thoughts I’ve been having lately ... | Real Korean listening

Hello everyone this is Teacher Sol I hope you're all having a happy week Today I'm going to be a bit more casual I've been thinking about starting a podcast You know I've already been doing this podcast for over a year now Thank you so much first of all I'm truly grateful and I've shared many stories about Korean culture experiences I had in Korea and my thoughts on Korea Sometimes I'd also talk about myself thinking about how I'd go about doing my podcast in the future and so occasionally like this I felt like chatting casually like a friend and sharing my own thoughts I' m naturally quite talkative I tend to think quite a lot so I'm keeping this casual treating you all like friends I just wanted to have a relaxed conversation —thought it would be nice to share these ideas I’ve been having and I’m curious to hear your thoughts too just chatting casually I thought it might be nice to chat so casually today I'll share some things I've been thinking about lately Let's talk about friendship language and learning languages So today's podcast will be about that Shall we give it a try Among the thoughts I've been having lately the first one is this friend right here Do you have many friends Honestly I I don’t have many friends I hardly have any and when I think about it I haven’t met a single friend this year It's already October but I haven 't met any friends by now I' ve always been alone on weekends and honestly only very rarely Just my students—really Only occasionally One Two That's it Nothing else and yet I'm out here meeting people like this I don't remember our meeting at all That's why I've been thinking about this lately quite a bit Like this me Could we really get by without friends Why are friends necessary These are thoughts we especially have when we're young going to school You always have friends around so you can always see them without having to make an effort —friends are always there for you Going to school with friends just felt so natural like something completely ordinary and that's why my friends were just part of it We used to see each other often but now as we’ve grown up we’ve realized how hard it is to keep a friendship alive especially when we’re not living close to one another Or if you don't share the same hobby meeting up with friends regularly becomes too difficult This is especially true in Korea We're all busy after all—juggling a lot of work personal development and in Korea especially when it comes to dating most people usually have their boyfriend There are quite a few people who only hang out with their girlfriends So as adults maintaining friendships becomes important It took some effort honestly I've traveled abroad quite a bit moved houses many times and now I'm really in a city where nobody knows me I live alone and when I first moved here last year I thought "I should make some friends " so I joined various clubs and tried different things The people I met in this club were hard to grow close to so after a few meetings we'd just go to a café It's something you could do after eating but is it really hard to become close friends That kind of feeling In the end we only met a couple of times last year It feels like we never really became friends Especially since I always work alone at home it's truly No one to meet on weekends and even on weekends I'm working in the mornings and just utterly exhausted during the afternoons I'm getting older and You're eating now I guess That thought comes to mind I'm just so tired I've been sleeping straight through the weekend afternoons and waking up only in the evenings Now I'll just eat and be done I guess I've spent so long like this I hardly even thought about meeting anyone Work and sleep—now it' s time to eat and that' s it That's why I didn 't meet a single friend That's when I started thinking— suddenly it 's October and 2025 is already almost over How was this year really Looking back I realized I was literally just at home the whole time— I didn’t meet anyone at all I realized I hardly have any friends who reach out to me and I started wondering if I could keep living like this going out to find friends Should I try making something Do I need a friend Can I be fine without one I think I've given quite a bit of thought to this What do you all think Personally I firmly believe that all people are inherently social creatures That's why I think interacting with people and meeting them in person is really important to me I'm also an E I'm an E-type I really enjoy meeting people but I suppose since my job involves regularly interacting with students that was enough for me Still Even though it's online you can meet students and have conversations yet it still feels like nobody's really there I've had that thought too Like what if I suddenly just I collapsed in the room I suddenly fell like this I collapsed from the pain then you came to me Is there really no one coming to help I've even had thoughts like that My parents are quite far away after all Who would even know if I collapsed Who could possibly know I even had thoughts like that—sure they were a bit foolish but still What do you think Is a friend an essential part of our lives Growing up like this is it really necessary Friendship which should be easy to create seems to have no clear answer yet on how to achieve it Do you often meet your friends How many friends are ideal Is it necessary to have friends If you have a response please let me know once I' ll read it Also my other thought is about language Would it better to master just one or two languages really well or to learn three four or even five languages to a decent level I was pondering whether it would better to have multiple items at a certain level as I think I mentioned to you all earlier this year I had planned to study two more languages I wanted to learn Japanese and I was also considering Portuguese I had thought about it but since both of us were studying I ended up giving up First of all I was trying to handle both at the same time Studying was a bit difficult It was tough and since I was studying Japanese I just lacked motivation When I think about why I 'm studying Japanese the truth is I don't actually even like Japanese dramas Just watching anime occasionally Only watching anime now and then no Japanese friends and I've looked high and low for Japanese teachers too You really fit me perfectly I couldn 't even find a teacher who could help That's why I've lost motivation —doing it one day not the next Studying sometimes makes me wonder why I'm doing this at all and I find myself asking why I even want to learn another language What is my purpose here Should I study more languages I'm not particularly interested in or focus instead on those I've already begun learning Would it better to study English and Spanish more deeply perhaps up to a C2 level I think language learning is It's fun studying languages is enjoyable but without motivation or drive you can't keep it up consistently But I truly mean it when I say English is I used to really love English dramas and since I had to live in a Spanish-speaking country I worked hard at it But honestly I did wonder since I'm a language teacher maybe I should be able to speak five languages I actually had that thought before Knowing about five languages or so lets you tell students Oh I've studied all of these myself I thought this was good and that one wasn't so maybe we could figure out a way to explain this approach better I also thought about it a bit more Speaking multiple languages makes you look cool I think I’ve felt that way too—kind of like oh that’s impressive someone who speaks five languages Five of them just looked kind of cool didn't they Right Back then doing five gave you that slightly cool vibe you know—kind of cool I want to show myself and since I'm a language teacher I thought I should probably handle at least five languages Now that I think about it I couldn't help but wonder again if that was really necessary I really did come and go I'd like to make a small change to this Always going back and forth this way then that way thinking about doing this then changing my mind to do that That’s truly my biggest weakness I’m really indecisive So lately I’ve been thinking a lot What do you all think If you're capable you could learn five languages at a moderate B1 to B2 level or two languages in greater depth Going for a C2 level—what do you think would better What would be more beneficial Honestly it might vary from person to person Depending on the situation but for now I've been overthinking things and decided to dive back into studying two languages more deeply I started thinking about it But then again I don't know If things keep going like this next year I might be back to studying Japanese again There's also a possibility of doing it this way Today I shared some of the odd and random thoughts I've been having lately I find it enjoyable to say things like this to share the thoughts I have and simply talking and connecting with all of you is something I truly enjoy It seems interesting Do you all think as much as I do Are you someone who tends to overthink Today just like always these random thoughts of mine Thank you so much for listening Now that the weather is getting cold please don't get sick and make sure to dress warmly Then I'll be back next time with another story I hope all of us find happiness Thank you See you next time