So, here's a link. Check it out!
Thanks for reading!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Old Blog, New Post, Good Reason
Logos Bible Software is giving away Apple products for talking about the release of their new software, just for Mac Computers. As a Mac user, and a Christian, this is very exciting for me!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Hello, Spring.
Spring has come to Korea, and actually it's almost over. Although I am sad to see it go so soon it has been absolutely wonderful to make its acquaintance. After such a long, cold winter it was glorious to watch the outside world burst into greens, pinks, purples, blues, and reds. The days have gotten longer, the world has gotten greener, and Korea became a much happier place to exist in.
We have the great blessing of having a large window in our living room, and a decent view from it:
To the right is our place of work, the Pyeongtaek Youth Community Center (what a great commute we have); to the left is a large community garden all greened-up with spring; and straight ahead you can barely make out the silhouettes of large apartment buildings in the distance toward the ways of downtown.
And so, the spring has brought the green, the beauty, and a joyful kick in the pants for me; but as the humidity kicks in this week I realize that spring is running its last leg. As the humidity rises I must bid spring goodbye for the sticky clutches of another sweltering Korean summer. With the humidity, the summer also brings our last semester on this teaching contract. As of this week we have completed our third semester teaching English here in Pyeongtaek. It has been a wonderful and awful adventure these last 9 months. I hope that our reward for "sticking" it out this summer is the promise of a visit home to the States in the early Fall...
Goodbye, Spring. Hello, Hope.
We have the great blessing of having a large window in our living room, and a decent view from it:
To the right is our place of work, the Pyeongtaek Youth Community Center (what a great commute we have); to the left is a large community garden all greened-up with spring; and straight ahead you can barely make out the silhouettes of large apartment buildings in the distance toward the ways of downtown.And so, the spring has brought the green, the beauty, and a joyful kick in the pants for me; but as the humidity kicks in this week I realize that spring is running its last leg. As the humidity rises I must bid spring goodbye for the sticky clutches of another sweltering Korean summer. With the humidity, the summer also brings our last semester on this teaching contract. As of this week we have completed our third semester teaching English here in Pyeongtaek. It has been a wonderful and awful adventure these last 9 months. I hope that our reward for "sticking" it out this summer is the promise of a visit home to the States in the early Fall...
Goodbye, Spring. Hello, Hope.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
어버이 날
In about one hour it will be Friday, May 8th 2009 here in South Korea. May 8th is Parent's Day in Korea, or 어버이 날 in hangul (Korean). They don't celebrate a Father's or a Mother's day separately as we do in the West, but a joint celebratory day in honor of parents. I've learned from my students and my Korean "mom" Joanne that children traditionally give carnations to their parents on 어버이 날 morning and sing them love songs. Since John and I cannot be near our dear parents on this day of honor to give them carnations and sing them songs, we put together a slideshow to honor them and show them love. Mama D, Mama-zoub, Papa D, and Papa-zoub: WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH. Happy Parent's Day to the best parents out there.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Mogi-Goggi, Mashisoyo
Spring has sprung in Pyeongtaek. The cherry blossoms have come and gone. The Spring rains turned what were once beautiful blossoms into a slushy muck underfoot. That too has washed away, and the rains have brought with them the rest of the May flowers. Color is now strewn across the landscape as if the ground were the canvas of a cosmic Jackson Pollock.
Today, I took one of my higher level classes, 3 twelve-year olds outside after we finished our work for the day 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. I bought them hot chocolates from the snack bar and we sat under a pagoda in the courtyard, protected from the drizzle. We talked and laughed and were actually able to communicate and get to know one another on a heart level. It felt almost like I was their youth pastor. When our time was almost up, I walked toward the building, with them following behind like little ducklings, stopping to bend down and breathe in the heavenly fragrance of the white lilacs that are growing just outside the Youth Center. I smell them almost every time I walk by. I had never smelled lilacs before going to Briercrest. Now, I rollick in their scent whenever I get the chance. They are one of my favorite smells.
The rains will also bring with them mosquito (mogi) season. Last Autumn, before it got too cold for the little buggers, we went out for dinner with Jonathon and our Senior Boss, Mr. Jo. It was just the four of us, which is not something that happens often, as he doesn't speak very much English. Ferial had stepped into the ladies room, and while she was gone, the waiter brought out the second course of our very strange "Italian" meal. There was one dish, which I would liken to a salsbury steak, that was quite tasty. It was some kind of "goggi." All barbecued or roasted meat here is called "goggi" or "fire-meat." Just as we dug in, Jonathon pointed to his steak, noticing a little dead mosquito sitting atop the meat, as if it were put there as part of the presentation. I pointed at it, looked at the two of them and said "Mogi-Goggi?" Usually, Engli-fying Korean words and making any sort of rhyme or pun out of it, falls on deaf ears. However, this one was quite well received. It has since, been a hit every time I have used the term. In one of my classes, I even turned it into a song, singing "Mogi-Goggi mashisoyo!" which would translate, "Mosquito-meat! How delicious!"
The students love it.
We hate mosquitos. You may remember that last year, shortly after arriving in Korea's sweltering heat, Ferial received more than 30 bites in one night. The Koreans told her she needs to eat more kimchi, and the mogis won't bite as much. Either way, she is now traumatized, and will sometime wake up, afraid, even at the thought of hearing a buzzing hum near her ears.
I need to run to class, and this is ending rather abruptly, but let me leave you with this summary.
Spring is wonderful.
We hate mosquitos (however, they are quite delicious)
:)
Today, I took one of my higher level classes, 3 twelve-year olds outside after we finished our work for the day 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. I bought them hot chocolates from the snack bar and we sat under a pagoda in the courtyard, protected from the drizzle. We talked and laughed and were actually able to communicate and get to know one another on a heart level. It felt almost like I was their youth pastor. When our time was almost up, I walked toward the building, with them following behind like little ducklings, stopping to bend down and breathe in the heavenly fragrance of the white lilacs that are growing just outside the Youth Center. I smell them almost every time I walk by. I had never smelled lilacs before going to Briercrest. Now, I rollick in their scent whenever I get the chance. They are one of my favorite smells.
The rains will also bring with them mosquito (mogi) season. Last Autumn, before it got too cold for the little buggers, we went out for dinner with Jonathon and our Senior Boss, Mr. Jo. It was just the four of us, which is not something that happens often, as he doesn't speak very much English. Ferial had stepped into the ladies room, and while she was gone, the waiter brought out the second course of our very strange "Italian" meal. There was one dish, which I would liken to a salsbury steak, that was quite tasty. It was some kind of "goggi." All barbecued or roasted meat here is called "goggi" or "fire-meat." Just as we dug in, Jonathon pointed to his steak, noticing a little dead mosquito sitting atop the meat, as if it were put there as part of the presentation. I pointed at it, looked at the two of them and said "Mogi-Goggi?" Usually, Engli-fying Korean words and making any sort of rhyme or pun out of it, falls on deaf ears. However, this one was quite well received. It has since, been a hit every time I have used the term. In one of my classes, I even turned it into a song, singing "Mogi-Goggi mashisoyo!" which would translate, "Mosquito-meat! How delicious!"
The students love it.
We hate mosquitos. You may remember that last year, shortly after arriving in Korea's sweltering heat, Ferial received more than 30 bites in one night. The Koreans told her she needs to eat more kimchi, and the mogis won't bite as much. Either way, she is now traumatized, and will sometime wake up, afraid, even at the thought of hearing a buzzing hum near her ears.
I need to run to class, and this is ending rather abruptly, but let me leave you with this summary.
Spring is wonderful.
We hate mosquitos (however, they are quite delicious)
:)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
It's been such a while...
