EPTI had started Uni in 2014 as a physics major. Having experienced a year of Uni life, holding only a mild interest in my subjects and lacking a proper social network I decided to take the 2015 semester 1 off.
Knowing that my days stretch on if I don't have any routine, I had to somehow fill in the gap left by uni for fear that I might become a NEET and be overwhelmed by dank memes. It was with that resolution that I found some work under a private tutoring company. My high school scores were enough of a qualification to secure me an interview. Despite stumbling on my explanation of special relativity I was still able to pass the interview. When I received the phone call I was so excited that I went for a run for the first time in 2 years, I just couldn't sit still.
After teaching Tim, Tom and a few others for a few hours each week (a long with a small loan from mom) I had enough money to buy a well used Toyota Echo.It had already recorded about 140,000 kilometres and aside from a few microscopic scratches it was everything I wanted. The car had cost $4,990 and as I had paid with cash I received a single $10 note in change. I still have that note next to me, lying in the top draw of my desk. I don't intend to spend it anytime soon.
After that a few weeks passed by and I was searching for more work. Tutoring was surprisingly good pay but I had almost too much free time and didn't want to spend the summer indoors (there's only so much Starcraft you can play before you get Carpal tunnel). I searched 'gum tree' (the Australian craigslist) and saw an add searching for pizza hut delivery drivers. Unfortunately I did get the job. It was harder than i thought it would be the drive home every night only felt like freedom because working there felt like prison.
Here are some things I learnt from my time at Pizza Hut:
1. Delivering to apartments sucks; on my first ever delivery I screwed up the apartment number with the street address and was 15 minutes late, not a good start!
2. Having experienced what it feels like to be berated after asking a question I now try and say "good question" every time my tutoring students ask me something. At Pizza Hut I made a lot of mistakes simply because I was too afraid to ask for advice.
3. You can respect people you don't like. While I didn't like my boss I could see that he was a hard worker, often doing 12 hour shifts. He was also nice enough to pay the drivers a bit extra on slow delivery days.
Aside from work I had also decided to join a Korean church. I had been learning Korean since early 2014 due to the fact that I had mostly watched Korean streams anyway. It had took me about 9 months of studying before I felt comfortable enough to finally step through the Korean church door. When I first walked in one of the members asked me If I was lost, (a fair enough question when you see a white guy in a Korean church). After the song finished the pastor asked in Korean "What's your name?"
I told him my name.
Then in Korean again: "Are you interested in the Korean language."
I said the Korean word for yes and everyone was shocked. It's not very common to see a blonde guy speak even basic Korean I guess. When I talked with one of the church elders he said it was the first time he had ever spoken with a non-Korean.
It was through church that I met a girl called Ellie, I won't say much apart from the fact that she was a bit obsessed with having kids and get married despite only being in her mid 20's. She was engaged only 4 months after we broke up.
Moving towards the end of 2015 I started doing education units in semester 2, more than likely I'll end up being a high school maths teacher.
I also took a Korean language test around October and ended up with 49% (you need 50% to go on exchange), the only reason I remember my mark was because of how close it was to what I needed.
The last thing I'll mention, which will probably end up becoming my most fond memories of 2015, is my time working in a Korean child care. Some of the people in the church own a child care center. I started by helping the primary school kids with their homework after school but ended up reading English stories to the 3 and 4 year olds during the morning.
Sometimes as I'm reading I'll see an orange kite and ask them what colour it is. They shout out "Orange, Orange, Orange!" Then I'll ask them what else in the room is orange, if I don't stop them they could literally go for 5 minutes pointing at everything that is orange. I have no idea where they get all the energy from.
As the weather got hotter I would start to wear shorts to the childcare center. Usually this wouldn't be a problem but I have a lot of leg hair (especially compared to Koreans). When I would sit down to read the kids would constantly touch my legs and say the Korean word for itchy. They've all done it 10 times already but they keep doing it. There's a few other funny things but the most satisfying thing is when I see them slowly improving every week, because it means they'll have a much easier time when they finally move onto Kindergarten.
I could talk more about my time volunteering in St. Vincent De Paul or the English conversation group that I run through the church but I think I'll stop there.
2016 Goals
1. Cut down soft drink consumption down to one can a day.
2. Credit average in Uni (do all the readings and assigned homework)
3. Read one book a month.
4. Never turn on my computer before 11AM (this ties in with the above goal as I intend to do more reading in the morning.)
5. Actually put in the effort to hang out with friends.
That's it for this blog, if you have any goals for 2016 I'd like to see them, I'm always looking for inspiration for my own list. Otherwise if you want to know about anything above I can expand on it in the comments.
