I had such a great week!!
Today one of my students asked if I’d be switching schools next year, and I told him I’d be at our school one more year and I’d get to see him graduate. He said it was 아쉽다 and I was like why?? You’ll graduate and leave the school! And he said that he thought I’d continue teaching there and he’d see me when he came back as a student teacher. I was touched hehe.
Another one of my students told me to not look at my phone while walking and to dress more warmly (쌤 좀 따뜻하게 이브세요) HAHA so cute!! And then another time when I saw him in the hallway, he said “danger” and “gas” and I was like ??? And then he told me that he came into the hallway to fart. I was talking about this with my sister and we feel like in Korea, people are a lot more open about bodily functions. For example, it seems totally fine to share that you had a stomachache/diarrhea or that you’re going to poop. But in America, it feels more like a secret?? HAHAHA and I feel like in America people try to poop as quickly as possible so other people don’t know that they went to poop. But students come up to me with wet wipes/rolls of toilet paper and ask to go to the bathroom and are sometimes gone for most of the class. XD Anyways, I kinda like how comfortable/open they are about it. 🙂
I find a slightly more extroverted side of myself when I’m around my students. I usually hate crowds and loud places in general, but I enjoy it (all the school events!) Maybe it’s because I know all of them, so it’s different than being in a rowdy crowd of strangers? It just puts me in a really good mood when I see them having fun, and I feel energized. Especially if it’s because of a game they’re playing in my class. When class goes well, it feels like I’m flying.
I also had a convo with another senior, and he told me that he recently became religious (after being so stressed by suneung prep that his hair started falling out) and understood the meaning of happiness being nearby (행복은 가까이 있어요). We talked about that a little and it was so lovely! Instead of focusing only on goals that will be achieved in the distant future (he wants to become a nurse), also enjoy the happiness within reach (he said our conversation was some nearby happiness) and it was a good reminder. 🙂 I wonder why it’s the seniors that I can have these kinds of conversations with…
I also went to one of the senior classes to play cards again this week, and then it turned into playing the Liar Game and then Mafia with some other teachers and it was so fun!! I’m going to miss them so much.
Really happy that I finally got to go to my first Korean wedding!!
Insight of the week from the Dimensional app that was very The Untethered Soul:
“””
“Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.” – Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
… inner dialog can sometimes have a mind of its own, sparking negative cycles like mulling over the past; helplessness in the present; increased anxiety around possible future discomfort. Our thoughts themselves can become the source of our concern: “Why am I like this?”
Our thoughts and emotions are much less under our control than we think. They arise on their own. They pass us like the wind, and trying to control them only leads to frustration. What is more in our control is our judgment of those thoughts and emotions.
Our aim should be to observe them without judgement and let them pass through us without expending energy trying to analyze all of them. Ironically, we are most powerful when we choose to be observers of our thoughts instead of their commander. Our struggle arises when we lose sense of that.
This takes practice. When a negative thought or feeling appears, inspect it like you might a piece of art. You don’t always have to analyze it or wonder what it says about you. Allow yourself to put it to the side and move on with your life.
“””
Yessss I need to stop wondering to myself why I feel so sad about the seniors graduating and instead just try and focus on enjoying the present. Easier said than done but always trying to remind myself. 🙂
I read The Power of Now in 2019 and A New Earth in 2021 and I think it’s time for me to reread them… I think I would understand them a lot better now.
0:00 School + renewal application results
1:19 Afterschool class
4:02 Pilates
4:27 School
5:01 Groceries
5:43 Medical clearance
6:14 School
6:45 Hall Galli, Liar Game, Mafia
8:51 Hweshik
9:47 Wedding
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Song : Daystar – Lemon Cake /
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