We went to Tokyo for our spring vacation. It was AMAZING, but so so expensive. We're going to try and blog more, we promise. ^^
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Wizard Has Left The Building
Ferial and I are passionate about books. Both of us are avid readers. We have always loved reading. Since we were young, both were labeled "book worm" and bore the badge proudly.
I remember the day I learned to read. Yes, it happened in a day. Of course my mother had been teaching me to read for quite a long time, but what I remember was the day it all clicked. I had learned to read words, sentences, even short stories, and to comprehend what I read there. However, it was unique knowledge. It was monocontextual, if you will. I could only read, sitting at the table, or on the couch with my mother and the curriculum she had used to teach me. Then one day, it just clicked. I was sitting in the back seat of the car. We were on our way to visit my grandmother in a neighboring town. I looked up and out of the window, and there, full of words and life was a billboard. It was simple, even cheesy. It was advertising a large church, off the highway. It read "Word of Life Church." It took me a second to realize that I had read those words and that they had instantly communicated their intended meaning in my mind. In other words, I COULD READ! I read the next billboard, an ad for McDonalds, and the next, and the next. I spent the rest of the half hour trip with my face pressed against the glass, reading aloud every sign and billboard I could see, driving my parents crazy. I think the next week, my mother started teaching me to read silently...
Ferial is a bit of a speed reader. She reads very fast. She regularly finishes books in less than three days. She finished the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Omnibus Edition (the 5 book trilogy, plus one short story) in less than a week. She gobbled it up. Once or twice, I have known her to read an entire novel in a day. On a side note, she has read all eight Anne of Green Gables Novels more than a dozen times, the Chronicles of Narnia twice and The Harry Potter series, twice.
I am of a different sort. I possess the ability to read quickly. However, I choose not to. I read carefully and methodically. I look for hidden meaning, innuendo and inference. I give each character in a novel a voice, an accent, verbal ticks and stutters. I characterize, as I read. When I read the characters' lines, I attempt to become the characters, to get inside their heads, to glean even the unwritten emotions from their words. In addition to this, even when I read silently, I never read faster than I would, were I to read it out loud. I don't read any faster than I speak. On purpose.
Thus, we are different readers, but both are readers.
As you can imagine, bookstores present a nigh irresistible temptation before us. When we lived in the United States it was easier to resist the temptation that Barnes and Noble posed to us. We didn't go in. We rarely went into bookstores in California, knowing that we could not afford most of what would beckon to us from within. It was cheaper, easier and more convenient to simply order what we wanted off of Amazon, to have our books and afford to eat too. When we moved to South Korea, we brought thirty books, not including Bibles and journals. We've yet to read them all. However, we have bought many more since being here. There are some fabulous bookstores here, and most of them have sizeable English Sections. In addition to this, we have a couple of good friends and family members who, knowing our affinity for books, have bought and sent us still others. We recently had to purchase a second bookshelf, because the one we had was getting overstuffed.
Today, we went for lunch in our favorite area of Seoul, Samseung. After some rockin' fajitas, we walked around in the underground mall, which is part of the Coex Annex. During our walk, we found our favorite Korean bookstore to date. It's called Bandi & Luni's. They had some decently priced books, and some great finds. It wasn't all airport paperbacks, which is always nice, because my natural pretension wants to have fairly good editions on my shelves.
We bought three today:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Ever since reading Wicked, I have wanted to read Baum's original Oz. He wrote dozens of Oz books, and I doubt I'll read them all, but I would very much like to read the first 2 or 3.
The Tales of Beedle The Bard, by J.K. Rowling. I've been excited about this one, ever since I saw the hand-drawn, hand-written copy Rowling did, and sold for charity auction as Sotheby's for 1.95 million pounds, on Amazon.com.
The Year of Living Biblically, One Man's Humble Quest to Follow The Bible as Literally as Possible, by A.J. Jacobs. We bought this one on instinct. It looks compelling. I am excited to read it. I assume it will end up being anti-fundamentalist / anti-evangellical-conservative propoganda, but it looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to be surprised, in the end.
I bought Ferial a Nintendo DS for Christmas. It was supposed to be a modest Christmas, since we're trying to pay off bills & the economy is a mess & and we believe there is more to the holiday than consumerism....but I couldn't resist. It's a lot of fun, but it's nice to see that, even with the DS and the Laptop in the house, we're still reading as much as ever.
Cheers.
I remember the day I learned to read. Yes, it happened in a day. Of course my mother had been teaching me to read for quite a long time, but what I remember was the day it all clicked. I had learned to read words, sentences, even short stories, and to comprehend what I read there. However, it was unique knowledge. It was monocontextual, if you will. I could only read, sitting at the table, or on the couch with my mother and the curriculum she had used to teach me. Then one day, it just clicked. I was sitting in the back seat of the car. We were on our way to visit my grandmother in a neighboring town. I looked up and out of the window, and there, full of words and life was a billboard. It was simple, even cheesy. It was advertising a large church, off the highway. It read "Word of Life Church." It took me a second to realize that I had read those words and that they had instantly communicated their intended meaning in my mind. In other words, I COULD READ! I read the next billboard, an ad for McDonalds, and the next, and the next. I spent the rest of the half hour trip with my face pressed against the glass, reading aloud every sign and billboard I could see, driving my parents crazy. I think the next week, my mother started teaching me to read silently...
Ferial is a bit of a speed reader. She reads very fast. She regularly finishes books in less than three days. She finished the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Omnibus Edition (the 5 book trilogy, plus one short story) in less than a week. She gobbled it up. Once or twice, I have known her to read an entire novel in a day. On a side note, she has read all eight Anne of Green Gables Novels more than a dozen times, the Chronicles of Narnia twice and The Harry Potter series, twice.
I am of a different sort. I possess the ability to read quickly. However, I choose not to. I read carefully and methodically. I look for hidden meaning, innuendo and inference. I give each character in a novel a voice, an accent, verbal ticks and stutters. I characterize, as I read. When I read the characters' lines, I attempt to become the characters, to get inside their heads, to glean even the unwritten emotions from their words. In addition to this, even when I read silently, I never read faster than I would, were I to read it out loud. I don't read any faster than I speak. On purpose.
Thus, we are different readers, but both are readers.
As you can imagine, bookstores present a nigh irresistible temptation before us. When we lived in the United States it was easier to resist the temptation that Barnes and Noble posed to us. We didn't go in. We rarely went into bookstores in California, knowing that we could not afford most of what would beckon to us from within. It was cheaper, easier and more convenient to simply order what we wanted off of Amazon, to have our books and afford to eat too. When we moved to South Korea, we brought thirty books, not including Bibles and journals. We've yet to read them all. However, we have bought many more since being here. There are some fabulous bookstores here, and most of them have sizeable English Sections. In addition to this, we have a couple of good friends and family members who, knowing our affinity for books, have bought and sent us still others. We recently had to purchase a second bookshelf, because the one we had was getting overstuffed.
Today, we went for lunch in our favorite area of Seoul, Samseung. After some rockin' fajitas, we walked around in the underground mall, which is part of the Coex Annex. During our walk, we found our favorite Korean bookstore to date. It's called Bandi & Luni's. They had some decently priced books, and some great finds. It wasn't all airport paperbacks, which is always nice, because my natural pretension wants to have fairly good editions on my shelves.
We bought three today:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Ever since reading Wicked, I have wanted to read Baum's original Oz. He wrote dozens of Oz books, and I doubt I'll read them all, but I would very much like to read the first 2 or 3.
