June 13, Monday Blues

월요병.

Monday disease.

In English when I hear this phrase I think of corporate motivational posters but in Korea it feels like a real affliction. The only temporary fix I’ve found is a hard workout or daydreaming about a beach trip to Thailand and never coming back.

This semester has been absolutely non-stop between my day job, evening tutoring, evening Korean classes, TOPIK self study, and teaching weekend debate. Mondays this year have, without fail, punted me into the ground. Today was no different.

My five classes vacillated between fine and straining. Helen’s homeroom class is my biggest offender.

I actually thought to myself, quite shamefully but no less truthfully, I hate this class.

Individually, the kids are great but together, consistently, they don’t concentrate or stay on task. They talk incessantly but never raise their hands to answer my questions. There are 28 of them, the classroom stuffed to the gills with their overflowing desks.

I didn’t have the patience to make connections today and simply put on my customer service act.

I want to be close to them but I have no motivation when they annoy me this much. Maybe I’m just losing it, I thought, until I went to 5-4 and almost cried in relief when they did what I asked.

By the time the hump of the day finally finished, MJ had also dragged herself back to the office after subbing for fourth grade and promptly passed out on the couch. I fell asleep at my desk, my usual M.O. this semester, while Jack looked up news about increasing US gas prices and Wendy wondered aloud about the Ukraine war.

Some Mondays are harder than others.