Routine

Being a English Professor in South Korea has both it's perks and downsides. The main downside to me was the routine of a 9-5 job. Coming straight out of college to here means that I have never worked a real 9-5 job before. Oh sure, I was use to classes all morning then going to work for 6 or so hours but this is different. Getting use to waking up early (6:50) every morning and not coming home to relax until 5:30 has it's tolls. One of them was that, after a while, I didn't know what to do with myself. I have some friends here but as a rule of thumb the weekdays are usually not good for adventures. So most nights when I first got here were spent catching up on classical movies, reading and exploring my mind.

Like all other people who have fallen into this lifestyle you fall into a everyday routine. Somehow it just makes the days go by easier to do the same things every night. Consistency, as they call it. A month or so ago I got really sick of the same thing, different day. I wanted a change. I figured if I was going to fall into any routine it might as well be productive.

This was when I decided to aim for the one thing I have sought after for as long as I can remember. A body that is at one point immaculate. I say one point because I firmly believe life is nothing more than striving for little moments of perfection. I have tried to achieve this many times in the past but there was always some stone block in my head stopping me from fully committing. This time thought something was different. I didn't have to build it up in my head and prepare myself. Some switch just went off in my head that said, "You do this now." I found some programs online and started one of them.

The first program I did was "Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred" and I got some ok results.

The Before Pics

The After (30 days) Pictures

I still have some more things in store but if I am going to fall victim to a routine I am damn well going to make sure it's on my terms.

Free

This past month has been a hard one. From my understanding almost all teachers hit this brick wall of loneliness around their fourth month. This past month has been a blur of sleeping in, hiking alone, getting use to entertaining myself all over again and feeling a little down. This past week I started to feel like my new self again and decided to go to Myeong-dong in Seoul. Myeong-dong is the largest and trendiest fashion district in South Korea. While sitting down drinking some coffee and reflecting I saw some interesting characters.

First I saw these characters. My mood instantly started to brighten up.

Then I saw these guys. I think most of you have seen the popular youtube video of people holding signs for free hugs. These kids must be the Korean chapter? Regardless when I saw them I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that things are going to be ok and all this is just temporary. 

I think I am going to join them next weekend.