FiMyMaTheMo

 or, "How My Master's Thesis Ruined My Life."


Many of you know that both Rebecca and I had finished the coursework for our respective MAs before we left the US for Korea. We both had also made significant headway on our theses before we shipped out - Rebecca had turned in a full draft of hers, and I had defended my prospectus and been given the green light to finish my analysis (which should have been the easy part). We got on the plane with laptops and backpacks full of data, and plans to finish up and defend in the summer. 


Once we got here, all that changed. We had new jobs to figure out, new foods to try, a new city to explore, and a new language to learn. We left the frozen wastes of Wyoming while it was still wintery and arrived here in time for the full bloom of spring, the season that many consider the most beautiful in Jeonju. We just couldn't sit in front of computers everyday while everything was green and flowering outside. Slowly, we let go of our summer graduation plans, and set our sights on December. 


We established a schedule that called for us to rise each day at 8:00AM and dedicate hours to our theses before working out, showering, and heading in to work at 2:00PM. This meant returning home after work and basically heading straight to bed, which is completely counter to my natural rythms. We were quite dedicated to this schedule for a time, but then we met and befriended other ex-pats in Jeonju, and like us, they got off work late in the evening. Going out for dinner with friends until 1:30AM makes it hard to get up at 8:00AM and generate quality academic writing.


Local friendships led to us becoming more active in the Jeonju internet communitites, which led to volunteering at orphanages, a Dinner in English group, and the final straw - taking a Korean class at Chonbuk University. The class met daily, and moved quite quickly. Eventually, trying to keep up with the new grammar and vocabulary was taking up all of my spare time. Everything else fell off (including posting to this blog), and soon I realized that three weeks had passed without me even looking at my thesis. 


My thesis glares at me from a dark corner of my mind constantly, like an ugly and unloved doll on a dusty shelf. I know that I should fix it up and get it ready to present, but there is always something newer and shinier clamoring for my atention. In the light of my new suroundings and new interests it seems ill-concieved, trivial, unneeded, and broken somehow. Yes - my thesis now lives on the Island of Misfit Toys, and my intended graduation date has slipped away to next May.


Although I have embraced every distraction that has come my way, I have finally realized that my unfinished thesis is sucking all the joy from my life. In my college career I never failed to turn in a paper and I never took an incomplete, so the thesis dragging on feels like a huge failure. I have reached the point where every moment of free time that I spend doing anything else, no matter how important or valid it is, is tainted because the thesis is not done. Everything - volunteering, movies, shopping, hiking, clubbing, literally everything we do for fun - reminds me that I have the debt from a Master's degree, but not the diploma. It is beginning to keep me from sleeping - I have dreams in which I face a committee that demands my paper, but there is nothing in my folder but old bus tickets and empty gimbap wrappers. This must end.


I have several friends who participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) every year. They crank out around fifty or sixty thousand words in 30 days each November. I don't need anywhere near 50K - I'm just about thirty pages from done. Another form of inspiration comes from Jillian Venters of Gothic Charm School (she is inspirational in so many way) who has declared this to be her "Finish the Damn Novel Month." So, to keep myself from descending any further into this pleasureless spiral of avoidance and annoyance, I have declared November to be "Finish My Master's Thesis Month." We shall call it "FiMyMaTheMo."


I am done with Korean class and I am returning to a strict schedule of writing 5 days per week. I will allow myself to play on the weekends only if I have put in the time Monday through Friday. Let this serve as notice to my friends - I will be turning down any new social engagements during the week and staying in my cell until it is done (I am still having midnight pancakes this Tuesday with the cool kids from Junghwasan-Dong because it is already on the calendar - but after that I'm like a nun).

This should allow me to finish the damn thing by December 1st. I will not be able to put together a defense before the university goes on Winter break, but I should be able to corral my committee sometime in January or February. Hopefully by my birthday in March it will all be just an awkward memory.

After that, I will be free again. Food and friends will be guiltless again, and I will enjoy the sleep of the righteous (or at least the sleep of the exhausted teacher, which I heartily deserve). The writing project that Rebecca and I have been discussing can get underway, and perhaps I will finally have time to sign up for Taekwondo or Hapkido classes like I had planned when we first got these jobs. 

Wish me luck, and don't invite me to anything cool for a while...

6.9.11 Picture Dump

I've been blogging for quite a while now, and this has happened to me before. You take a couple pictures that you want to put up, and you plan to write a really awesome post to go with them... but then you (insert random timesink here). After that is done you want to post, but you have taken several more cool photos, and you have a cool experience to share - you realize it will take several posts. You plan to write three or four posts on the weekend and then schedule them to post every other day for the next week. Naturally, towards the end of the week you find out that (insert cool event you can't possibly miss here) is this weekend, and you put all posting on hold until it is over on Sunday. Sunday rolls around and you are too (drunk/hung over/sunburned/frostbiten/injured/exhausted/pregnant/depressed/etc.) to write. Rinse and repeat once or twice and then you are where we are today - too far behind to ever catch up. The pictures and half-written posts clog up the pipes until you dread going near your computer.

Thus, we dump. Yeah, this is the blog equivalent of your neighbors inviting you to look at their slides from Mazatlan over wine spritzers. Sorry, but if we don't dump these, we'll never be able to face the keys again. Bear with us...

