Dongbaek Dispatches

Right, now that I have second to myself, I can give a skinny on some of the more recent developments in my work an personal life. Here we go:

1) I have been giving a lot of thought to what I'm going to do once my visa expires. I have been invited by a friend of mine to go travelling throuh SE Asia with her for a good while, and with the money I am saving I should be able to afford it. If I do do this, however, then I cannot start a PGCE next year (the general consenus from the handful of universities that will hold my interview is that if I come home STRAIGHTAWAY then they may be able to accommodate me). I'll still apply this year in case travel plans don't work out, however.

The way I see it, the opportunity to train as a teacher will be there a while, but my window for travelling, backpacking and getting into various misadventures is getting narrower by the day. I may do another TEFL contract in a different country if I get a 6 month gap between interviews and starting training. All of these ideas are half baked at best, remember-so any input on them is appreciated.

2) The new semester has started at school, meaning I get a grand total of 3 break periods every week. My energy levels are suffering (I keep sleeping through my alarm clock meaning I never get anything done before work starts) but I figure that once I get into the full blown swing of things then I will recover. I am also trying to find a balance between making my lessons fun for the students and getting through the workbooks and keeping the Korean mums happy. Scary? Yes. Stressful? Definitely. Rewarding? Totally.

3) Most of 2) wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for one thing: I've given up alcohol for at least a month. It's mostly for vanity reasons-I reckon a lot of the empty calories I get is from the demon drink- but also this will give me a great opportunity to do more cultural stuff this month; I'm already looking at doing a temple stay in the last weekend of September and I think I can do more local exploring with the time I'd normally spend being a hungover gibbering mess.