The Tales of Beedle The Bard, by J.K. Rowling. I've been excited about this one, ever since I saw the hand-drawn, hand-written copy Rowling did, and sold for charity auction as Sotheby's for 1.95 million pounds, on Amazon.com.
The Year of Living Biblically, One Man's Humble Quest to Follow The Bible as Literally as Possible, by A.J. Jacobs. We bought this one on instinct. It looks compelling. I am excited to read it. I assume it will end up being anti-fundamentalist / anti-evangellical-conservative propoganda, but it looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to be surprised, in the end.
I bought Ferial a Nintendo DS for Christmas. It was supposed to be a modest Christmas, since we're trying to pay off bills & the economy is a mess & and we believe there is more to the holiday than consumerism....but I couldn't resist. It's a lot of fun, but it's nice to see that, even with the DS and the Laptop in the house, we're still reading as much as ever.
Cheers.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Update!
So, I'm cheating a little bit. I'm not posting a completely-new blog today. This is an excerpt from an email that I just sent to a friend. But it's such a good update of us that I knew that I just had to blog it:
"Did you have a good time with all of your people for New Year's? John and I both got the cold that's going around here so we just stayed in and relaxed, which turned out to be really fun and just what we needed.
Christmas was also wonderful and simple. We had a Christmas brunch with our American friends (french toast and fresh fruit) and played games and such. We relaxed in the afternoon and then in the evening our "big boss" took us out for Christmas dinner with some of the other Center staff. It was great! We had bulgogi at this fancy place and I loved it.
We had decided to go easy on Christmas gifts this year (meaning we were only going to do simple stuff for each other and nothing for anyone else =) ), but John broke the rules and bought me a Nintendo DS! I can't deny that I love it. It feels so Korean to get on the subway and play Super Mario!
Teaching is also going well. A little hectic right now because our English department is undergoing a lot of schedule changes, but going well. I definitely know now that teaching is NOT my calling, but I really do love my little Koreans and I am so grateful for this experience. We have such a good workplace--our managers and co-workers are fantastic and they have provided so much for us.
Life is very simple here. I really believe that God brought us here for many more reasons than just to pay off debt, and He has been teaching us many lessons in living simply and being content. These lessons have been hard and wonderful all at the same time. We've been here 6 months now and life has become "normal" again. We have routines, we know our way around the block as teachers, we can speak and understand enough of the language to get around (I taught myself to read Hangul!), and we have a great group of friends. Now that all of the excitement, the newness, and the honeymoon feelings have dissipated however, the homesickness has kicked in with a fierceness. Korea is SO different from the US in so many ways. It's funny how leaving the US can make you love it in ways that you never thought possible. I don't just miss the conveniences (the Targets, the Starbucks on every corner, the wide range of deodorants and toothpastes)--I miss the mentalities, the diversity, the politics, the music, the issues, and the people the most. I think I needed to leave, and to "love the leave" (as a friend of mine says) in order to really embrace being an American."
"Did you have a good time with all of your people for New Year's? John and I both got the cold that's going around here so we just stayed in and relaxed, which turned out to be really fun and just what we needed.
Christmas was also wonderful and simple. We had a Christmas brunch with our American friends (french toast and fresh fruit) and played games and such. We relaxed in the afternoon and then in the evening our "big boss" took us out for Christmas dinner with some of the other Center staff. It was great! We had bulgogi at this fancy place and I loved it.
We had decided to go easy on Christmas gifts this year (meaning we were only going to do simple stuff for each other and nothing for anyone else =) ), but John broke the rules and bought me a Nintendo DS! I can't deny that I love it. It feels so Korean to get on the subway and play Super Mario!
Teaching is also going well. A little hectic right now because our English department is undergoing a lot of schedule changes, but going well. I definitely know now that teaching is NOT my calling, but I really do love my little Koreans and I am so grateful for this experience. We have such a good workplace--our managers and co-workers are fantastic and they have provided so much for us.
Life is very simple here. I really believe that God brought us here for many more reasons than just to pay off debt, and He has been teaching us many lessons in living simply and being content. These lessons have been hard and wonderful all at the same time. We've been here 6 months now and life has become "normal" again. We have routines, we know our way around the block as teachers, we can speak and understand enough of the language to get around (I taught myself to read Hangul!), and we have a great group of friends. Now that all of the excitement, the newness, and the honeymoon feelings have dissipated however, the homesickness has kicked in with a fierceness. Korea is SO different from the US in so many ways. It's funny how leaving the US can make you love it in ways that you never thought possible. I don't just miss the conveniences (the Targets, the Starbucks on every corner, the wide range of deodorants and toothpastes)--I miss the mentalities, the diversity, the politics, the music, the issues, and the people the most. I think I needed to leave, and to "love the leave" (as a friend of mine says) in order to really embrace being an American."
Friday, December 5, 2008
Officially the coldest I have ever been...
P'yongt
'aek, South Korea
Today
'aek, South KoreaToday
Hi: -4°
Lo: -15°
Snow flurries. There is a 30% chance of precipitation. Partly cloudy. Cold. Temperature of -4°C. Winds N 27km/h. Humidity will be 56% with a dewpoint of -12° and feels-like temperature of -11°C.
Snow flurries. There is a 30% chance of precipitation. Partly cloudy. Cold. Temperature of -4°C. Winds N 27km/h. Humidity will be 56% with a dewpoint of -12° and feels-like temperature of -11°C.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Snowflakes on my nose and eyelashes...
Last Thursday I had a "first"-moment. You know, we've all got those significant moments of "firsts"; like a first kiss, or a first burrito, or a first trip to the zoo. Well, on Thursday I had a first: my first walk in the falling snow. Now let me clarify, I have walked in falling snow before--I have been skiing and snowboarding and to Lake Tahoe many times in my life. The reason last Thursday was different and most definitely a "first" for me is this: this is the first time I have walked in the snow in a place where I live. All of the other snow-experiences in my life have been times that I have visited the snow, now I currently reside in a place where it snows. And that is a definite first for me.
Korea is getting cold. Last Thursday was the first snow of the season and it hasn't snowed since then. The weather forecast shows that we can probably expect more snow later this week, but nevertheless, temperatures are definitely dropping. During the day you can expect mild, cold, Thanksgiving-like scarf weather with patches of sun. At night though, temperatures hover around freezing and the cold winds whip around with enough force to burn your lungs and numb your face off. So, I bought a warmth-preserving face mask. People who wear them often look like they just got out of the hospital, but man oh man do they keep your face warm!
This week comes in the form of a wonderful break. Although we still have to "work", our Center is not teaching any classes this week. John and I have completed our first semester and so on this American Thanksgiving week falls our "semester break." We will spend the week cleaning house, running errands, doing office work, and preparing for next semester--classes start again on Dec. 1st. And on Friday evening (one day later than the actual holiday, I know) we will try and reproduce as best as we can a Thanksgiving dinner. We have a small clan of waegook (foreigner) friends who will celebrate with us and I'm looking forward to being creative with my cooking. I know, however, that no matter how much good food we are able to conjure, it can never compare to the Thanksgiving spreads that I'm used to at my mom's house.
It's been a lot easier to feel homesick now that the holidays are at hand. We both miss our families and friends like crazy. But we are finding that we also just miss little things about California and the life that we had there. Korea has become "normal life" for us now--we know enough of the language to get around and we're constantly learning more; we know the transportation systems and where to go for everything; we have friends and people to hang out with; we're settled in our home; and we've got a pretty good handle on teaching (or so we think). So, Korea is normality now. But it's funny, no matter how normal it feels or becomes, when we talk about our home, it's always in reference to California.
But at least we've discovered the wonderfulness of samgyeopsal...
