Work is going fine. The students just had exams so a lot of them have been out of class. Setting up their homework has been a pai in te ass but it is all smoothing out now and we can finally get back on a set schedule again. It is going to be a little hard having all my classes full again, but the last two weeks of smaller classes hav given me a chance to get to know my students better and to figure out more effective ways to use class time. I have made up a bunch of worksheets that focus on different parts of essay writing and different speaking topics. I am in the process of going through all the books we use right now and filling in answers and figuring out which lessons are the most effective for the classes and which ones need supplemental information.
We got two new teachers in at the beginning of this month and they seem to be working out okay so far. They just started observations and next week they will be starting their real teaching work. I have a feeling things will be rearranged a bit once they start because of the odd number of teachers now but I am sure it will work out eventually. As for me, I am just going to keep doing what I am doing because it seems to be working out pretty well, at least now that I finally get to stop requesting new books for a little while.
I have started to write again. I wrote my first poem in over a year the other day. I borrowed a little bit of Jess' method for writing poetry because it worked well for the flow of the poem:
a first impression of drastic changes, warping inhibitions before time passes, image darkens and hatreds heated white with light spill down while thoughtful truths destroy an image with nefarious blue and belligerent black, deeper darker depths revealed, revulsion spreads throughout the annoying questions and truthful lies with violent inhibition raging red randomly across a mindful mind of masked moments and harlequin heartbeats hidden beneath the destiny of truths totality
A bit dark but it was how I felt at the time. I have also been working on my novel again, at least reading it over and making some adjustments to it. I don't feel ready to start writing it again just yet. It is a little strange, (and I admit very lame and cheesy to say) but I feel like I am waking up. I have been stuck in one place and with one thought for so long that I seem to have lost the ability to write the way I used to. I feel like I am dusting myself off and oiling gears. And not just in my writing. I started drawing again as well, and in that as well, I feel like I have been sleeping. I am starting to find myself again and in finding myself, I am finding my muses again. I feel very silly writing all this, but sometimes a person is allowed to experience things in cliches.
I am going to keep working at the writing, drawing, and other things I used to do while I am here. I have started my workouts again, and I am locating places to visit when it warms up a bit and I have time to do them. Until then I am going to continue learning everything I can about this place. I bought some Korean textbooks and a book on Korean history. I have a lot of solo learning to do and exploring to get done. Stay tuned.
