11/21/2012

Accomplished:

1. Called about Photon Genius & Genie; feel encouraged
2. Made a quick switch in class to "group story creation"; felt a little guilty for people who had written out something, but the first class just didn't cut it!
3. Got ticket for Parson Dance and LG Art Center; that was good for me I think.  It was a fantastic show, amazing twists on Operatic etc music.
4. Finish "On the Water" by H.M. van den Brink.  Book starts slow but it is great.

Feelings:

1. Worried about Dad.  I just wish I knew if we are making progress
2. My stomach is acting up again.

Last Days in Seoul? No. 3

Monday June 11: Another Monday, desperate Monday.  I really felt like I had no idea what I was doing for class.  I find myself in that situation a lot.  I don't know how that is possible since I have taught the same stuff over and over now, but I still do.  I spend too much time grading, and not enough time planning.  I don't know how to change that.

Anyway, I did review, right or wrong.  There hasn't been enough time, and I resent the fact that I didn't know about the standardized testing a long time ago (the fact that the mixed classes weren't taking it).

• Dong-gi, scheduling problems.  Why am I so accommodating?
• Mad Men in the afternoon.  I really am addicted!
• I got no grading done, between relaxing, emailing, etc.
• Dinner with James and then talking till after 9 pm.  To bad he isn't gay!

Last Days in Seoul? No. 2

Sunday, June 10:  Maybe my mood is a bit better today.  I decided to spend it on people, which might be to the detriment of my students.  I haven't gotten anything done for them.  And now I realize that I should have spent time time preparing for a review instead of grading papers, which I didn't get even one class finished anyway.  Story of my life.  Grading completely undermines the teaching process for me.  I hate it!

• Did some grading in my office early...really!
• Met "the chef" at 10:15.  We went to the French Village, bought bread and had coffee, etc. at Starbucks.
• Got back about 2:30 pm and worked on grading.
• To Itaewon for ODCC worship, was pretty good.
• A big group of us went out to eat afterward.  I saw with, Fahad, Andy, Daniel, John and I guy I don't know.
• Of course I had to feed my "Mad Men" addiction for a bit today to.

Last Days in Seoul? No.1

Saturday, June9: Well, I have the ticket to Europe--a round trip ticket--but a lot of me feels like it is the beginning of the end.

I walk around feeling I'm in mourning.  Maybe I should keep track of what happens between now and when I leave.  I'm afraid I will forget:

• Called my sister.  She is in CA on business and going to Northern CA for the weekend with friends.  She is lucky to be with friends.
• Went to Seonbuk for church today.  The new director is actually good. 
• Eunice gave me a wedding invitation.  She and Justin are getting married in two weeks and then going to Georgia.  Justin wasn't there.  I called Ti tonight and asked him to go to the wedding with me.  He said he would.  Good, that problem is solved.
• After lunch went to the Latino festival by Hansun Uni Station.  Saw some dancing and damaged my ears listening to the Mariachi band.  Why are Korean guys so afraid to show some skin.  They should have at least unbuttoned one more button!
• Walked around Insa-dong area and North.  Always some cool stuff.  If I end up in Romania, what will I do for art?  That is a really great thing about being here, so much of it so close.  I think I will miss that!
• I have been complete addicted to "Mad Men" these days.  I'm already on season 3, episode 5.
• Planned to do some grading tonight.  I don't think that is going to happen!

I feel sad and alone.  This is how I feel most Sabbaths, actually.  That the sermon mentioned that the happiest people have a girl or boyfriend and spend lots of time with people certainly didn't help.  Am I supposed to call someone?  Is it my fault?  Who would I call?  Pretty much I hate Sabbaths.

Snap-shots:

• a whitish colored house with turquoise-ish gutters and trim
• cobalt background, mostly white pencil, circles and geometric shapes and hatching
• a girl explaining painting, ceramics and jewelry in a shop
• a little boy costing down-hill in his little car, and a cute guy taking his picture
• giving up my bus seat to a young father who was carrying his young son 

Dear Diary...

I just need somewhere to write this down, so I will do it here.

Lately I have had a lot more people in my life it seems.  That is a good thing.  I feel much happier when I spend more time with people, in general.  A couple of weeks ago it looked like this:

• Tues. night I had my regular meeting with James.  We ended up walking to the Banpo Bridge and then back.
• Wed. night I ran into James again.  He was watching some guys play on the field and we ended up talking there for about 4 hours.
• Thur. evening I took Sehyung and Jisang out for Mexican food in Itaewon.  I had promised Sehyung dinner for his birthday.  That was about 70,000 won, but worth it.
• Sat. there was the "Salon" at Shelly's house, which is out of Seoul, and was just great!  Some of them stayed over that night, but I had to be back in Seoul because...
• Sun. morning, I went with "the Chef" to Icheon, to the pottery festival.  We had a good time looking around, and when we came back, he took me to the "French Village" in Seocho.

This last week wasn't quite that busy, but it seems to still be more people oriented than usual:

• Tues. James, his girlfriend and I went to the "Seoul of Brazil" concert at Sejong Center.  Tiger was supposed to go also, but work tied him up.  I guess Minwoo showed, though I never saw him.
• Fri. I meet Karen in Itaewon for a Thai food lunch...
• and then I meet Doo, Aiden and his wife for a trip to a gallery which had traditional Korean art on display (only twice a year).  It was a great time.  Aiden and I seemed to be on the same wavelength, so it felt really comfortable.  
• After that I went with Doo to "Wall Street Institute" for a session, faking to be from Mexico.  It felt a bit awkward, but sort of funny.
• Saturday I actually went to church for a change--Yongsan.  Sabbath school was good, as was church.
• Saturday night was the Lotus Lantern Parade.  I didn't get to the area as soon as I had planned.  Went to the start of the route and saw some of them taking off, the went to Anguk area to see the parade.  Meet a few interesting people on the street, and in general, had a great time.  Tiger backed out of coming.  He hates crowds.
• Sunday (which was yesterday) I got a very little done in the office, went to lunch with Travis and then went to a workshop that Raul had organized.  More about that later maybe.  I didn't get home until almost past 11pm.

Maybe the most interesting thing in all of this is Jay, who I met at the workshop.  I really don't know what he thought about me, and I don't know if I'm right, but my gay-dar was pinging VERY strongly with him.  I really didn't talk to him that much, but there was an awkward "sexual" tension between us, it seemed.  I have no reason to think he would be interested at all, nor do I think I should be.  But I thought he was really quite handsome, and the meeting of our eyes seemed to be more than casual glances.

I guess I have to just wait and see if he emails or calls me.