Korea is getting cold. Last Thursday was the first snow of the season and it hasn't snowed since then. The weather forecast shows that we can probably expect more snow later this week, but nevertheless, temperatures are definitely dropping. During the day you can expect mild, cold, Thanksgiving-like scarf weather with patches of sun. At night though, temperatures hover around freezing and the cold winds whip around with enough force to burn your lungs and numb your face off. So, I bought a warmth-preserving face mask. People who wear them often look like they just got out of the hospital, but man oh man do they keep your face warm!
This week comes in the form of a wonderful break. Although we still have to "work", our Center is not teaching any classes this week. John and I have completed our first semester and so on this American Thanksgiving week falls our "semester break." We will spend the week cleaning house, running errands, doing office work, and preparing for next semester--classes start again on Dec. 1st. And on Friday evening (one day later than the actual holiday, I know) we will try and reproduce as best as we can a Thanksgiving dinner. We have a small clan of waegook (foreigner) friends who will celebrate with us and I'm looking forward to being creative with my cooking. I know, however, that no matter how much good food we are able to conjure, it can never compare to the Thanksgiving spreads that I'm used to at my mom's house.
It's been a lot easier to feel homesick now that the holidays are at hand. We both miss our families and friends like crazy. But we are finding that we also just miss little things about California and the life that we had there. Korea has become "normal life" for us now--we know enough of the language to get around and we're constantly learning more; we know the transportation systems and where to go for everything; we have friends and people to hang out with; we're settled in our home; and we've got a pretty good handle on teaching (or so we think). So, Korea is normality now. But it's funny, no matter how normal it feels or becomes, when we talk about our home, it's always in reference to California.
But at least we've discovered the wonderfulness of samgyeopsal...
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I never thought
I never thought I'd miss my old job. However, today, I had a heartfelt desire to get into my Civic, drive through the Petaluma hills and go visit Alex Bunnell, one of my old clients. At first, he'd stand at the door and yell through it
"What do you want??."
"I wanna hang out with you, Alex."
"Go hang out with Patricia!"
"I will - later - but right now, I wanna hang out with you."
"Well, I'm busy."
(We're still yelling through the door, mind you.)
"What are you busy with, Alex? You just woke up, didn't you?"
He starts and sputters, as if wondering how in the world I could have come to possess this information.
"Pshyeah..."
"Ok, well Alex, let me in. We have a meeting and I don't want to stand out here for the whole thing."
"Give me a minute, John. I'm not wearing any pants."
He'd let me in, and I'd lecture him a little bit about the sorry state of his apartment. He'd blame his roommate, Jason, and begin doing the dishes. We'd talk about his check register, and I'd ask if he ever planned on shopping at Trader Joe's, like he said he wanted to months ago. Tired of arguing, I'd suggest we get in my car, and go grab some lunch. I would waver back and forth in my mind, regarding where to take him for lunch. I don't want to set a bad example and go for fast food, but I'm sure he only has $35 in his wallet and is probably saving all of that for soda and nachos at the bowling alley, which he will visit later that night. If we go somewhere healthier it will be more expensive and I will probably have to pay...in the end, I opt for Subway. We would take our sandwiches to Pioneer Park, and eat in the warm afternoon sun, talking of his latest argument with his girlfriend, Britney Spears' latest stunt and the newly elected president.
After lunch, I would drive him to San Rafael, so he could go bowling. Afterward, I would visit other clients and take a few to Trader Joe's. There is a Starbucks right next door, so I would probably grab a latte to sip, while they shopped. Then, after taking them home, I would cruise home, via the back roads so as to avoid traffic. By the time I got home, Ferial would probably be in the kitchen at the Treehouse, cooking some sort of Italian-inspired amazement. We would eat at the table, then kick back to watch TV. Perhaps I'd sip a cider, while petting the bunny with my foot...
So maybe it isn't work I miss at all. Perhaps the desire for my old job, is merely a vehichle, by which I desire my old life. Like a tortilla chip for the nacho cheese of nostalgia.
"What do you want??."
"I wanna hang out with you, Alex."
"Go hang out with Patricia!"
"I will - later - but right now, I wanna hang out with you."
"Well, I'm busy."
(We're still yelling through the door, mind you.)
"What are you busy with, Alex? You just woke up, didn't you?"
He starts and sputters, as if wondering how in the world I could have come to possess this information.
"Pshyeah..."
"Ok, well Alex, let me in. We have a meeting and I don't want to stand out here for the whole thing."
"Give me a minute, John. I'm not wearing any pants."
He'd let me in, and I'd lecture him a little bit about the sorry state of his apartment. He'd blame his roommate, Jason, and begin doing the dishes. We'd talk about his check register, and I'd ask if he ever planned on shopping at Trader Joe's, like he said he wanted to months ago. Tired of arguing, I'd suggest we get in my car, and go grab some lunch. I would waver back and forth in my mind, regarding where to take him for lunch. I don't want to set a bad example and go for fast food, but I'm sure he only has $35 in his wallet and is probably saving all of that for soda and nachos at the bowling alley, which he will visit later that night. If we go somewhere healthier it will be more expensive and I will probably have to pay...in the end, I opt for Subway. We would take our sandwiches to Pioneer Park, and eat in the warm afternoon sun, talking of his latest argument with his girlfriend, Britney Spears' latest stunt and the newly elected president.
After lunch, I would drive him to San Rafael, so he could go bowling. Afterward, I would visit other clients and take a few to Trader Joe's. There is a Starbucks right next door, so I would probably grab a latte to sip, while they shopped. Then, after taking them home, I would cruise home, via the back roads so as to avoid traffic. By the time I got home, Ferial would probably be in the kitchen at the Treehouse, cooking some sort of Italian-inspired amazement. We would eat at the table, then kick back to watch TV. Perhaps I'd sip a cider, while petting the bunny with my foot...
So maybe it isn't work I miss at all. Perhaps the desire for my old job, is merely a vehichle, by which I desire my old life. Like a tortilla chip for the nacho cheese of nostalgia.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Motivation is a fickled wench.
I just wanted to use a provocative title. However, for me, motivation has been extremely fickle as of late. For the past couple of days, I haven't even wanted to get dressed in the morning...not really, anyway. I have to get dressed, because I have to go to work. What I mean is, I haven't wanted to get dressed up. I just wanted to roll out of bed, throw on some jeans and a t-shirt, put a hat on and head to work (Ferial bought me this really cool brimmed beanie / tam-type thing that I haven't gotten to wear yet). I haven't wanted to do my hair, or shave, or take the time to color coordinate an outfit, down to my socks. I just haven't had the motivation.
I think it's because we got cosmically screwed out of a three-day weekend last week. We were told that Monday the 3rd was our Community Centers birthday, so we had the day off. Which would have been cool, as the 4th was my birthday, and we would have had the opportunity to go to Seoul, after a relaxed weekend, and celebrate a little bit. As it turns out, we ended up getting a call at about 11 0'clock, Saturday morning, informing us there had been a horrible miscommunication, and that the Center's birthday was actually on the 17th (a wonderfully less convenient time for a 3-day weekend). So, that just totally took the wind right out of our sails, we canceled our plans for the entire weekend, stayed in bed for most of the day and spent the evening doing chores.
As it stands, we work this Saturday (a great prospect, since we make some really good coin doing it...we're just tired), have a wedding to go to on Sunday (which I think will be really fun), and then it starts all over. It will be 2 weeks straight with no real break. Now, I don't say all this merely to complain (I'm trying to stop complaining so much. Since coming to Korea, I've realized I do this far too much). I'm just trying to explain why I didn't have the motivation to put on a tie this morning, even though it would have matched really well with the rest of my outfit, right down to my socks, which match the grey stripes in my shoes and the yellow of my shirt.
