and now the good news

The good news, which I also heard during yesterday's orientation, is that Dongguk students tend to be smart, energetic, and motivated. Thank Christ. That'll be a welcome change from the students at my previous job, very few of whom showed any spark of life or intelligence. Mostly, it was just a depressing cavalcade of laziness, distraction, cell-phone addiction, and general torpor. My intermediate students showed a glimmer of potential, but the beginners... Jesus, the beginners were simply awful.

So despite all the reasons for griping, I'm actually looking forward to meeting my new charges. I teach no beginners at all this semester: the kids are all intermediate to advanced level. If the students are willing to work with me, and are inspired when I push them and ask them to rise to my expectations, well, that's really all I can ask for.

Today, I'm off to campus to type up intro activities over the next few hours, then I'm up Namsan once again. Lunch—a late lunch—will be kimbap.


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