Thursday, 21 November 1996
I have to make this note before another month passes! A while ago, a week would have felt endlessly long. Now time is passing two weeks at a time! It’s Thursday today, and I still remember looking at the clock in the classroom last week Monday, thinking how slowly time was passing. And that was last week Monday!
Three weeks ago I had been in Korea for four months, with four months left before my target month of February. In a week I will have been here for five months, with three months to go to my target …
I know in many ways it will be beneficial to stay longer, but I’m sticking to February. As time draws nearer, we’ll talk again.
December I think is going to be all right; probably just fucking cold.
As things are standing right now, I’m planning to resign in ten weeks, and to go home in fourteen weeks …
Monday, 25 November 1996
According to Plan A, I’ll return to South Africa in three months. Three months. What I’ll leave behind is a sometimes dull, sometimes exhausting, sometimes depressing, sometimes exciting, yet ultimately unforgettable life where I earn a few thousand rand every month, and where I spend time with people I now call friends that I will probably never see again.
What I’ll be entering is a world where I can speak my own language, see old friends, and spend a few days in Stellenbosch. Within a few weeks, I’ll be going to Europe for a new phase of my life.
The latest I can go back is the end of May – six months and one week from now. In a month I will have been here for six months, and then May is five months away.
Solution: I still have to work and save for the end of February. I’ll have to see how things work out, and talk again during December. If I decide February is too soon, I’ll have to look at March, and then at April.
I just have to remember it’s four o’clock on a Monday afternoon. This is usually a depressing time. I just have to try to get through today, and then tomorrow …
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