Well, it seems a new year has crept into existence. At least for me it has happened rather suddenly like a late spring snowfall. I felt like saying: 'oh it's you again Mr. New Year, didn't realize it was so soon. Well it's nice to see you, but please forgive me when I continue to write 2008 for the next six months or so.'
So anyway it's the time for many of us to break our resolutions(if we have any.) Not that I'm being a pessemist either, but have you met anyone who has ever made a New Year Resolution and actually kept it? It is in my experience that the people I have seen stop smoking, give up eating too much junk food, take up exercise after a twenty year abstention, take up the challege to watch less TV and etc. have all made the change in their life at a different time. I haven't met or heard of anyone who found the New Year prfound enought to actually empower individuals to change themseleves. Regardless, it's still a new year and if we have something 'new' well I guess we don't need to worry about 'old' 2008 if we don't want to.
Old 2008 was a great year for me. I had the good fortune to edutain so many curious Korean High School Students in Suncheon. They we mostly great students simply because of the fact that many of them at least tried some of the time. What if us Californian High School students had a Native Mexican Teacher in our classroom. Honestly, would ANY of us give a hoot? It would be a MASSIVE joke for a majority of us Bay Area teenagers, whom are mostly concerned with where they would go for lunch, and who's car would they pile into. Anyway; Although I had some discipline problems early in the year, I have to say it only took me a few minor adjustments to get things rolling. One only needs a little self-actualizatoin-and I emphasize a little!
Furthermore this year I started to fulfill a small dream of a few years standing of trying to play soccer. I had the good fortune this year to play with the Suncheon International Football Club. I must first say that soccer looks so simple and managealbe on television. They players don't look like their moving fast, but they're in fact sprinting like leapords, and have the agressiveness of Lions. For me this turned out to be a humbling expereince for about six continuous months. It wasn't until our final match in freezing December where I felt confident that I could compete with the teams in the region here. It just need to be in better shape next year, since another daunting task is being able to run around a soccer pitch for 90 minutes. Anyway, I'm half way there, which isn't a bad thing, is it?
Regarding sports, I also managed to obtain a black-belt in Taekwondo. It took me a year and a half of stretching, kicking, and doing forms, which in the end gave me the skills to sucessfully pass a Korean Black Belt Test. Despite the notoion that many people think a black belt equals Bruce Lee, it's acutally far from true. In Korea a Black Belt simply means you are offically ready to 'start' learning a martial art.
I also managed to volunteer a bunch of times for UNESCO as an American Cultural Presenter, which was a joy and a burden at the same time. Imagine spending seven or eight hours of prep time during your workweek, then waking up at seven a.m. on a Saturday and traveling two hours to speak to anywhere between 50 and 100 children. It's rewarding but tiring. In the end though, it was a great experience-and the free parties were a bonus!
Finally, I want to say I am currenlty on vacatoin away from Korea. I am presently typing away from my girlfriend's ThinkPad labtop computer in wonderful Poland! I will be away from Korea for an entire month, which is another nice thing about my life in Korea. When one teaches with a public school, they are afforded a plethora of vacation leave. So anyway, I spent my New Year's Eve here in the Warsaw City Center in an old fortress eating fusion Turkish and Mexican Food, while trying to immitate salsa dancing while ringing in the new year with free cocktails till five in the morning. I spent yesterday sleeping, and today i'm ready to start the new year. So from a korean teacher in Poland, Happy New Year!
So anyway it's the time for many of us to break our resolutions(if we have any.) Not that I'm being a pessemist either, but have you met anyone who has ever made a New Year Resolution and actually kept it? It is in my experience that the people I have seen stop smoking, give up eating too much junk food, take up exercise after a twenty year abstention, take up the challege to watch less TV and etc. have all made the change in their life at a different time. I haven't met or heard of anyone who found the New Year prfound enought to actually empower individuals to change themseleves. Regardless, it's still a new year and if we have something 'new' well I guess we don't need to worry about 'old' 2008 if we don't want to.
Old 2008 was a great year for me. I had the good fortune to edutain so many curious Korean High School Students in Suncheon. They we mostly great students simply because of the fact that many of them at least tried some of the time. What if us Californian High School students had a Native Mexican Teacher in our classroom. Honestly, would ANY of us give a hoot? It would be a MASSIVE joke for a majority of us Bay Area teenagers, whom are mostly concerned with where they would go for lunch, and who's car would they pile into. Anyway; Although I had some discipline problems early in the year, I have to say it only took me a few minor adjustments to get things rolling. One only needs a little self-actualizatoin-and I emphasize a little!
Furthermore this year I started to fulfill a small dream of a few years standing of trying to play soccer. I had the good fortune this year to play with the Suncheon International Football Club. I must first say that soccer looks so simple and managealbe on television. They players don't look like their moving fast, but they're in fact sprinting like leapords, and have the agressiveness of Lions. For me this turned out to be a humbling expereince for about six continuous months. It wasn't until our final match in freezing December where I felt confident that I could compete with the teams in the region here. It just need to be in better shape next year, since another daunting task is being able to run around a soccer pitch for 90 minutes. Anyway, I'm half way there, which isn't a bad thing, is it?
Regarding sports, I also managed to obtain a black-belt in Taekwondo. It took me a year and a half of stretching, kicking, and doing forms, which in the end gave me the skills to sucessfully pass a Korean Black Belt Test. Despite the notoion that many people think a black belt equals Bruce Lee, it's acutally far from true. In Korea a Black Belt simply means you are offically ready to 'start' learning a martial art.
I also managed to volunteer a bunch of times for UNESCO as an American Cultural Presenter, which was a joy and a burden at the same time. Imagine spending seven or eight hours of prep time during your workweek, then waking up at seven a.m. on a Saturday and traveling two hours to speak to anywhere between 50 and 100 children. It's rewarding but tiring. In the end though, it was a great experience-and the free parties were a bonus!
Finally, I want to say I am currenlty on vacatoin away from Korea. I am presently typing away from my girlfriend's ThinkPad labtop computer in wonderful Poland! I will be away from Korea for an entire month, which is another nice thing about my life in Korea. When one teaches with a public school, they are afforded a plethora of vacation leave. So anyway, I spent my New Year's Eve here in the Warsaw City Center in an old fortress eating fusion Turkish and Mexican Food, while trying to immitate salsa dancing while ringing in the new year with free cocktails till five in the morning. I spent yesterday sleeping, and today i'm ready to start the new year. So from a korean teacher in Poland, Happy New Year!
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