8 posts tagged “goals”
As of today I'm done teaching regular classes at my school. The next three weeks will be full of speaking tests and contests, special study classes and final exams, and then six weeks of summer vacation will begin. Though I'll still be working quite a bit, I'm going to have more free time than usual, and I'm feeling the need to make good use of it. Thus, project summer. Here are a few things I hope to spend time on in the next two months:
1) Blogging: This blog has been severely neglected in the last year or so. I haven't stopped thinking about things I want to write during that time, but I haven't found the motivation to actually write them. I still need to write about the rest of our January trip (Laos and Thailand) for petes sake! Also, I'm about 90% sure I'll be leaving Korea at the end of August, so I'm feeling the urge to document my life here. I'm hoping to write a post every week or so.
2) Photographing: I always seem to be taking a lot of pictures, but I feel like I haven't sufficiently documented some of my favourite things about Korea, so I want to spend a couple of hours just walking around our town taking pictures. This place is full of good photo ops.
3) Studying Spanish: I bought a "Teach Yourself: Spanish" book months ago and have yet to get past page 5. While I realize I won't be fluent with just this book and two months, I figure it's a good start to learning the language I most want to learn. I should really just move to a Spanish speaking country, as I've picked up quite a lot of Korean without even trying.
4) Reading: I spend too much time in front of my work and home computers. In fact, almost all of my time at home is either spent cleaning, cooking, or watching a computer screen, but when I snuggle up in bed with a book and my boys, I am most content. So, I'm going to read more. Book suggestions are welcome.
5) Working out: We've been going to a local gym for a few months, but my efforts have been sporadic and inconsistent, so I'm attempting to up those efforts to gym visits (or playing tennis) 5 times a week. Weekends are not meant for working out.
Last week I turned 25. It seems like a rather monumental birthday, if only because I can FINALLY rent a car. I made sure to celebrate in style, with lots of good food, friends and fun. D and I had dinner at a favourite Thai restaurant in Seoul, then we joined some friends for drinks and cake (and party hats!) at a relaxed bar, and ended the night at a basement place called "Reggae Bar" that felt exactly like someone's hippy living room. It was wonderful. I decided I would like to have a picnic the next day, so we made our way to the only real park I've ever come across in Seoul and made an afternoon of it, complete with cupcakes, brie, baguettes, and frisbee. Here are some pictures. Only this year did it occur to me that I've had a picnic on every one of my last 5 birthdays. I started a tradition without even realizing, but I fully intend to continue it.
So, 25. I feel like an official adult now, which feels both awesome and terrible. I feel more in control of my life than I ever have before, but also much more responsible for my actions and decisions. I love the freedom I have to live how I choose, but I feel the guilt that comes with it more now. I've also never been so aware of how scary and dangerous the world is, though I feel like it is wide open for me (and others) to explore.
This year has been a test for me, but also an opportunity. I don't
think I would have come back to Korea if I had known that the tension
between north and south would escalate so high this year. It has
caused me a lot of anxiety to be
living in North Korea's backyard, but it has tested my endurance and my
strength of character to have stayed. There is no way to know whether
I will be in danger while I'm living here, but I'm proud of myself for
dealing with the anxiety and being as responsible as I can be in this
situation. At the same time, this year back in Korea has given me the
opportunity to achieve some of my goals. I've had the time and money
to finish two courses I needed to take. I've had the great chance to
meet and work with Korean and foreign artists, and I've been able to
pay back my university debt. It feels like my 25th was a very full
year.
Looking toward my next year, my goals are not so clear. There are certainly things I know I want to achieve in the next 3-5 years, but none of them seems particularly urgent. I think it's a foregone conclusion that I want travel to remain a big part of my life. Though it scares me a bit, I'm not sure I'll ever get over the need to explore and experience new places. I'm also certain that I want art to become a bigger priority in my life, and that teaching has become important to me as well. For the time being, I'm trying to take the societal pressure to achieve the expected standards off of myself. All I want at 25 is to have purpose and balance in whatever I'm doing.
This is the first year in many that I've had a desire to make new years resolutions. I think it's because this year I discovered just how much I like making them. In 2008 I made resolutions no less than three times. Some might call what I do simply 'setting goals', but I think when we set goals for ourselves, we are resolving to improve who we are, so it's really just semantics. In order to cover all my bases, though, I made a list called "Resolutions and Goals for 2009". It looks like this:
Resolutions:
1) Take a daily multi-vitamin.
2) Cook and eat at home six days a week.
3) Dance everyday.
Goals:
1) Pay off debt.
3) Travel to Laos, Cambodia and China.
4) Apply for grad programs.
This list is interesting because I already do some of these things, and have already set others in motion. It's also not exhaustive, because I'm thinking of it more as a first draft. I know I'll make new resolutions and goals as the year moves ahead, so this is just to get me started. The last list I made was in September, and while I've made progress on some of those items, some have reappeared in the new years version. So it goes. The problem with resolutions is that they have come to be known as life changing things, with the expectation that most people will give up and return to their old, bad habits. I think they should just be things that we feel like trying or things we will be happy to have accomplished, whether it's by the end of the month or the end of another solar year. The point is to strive.
With that in mind, I'd like to share a poem. This poem reminds me of who I'm striving to be.
