In the midst of my own personal chaos - from final oral testing, finalizing grades, prepping extra materials for extra classes, teaching the extra classes, trip to Philippines, Christmas, teaching more extra classes, going to the gym, and trying to find time to figure out what the heck I’m going to do next… - I’m going to set aside a little bit of time to WRITE FOR RIGHTS.
It’s a global write-a-thon where thousands of people will be writing letters for human rights. The goal is 350,000 letters. There are 12 cases to write about ranging from victims of unlawful detention, prisoners of conscious, the death penalty, maternal mortality, human rights defenders, rape as a weapon, and so on…
I will write 5 letters. I could probably write more, but I guess I’m also setting a realistic goal knowing that I will be busy. Write between the dates of December 4th - 12th (or before or a little after) but December 10th is Human Rights day.
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own crazy little worlds, we forget about the bigger picture. I challenge you to do the same as me…take a little bit of time out of your regular schedule and contribute to the rest of the world and to people who may not be as fortunate as you and I.
I’m taking this opportunity also as a learning opportunity. I realize there are so many issues in the world, and things going on, that I too do not know about. Too many of us turn a blind eye and choose not to face what’s really going on, and some of us are just too ignorant to see it even when its staring us in the face.
Click the link before to go to Amnesty International’s website and participate in this global effort:
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Teaching Language and my Future
My friend said this to me today “Language is one of the most important pieces of knowledge that could ever be spread. To teach and instill foundation of language upon others, enabling them to communicate, is golden.”
This reminded me of how lucky I am to have this opportunity of teaching at the university here.
Lately I have been thinking that I don’t particularly like teaching English, but what makes me like my job so much are the warm smiles I get from the students and hearing them tell me how I helped them feel comfortable and confident for the first time while using English. This lead me to the following…
I’ve recently discovered how helping other people succeed in some way, accomplish goals, or improve their lives, means a great deal to me. This was something I have always sort of known throughout my life through my various experiences with volunteering, involvement in the Korean adoptee community, mentoring, and now teaching, but it has become that much more apparent to me through my time being here. I chose my major of human resource development because it did combine assisting others with (what I feel is) an industry in which money can be made in if working for some kind of corporation or large business company. However, these days money is not my main priority but it is the former that is most important to me.
Also, I have discovered how little people know about issues that are affecting the world (me included) and I think it is very sad…
I’ve concluded that when I return to the states I hope to be able to find a position with an organization with a wider social aim, something that I also believe in and can wholeheartedly spread awareness about while helping the lives of others. If I can somehow make some kind of positive impact or even just spread knowledge about something that does affect EVERYONE, because everyone is affected by our world and the issues, then I think I can be happy with my career.
This reminded me of how lucky I am to have this opportunity of teaching at the university here.
Lately I have been thinking that I don’t particularly like teaching English, but what makes me like my job so much are the warm smiles I get from the students and hearing them tell me how I helped them feel comfortable and confident for the first time while using English. This lead me to the following…
I’ve recently discovered how helping other people succeed in some way, accomplish goals, or improve their lives, means a great deal to me. This was something I have always sort of known throughout my life through my various experiences with volunteering, involvement in the Korean adoptee community, mentoring, and now teaching, but it has become that much more apparent to me through my time being here. I chose my major of human resource development because it did combine assisting others with (what I feel is) an industry in which money can be made in if working for some kind of corporation or large business company. However, these days money is not my main priority but it is the former that is most important to me.
Also, I have discovered how little people know about issues that are affecting the world (me included) and I think it is very sad…
I’ve concluded that when I return to the states I hope to be able to find a position with an organization with a wider social aim, something that I also believe in and can wholeheartedly spread awareness about while helping the lives of others. If I can somehow make some kind of positive impact or even just spread knowledge about something that does affect EVERYONE, because everyone is affected by our world and the issues, then I think I can be happy with my career.
