Time > Money

We all know how important money is starting out of the gates. When we were kids, we needed that dollar to buy candy, a baseball card, or some pogs off a classmate. And although we're told repeatedly by either our parents, lectures, and cliches, many of us don't realize just how important our time really is until later in life, when time becomes more scarce.

When I was offered a side job teaching at the library 4 hours a week, I took it without thinking twice after seeing the salary. After almost a year of putting in 44 hours a week, I'm not so sure anymore. The class meets twice a week, and both of those days I pretty much have no time for anything other than work. I definitely would not give the class up, but if for some reason it was canceled, I wouldn't be too distraught.

That, however, hasn't been the biggest problem I've been facing when trying to manage my time. An even bigger obstacle is my inability to simply say 'no'. My desire to make everybody happy makes turning down invitations extremely awkward and rare. A few drinks here or a movie there really adds up. Only after being financially comfortable have I started to place as much (or more) value on the time I have outside of work. Steeling my nerves to turn down further invitations is the fact that my friends/girlfriend clearly know of my goals and still try to pull me away from working on them. This can be seen as genuine friends just wanting to spend time with me, but I think real friends help you achieve your goals, not distract from them.

September & October in a Nutshell

The main reason that I haven't been updating this blog is that I've been writing in my paper journal religiously, and the thought of essentially rephrasing the same content makes me extremely lazy.

To sum up the last 2 months, things haven't been very smooth. September could easily be in my top 5 of "Worst Months Ever" and I was seriously considering getting on the first plane back home. Everything that could possibly go wrong was getting in line and kicking me in the crotch. Although most of the issues have been resolved, the biggest issue still remains; I'm not getting along with my co-teachers. At the root of the problem they refuse to do their share of the lesson planning. This is especially infuriating when CT sleeps at work because he only teaches 11 hours a week.

With work becoming an increasingly frustrating affair, I'm getting much better of leaving work at work. Before, I would plan lessons and worry about how lessons would go at home, but realized I shouldn't beat myself up over this (especially since my CTs aren't).

Moving onto a lighter subject, autumn in Korea is absolutely gorgeous. I took a short hiking trip last weekend and took some great pictures of the foliage at one of the more famous mountains in the country. I've got a little post-production to get done, but rest assured, they'll be posted soon enough.