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Note #94: Out like a lamb (2015.3.31)
I grew up learning that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That holds true here in Korea as well. March began with blustery cold, but now here at the end we’re finally starting to enjoy some of that early spring warmth.
March is not my favorite month, to be honest, despite the fact that it’s the month of my wedding anniversary. March is when the new semester and new academic year begin here, and that means a lot of meetings, events, and various other responsibilities. I always breathe a sigh of relief when March is over and we move into the relative calm and stability of April.
Teaching is probably the least stressful part of my job, and classes this semester so far have been going well. I had been meaning to write about that at some point, but somehow I never got around to it. At any rate, I’m teaching two classes this semester: Korean Language and Culture (which I taught last semester) and a graduate seminar. While I knew the Korean Language and Culture class would be fun (and it has been—although currently we’re doing philosophy and religion, which tends to be the densest part of the course), I was really looking forward to the graduate seminar. For one, I’m teaching the class in Korean, and that was something I was looking forward to doing. I was also looking forward to working with a much smaller group of students. So far it has been everything I was hoping it would be.
So I guess that’s a brief report on how things have been. Classes aside, though, it’s been a very rough month. Part of that is the usual beginning-of-the-semester craziness, and part of it has been other things that I don’t really feel like talking about here. The truth is that I have been in a bit of a funk and have not been motivated to write here, and since I’m being honest I tell you that I am forcing myself to write this now. My fingers are moving across the keyboard, but it feels like I am carving the words into stone with nothing but my fingernails. I’m doing it anyway because sometimes this is therapy.
A fine mist of a rain is falling outside, gently washing away the dust that always plagues spring in Korea and prevents it from being my favorite season here. Somehow it feels like it is washing away March as well, making a fresh, clean start for April. I wish it could wash away more than that, but this will have to do for now.