Can anyone believe that we’re already halfway through 2023? As always, I like to use the beginning of July to reflect on my goals and progress, since July marks the entry to the second half of the year.
I set several goals for myself at the beginning of the year, and as per usual some have proved to be more realistic than others. My goal to read more Korean novels has by far been the easiest resolution. I’ve already finished 8 books and will finish another one this week. Sticking to my habit of reading Korean literature every day has not only helped me improve my reading speed but has also greatly improved my reading comprehension.
I continue to study Japanese and have weekly sessions where I can practice speaking. I still feel a huge gap between my comprehension and speaking skills, but I do feel some improvement. I’m also on track with my study plan for the December JLPT N2, so hopefully I’ll be able to pass the exam when the time comes.
My morning routine has been more of a challenge. Ideally, I want to start each day in a calm and quiet way – preferably by reading a book. However, sometimes life gets in the way and I have definitely had many mornings that just started in front of my laptop. I’ll try to use the summer break to get back on track with this one because my mornings play such an important role in setting the tone for the rest of the day.
So, what have I been up to since I came back from Seoul? In a nutshell, working and traveling. I taught my usual econ classes at uni up until the summer break and have also been teaching Korean at the evening school every Monday. It’s been quite a busy semester but in between I managed to go on two quick getaways with my husband. In April we went back to Edinburgh and last week we visited Dublin. Both cities were absolutely lovely. Kind people, good food, and beautiful architecture.
Here you can see a few pics from both places and one of the three cows that come to grass at a meadow near my house every spring.
Since the pandemic lifted and we can finally travel freely again, I’ve had this urge to go on shorter trips within Europe. It’s amazing how many places you can travel to directly within 2 hours of flight time.
I’ll soon be jetting off again, this time to Norwich for a summer course in literary translation, but that’s so awesome that it deserves a blog post of its own. Stay tuned for some exciting news.
Until then a happy 하반기 second half of 2023 to all!
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