Getting my shit together.

I thought really hard this weekend about the level of studying I'm going to have to be working at in order to avoid a year of language school before starting a degree. I wouldn't mind the extra year, if it wouldn't also mean an extra year of living on savings while down a job. Given that I'm not quite sure what scholarships I'll be able to get my hands on as of yet, I think it's better to at least do my best to have the ability to opt out.

So, I made the decision to give my notice at the study room where I've been volunteering for the past three years. It's not the actual teaching time (an hour and a half to two), so much as the teaching time plus the lesson planning time plus the commute time, which adds up to something which pretty much consumes my entire Monday.

As I told Busan, though, I'd better actually make good use of this extra time, or I'm going to feel like an asshole of the highest order. The study room never expected to have a native speaking teacher and I reckon I'll be the last to ever darken their doorstep. It's a little bit difficult to say goodbye. Three years is a really long time.

See, it's not just Korean I need to worry about. The TOPIK is looming, as are a million other deadlines I need to figure out and get a timeline up and running for, but also I need to start building up my background on Korean literature. Which is a far more pleasant task, one I almost feel guilty about, in fact. But it's going to take time.

Which means that I also need to put a strict cap on my online shenanigans and time wasting. The internet is an invaluable resource, but I need to be sure I'm using it to actually accomplish things, rather than to spend checking up on utter nonsense around the blogosphere or watching horrible American reality tv shows. I'm not completely cutting those things out, but they've definitely needed to be put in their proper place for a long time now.

So, that having been said, I'm pretty much off for today. It was a good one, by the way, with my first introduction to my first grade classes and the kind of behavior out of one of my worst third grade classes that could have only be brought about by the fact that I was meant to no longer be teaching them but, as they found out today (and I did on Friday), still will be. Why? Ask God or my head teacher. Maybe at least one of them knows. Obviously, given that I was meant to no longer be teaching them after last semester, I rushed through to finish their book in double time. So now I'm left with wide open spaces where lesson plans should be. But it'll be fine.

A short break for leftover egg plant curry and possibly, the only good thing about this season in Korea, fresh corn on the cob, and now back to the books.