return of the Gandhi diet

While my students have actually been pretty good about attending class these past two weeks, I'm bothered by the somewhat unstable attendance in my second class of the day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So in the interest of furthering my weight loss ambitions (Namsan proceeds apace and I'm on the brink of ramping up the pain), I'll be proposing my Gandhi Diet to the class: if the number of absences in any given class exceeds a certain threshold number, then on that day, I won't eat.

I've decided this will be a proposal, not a threat, which is how I had originally planned to present the idea.* The proposal approach works better for two reasons. First, the students really haven't been that bad yet, so it makes little sense to threaten them. Second, by couching this diet as a proposal, the students know that they are under no real pressure to help me out, unless they actually have a conscience about the matter. In my experience, most young, well-to-do Seoul girls nearing the end of adolescence aren't that altruistic, so I imagine I'll be losing a good bit of weight over the remaining ten weeks of this term.

I'm also joining the campus gym on Monday along with my buddy (and now coworker) Tom, and will be eating healthier food, too. I've been cutting back on food over the past couple weeks, but I can't say I've swung over to Atkins Diet no-carb insanity, which is probably what I need to do if the idea is to lose a lot of weight in a short time.

The students get the news on Monday and Tuesday. Wish me luck.

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*I'm not as nefarious as all that; the threat would have been presented in my usual cheerful, joking manner.


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