Monday, November 1, 2010
College wish-I-would-haves
I was thinking the other day, that I have several sort-of “regrets” from my university years. While I am sitting here trying to figure out what I want to do next or in the future, I’m realizing it would have been easier if I had done certain things in college.
1) Studied abroad – I always had dreams of doing this when I was in High School, but then I spent my first couple of years in college wrapped in this dysfunctional relationship. By the time that was over and I started doing things for myself, it was almost going to be my senior year and a little late to study abroad. I could have done a summer program or done a program in the spring right before graduation. Since I was actually eligible to graduate a semester early, I could have done an abroad program for the experience (not focusing on getting specific credits since I had all the requirements to graduate) and I was seriously contemplating doing this, but instead I decided I just wanted to finish school and get on with my life. And so, I chose not to study abroad and push on to my future, get out of the states ASAP and I ended up here in Korea. This is yet another classic example of me worrying, focusing, and planning on the future too much that I forget about the importance of living in the NOW.
You may ask, well what’s the big deal? I am in Korea after all…working, teaching, and living in another country. But, while I’m thinking about what I want to do next and where I want to go, I see that traveling as a student is safe, there’s a lot of support, and it would have been a fantastic experience and chance to live in another culture/country. Korea was also an easy decision for me…it was a big move, but not that big of a risk. I knew people here, I was familiar with the language and the culture and have been here twice before. Now I want to do more traveling and experience other cultures, but there’s no more, I guess, “safety nests.” So, I just need to put my big girl pants on, and take a risk, and do what I really want. (I’m just sayin, taking advantage of study abroad as a student would have been great.)
2) Been more involved on campus – I went to a huge school – the University of Minnesota. There were TONS of opportunities to get involved as a student, but I didn’t take them. Maybe if I had, I would have been exposed to even more different kinds of people, activities, and had the opportunity to explore more to gain better insight to what I truly like to do or don’t.
3) Considered a major more carefully – Although I did enjoy my major in Human Resource Development, and I am capable of working in the field, I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do anymore. From the beginning, I chose it because I do enjoy working with people and I feel a sense of fulfillment in helping and seeing people succeed…that is also why I enjoy my current job at teaching English at a university. But rather than the actual job of teaching, I feel more enjoyment from the smiles I get from students, positive greetings, and the feeling I get when I see them enjoying themselves and feeling good about their improvement. I chose HRD because it does fit my empathetic and wanting to see people succeed personality, but I also chose it because it is somewhat safe. People in HR can usually make a decent living and I knew if I chose the path to begin working in an office for a company then eventually I could probably make a decent living. However, now it has been nearly a year since I graduated, and I have been in Korea for 8 months…and I am somewhat afraid of this time here coming to an end because I simply am unsure of what is next and I don’t even think I want to go back and do what I went to school for.
4) Learned a language I could use – I chose to learn Korean in college for obvious reasons. My mom advised me to learn Chinese instead, but I wanted to learn Korean. NOW looking back, I wish I would have learned Spanish. I took Spanish for a few years in high school, and I really wish I would have continued with it in college. Knowing Spanish can open many doors to opportunities in a number of countries, and also with America’s increasing population of Spanish-speakers, would have helped me there too. Knowing Korean is nice, but I’m also nowhere near fluent, and although it has improved while I have been here, I don’t see myself using it in future situations. Korea is the only country it is used as a main language. There isn’t a demand for a knowledge of the language in the states, and I don’t think I’ll ever come back to live here for an extended period of time. I could have just studied Korean while staying here, and studied a different language in college. At the VERY least, I could have pushed myself more to take both Korean AND Spanish, but I didn’t.
5) Taken my future more seriously and done more internships. Any experience is at least experience. Also, there are so many great opportunities to do internship programs abroad…should have done it.
I know that this blog post seems negative and like I’m sulking in regrets, I’m not. The point is that I also feel that it is important to reflect upon decisions we made in the past, and how they’re affecting our present, so that we can learn and put that knowledge towards our future.