I think it's because we got cosmically screwed out of a three-day weekend last week. We were told that Monday the 3rd was our Community Centers birthday, so we had the day off. Which would have been cool, as the 4th was my birthday, and we would have had the opportunity to go to Seoul, after a relaxed weekend, and celebrate a little bit. As it turns out, we ended up getting a call at about 11 0'clock, Saturday morning, informing us there had been a horrible miscommunication, and that the Center's birthday was actually on the 17th (a wonderfully less convenient time for a 3-day weekend). So, that just totally took the wind right out of our sails, we canceled our plans for the entire weekend, stayed in bed for most of the day and spent the evening doing chores.
As it stands, we work this Saturday (a great prospect, since we make some really good coin doing it...we're just tired), have a wedding to go to on Sunday (which I think will be really fun), and then it starts all over. It will be 2 weeks straight with no real break. Now, I don't say all this merely to complain (I'm trying to stop complaining so much. Since coming to Korea, I've realized I do this far too much). I'm just trying to explain why I didn't have the motivation to put on a tie this morning, even though it would have matched really well with the rest of my outfit, right down to my socks, which match the grey stripes in my shoes and the yellow of my shirt.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Winifred asked me to write a post....
Winifred is our new house plant. We've been hesitant to purchase one until now. They are a little expensive and we didn't really want to spend twenty bucks on something that could very likely die, at no necessary fault of our own. However, our desire for foliage has overcome our practicality and now the houseplant is insisting that I post blog entries, including her name...I knew this would happen.
Anyone who actually follows this blog will probably thank Winnie, after nearly a month of silence. We have decided that the feel of the blog will probably change in the coming weeks. We are no longer riding a rocket to Korea. We have safely landed and have been quite busy. We have so much we could tell you, so many things have happened that we could relay to you, and there's the rub. It would take hours to sit here and type it all out...hours we just don't have. So we wait for a more opportune time, but the longer we wait, the more there is to tell, and the longer it will take, so we wait! And so on and so forth...So this blog will probably no longer be a simple chronicle of our adventures in Korea. That requires too much time, and lengthy posts. Because we want you to be able to hear from us often, this will probably become a space for us to post thoughts more than to tell stories. You will still get stories, but I am freeing us from the burden of having to post 9 paragraph entries, regaling the world of our comings and goings. We will write and you will get a window into our lives, our brains and our world.
The Eagle has Landed.
Anyone who actually follows this blog will probably thank Winnie, after nearly a month of silence. We have decided that the feel of the blog will probably change in the coming weeks. We are no longer riding a rocket to Korea. We have safely landed and have been quite busy. We have so much we could tell you, so many things have happened that we could relay to you, and there's the rub. It would take hours to sit here and type it all out...hours we just don't have. So we wait for a more opportune time, but the longer we wait, the more there is to tell, and the longer it will take, so we wait! And so on and so forth...So this blog will probably no longer be a simple chronicle of our adventures in Korea. That requires too much time, and lengthy posts. Because we want you to be able to hear from us often, this will probably become a space for us to post thoughts more than to tell stories. You will still get stories, but I am freeing us from the burden of having to post 9 paragraph entries, regaling the world of our comings and goings. We will write and you will get a window into our lives, our brains and our world.
The Eagle has Landed.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Shut up, Malfoy.
So, today John and I got the fantastic opportunity to experience "Dr. Fish." We were at this swanky coffee shop/cafe in Seoul and you had the option to purchase 15 minutes of Dr. Fish therapy with your drink order. We opted for definitely yes on the Dr. Fish. There's even a "Dr. Fish Zone" on a raised platform in one whole corner of the coffee shop. First you rinse your feet off in a small wooden tub and then you stick them into the shallow pool where the Dr. Fish await. The Dr. Fish then swarm onto your feet and begin to eat away at all the dead skin on your feet. It tickles like crazy at first and we have some hilarious pictures of ourselves being tickled by the Dr. Fish. You can view those photos here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41503&l=ec4e5&id=631992912
Needless to say, Dr. Fishes are amazing and I would recommend them to anyone who needs a little foot exfoliation and some cheering up.
Autumn is definitely starting to happen here in Korea and I couldn't be more happy about it. It is no longer humid, but sunny and cold. There's a definite briskness in the air that just feels like the fall and I love it. Not to mention, my fall clothes are so much nicer than my summer ones and now I get to revel in hoodies and scarves and fun colored socks. And it's awesome to be able to walk outside now and not feel instantly sticky. Gone are the days of sweat and humidity; blankets and tea and the changing colors of leaves to come!
Speaking of changes, teaching is getting a whole lot easier. Or maybe it's not getting easier, we're just getting used to it. We definitely don't feel as overwhelmed or swamped or tired as we did before. We find ourselves falling into small routines, picking up new and helpful habits, learning our students and how we need to teach them, and getting used to our schedules. I'm finding that I am really enjoying myself, and I'm also finding that I'm not the rockstar teacher that I thought I was going to be. I mean, I'm not a bad teacher, I'm just realizing that teaching is harder work than I imagined and that a smile and an extroverted personality will not necessarily carry me throughout all of my classes. I am learning the importance of being well-prepared, having big expectations and committing to them, and that sucess doesn't happen in a day. And I have learned that I cannot expect all of my students to love me, but that I can strive to earn their respect and admiration. This one is a hard one for me because I have always wanted everyone to love me. I know that my time spent teaching here in Korea will be one of those experiences that shapes me and adds little (or big) dents into my character.
And lastly, speaking of experiences, there is a high school aged boy that has been hanging around the Center lately. John and I believe that there is good chance that he could be developmentally disabled but we don't know for sure. All we know is that whenever he sees me, John or Johnny he talks to us. He knows that we are foreigners and English teachers so when he talks to us he tries to air all of the English phrases that he can. He's bombarded us with "Hey baby" and "Psst, come over here" and "How ya doing" over and over again. But by far the best phrase we've ever heard come out of his mouth has been "Shut up, Malfoy" (for those of you who might not know, this is a Harry Potter reference). He usually mumbles this over and over in the middle of conversation. At first I didn't understand what he was saying because it's just absurd to hear somebody, especially in broken English, tell you to "Shut up, Malfoy." And supposedly I'm not the only Malfoy, John and Johnny have both been told to shut up too.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sometimes you don't know what to do...
In my last post, I talked about a class of five-year-olds. Well, I have two of those classes. One is a kindergarten aged beginner class. Another is what we call an ATC (American Textbook Class). That means that these children are geniuses. They know all the basic vocabulary words, phrases, concepts and often complete sentences. For example, today I had a brilliant little boy tell me, "I want to poop." He was no older than four, by American calculations. Anyway, you get the point. They are English phenoms. The trouble with this class is, they are as smart as some 10-year olds I have, but as wild as jungle monkeys.
I don't know how to teach them. I am very discouraged. I cannot control their behavior. They get distracted. They roll around in their seats. They hit each other. They say sarcastic or funny things in Korean to make the other children laugh. I don't know what to do... My superiors see that there is a problem. This situation is very complex and I don't even think I could articulate all of the ins and outs of the problem.
I would like it very much if you would pray for me. Please pray that God would give me some sort of illumination, as how best to teach these children. That's all. I am just very down-hearted about all of this, and need some prayer. Thank you all.
I don't know how to teach them. I am very discouraged. I cannot control their behavior. They get distracted. They roll around in their seats. They hit each other. They say sarcastic or funny things in Korean to make the other children laugh. I don't know what to do... My superiors see that there is a problem. This situation is very complex and I don't even think I could articulate all of the ins and outs of the problem.
