Okay, moving on! I find myself lying on my bed in my apartment in Anyang, enjoying the end of a very lazy Sunday. It's cold and snowing outside, which means two things: 1) for all of you who thought Korea was a tropical peninsula, you've got another thing coming, and 2) my meals today consisted of pasta and a nice cream roll from Paris Baguette.
It does seem like it's been a long time since I've written. Part of this is a direct result of the fact that it has, indeed, been a long time since I've written. But I think that is also true because these last few months have really flown by. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am now working in the R&D department at Chungdahm, which means an office job at a computer. There are some definite drawbacks to this position in comparison to teaching, but overall, I think it suits me and my skill-set a lot better than teaching did. As it turns out, teaching can be really, really exhausting, especially when you are doing it for six hours at a time. So while my new schedule means that I go to bed around the same time as most grandparents, I do feel a lot less stressed out these days than I did when I was cramming kids for the iBT.
Other than the new job, not a great deal has changed in my life. Being in Korea has officially become normal, which actually feels really, really good. Just a couple weeks ago, I celebrated my 300 day "anniversary" with Rira (in Korea, relationships are counted by the days not months), which is pretty remarkable. I am still very, very happy with her, and realize that being with her has completely changed the way I think about Korea, Koreans, and Korean culture. Being in a relationship with someone from as different a culture and background as Jewish and Korean are is as good of a crash-course in cultural exchange as I can imagine. I would highly recommend it to anyone, assuming you go into it with good intentions and for the right reasons.
On the near horizon lies Lunar New Year. I will be travelling again, but this year I will have a partner, and will be crossing the ocean to Japan, which has been on my list of places to visit since I first arrived in Korea. I will have to let you know how that goes, either immediately after the trip is over or six months later, depending on the strength of my blogginess. As a new year's resolution, Rira and I have decided to try and read 100 books between the two of us in the coming year. So far, so good: I have nailed down three already (see below) via ebooks on my smartphone, and have just become the proud owner of a new Kindle. We can only hope that this voracious consumption of literature makes me a wiser, more entertaining blogger.
No comments:
Post a Comment