A Word on Statistics
by Wislawa Szymborska
(translated from Polish by Joanna Trzeciak)
Out of every hundred people,
those who always know better:
fifty-two.
Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.
Ready to help,
if it doesn’t take long:
forty-nine.
Always good,
because they cannot be otherwise:
four — well, maybe five.
Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.
Led to error
by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.
Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.
Living in constant fear
of someone or something:
seventy-seven.
Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.
Harmless alone,
turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.
Cruel
when forced by circumstances:
it’s better not to know,
not even approximately.
Wise in hindsight:
not many more
than wise in foresight.
Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty
(though I would like to be wrong).
Balled up in pain
and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.
Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.
But if it takes effort to understand:
three.
Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.
Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred —
a figure that has never varied yet.
I spent the summer mostly like I would have if I were still 15 years old. I lived with my mom, hung out with my family and some friends. I bummed around at the beach, at the park, by the t.v. and the laptop. The major differences were highlighted by the fact that I'm almost 10 years older now. The reason I was bumming around wasn't because I had two months off school. It was because I was looking for a job, and I had found myself in the familiar vortex of having a degree in social science, with too much education for many jobs and too little experience to be hired as a full-time employee anywhere else. Mind you, I was looking everywhere but Canada, though I know I would most likely have the same problem there. I was sure that if I just looked hard enough I would find the opportunity I was looking for: one to pay off my debts while living abroad doing something related to my future career goals. To my dismay, the only justifiable option that kept cropping up was to teach in Korea, the place I had left just months before, feeling rather negative. So, I finally gave into the idea (after much thought) that maybe Korea would offer what I was looking for. Money - Check. Travel - Check. Career Experience - If I made an effort - Check.
Guess where I've ended up. Korea, of course! I'm working in a middle school (which is one of the age groups I hope to work with in the future) in a small city north of Seoul that has an arts center (something I want to learn more about and get involved in) and I'll have at least 5 weeks of vacation (hopefully allowing me to knock a few more places off my 'to-see' list). Best of all, I have a plan to attain some major goals this year and (most importantly) a new attitude towards Korea. So far, which isn't very far, it's been going very well. I just hope nothing breaches the DMZ and the exchange rates stop soaring. No, I'm definitely not 15 anymore.
Although 2007 was technically known as the year of the pig in the Lunar Calender, in the Aveleigh Calender it will always be known as the 'Year of Travel'. This year, I lived in two new countries and traveled to a total of 10. I spent only two months in the country where I hold citizenship. I've traveled for school, work and pleasure. I've been on approximately 20 airplanes, 10 trains, 4 boats and 17 buses. And I've taken somewhere in the range of 5000 pictures documenting it all.
If I had to describe last year in any other way, it would be the year that I turned my life upside down, more than once. First, I moved to Europe to study and to live in another country. Then, I moved to Korea to work and to explore the world with one of my favourite people. Both of these decisions seemed, at times, insane. But such change has only ever proven positive in my experience. And thankfully, that trend continues.
I think the only way to improve the title of 2007 would be if it came to be known as the 'First year of Travel'. I have some goals in mind for 2008, and very near the top of the list is to continue traveling in some capacity. Also near the top of the list is to spend some time volunteering for something I care about. It has been awhile since I've done volunteer work anywhere, and I've never been able to commit my time fully to any one cause. I'd like to do that this year. I'd also like to learn Russian, or atleast, start to. Last night I began learning the alphabet and how to read the letters and I felt so accomplished. I think this is a langauge I can get behind.
I'm not a big fan of resolutions, but I am a fan of setting goals. The new year is just a convenient time to do so. However, last year I didn't have any specific goals and that turned out pretty well. Maybe I should adopt the same attitude I held a year ago (when I started this journal), that I would go easily wherever life took me. Last year took me farther than I expected and maybe this year will do the same.
For the last 10 weeks I've been teaching two art classes every week. One group is 3rd graders and the other is 4th and 5th graders. The point of the class was to teach English through art. It was an idea I came up with because I had pretty big reservations about doing an English play (which is what the English teacher did last year). The other reason was that I'd been wanting to do something like this for a while. I wanted to try teaching something creative and art is what I know. I had a lot of fun in these classes. It was always the highlight of my week to come up with a lesson, teach it and see the results of my students work.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have some kind of exhibition to showcase their work when we had finished the class. I thought it would be an opportunity they wouldn't normally have to see their work up in the library in the style of any real life art exhibit. I also had grand plans of having them present their work in English to the crowd of spectators. Of course, these things never turn out exactly how you'd envisioned them. There were numerous bumps in the road in the past couple of weeks, but last Friday night it all came together. Each student had chosen their three favourite pieces and they were arranged together. I think it ended up looking great and I think the kids were pretty impressed with themselves. The parents and public seemed to like it too. You can see it for yourself here.
I'm glad it went so well, because I'll be doing the whole thing over again starting in a few weeks. Only this time, I only have 5 weeks! Eeek.
To do list:
- Start eating like a human again.
- Keep dancing like there's no tomorrow.
- Get bike fixed.
- Turn clock ahead one hour.
Don't list:
- Stop getting home at 4 am.
- Don't forget about Daylight Savings Time.
- Stop getting home at ... err.... 5 am.
- Don't fall off bike anymore.