I would like it very much if you would pray for me. Please pray that God would give me some sort of illumination, as how best to teach these children. That's all. I am just very down-hearted about all of this, and need some prayer. Thank you all.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
I taught five-year-olds possessives!
I yelled, as I burst into the office triumphantly energetic. JoAnne, the native Korean English teacher, looked at Jonathon and said, "what does he mean, possesives?" (It should be noted here, that I talk too fast for Koreans. I have reassured them, saying I talk to fast for some Americans too. JoAnne, despite her excellent grip on the language, and my efforts to slow down, continues to disunderstand me.) Before Jonathon could answer, I sang, "mine and yours, mine and yours, I taught children mine and yours!"
I was excited. This was on day seven in the classroom. Teaching had turned out to be arduous. We had gone from working zero hours a day, for two months, having quit our social-work jobs at the end of June, to working 8-11 hour days overnight. We have been teaching now for two full weks. It has been greulling at times. For our first two days, I was sick in my stomach, having eaten some Bibim Bap that didn't agree with me. Since Wednesday, this week, both Ferial and I have had colds that have kept us weak, sore and tired. Add to all of that the normal stress of starting a new job, the added stress of that new job being in another country and the insane stress of having to deal with kids, American age 3-14, for 6 hours every day, who by the way, don't really speak your language and would rather be doing something else...
So, teaching four-year-olds, the difference between "my book" and "your book" was, in my mind, an enourmous success for the day. Now don't get me wrong, we are really enjoying our jobs. However, we are looking forward to the day when doing lesson plans won't take us two hours every morning. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we don't have to be into the office until 1:30, at the latest. However, we are regularly going in at 9:00 on those days, just so we can prepare for classes. We have been told that preparation gets much easier and we relish the thought of being able to sleep in until 9-ish, get up, have breakie, read some Holy Writ, and head into the office after a light lunch.
Life has been good though. Two days ago, I was out in the courtyard, playing "Red-Light, Green-Light" with some 4th graders, because I didn't want to plan a lesson for that class, when a guy walked up to me, who was definitely not Korean. In the middle of yelling "Red-Light," I heard him say, "Are you American?" I was floored...I think I just stood there with my mouth open for a second. "Like, I mean, you're not Canadian...?" he said. My students were frozen in place, waiting for a chance to speeed ahead again. "Yeah, I'm American. You?" "Yeah," he said. I shook his hand, "I'm John." "Jason." "TEACHER!!!!!!" I asked Jason if he could give me fifteen minutes, to get rid of the Bulgogi Boys and he said he would go and get his wife and meet me back outside in twenty.
Long story short, Ferial and I now have a new set of friends. They are married, 26 year old Christians from Indiana. They are a bi-racial couple and love many of the same movies and tv shows we do. Thus far, we have only spent a couple of hours with them, but it promises to be a good friendship, already.
This is getting long, so I'll quickly fill you in on a few other things: We went to Seoul for the first time, last weekend. The photos are on Ferial's facebook. It was a lot of fun, and we made sure to stop by Starbucks, while we were there. I am reaping the benefits of that, as I type. We had dinner that night with a Korean woman Jonathon and I knew from Briercrest, Annie. We ate at a Brazilian Barbecue restaurant - all you can eat meat! In the Bay Area, it would be called a churiscaria, if you want to find one. Amazing food. It can be pricey, but you won't regret it. Also, this weekend is a three-day holiday, which is a rarity in Korea. It is Korean Thanksgiving, called ChuSok. We are looking forward to resting up, kicking a cold, and getting to know the newest crew members on our rocket.
Happy ChuSok!
I was excited. This was on day seven in the classroom. Teaching had turned out to be arduous. We had gone from working zero hours a day, for two months, having quit our social-work jobs at the end of June, to working 8-11 hour days overnight. We have been teaching now for two full weks. It has been greulling at times. For our first two days, I was sick in my stomach, having eaten some Bibim Bap that didn't agree with me. Since Wednesday, this week, both Ferial and I have had colds that have kept us weak, sore and tired. Add to all of that the normal stress of starting a new job, the added stress of that new job being in another country and the insane stress of having to deal with kids, American age 3-14, for 6 hours every day, who by the way, don't really speak your language and would rather be doing something else...
So, teaching four-year-olds, the difference between "my book" and "your book" was, in my mind, an enourmous success for the day. Now don't get me wrong, we are really enjoying our jobs. However, we are looking forward to the day when doing lesson plans won't take us two hours every morning. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we don't have to be into the office until 1:30, at the latest. However, we are regularly going in at 9:00 on those days, just so we can prepare for classes. We have been told that preparation gets much easier and we relish the thought of being able to sleep in until 9-ish, get up, have breakie, read some Holy Writ, and head into the office after a light lunch.
Life has been good though. Two days ago, I was out in the courtyard, playing "Red-Light, Green-Light" with some 4th graders, because I didn't want to plan a lesson for that class, when a guy walked up to me, who was definitely not Korean. In the middle of yelling "Red-Light," I heard him say, "Are you American?" I was floored...I think I just stood there with my mouth open for a second. "Like, I mean, you're not Canadian...?" he said. My students were frozen in place, waiting for a chance to speeed ahead again. "Yeah, I'm American. You?" "Yeah," he said. I shook his hand, "I'm John." "Jason." "TEACHER!!!!!!" I asked Jason if he could give me fifteen minutes, to get rid of the Bulgogi Boys and he said he would go and get his wife and meet me back outside in twenty.
Long story short, Ferial and I now have a new set of friends. They are married, 26 year old Christians from Indiana. They are a bi-racial couple and love many of the same movies and tv shows we do. Thus far, we have only spent a couple of hours with them, but it promises to be a good friendship, already.
This is getting long, so I'll quickly fill you in on a few other things: We went to Seoul for the first time, last weekend. The photos are on Ferial's facebook. It was a lot of fun, and we made sure to stop by Starbucks, while we were there. I am reaping the benefits of that, as I type. We had dinner that night with a Korean woman Jonathon and I knew from Briercrest, Annie. We ate at a Brazilian Barbecue restaurant - all you can eat meat! In the Bay Area, it would be called a churiscaria, if you want to find one. Amazing food. It can be pricey, but you won't regret it. Also, this weekend is a three-day holiday, which is a rarity in Korea. It is Korean Thanksgiving, called ChuSok. We are looking forward to resting up, kicking a cold, and getting to know the newest crew members on our rocket.
Happy ChuSok!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
They play classical music in the parks here.
It's beautiful. I really enjoy walking to work, past the park, hearing smooth jazz or a piano sonata coming from the trees. It's almost as if I lived at Disneyland and I love it.
Speaking of Disneyland, I have discovered something ultimately better. It's called Everland and I had the wonderful privilege of visiting this magical place yesterday. And yes, I did say that it was better than Disneyland and I mean it. Us Californians think there is nothing more magical and wondrous than Disneyland and we all wish we were there all the time, but all you doubters need to come visit me in Korea and learn the amazingness of Everland. Google it, I dare you.
So, yesterday was my birthday and it was an amazing one. John and I were invited to go to Everland with a group of Johnny's adult students--an amazing group of Korean women. We had shadowed their class the week before and they had told us that they would be going to Everland and wouldn't we please come with them? Well, we couldn't really say no, nor did we want to, and so we agreed and made plans to go on Friday.