1) Studied abroad – I always had dreams of doing this when I was in High School, but then I spent my first couple of years in college wrapped in this dysfunctional relationship. By the time that was over and I started doing things for myself, it was almost going to be my senior year and a little late to study abroad. I could have done a summer program or done a program in the spring right before graduation. Since I was actually eligible to graduate a semester early, I could have done an abroad program for the experience (not focusing on getting specific credits since I had all the requirements to graduate) and I was seriously contemplating doing this, but instead I decided I just wanted to finish school and get on with my life. And so, I chose not to study abroad and push on to my future, get out of the states ASAP and I ended up here in Korea. This is yet another classic example of me worrying, focusing, and planning on the future too much that I forget about the importance of living in the NOW.
You may ask, well what’s the big deal? I am in Korea after all…working, teaching, and living in another country. But, while I’m thinking about what I want to do next and where I want to go, I see that traveling as a student is safe, there’s a lot of support, and it would have been a fantastic experience and chance to live in another culture/country. Korea was also an easy decision for me…it was a big move, but not that big of a risk. I knew people here, I was familiar with the language and the culture and have been here twice before. Now I want to do more traveling and experience other cultures, but there’s no more, I guess, “safety nests.” So, I just need to put my big girl pants on, and take a risk, and do what I really want. (I’m just sayin, taking advantage of study abroad as a student would have been great.)
2) Been more involved on campus – I went to a huge school – the University of Minnesota. There were TONS of opportunities to get involved as a student, but I didn’t take them. Maybe if I had, I would have been exposed to even more different kinds of people, activities, and had the opportunity to explore more to gain better insight to what I truly like to do or don’t.
3) Considered a major more carefully – Although I did enjoy my major in Human Resource Development, and I am capable of working in the field, I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do anymore. From the beginning, I chose it because I do enjoy working with people and I feel a sense of fulfillment in helping and seeing people succeed…that is also why I enjoy my current job at teaching English at a university. But rather than the actual job of teaching, I feel more enjoyment from the smiles I get from students, positive greetings, and the feeling I get when I see them enjoying themselves and feeling good about their improvement. I chose HRD because it does fit my empathetic and wanting to see people succeed personality, but I also chose it because it is somewhat safe. People in HR can usually make a decent living and I knew if I chose the path to begin working in an office for a company then eventually I could probably make a decent living. However, now it has been nearly a year since I graduated, and I have been in Korea for 8 months…and I am somewhat afraid of this time here coming to an end because I simply am unsure of what is next and I don’t even think I want to go back and do what I went to school for.
4) Learned a language I could use – I chose to learn Korean in college for obvious reasons. My mom advised me to learn Chinese instead, but I wanted to learn Korean. NOW looking back, I wish I would have learned Spanish. I took Spanish for a few years in high school, and I really wish I would have continued with it in college. Knowing Spanish can open many doors to opportunities in a number of countries, and also with America’s increasing population of Spanish-speakers, would have helped me there too. Knowing Korean is nice, but I’m also nowhere near fluent, and although it has improved while I have been here, I don’t see myself using it in future situations. Korea is the only country it is used as a main language. There isn’t a demand for a knowledge of the language in the states, and I don’t think I’ll ever come back to live here for an extended period of time. I could have just studied Korean while staying here, and studied a different language in college. At the VERY least, I could have pushed myself more to take both Korean AND Spanish, but I didn’t.
5) Taken my future more seriously and done more internships. Any experience is at least experience. Also, there are so many great opportunities to do internship programs abroad…should have done it.
I know that this blog post seems negative and like I’m sulking in regrets, I’m not. The point is that I also feel that it is important to reflect upon decisions we made in the past, and how they’re affecting our present, so that we can learn and put that knowledge towards our future.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Is it Ever too Early to Pursue our Passion?
