Party of 1

I am in the midst of one of the best solitudinous nights I've had in a while. I willfully stayed in tonight. Nothing particularly exciting happened. I went to Homeplus to pick up some ingredients for a new recipe I am planning on trying in the next couple of days. I was going to try it tonight, but I spotted some fresh watermelon for a decent price (which is rare to find in Korea. 너무 비싸요!) and decided to pair it with some cheese and wine for a pauper-who-still-lives-beyond-his-means type of dinner. It was decidedly a good decision, as now I feel in rare good form despite my perpetual fatigue. I may even finish The Girl Who Played With Fire tonight. Maybe not though.

This week began rather strangely for me in a disappointing way, but it has certainly changed for the better. Although I'm busier than usual, I am also happier than on a normal work week. At one point, I whimsically diagnosed myself as a manic depressive currently going through a peak in the roller coaster of that terrible disease. I don't think my peaks and valleys are extreme enough to be properly diagnosed as such, but someetimes it feels that way. Nights when I'll have the most bizarre dreams and can't sleep for more than three hours at a time and waking up to a crippling feeling of lethargy to being happier than I have been in years and wanting to do everything. Currently, I'm feeling quite good. I read through some of my old writings of over a year ago with the intent to pick it back up. I've begun formulating what to do with that pesky blank canvas gathering dust next to my TV. I'm reading again, I'm playing guitar until my fingers are about to fall off, I'm working out an exercise strategy I'd like to pick up after vacation (let's be honest, if I start now, I'll stop in three weeks when I go on vacation and won't pick it back up), and with my rekindled interest in cooking, I'm considering eating better. Yes, this is all just planning at this point, but it's closer than I've been to making good for myself in months. Perhaps it's time to come off the five month bender.

This time, there isn't even a girl involved. It seems with me, I usually need a reason to better myself. Doing it for myself is not good enough. Maybe it's the hallucinagetic humidity talking. Maybe it's being tired of the lonely status quo. As usual, I'll let you know how it goes in the coming months. Or, you can decipher how it's going from my blog updates.

The positive highlight of this week has been summer camp. I have been dreading it for the past couple of weeks, but now that it is upon me, I've been having fun with it. The past two days have been considerably more fun than an average work week. Smaller classes, more fun topics, and more laughs in general. Yesterday, I did a music lesson based around "Octopus's Garden" by the Beatles. The last 20 minutes of each class consisted of the kids taking a line of lyrics each and drawing a picture for it. Last night, I compiled them all using Windows Movie Maker and created a fun little video out of it. I showed it to them today, much to their delight and excitement. I would show it to you, but blogger is pretty pathetic when it comes to uploading videos (I left it on overnight to upload and it just screwed up mid snore), and I can't upload to YouTube because there is the real name verification law in Korea that is at odds with the YouTube website. Of course. So, I'll show it to you maybe never instead. Thank the internet.

Today, I did another music lesson around "Yellow" by Coldplay and, although it is a much more polarizing song than "Octopus's Garden," we still had fun with it. The last 15 minutes of class we did an interpretive dance competition. The kids either loved it or hated it, as you could guess. Most of them are at that age where they are too awkwardly shy to perform in front of their peers like that, but a few of them really gave it to us. Unfortunately, I don't have video of it, but my co-teacher for the class does. So, in time, hopefully I can get a copy and send it your way. It will be a huge let down for you outsiders, but it was a blast for me being in the classroom and laughing at/with them.

Tomorrow is the closing day of camp, so my role is somewhat changed. First we will be showing Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs followed by a "cooking" class led by yours truly. The reason I put cooking in quotations is because there will be no cooking, yet the Koreans insist upon calling it that. We will listen to "Apples and Bananas" by Raffi and make peanut butter/jelly/banana sandwiches. The closing will be awards for students who got the most stickers and a play overseen by one of the other teachers involving a troll and a bridge and a blue screen (hopefully. Just insightful speculation).

Friday I have "off," which amounts to still having to come to school, alone, and sitting at my desk for 8 hours. Next week, I have English camp at another school, which should prove to be interesting. I have yet to fully plan for those, but Monday should be a breeze, teaching a recycled lesson from this week and an "airport" lesson that is being written for me. Then, Monday afternoon, I can prepare the materials for Tuesday and so on. It'll be easier than I'm making it out to be, I'm sure. On top of which, I get paid extra for going to another school.

Whee! Vacation is 17 days away!