September has arrived

The first week of September has been an odd gathering of events. After we returned from our short vacation, I thought I’d be able to get back to my job-hunting effort and begin to tackle some of the things accumulating on my “honey-do” list. Well… not everything always goes as planned… actually hardly ever, but I keep hoping.

One of the things that added time to our week are the books we received from Amazon that I already mentioned below. Of course this is an important thing for us to do, and I hope it works for us. We’ve already started on the diet phase of our program and are planning and tracking our daily meals and snacks. If nothing else, being more aware of what we are eating and seeing it on paper stuck to the fridge will help us get on a better course.

I already mentioned that we’ve been taking aerobics and Taebo, each twice a week, and it has been great. Actually, this has been quite an intriguing encounter for me. We’re living in Korea and so naturally the classes are taught in Korean. Now since I don’t speak the language, this poses a bit of a challenge for yours truly. The two girls who teach the classes do speak a tiny bit of English, but the dozen or so women who regularly attend the classes don’t (yes, I am basically the only male in the class), so the best I get is the instructors counting in English, which is the one thing that I don’t have a problem understanding in Korean. Actually, I do surprisingly well. Although I don’t always know what’s coming next until it happens, by paying close attention, I think I do about as good as anyone in the class… maybe better.
In any event, we were disappointed to learn that our aerobics teacher is quitting her instruction to go back to school. They will find someone to replace her, but I don’t know where they will find anyone who exhibits the same energy and enthusiasm on the gym floor.

I was extremely disappointed to hear that over the past week and a half, three more people have left the school where I was an English language teacher. I was sad to leave my position there, but relieved to depart the company. Obviously the feeling of dissatisfaction I felt is still alive and flourishing. Saying what you do, and then doing what you say is important for any organization, as well as operating with an honorable code of ethics. This company clearly has an enormous amount to learn about treating their degreed professional employees with dignity and respect, or nothing will ever change and they will be destined to repeat the same mistakes practiced by every other middle-of-the-road hagwon in Korea. It’s just a matter of some plain old-fashioned managerial enlightenment. I hope it happens for them one day. It’s one thing that separates them from the rest of the global employment community.

And speaking of work… this week I finally got my resume the overdue and urgently desirable renovation it’s been screaming for. I hope it gives my job quest the shot in the arm it needs as we attack the next exciting chapter in our lives. Thank you, Erin Kissane, for all your hard work. I’ve already begun using it and like the way it puts a new spin on my work history and life’s experiences. It’s always funny how you look at something new about yourself (after looking at the same old thing for so long) and say, “Damn, I sound good!” I hope there’s an employer out there who feels the same way.

Now it’s time for some breakfast and see what trouble I can get into today. The weather is clearing… I’m sure I can find something (laughing).