Be it but a moment to breathe...

So far my life in Korea has been characterized by a whirlwind of activities, events, and experiences.  If I'm not working, I'm traveling.  If I'm not traveling, I'm seeing other teachers around town.  If I'm not with other foreigners, I'm at home working on lessons.  If I'm not working on lessons, I'm planning on traveling.  And somewhere in there I fit in sleep, food, and the occasional contact with the motherland.  Almost every waking moment is crammed with some sort of activity, seeing someone, going somewhere, doing something.

With few exceptions, this week being one of those exceptions.  This week my obligations have suddenly dissipated, leaving me with an exceptional amount of free time.  I was informed by my co-teacher that this week is Mid-Terms for the entire school.  So all my regular Middle School classes are being handled by him.  I only have to teach two after school classes during Monday and Tuesday.  I'll still have a full set of classes at my Elementary Schools later this week.  But I suddenly have a good eight hours of nothing but office time for three days straight.  Not only that, but with lessons already prepared for this week, I don't even need to prepare for Middle School classes that are after Chuseok!
So am I getting ahead on planning?

No, I'm blogging,

But who can blame me?  All work and no write makes Mg a rather pathetic excuse for a blogger.

Anyway, it comes to characterize something I've discovered about my life in Korea.  Namely that as an expat I'm either doing a million things at once, or next to nothing.  It feels like I'm in a stop and go traffic jam, only I go from 0 to 60 and back to 0 almost often enough to make me sick!  It's hard to establish rhythm in Korea, a blessing and a curse.  There are moments of spectacular fun and activity, where I couldn't enjoy myself more.  And there are sleepy Sundays where there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, days that are lonely and long with plenty of procrastination.

I sincerely believe every person needs a certain amount of time to fritter away.  It's kind of like meditation, an act with essentially no purpose, yet people derive great benefit from it.  I am a champion of wasting time (just look at how many pages I've written in my novel since I got here: 0) but I am unaccustomed to having opportunities to waste at such odd and irregular times.  But I guess that characterizes a lot of expat experiences in Korea, which is why they warn teachers to be flexible.  Things change on a whim around here (or at least it seems that way when you have no idea what half your coworkers say)

But that's what life feels like right now in Korea, 0 to 60 then 0 again.  A stutter-step, stop-go experience with only a few random moments to breathe.
But man is it fun....