This is my late night "I should be doing my lesson plans or sleeping" contemplation which has been bugging me for a while...
To put it bluntly...I kinda have no life.
It seems that most of my colleagues go hiking in the mountains, ride their scooters to the mountains or nearby waterfalls, go drinking or go to the movies and pay NT$500 for the VIP "Watch a movie in bed with food" on weekends.
During the week before teaching they see the city, go to different restaurants and all that stuff (especially since they have scooters)...Then when they talk, it sounds as if they spend little or no time preparing their lessons!!
Me? Well let's see...Monday to Friday from 13:30-16:30 I am grading HW and preparing lessons, 16:50-21:00 I teach then 21:00 to about 00:30 I grade HW, go home , grade HW, prepare lessons and study Chinese...oh yeah not to mention my Chinese class on Tuesdays and Fridays...oh and let's not forget laundry...
On Saturdays I sleep in till about 11, clean my apartment and listen to music, get lunch, veg out, and etc...Boyfriend comes over and we wither do something or do nothing and veg...but it always involves food either way...
On Sunday it's sleeping in, hanging with boyfriend and then preparing for the next day by grading HW and teaching...
So before you go and call me a hermit and criticize me for not going out and enjoying life (YET), let me explain why I do this and the benefits:
Why: 1. I have made a buttload of mistakes these past couple of years and I am now working hard to make DAMN sure that doesn't happen again!!
2. I ACTUALLY want to live here(for a loooooooong time or forever even) unlike most foreigners here so I am actually trying to settle down...
3. For once I am actually following my budget and REFUSE to let myself borrow money from people-I HATE doing that!!!! I want to be independent and of course this all goes back to #1 in saying that I don't want to make the same mistakes.
4. This goes back to #2 and #3 as I am saving my money and investing in things like a nice printer and Adobe Photoshop and other things to help me be a better teacher as I want to stay here...
5. I want to be fluent in Mandarin and will do whatever it takes to learn...I love languages and I love being able to communicate with people...There are so many reasons why I'm working hard on my Chinese....
6. Why I take so long preparing a lesson-I want this as my career or if not this forever then a career helping people. I WANT TO DO A GOOD JOB!!! I want to finally be good at my job!!!!! So that is why, plus I want to have a good relationship with my co-teacher so I try to talk to them before class and go over the lesson or if they are not there then I ask my head Chinese Teacher for help-this is about the students!!!!
...
Plus, I am not good expressing myself verbally, especially giving instructions so it is important for me to work out any kinks in the plan before I teach. I always confuse people so I need to work out what I am going to say, how I'm going to say it, etc, etc...
I just happen to be one of those people who need to work a little harder to get good results-always have been...I used to get soo jealous of my school friend because she would never study and would still get A's and I would have to work my ass off to get one...
Anyways...Here are the benefits:
I get a LOT of work done on time or early
I space my time out and rest when I need to
My teaching is getting better thanks to my hard work
I have more time on weekends to relax
I ALWAYS have enough money for food and everything I need
I don't feel rushed
I feel accomplished
I am an A student in my Chinese class (well, OK I'm the nerdy "grade grubber" in the class ;P )
So it seems like a lot of work that I'm doing and no time, but the main issue is I AM NOT STRESSED!!!!! Things get done and I feel better when things/work get done...
Plus, I am working hard now so that I will have money and time in the future to enjoy life..
And by the way, who says I'm NOT enjoying life?????!!!
Every weekend being with boyfriend makes me happy, sleeping in on weekends and cuddling up in my bed makes me happy, I get to go to cool places in the city, try new things and foods and see different things...even if it isn't cool waterfalls or anything-it is still exciting. Everytime I look out of my tiny little window and see Taichung, I enjoy life. Everytime I ride my bike on Mei-Tsuen road with the wind blowing my hair back and the sun in my face as I pass palm trees, I enjoy life.
As I said in the title of my first blog post on here: "Babysteps" I am enjoying life in babysteps...
I will post this again as it bears repeating:
“A tree as big around as you can reach starts with one small seed; a thousand mile journey starts with one step.”
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