On Being Thankful

Occasionally, I will complain about my job, especially at the end of the semester when I'm a little bit weary and worn down. Overall though, I remain positive about it 95% of the time and feel very thankful that the last 8 years of my life have been spent doing this pretty amazing job.  But, there are some people working at Korean universities who complain frequently, which kind of mystifies me because I'm totally convinced that this is the best job that I, or any of these other people will ever have in their entire lives. Who else would pay you so much money for such a little amount of actual work? And that work isn't even stressful or difficult, dangerous or dirty.

 So, what am I saying? I'm very thankful to have worked at Korean Universities for the past eight years, and I've enjoyed my time in Korea for the past ten years most of the time, but I've decided to move back to Canada in February or March of 2016 when my contract is done. I don't want to be an English teacher for the rest of my life and the longer I stay abroad, the more that this will just become my life and before I know it, it will be too late to switch careers.  So, one more happy year in Korea, filled with lots of sad times doing things, teaching things, eating things and seeing people one last time. I know that after I leave, I'm going to think about Korea and miss it, probably every single day for the rest of my life.