We didn't really know what to expect, going to a Korean theme park. We had anticipated something a lot smaller than what we got though. Instead of the carnival-sized theme park with lame rides that we thought we were getting, Everland ended up being HUMONGOUS. Imagine a theme park probably twice the size of Disneyland built on the side of a mountain containing anything and everything you could possibly think of: an entire waterpark bigger than Water World; one of the world's largest and scariest wooden coasters in the world; a huge safari area complete with lions, tigers, and bears; gondolas or "human sky" as they call it, that carry you throughout the park; lots of monkeys and talking birds; an amazing sea lion show; a rotating house; roller coasters of all sizes; an unbelievable bird show with hundreds (seriously) of trained flying birds; and last, but certainly not least, a boat ride that is a total rip-off "It's a Small World."
Needless to say, it was an incredible day. And really the most incredible part was hanging out with those amazing Korean women. As Korean cultural rules require, because they invited us along on this outing, the women paid for everything. Our tickets into the park (including an all-access pass to any ride), all of our food and snacks, and even a birthday present for me! Their generosity baffled me--they went above and beyond any "cultural rules." And they are so kind! And their English is so good! Thank you Lord for those women and the ways they have blessed us.
Our trip to Everland was most memorable and wonderful. Unfortunately, we have no pictoral documentation of our day because we forgot to put the battery into the camera. It was a horrible discovery to find that we had brought the camera and that it had no battery in it. Nevertheless, it was a birthday that I will not soon forget.
Besides exciting trips to amazing theme parks, life in South Korea is going swimmingly and we are really loving it. John and I have gotten more and more acquainted with our new city and are slowly learning our way around town. This week has been particularly busy because we have been intensely preparing for the beginning of the new semester. Classes start on Monday, Sep 1st (no Labor Day for us in Korea), and we are really excited to start teaching.
So, that's all for now. I wish that all of you could come and visit us here in Korea so that you could hear the classical music in the parks.
Speaking of Disneyland, I have discovered something ultimately better. It's called Everland and I had the wonderful privilege of visiting this magical place yesterday. And yes, I did say that it was better than Disneyland and I mean it. Us Californians think there is nothing more magical and wondrous than Disneyland and we all wish we were there all the time, but all you doubters need to come visit me in Korea and learn the amazingness of Everland. Google it, I dare you.
So, yesterday was my birthday and it was an amazing one. John and I were invited to go to Everland with a group of Johnny's adult students--an amazing group of Korean women. We had shadowed their class the week before and they had told us that they would be going to Everland and wouldn't we please come with them? Well, we couldn't really say no, nor did we want to, and so we agreed and made plans to go on Friday.
We didn't really know what to expect, going to a Korean theme park. We had anticipated something a lot smaller than what we got though. Instead of the carnival-sized theme park with lame rides that we thought we were getting, Everland ended up being HUMONGOUS. Imagine a theme park probably twice the size of Disneyland built on the side of a mountain containing anything and everything you could possibly think of: an entire waterpark bigger than Water World; one of the world's largest and scariest wooden coasters in the world; a huge safari area complete with lions, tigers, and bears; gondolas or "human sky" as they call it, that carry you throughout the park; lots of monkeys and talking birds; an amazing sea lion show; a rotating house; roller coasters of all sizes; an unbelievable bird show with hundreds (seriously) of trained flying birds; and last, but certainly not least, a boat ride that is a total rip-off "It's a Small World."
Needless to say, it was an incredible day. And really the most incredible part was hanging out with those amazing Korean women. As Korean cultural rules require, because they invited us along on this outing, the women paid for everything. Our tickets into the park (including an all-access pass to any ride), all of our food and snacks, and even a birthday present for me! Their generosity baffled me--they went above and beyond any "cultural rules." And they are so kind! And their English is so good! Thank you Lord for those women and the ways they have blessed us.
Our trip to Everland was most memorable and wonderful. Unfortunately, we have no pictoral documentation of our day because we forgot to put the battery into the camera. It was a horrible discovery to find that we had brought the camera and that it had no battery in it. Nevertheless, it was a birthday that I will not soon forget.
Besides exciting trips to amazing theme parks, life in South Korea is going swimmingly and we are really loving it. John and I have gotten more and more acquainted with our new city and are slowly learning our way around town. This week has been particularly busy because we have been intensely preparing for the beginning of the new semester. Classes start on Monday, Sep 1st (no Labor Day for us in Korea), and we are really excited to start teaching.
So, that's all for now. I wish that all of you could come and visit us here in Korea so that you could hear the classical music in the parks.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Ahneong-haseoyo!
*Warning: Please proceed with caution, this is a very long blog.
We finally have internet access at our apartment! So, welcome to the first real blog/update from Pyeongtaek, South Korea! John and I have been here now for 11 days and already feel at home in this far away city. But let's start at the beginning...
We flew out of SFO on Friday, August 8th at around 2 pm. My parents and sister accompanied us to the airport, which meant a great help with our NINE BAGS but which also meant a bloated and teary face for me over our long goodbye. I've never been so far away from my family before; I take great comfort in Skype, however, and the fact that I chatted with my family just yesterday with full web camera access so that I could see my parent's dear faces and my sister's new haircut (everyone who loves us needs to download Skype so that they can talk to us for free (it's a free download, even if you don't have a web camera, www.skype.com)).
Ok, so. The flight was 12 hours and it felt that long. Korean Air runs a very nice flight, though. We found ourselves impressed with the touch screen TVs on the backs of every seat which provided us with hours of entertainment. The food was really good, surprisingly; they served us traditional Korean bi-bim-bop with spicy red pepper paste, sticky buns, fruit, and all of the 7up that I could drink. Sounds pretty good, right? Well the down side was that we had requested exit row seats because of our ridiculously long legs but we didn't get them, sad face. (They actually gave us seats one row behind the exit row...just to taunt us) So it wasn't the most comfortable 12 hours of my life.
We landed at the Incheon/Seoul airport at 6 pm Saturday, August 9th Korean time. The first thing that struck us (besides Korean mothers loudly yelling for the children) was the humidity. Even inside the airport our skin could feel the difference in the air and I felt as if my skin was begging me to get back on the plane. Humidity = instant sticky. We were exhausted, neither of us had slept on the flight, and now we were sticky but we knew that we had to mentally prepare ourselves for what was coming next: retreiving our NINE BAGS and heading towards customs. John set up a good system for retreival of the NINE BAGS; he set me up in a corner of the baggage area with two of the airport carts while he waited for our NINE BAGS to head down the carousel. After about 15 minutes we had retrieved 7 bags and 1 djembe and were still waiting on my guitar. I was getting a little worried so I walked around the baggage area looking to see if it had been put with the fragile items. Sure enough I spotted my guitar, being held by a Korean customs agent walking my way. I tried to gesture with my hands that the guitar belonged to me, pointing to the guitar and pointing to myself. He also began to gesture to me and I got the idea that I needed to follow him. So I gestured to John and the two of us pushed our heavy airport carts after the customs agent.
He brought us to the searching area where a Korean traveler was having his luggage "searched" which basically is where a customs agent takes your suitcase (or NINE BAGS, in our case), opens it up, turns it over, dumps everything out of it, looks through it all a little, and tells you to put it all back inside. John and I looked at each other worriedly; with our NINE BAGS this process could take forever. The customs agent who was holding my guitar motioned for us to stay put for a second and called over another Korean woman who looked like she was in charge of the place. They began speaking Korean to each other, motioning to us and our bags. The woman's eyes got big as she looked at all of our stuff. I'd like to think that she also noticed the sweat dripping off our foreheads and the worry in our eyes. My heart leapt for joy as she smiled at us and motioned for us to just go, bypassing any customs procedures at all. The man holding my guitar looked taken aback, but she was in charge, so after running my guitar through what looked like an X-ray machine he let us go. And that is the story of how we waltzed through baggage claim and customs at the Incheon airport in under 20 minutes with NINE BAGS. Praise the Lord!
