Counting Down the Hours

I am nearly done my contract. Hallelujah! I'm not sure if I expected that I would last the whole year, but now, the end is nearly upon me. My plane tickets have been purchased, and all of my ducks are in a row. Soon I will be in Thailand. All I have to do is by some shorts and rain jacket, and  book my hostel.

I finish my job on the 2nd of May, but my flight doesn't leave until the 9th. I'm not entirely sure what I am going to do during the ensuing week, but my destinations may include Busan, Gyeongju, and Andong. Of course, I will also be spending a day or two in Seoul.

Am I sad that I am leaving my life here? No. I have made some good friends, but the nature of this work is that people are constantly cycling in and out. So, you get used to the idea that your friends are there one day and gone the next. The same goes with the students, although, I'm not particularly attached to them. There are only three or four that I can really say that I will miss.

I've come to learn that children are like adults, except that they are selfish, emotional, and lacking in reason...well, even MORE than adults are. When I began this job, I thought that the way to teach would be to appeal to the student's faculties of reason, but after countless hours of frustration, I've come to the conclusion that (in general) it is better to treat them like puppies that need training and use the carrot when it is effective, use the stick when it is effective.

That being said, I think that the best thing for children is just to be children--to BE WILD and learn for themselves why they should act a certain way, for them to make up their OWN minds. So, the fact that I have to constantly be suppressing the urge in these children to do what it natural kills me. I don't want to tell these kids what to do, but it's my job to make them get through the material.

On a related note, I had my first drink in nearly two months yesterday. I was going to wait 'till Friday, but I figure I got close enough.


This may be the last entry of this blog....I plan to "clean it up a little" and then make it public after I leave.

All-in-all it's been a great year. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, but I am damn glad to be finished. I can't wait to go to South East Asia, and I anticipate going home.