Papbingsu - amazing dessert. Sweet red bean paste, rice cakes, and fruit over shaved ice.  Amazing.

Teriyaki woodong - very tasty, and seriously spicy.

Becky getting her hair washed with water that was steeped with sweet flag leaves. It's for good luck, and it's a major attraction of the annual Dan-o festival. We also entered a wrestling tournament that day - alas, there are no pictures.

"Our" bakery. It's ours because it's by our house, and the lady who works  there in the evenings loves us. She actually hugs Becky all the time. She speaks Korean to us constantly - we are susually reduced to smiling and nodding as she puts free doughnuts into our bag.

Sinpo soondaboo - the food that is as fun to say as it is to eat. It's tofu, veggies, and a little meat in a spicy chili soup - really good for  chilly mornings.

Choenbuk - the university district. Filled with cool shops, cheap food, and on the weekends, young people dressed to kill. Lots of incredibly pretty girls with amazingly well-dressed boys, strolling.

Dak galbi - chicken, kimchi, rice cakes, and chili sauce, cooked at your table. This is the before picture...

... and this is after it's been cooking for about 10 minutes. It's possibly my favorite thing I've had to eat. Ever.

Dan pat chuk - sweet red bean soup with rice cake in it. It's like a warm pudding, really, with a ton of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Typical lunch. Doekboggi, gimbap, boiled fish paste, and (sigh) a corn dog for Becky.

Lotus leaf rice - the green thing that looks like paper is a lotus leaf . The rice comes to the table wrapped up in it - looks like steaming green baseballs. Delicate flavor - very different.

Pork Bulgogi - very hot, in both spiciness and temperature. Surrounded by some of the side dishes that came with this meal...

...more side dishes...

... and still more side dishes. This meal was incredible, and it was about $9.00 per person!

Our coworker, looking radiant on her wedding day.

Pumpkin roll - Becky's new favorite sushi.

Spicy bacon roll - the name meant I had to taste it. You'd be surprised how well bacon and tuna go together.

Seafod dupahb - basically a seafood omelette over rice. Very satisfying comfort food.

And finally, Star Trek Becky.

Ok, I feel better now. I think we can return to regular posting again.

4/8/11 VISAS!

Final vet visit for Quinn and Friday = $120

USDA Health Certificate = $36

Travel crate, live animal stickers, water bottles, etc. for pet's travel = $90

Coming home to find that our Visas have arrived = PRICELESS!

They were supposed to interview us by phone... apparently they decided to waive that requirement. Because they hadn't called or emailed to set up the interview, we had given up on receiving our visas until sometime next week. Naturally, we were pretty relaxed about getting everything done - we had plenty of time. With visas in hand, however, we may be able to get out of here on something resembling our original schedule... thus, I am terrified. 

We should be getting a call from our travel agent very soon to set up flights. We will keep you posted...

UPDATE: We are flying out Sunday morning!

4.7.11 Overdue

I just got an email from our recruiter saying that our school would like us to arrive as quickly as possible - yeah, we would like that too. Everyone involved would like that. Unfortunately, the instructions from the Korean Consulate seem to indicate that we are not leaving this weekend. If you look at the instructions they sent me below, you'll see what I'm worried about.

Apparently they only do interviews on Monday and Wednesday. If that is true, then we won't be interviewed until next Monday - which means we won't get our Visas until Tuesday at the earliest, but probably Wednesday. So we could depart by Thursday, which puts us into Jeonju on the 16th.

Our recruiter has already told us that the school will adjust our contract start date once we get there, but it is still troubling. I hate to begin a new job like this - great first impression. I'm sure they understand that it's not our fault, but it still feels like there was something more I should have done to expedite things. I'll call the Consulate again tomorrow.

If it takes too much longer, then we have to have Quinn and Friday examined again, as their health forms have to be dated within 10 days of the flight. It will also mean that Becky and I have to knock around the house for longer, which is proving to be unhealthy for both of us. I have spent so much time sorting and selling my belongings that a bonfire for the remainder is starting to sound like a great idea. We could call the city, get a permit, invite friends, roast some marshmallows...

4.6.11 Limbo

Still haven't heard from the Korean consulate or the travel agent. Looks like we won't be leaving Saturday as planned.

In some ways, this is great, because there is still a metric ton of work to be done. We need to say good-bye to everyone, finish selling the expensive stuff, ditch the rest, take old clothes to Goodwill, deep-clean the house, complete the paperwork for the animals, buy a new carrier and the requisite traveling supplies, wash clothes, weather-proof boots, change our addresses, acclimate the animals to their kennels, finish graduation paperwork, and pay my parking ticket. And then, when that's all done, we need to actually pack. And while all this is happening, I'm also trying to get a new key made for my car, do work for my assistantship with the English Dept., and read and take notes on a book that's essential for my thesis. So, in some ways, it's great that we have a few extra days.

And at the same time, it really. Is. Not. Because, emotionally, I've already left the building. I am ready to shake some small-city dust off my feet now, thanks. The prospect of my adventure being delayed, even for a few days, is making me a lot crankier than it should be.

Not to mention that all this indecision makes it hard to actually accomplish anything. I should be busting my butt right this second, sorting my clothes or taking notes or something. But because I have no firm deadline to finish things by, I'm spending my time on other things. Like the Internet. Like I'm doing right now.

Okay, okay, I'll get back to work...