Some things I did in November 2015

Of course I went to see some dance performances.

Definite highlight for November was finally seeing Miyavi perform live.

Met up with friends that I haven't seen in ages.

Korea has a traditional custom known as "Sa-eun-hoi" 사은회 that roughly translates as "Teacher's Appreciation Banquet". It is a special dinner hosted by students for their teachers to show their appreciation. Annually around this time of the year the students in my department invite the lecturers to attend "Sa-eun-hoi." They treat us to a lovely buffet meal, share messages of appreciation, and sometimes give us some gifts (or gift vouchers).

The dress code theme for this year's "Sa-eun-hoi" was black & white, hence my outfit. (I bought the silk scarf in China at a silk market during my trip there earlier this year.)

A teaching highlight this year was in my one poetry class. After reading the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou, the students actually applauded. I got an applause for the reading of another poem earlier this semester as well -- "I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman. I also got one or two applauds after two lectures. It is a weird thing to be applauded for one's job, but it does make one feel that you are in the right occupation. 

In November I had to submit my PhD dissertation for examination. Getting it ready for submission take up much of my time and energy. I also had to pay a $500 examination fee that I didn't know about. That sucked. It wasn't in my budget. 

Still actively teaching martial arts. Have been working on getting my one student ready for his black belt promotion in the middle of January 2016.

A very sad part of this month was the news of the passing of my long time friend Chris van der Merwe. 

Some things I did in October 2015

October. I love October: Seoul International Dance Festival & Seoul Performing Arts Festival. I got to see many great performances.

I finally met a long time Facebook friend in person. We quickly became very good friends. And caught up with some old friends.

I wrote a little verse.

I had me preliminary PhD defence.

And I got final grade for my course work.

I got addicted to a new chocolate snack. But thankful overcame my addiction.

Went to the best dessert place in Seoul. (I go there maybe once or twice a year.)

Continued to enjoy great food throughout the month...

Made some art...

Met with some Taekwondo friends, masters and grandmasters.

And enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather...

The month concluded with a board game night with friends. (I skipped doing the Halloween partying thing.)

Some things I did in September 2015

The semester started, thus I started teaching again. This semester I taught Shakespeare Comedies for the first time. I settled on Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the first semester I was also required to teach Shakespeare -- then I taught tragedies. I prefer the tragedies over the comedies. And I prefer reading / watching Shakespeare over teaching it.

I bought a car.

And for Chuseok I went to Everland with some friends. They had a Halloween theme. The House of Horrors was surprisingly scary. I nearly punched or kick several of the actors. I don't think they should allow martial artists in those places.

The end of September was also the start of the annual international dance festival in Seoul. The opening show was a really fun flamenco performance.

Most of the month was spent working (lecturing) and writing my dissertation.

Here is something I wrote to someone at the start of the month.

I'm at that part of my PhD dissertation where I know what I need to do, but I'm not sure how to do it. The problem is that my original research question recently changed after a fruitful discussion with my supervisor. While I agree that the new research question is much better, the clear outline I had previously doesn't fit the new trajectory of my study. In other words, the road map I was working from has suddenly become obsolete after using it as the bedrock of my contemplations for two years, so now I'm driving down a road with just a vague idea of where I'm going.

And at the end of the month (29th) I posted this on Facebook:

5 am. I spent the whole night working on my dissertation. There were times that I spent nearly half an hour on one paragraph, struggling with some difficult parts of my argument. In the end, staying up all night was worth it though because I had an important break through towards the end (several handfuls of chocolate later). I have two more sections to my current chapter before I can start with the concluding chapter. Luckily I don't work today (Tuesday) on account of it being a public holiday, so I can sleep late and then tackle the remainder of this chapter. God-willing, I hope to finish this current chapter during Tuesday, although I cannot yet say if that is feasible or not. I have to be finished with the first draft of my dissertation before next week, as my preliminary PhD defense (first presentation) is a week from today, at which point I also have to hand in the first draft. Time is running out, but that also means that the end is in sight. But now it is time to sleep. I'm really tired.