Friday, August 20, 2010

Log10: Just how bad I am at Blogging

I am very bad at blogging and keeping people up to date.  Period.

I think one of the reasons is my tendency to take a lot of time to 1. reflect 2. formulate the words befitting the reflections 3. assemble these befitting words into remotely sensible prose.  Surely other broader factors--such as lack of time in front of a computer--also contribute, but the decision to even begin blogging has always seemed somewhat of an enterprise.  I often wish to know I have at least some amount of time in order to blog, and 98% of the time such allotment just never comes.

In any case; what have you/I/we missed (and I say "I/we" as well because through it all I gain tremendous benefit from these ruminations because through the processes of deliberation, reconciliation and meditation I derive a greater sense of self, a greater understanding of the world, and a greater appreciation for the time I have been given) include the following (note that today is the 20th of August):

Thursday, August 12: My birthday and celebrations
Friday, August 13: Trip to Seoul
-the hotel
-the Embassy
-Ambassador Pool Party
-Evening with friends: beer, drinks
Saturday, August 14:  Trip to DMZ
Sunday, August 15: Family in Seoul and date with Mom
Monday, August 16: Language classes graduation, presentations and awards at Korea University
-Return to Goesan
Tuesday, August 17: Morning meeting, then evening ETA talent show (for which I played flute and pulled off some semblance of flute/beat-boxing)
Wednesday, August 18: ETA Field day with extendees (various field games with regional groups), final goodbyes
Thursday, August 19: Departure Day
-Meeting Principals, VPs, and co-teachers
-Final goodbyes to ETA friends (that sh** was difficult)
-Arrival in the city of Jeonju and meeting my host family
Friday, August 20: Today
-Woke up around 9:30AM
-Ate breakfast, then practiced flute, got internet in my room, then listened to the host father speak about his life for 1.5 hours, then explored the city a bit, got one of the worst haircuts I've ever had (had to go to another place to rectify the situation, to the extent that looking like a newborn got a couple of razors in his hand, sat on your head, and just started swinging his arms recklessly as if to maintain balance can be rectified), started connecting the ETAs via e-mail/chat, hung out with the host brothers, and voila.

And guess what?  Yeah, I'm too tired to write about all this stuff.  And tomorrow apparently I may go hiking early in the morning with the family which is why I want to sleep now.  Great, because hiking is my favorite thing to do.

Here's how my host family subverted my expectations and utmost concern though: they don't go to church.  And I so unnecessarily worried myself over it.

I thought I was about to say something else...

Ah yes.

My host family consists of the mom, the dad, and two boys, a high school freshman and an elementary 6th grader.  Henceforth in my blogs, I will write of these figures with an "h" to precede their respective titles (h for host): hDad, hMom, hBrothers, hBro1 (older), hBro2 (younger).

Okay, time to sleep.  I have so much to say, but so little time.

But there's never enough time for anything.  Ah, the beauty and bane of life, no?

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Words to Live By

"Who dares wins." -Motto of the British SAS

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." -The Buddha

"Don't give up; don't ever give up."
...-Jim Valvano (ESPY Awards speech)

"Persevere, do not only practice your art, but endeavor also to fathom its inner meaning; it deserves this effort. For only art and science can raise men to the level of gods."
-Ludwig van Beethoven (letter to a child in 1812)

"This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
-William Shakespeare (Polonius from Hamlet)

"The time is always ripe to do right."
-Martin Luther King Jr. ('Letter from Birmingham Jail')

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
-TS Eliot (last stanza from 'Four Quartets')

"All things of this world will come to pass. Strive on, diligently." -Last words of the Buddha

"The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom."
-David Foster Wallace (commencement speech to Kenyon College Graduating Class of 2005)

Enjoy the little things in life. -Yours Truly