Family

Time in short supply

Why is it that the older you get, the faster time passes?  When you’re a kid, you have all the time in the world.  As you grow older, time passes exponentially faster, until before you know it your life is over.  OK, that sounds a bit fatalistic, but it does seem that time passes more quickly as you age, doesn’t it?  I suppose that it slows down again after you retire and your children leave home.  I don’t really know, because I’m still a long way from retirement.  I just know that time seems to be passes more and more quickly for me with each passing day.  Today is a perfect example.  In the morning I woke up and had breakfast with my son.  Then we went outside and played for awhile, and my wife went shopping.  We went back inside and played some more.  At lunchtime we had lunch.  When he took a nap, I did too (naps must also be a sign of aging!).  At 5 o’clock I met someone for a two-hour discussion on a serious situation with the community association, then at about 7 o’clock I joined my wife and son at E-Mart for shopping and dinner.  We returned about 9 o’clock and put our son down for bed.  I went online and did some e-mailing, and now I’m here writing this blog.  It’s 11:45 in the evening, and another day will soon be over.  Although a lot happened today, I felt that there was so much I did not do because I did not have the time.  For my son though, it was nice long day full of fun and play, just like the yesterday and the day before.
 
Do you think time passes more quickly as you grow older?  If so, why?

A birthday treat

Last night I was all set to write about something eclectic (traditional Korean music), but then I was pulled away from the computer by a big, pleasant surprise.  My wife took me out for my birthday, and some friends of ours joined us.  My birthday won’t arrive for a few more days, but I was happy to get out and celebrate the somber occasion (after about age 25, birthdays, become more somber than festive ).  What could be better than to celebrate your birthday with friends and loved ones on a weekend?  We went out for delicious Indian food and then for karaoke at a noraebang in Myeongdong.  Truth be told, I didn’t feel much like a party animal last night, but I was still happy to have been treated to a fun night on the town.  Two other couples with children escaped from home and joined us.  We had so much fun that we decided to get together every time one of us had a birthday.  All six of our birthdays are scattered throughout the year, so we can do it periodically.  From time to time, we’ll all plan to hire babysitters or nannies and treat ourselves to a night out. 
 
At the Indian restaurant we ate mango birthday cake.  I couldn’t believe it didn’t blow the candles out on the first try!  Shame on me.  Either my lungs are shrinking, or there were too many candles on the cake (probably the latter).   My friends gave me a T-shirt and a necktie.  The T-shirt reads "Army" in block letters–most likely a veiled attempt to con me into exercising and cadence calling, methinks.  I think I’ll pass.  The necktie is a nice red, silk tie.  It features an intricate pattern of cigarette lighters and ivy leaves.  I have no idea what subliminal message the tie’s pattern conjures, but I’m sure it’s meant to be comical.  Unfortunately, I’ve already ruined the tie.  I proudly wore it to work today, and like so many of my neckties, it’s already started to fray.  I am so distraught.  I’ve already thrown away a couple of good neckties gone bad.  All my ties have become victims of my workplace.  Virtually every day, they snag on the counter and fray at the ends.  I wore this tie once, and after just one day it started to unravel.  I’ve vowed not to wear any new ties to work until I move to a new job.  Neckties are much too expensive to replace frequently.  I’ll just keep wearing the frazzled ones.  Old and worn and frayed, just like me.

Still don’t know where we’re headed

My plan to get an early jump on our next assignment failed.  If you recall, I bid on follow-on assignments in several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong (Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China).  My chances of landing an early assignment were a bit slim, but I was cautiously optimistic.  Unfortunately, I found out a couple days ago that I will have to wait until early next year during my scheduled bid cycle to bid on my next assignment.  Today, my colleagues who were already scheduled to bid this cycle found out what their next assignments will be.  I’m thrilled for them.  The air at work today was abuzz with animated stirrings as the news of people’s onward assignments trickled throughout the building.  I’m especially happy to hear that many of my colleagues’ next assignments are decent (it gives me hope mine will be as well).  Some people are headed to Turkey (Istanbul and Ankara), China (Shanghai and Beijing), one will head to Germany, another to Sri Lanka.  Details are sketchy, but it seems that people were generally satisfied with their next assignments.  The anticipation is over and reality has arrived for them.
 
I learned one very important lesson from this exercise–knowing foreign languages definitely helps you improve your ability to secure a good, onward assignment.    Seoul has long had a reputation for being a difficult place to be when you do not know another foreign language beyond Korean.  During job bidding, you must submit ranked bids on 20 potential assignments for which one assignment will be selected for you.  Most of the time, you receive one of your top bids.  However, the requirement that you bid on 20 job assignments can leave one dissatisfied with their assignment if the selection is from the bottom of their list.  This is especially true if you do not speak any other foreign language besides Korean.  It limits your list to English-language posts, because you cannot bid on tours that require another foreign language.  Assignments in the Londons and Sydneys of the world are notoriously difficult to land, so you’re often left with English-prevalent places such as Manila, Phillippines, Chennai, India, or Lagos, Nigeria.  If you want to live in Nigeria, you would probably be happy with such a narrow bid list.  However, most people would rather have a wider bid selection. 
 
As for me, I’m happy to be qualified to bid on Spanish- and Chinese-speaking posts, which dramatically increase my bid selection.  Fortunately, more places are designated Spanish-required than any other language group (Arabic is second).  However, after learning that someone from Seoul just landed a job in Germany, I will now have to buckle down and focus on improving my German language skill.  I started to study German, but I slacked off after I decided to focus solely on working in China on my next assignment (I reasoned that there would be no need for me to study German if I knew I was headed to China.  If given a choice, I would actually prefer a German-required assignment than to work in China after I leave Korea.  I thought that heading to Europe would be an impossible dream bidding out of Seoul, but some people today made me a believer.  Jetzt muess ich Deutsch sehr fleissig ueben!  I have about six months to improve it.