The middle school students are taking their mid term exams, so I don’t teach anymore this week. I can spend these three days preparing my lessons for my three week English summer camp. I can. Mostly I fucked off and cleaned my desk.
For the first thirty minutes of work I loaded up on coffee, read a few news articles (Michael Jackson?), and ate some plain yogurt. Then I chatted with Elizabeth online until lunch, which was inspiring and much needed. We vowed to be writers, damn the world. Appreciate our genius! But if you wont, then damn it all, we will. And how. After lunch I watched the Daily Show until they let me off of an hour early. I do appreciate my job, and it isn’t just for the slacking.
I climbed up the mountain behind my school again today, and at the top I went down the road with the canopy of trees that interested me yesterday. Down that road was a really sweet park. Not big, but on top of a mountain, and well cared for, crammed full of benches and picnic areas, potted plants, cityscape and mountain views, and manicured dirt trails leading off from the main trail. The main trail was made of a slightly bouncy, soft material. Good for your legs, not a hard impact. I’m not sure what the material is, but I think it is recycled something-or-others. I felt very fond of Seoul the whole time up there, and fond of the people.
I went to dinner at the nearest Indian restaurant, which is luckily pretty near. Living by one of the biggest universities in Seoul has its advantages, like a little diversity. Diverse cuisine. I had dinner with myself and Jane Austen, and then I set myself up in a coffee shop to study French. But before I could start, I was approached by a woman who wanted to pay me to rewrite and edit a speech right then. I hesitated, and took a long time to invite her to sit down. I told her that, according to my visa, I’m not allowed to do any other paid work. She dismissed the idea, just a little impatiently. She was on a short timeline, and her normal native English speaker was out of town. It took an hour and some change to edit this very very short speech. It was a speech that was going to be given during this meeting of Asian lawyers by the president of the Korean Bar association. She paid me 50,000 won to do it. I was confident in it until she told me it was going to be printed as well as read. Are my use of commas going to shame the largest organization of Korean lawyers in front of the largest organization of Asian lawyers? What power!
She was beside me the entire time, directing me on what she wanted, and giving me context for what was being said within the speech. Then we discussed meeting two or three times a week for English lessons. I struck a decent deal (in her favor) for following lessons. I agreed, and I was a bit surprised. I felt like I got engaged on the first date. But it should be interesting, I may get to see tangible results from my instructions, and it is damn decent money even if it is lighter on her pocketbook than the market price. It also fits into my schedule of scarcely socializing and pursuing ideas for what to do in a year.
These days I’m my own best friend. Being ravenous to read and research and learn helps a lot. A few months ago, when I informally quit taking taekwondo classes, I also gave up my social life. My social life has disappeared, I’ve seemed to have fallen off the radar with my friend here, and I’ve just noticed in the past couple of weeks.
I’m missing friends from back home. I’m also missing a friend whom I haven’t talked to in a handful of years, and though he could be fickle and cold, I haven’t met anyone to equal to him, anyone who was so creative and inspiring.
Today I hiked for an hour and a half and I ate raw vegetables. One step closer to sustainable contentment.
