If a Tree Falls in a School With No Students, Does It Make a Sound?

I think I might be going crazy. I was under the impression that a week of doing absolutely nothing and getting paid for it would be so much better than another week of doing things and getting paid the same amount. And it is. I have energy to spare, my voice no longer sounds like a chainsaw cutting through a petrified forest, and we’re getting real food from restaurants instead of lukewarm fried squid and watery soup. This is pretty awesome. But it’s doing nothing for my sense of self-worth.

Don’t get me wrong, I can handle plenty of time doing useless work, like writing this blog, and getting paid for it. But there came a time when I started to feel like maybe I’m living some sort of weird double life. For almost a week now I’ve done nothing in the day but sit at a desk and pretend to be working. Sometimes I’ve even done real work, like finally finishing assembling students’ nametags or planning for the parents’ lesson I had to teach today.

But for the most part I’ve been reading the news, trolling Facebook for juicy gossip (did you know that Zac, who signed onto the lease in Minnesota instead of me, stayed up until 2 AM last night? I know, crazy!), and growing a beard by virtue of being too lazy to shave certain parts of my face. And then sometimes I go out at night and do really cool stuff, like going to a Nintendo Room (a magical land where you drink beer, play Wii, and sit on thirty pillows), a wine tasting, or a shady slum filled with brothels and stores packed with (most likely) stolen electronics. These things are all new to me, and therefore exciting and invigorating. And then there was last night, when I cuddled with my floor chair and watched two episodes of the popular television show Angel. That’s right, Angel. In this way, I feel like maybe I’m turning into a really lame version of Batman. By day, I am a (relatively) mild-mannered English teacher/internet addict/blog writer, but when I manage to get out, I am an adventurous spirit of adventure and also punching, striking out into the night to take revenge on all sad stereotypes of nerdy twentysomethings who live alone and watch Angel. Really, I even punched some stuff last Saturday. Just because it was an actual punching bag doesn’t make it any less relevant.

Yeah, something like this. 

I’m living in a foreign land, learning a new language, eating a new food almost every day, and generally having a blast. But this week, sitting in the mostly-empty office with little to no work to do, something is definitely missing. I think the void I’m talking about is the same one that took root in my soul while I was working at Mall of America for the better part of a year: meaningful, fulfilling work. Is it weird to say that I actually… miss teaching just a little? Oh, well. Next week, then. At least I still have Angel’s chiseled biceps to hold me when I get home tonight.