This is my first post, and I’m hoping blogging will also help myself sort the whirlwind of thoughts and questions constantly running through my head. I have a blog on tumblr as well, but I'm experimenting with blogger too.
I have already been here for eight months and it has nearly been a year since I finished my undergraduate. There are five months left here in Korea until I am free to take the next leap in life. Time is going by so fast, and as a planner for the future (which sometimes causes me unnecessary angst) I feel torn between the options that lie ahead of me, but with a sense of urgency to make a choice.
Once again I am battling with the haunting question of “what do I do next?”
I am just a mere twenty-two years of age, so young, with so much life left to live, but sometimes with the pressures of society norms, I don’t feel that I have the room to move. I’m pressed between the walls of letting myself follow my desire to experience all that I can versus going back to the U.S. (where the job market frankly SUCKS right now), putting some sort of roots down and starting a career in hopes to be able to make a decent living for myself.
Many of us hope for some kind of stability. Stability in the sense of which security offers us, and often times in this world today, security is equated to money and financial stability. Someday I want a family, stable career, to be financially independent, and to provide for my children. However, in order to find a happy and healthy relationship with someone, I need to be happy with myself and have followed my dreams and accomplish some of my own goals first.
There are many successful and accomplished people who were the lawyers, the doctors, the accountants…who chose the money route first and later in life quit those jobs and pursued their true passion. Do I wait that long?
A friend advised me-
I’d like to hear stories of people’s successes and failures, people who did it one way or the other.
I have said it many times to friends, to peers, but nowadays I’m finding myself having to try to convince me that YES we are young! We have time to live, time to make mistakes - some say that the twenties should be the best times of our lives…WHOA, put the breaks there for a second…The choices we make now are some of the key/most important. If we want a marriage, and a family, by early 30’s, do we really have that much time to get the stable career/money ball rollin?
I have already been here for eight months and it has nearly been a year since I finished my undergraduate. There are five months left here in Korea until I am free to take the next leap in life. Time is going by so fast, and as a planner for the future (which sometimes causes me unnecessary angst) I feel torn between the options that lie ahead of me, but with a sense of urgency to make a choice.
Once again I am battling with the haunting question of “what do I do next?”
I am just a mere twenty-two years of age, so young, with so much life left to live, but sometimes with the pressures of society norms, I don’t feel that I have the room to move. I’m pressed between the walls of letting myself follow my desire to experience all that I can versus going back to the U.S. (where the job market frankly SUCKS right now), putting some sort of roots down and starting a career in hopes to be able to make a decent living for myself.
Many of us hope for some kind of stability. Stability in the sense of which security offers us, and often times in this world today, security is equated to money and financial stability. Someday I want a family, stable career, to be financially independent, and to provide for my children. However, in order to find a happy and healthy relationship with someone, I need to be happy with myself and have followed my dreams and accomplish some of my own goals first.
There are many successful and accomplished people who were the lawyers, the doctors, the accountants…who chose the money route first and later in life quit those jobs and pursued their true passion. Do I wait that long?
A friend advised me-
make money now, in your youth - so that you can do those things and the things you want to do in life easily, later on…Is that how it has to be? Is it really all about the money? Must I go back and settle into a career which I was somewhat “trained” for (a.k.a. what I majored in).
I’d like to hear stories of people’s successes and failures, people who did it one way or the other.
- The ones who waited and chose the money first, and decades later in life broke away and chased their true heart’s desire
- Those who didn’t let the worry about money cloud their vision and went to chase their dreams/search for passion and found it
- The ones who did it, but were unable to attain stability later on when needed
I have said it many times to friends, to peers, but nowadays I’m finding myself having to try to convince me that YES we are young! We have time to live, time to make mistakes - some say that the twenties should be the best times of our lives…WHOA, put the breaks there for a second…The choices we make now are some of the key/most important. If we want a marriage, and a family, by early 30’s, do we really have that much time to get the stable career/money ball rollin?
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