In a previous post called "Purple Sneakers" I took a shot of this - the entry to Imae-dong 2 which includes my school - at the height of summer. Our recent heavy snowfall has made summer's humidity and deafening chorus of cicadas a distant memory.
Readers, I've cheered up somewhat. Thought I should start with that. Too many people tell me I am pessimistic and should smile more often. As I remove them from my address book, I lightly examine what I experience as my reasonably well-balanced disposition (once again thankyou Dr. Spencer and lithium 1150mg/daily). I never conclude that being serious is somehow "wrong." I remain happy with being the glass-is-bisected-by-equal-parts-air-and-liquid realistic type of guy I am. Anyway, this week, those who possess a sand bar for a personality have gotten their wish. Happy New Year: Lachlan Teacher is truly enjoying Korea and his job as well.
Admittedly, all but 20 of our winter camp students have gone home for the vacation, and there are no staff members stealing my lunch either, but happiness is happiness folks. The Buddha was wrong: it's not always something built from within, composed of "thoughts" and "attitude." Sometimes it is the absence of 780 screaming and diseased children from your staffroom and their replacement by a small group of kids who are actually showing signs of wanting to learn, combined with the promise of a piping hot bowl of jjigae from your favourite hole-in-the-wall restaurant (you actually eat in the kitchen) for 4 bucks every day. Where's the sutra on that fatty? Here's another picture:
Yatap, early morning, mid-December 2010. Note the crescent moon up high.
This is the park next to the Tancheon River which I walk beside every morning. It is hard work getting through all of that freshly fallen snow! The kids love it though - snowball fights, snowmen, snow sledding, snow soccer, snow penises and snow vaginas. I like it because I rarely see it. Snow, that is.
The perfect end to the perfect year. That's what this is, despite all of its shortcomings. Where did it go? I fell asleep in a young Swedish girl's bed early in January; recently I woke and I was teaching Korean kids how to sit in a chair. What's the lesson here? Don't fall asleep? Korea is the place to do that.
I value my sleep however, which is why tonight I've chosen to stay in. On this night of nights, NYE, the second last before armageddon, I've had a coffee with my pal Mitja and am back at 10pm to do a spot of blogging before turning in on this last night of the year. I aim to sleep until my name turns to Rip van Murray. Next year I have some important work to do on happiness...
Me here with Imae Elementary's English-speaking staff, taken on the boat ride to Namisum island. On the left of the picture is Lucy, my co-teacher. Next to me on the other side is Suna, who teaches grades 3 and 4, and then Mark, who took English last year.
Lucy suggested I stand in this pose, though I didn't know of its significance. Namisum Island was the setting for the 2005 Korean drama "Winter Sonata." There was a scene from the drama in which the major players, a young couple, strike this pose and look all happy in front of this long line of metasequoia trees. In this re-creation, and in the absence of any obliging young women, we've had to forgo the basic idea of a happy couple being in love and replace it with a tipsy-looking young man looking skyward in order to hitch a ride to another planet. It's not quite the same but at least we tried.
And this was my Christmas tree this year.
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