have basic conversations at the end of one year.

And well that’s about it from over here.  If you’re reading this from back home, please eat a Beefy Fritos burrito for me…I’m dying for some T-bell.

Much love,

Gnardaddy