September --> October

My first full month has drawn to a close, and I'm really happy to be drawing closer to my first paycheck.

The hardest part about living here so far has definitely been that I got here in mid-August but won't get paid until mid-October.  I was warned that it would be a month before I got paid, but I thought that meant mid-September.

I've been living out of my savings so far, and that's been super stressful.  Trying to set up a living space from money that I set aside for other things (like student loans and emergency plane tickets home) is difficult, so I've been doing the minimum.   I don't have enough storage containers for all my things, so I don't have a place for everything yet.  A bunch of stuff is just kind of eternally being shuffled around on my table.  I don't like that I've never seen my apartment with all my stuff fully settled in it.

My first paycheck will be larger than normal because it will include training as well, but I'm still going to be on a slightly tighter budget than I hoped for the first few months to make up for everything I've had to spend so far.  Grump grump grump.  At least it's almost over - I get paid in a week and a half.

But the nice thing about living in a big city is that there's plenty to see and do for cheap or free, so it's not like I'll be unable to enjoy myself.

As for teaching, some things have gotten easier while some things have gotten harder.  I have some unruly students and a couple classes where I'm hard-pressed to keep my students from speaking Korean all the time.  However, I have figured out what certain classes of students do and do not respond well to, so I've been able to tailor lessons to their needs a bit better as time has gone on.

The weather is definitely getting chillier here, but I haven't seen leaves changing color yet.  I'm sure that will come soon enough~  I'll post pictures when it happens.  I'll also post pictures of my apartment when I eventually get everything settled, but that's still a bit away.