Thusday, August 31, 2006 Cloudy and a little rainy.

　Maybe drank too much soju these days, so I kind of feel a bit sick to my stomach. I had better drink less. Today I finished making the third-term Reading report. So, I did all that I had planned to do during the summer vacation, at long last, really. I did a little shopping at Korea Town-kimch and shin-ramen. School begins tomorrow. The summer holidays ended so soon. What a busy time I had!

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 Cloudy

　It was rather muggy today. The sky was overcast, too. My struggle with the summer Korean assignments lasted for over a month, and now I am a bit absent-minded. My wife heard me groaning in my sleep from time to time. I have not practiced speaking Korean or English for so long. I must be quite rusty. As far as learning a foreign language is concerned, you must keep 'lubricating' it. On club duty today. I waited, but they stood me up. They never seem to mind breaking their word. I got disappointed. It was foolish of me to believe them. Made five pages of the 3rd term Reading report. Three pages to go. Also printed Reading handouts for the 2nd term.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Cloudy

　Yesterday made a copy of a student's school records, which took an hour or so. This morning wrote a report on the summer Korean language course, which took over an hour. Now I will have to get ready for today's Korean class. My Korean was terrible today. Made a lot of silly mistakes. Handed in the summer Korean course report anyway. Also did some other miscellaneous work.

Monday, August 28, 2006 Fair

　At last finished all my Korean assignments. What a relief! Went to see the doctor to hear about the results of the blood test done last week. There was nothing particularly wrong with that. That was another relief. Almost back to normal. For the time being, I will continue with this online diary anyway.

Saturday, August 26, 2006 Fair

　Still busy doing my Korean assignments. Unless all this is done, I cannot do anything else. I will have to think about what to do with this online diary, too. To continue or not to continue, that is the question... Well, I will have to meet the deadlines for those assignments. That comes first now.

Monday, August 21, 2006 Fair

　The day before yesterday, that is, on the 19th something too sad happened, so I was in no mood to do anything for a while. Still the shock is so big. My wife was sad, too. However, I had to meet the deadlines for my Korean language assignments. This morning I swallowed a gastric camera. It is about time to close down this on-line diary. Three years may be enough.

Friday, August 18, 2006 Fair

　The translation of another Korean reading is progressing very slowly. An email from a colleague who is now Seoul, asking me which Korean-English dictionaries to buy for me. Now reading a Korean novel entitled "Hojun." Made an appointment on the telephone to swallow a gastric camera.

Thursday, August 17, 2006 Fair

　The day before yesterday a Japanese fishing boat was strafed off Hokkaido and a fisherman was shot to death. The Russians went too far. Too sad. The murder suspect of JonBenet Ramsey, an ex-elementary school teacher, was arrested over in Thailand. The girl's mother died of cancer in June this year. This incident happened ten years ago. The parents must have been under much stress. The media bashed them. I feel the absurdity of life.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006 Fair

　Reported to work late in the afternoon, for I took the first half-day off today. There were only a few colleagues at work. I continued with the Korean assignment. I left for home without saying a word at work. The atmosphere is not good for your sanity because people watch each other, not helping each other. No place for education to take place.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Fair

　I am beginning to get the picture. Looks like they are changing things at work. Kind of cracking down on us. I know it is necessary, but the way they do it is sort of mean. However, it has always been this way, come to think of it. Now the name of the game seems to be survival.

Monday, August 14, 2006 Fair

　Went to work for the first time in three weeks or so, but one of the bosses said for me to hand in a report of 18 pages on my Tenri Korean course. I am being given a hard time. At work somebody came up to me and said something threateningly. What does he think he is? What a place of work! He spoiled the day. Today checked dozens of assignments. What a nasty day!

Sunday, August 13, 2006 Fair

　I have about 11 pages of difficult Korean to put into Japanese. Now I have translated a little over two pages. Tomorrow I will have to go to work. I have a makeup to take care of and maybe quite a few assignments to correct. Today I watched two different Korean dramas for four hours. Time flies while I watch Korean dramas.

Saturday, August 12, 2006 Fair

　There are several assignments to do. They are due either on August 31 or September 12. Translating two Korean stories into Japanese is the hardest part of the assignments. This morning I did some cleaning first and then went shopping. Bought some manuscript paper to use for one of the assignments. Also went to the city library to look for material for the assignments.

Friday, August 11, 2006 Fair

　Since this Korean language intensive course began on July 25 there has not been a single day off. Each day there were five 90-minute-long classes-two in the morning and three in the afternoon. It took me around five hours to get there and back. Most of the participants were Korean native speakers or Japanese who are fluent in Korean. And I was just a beginner! Can you imagine how stressful this situation had been for me. At any rate I am glad it is all over now except that I will have to hand in the assignments.

Thursday, August 10, 2006 Fair

　The intensive Korean language course for a Korean teacher's license has been so tough I thought I would die. Now there is only one day to go. What a relief! For the past 18 days I have not listened to any English on the Internet radio. I still have some assignments to hand in.