Our good friend Johnny (who is also a teacher at the same Center) and one of our new bosses Mrs. Eem were there to greet us after we escaped from customs. The four of us got in an airport bus with our NINE BAGS and began the hour trip to our new home, the city of Pyeongtaek. Pyeongtaek is considered a small city here in Korea, but for John and I it is anything but. I mean, it's no San Francisco, but with a population of 400,000 people, Pyeongtaek holds its own. It's a rectagular shaped city with a bustling downtown area, loads and loads of restaurants (including many Western ones like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.), many community gardens, shopping malls, and mopeds. Our apartment is located in a quiet area of town right next door to Johnny's apartment building and also right behind the Pyeongtaek Youth Community Center which is our place of work. So, thankfully, in this land of stickiness our commute to work is nothing but a 2 minute walk.
And now for our apartment, the moment you have all been waiting for. It's wonderful and we love it. We were anticipating it being much smaller than it actually is, and it turns out that it is the absolute perfect size for us. I can't tell you how much I wanted to upload a video tour of our apartment for you, I may have even told many of you that that was the plan. However, sigh, after many (and I mean many) attempts at uploading our video tour, we've come to the unfortunate realization that it's just not going to work. So, instead and only slightly lamer, for your viewing pleasure, a photo-tour of our lovely new home:
So, that's our apartment, we love it. We're pretty much settled, we have a few more things we'd like to pick up, but for the most part we'd really like to keep it simple here.
For the last 10 days, John and I have spent our time setting up our apartment, shadowing classes at the Center, familiarizing ourselves with our new city, experiencing Korean food and culture, and studying the language. We've also been able to hang out with Johnny quite a bit which is great, it's wonderful to have a friend here. We're so excited to finally be here and although the pangs of homesickness have hit us a few times already, we've found that as long as we commit ourselves to keeping in touch with those we love we will be just fine.
We've also committed ourselves to this blog, so over the next year you will find us blogging regularly about our new culture, language, food, and teaching experiences. So please stay tuned! We are so very grateful to all of you for your support, prayers, and kind words, WE LOVE YOU. And praise to God for His constant grace, His never-ending love, and for tasty Korean food.
We finally have internet access at our apartment! So, welcome to the first real blog/update from Pyeongtaek, South Korea! John and I have been here now for 11 days and already feel at home in this far away city. But let's start at the beginning...
We flew out of SFO on Friday, August 8th at around 2 pm. My parents and sister accompanied us to the airport, which meant a great help with our NINE BAGS but which also meant a bloated and teary face for me over our long goodbye. I've never been so far away from my family before; I take great comfort in Skype, however, and the fact that I chatted with my family just yesterday with full web camera access so that I could see my parent's dear faces and my sister's new haircut (everyone who loves us needs to download Skype so that they can talk to us for free (it's a free download, even if you don't have a web camera, www.skype.com)).
Ok, so. The flight was 12 hours and it felt that long. Korean Air runs a very nice flight, though. We found ourselves impressed with the touch screen TVs on the backs of every seat which provided us with hours of entertainment. The food was really good, surprisingly; they served us traditional Korean bi-bim-bop with spicy red pepper paste, sticky buns, fruit, and all of the 7up that I could drink. Sounds pretty good, right? Well the down side was that we had requested exit row seats because of our ridiculously long legs but we didn't get them, sad face. (They actually gave us seats one row behind the exit row...just to taunt us) So it wasn't the most comfortable 12 hours of my life.
We landed at the Incheon/Seoul airport at 6 pm Saturday, August 9th Korean time. The first thing that struck us (besides Korean mothers loudly yelling for the children) was the humidity. Even inside the airport our skin could feel the difference in the air and I felt as if my skin was begging me to get back on the plane. Humidity = instant sticky. We were exhausted, neither of us had slept on the flight, and now we were sticky but we knew that we had to mentally prepare ourselves for what was coming next: retreiving our NINE BAGS and heading towards customs. John set up a good system for retreival of the NINE BAGS; he set me up in a corner of the baggage area with two of the airport carts while he waited for our NINE BAGS to head down the carousel. After about 15 minutes we had retrieved 7 bags and 1 djembe and were still waiting on my guitar. I was getting a little worried so I walked around the baggage area looking to see if it had been put with the fragile items. Sure enough I spotted my guitar, being held by a Korean customs agent walking my way. I tried to gesture with my hands that the guitar belonged to me, pointing to the guitar and pointing to myself. He also began to gesture to me and I got the idea that I needed to follow him. So I gestured to John and the two of us pushed our heavy airport carts after the customs agent.
He brought us to the searching area where a Korean traveler was having his luggage "searched" which basically is where a customs agent takes your suitcase (or NINE BAGS, in our case), opens it up, turns it over, dumps everything out of it, looks through it all a little, and tells you to put it all back inside. John and I looked at each other worriedly; with our NINE BAGS this process could take forever. The customs agent who was holding my guitar motioned for us to stay put for a second and called over another Korean woman who looked like she was in charge of the place. They began speaking Korean to each other, motioning to us and our bags. The woman's eyes got big as she looked at all of our stuff. I'd like to think that she also noticed the sweat dripping off our foreheads and the worry in our eyes. My heart leapt for joy as she smiled at us and motioned for us to just go, bypassing any customs procedures at all. The man holding my guitar looked taken aback, but she was in charge, so after running my guitar through what looked like an X-ray machine he let us go. And that is the story of how we waltzed through baggage claim and customs at the Incheon airport in under 20 minutes with NINE BAGS. Praise the Lord!
Our good friend Johnny (who is also a teacher at the same Center) and one of our new bosses Mrs. Eem were there to greet us after we escaped from customs. The four of us got in an airport bus with our NINE BAGS and began the hour trip to our new home, the city of Pyeongtaek. Pyeongtaek is considered a small city here in Korea, but for John and I it is anything but. I mean, it's no San Francisco, but with a population of 400,000 people, Pyeongtaek holds its own. It's a rectagular shaped city with a bustling downtown area, loads and loads of restaurants (including many Western ones like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.), many community gardens, shopping malls, and mopeds. Our apartment is located in a quiet area of town right next door to Johnny's apartment building and also right behind the Pyeongtaek Youth Community Center which is our place of work. So, thankfully, in this land of stickiness our commute to work is nothing but a 2 minute walk.
And now for our apartment, the moment you have all been waiting for. It's wonderful and we love it. We were anticipating it being much smaller than it actually is, and it turns out that it is the absolute perfect size for us. I can't tell you how much I wanted to upload a video tour of our apartment for you, I may have even told many of you that that was the plan. However, sigh, after many (and I mean many) attempts at uploading our video tour, we've come to the unfortunate realization that it's just not going to work. So, instead and only slightly lamer, for your viewing pleasure, a photo-tour of our lovely new home:
So, that's our apartment, we love it. We're pretty much settled, we have a few more things we'd like to pick up, but for the most part we'd really like to keep it simple here.
For the last 10 days, John and I have spent our time setting up our apartment, shadowing classes at the Center, familiarizing ourselves with our new city, experiencing Korean food and culture, and studying the language. We've also been able to hang out with Johnny quite a bit which is great, it's wonderful to have a friend here. We're so excited to finally be here and although the pangs of homesickness have hit us a few times already, we've found that as long as we commit ourselves to keeping in touch with those we love we will be just fine.
We've also committed ourselves to this blog, so over the next year you will find us blogging regularly about our new culture, language, food, and teaching experiences. So please stay tuned! We are so very grateful to all of you for your support, prayers, and kind words, WE LOVE YOU. And praise to God for His constant grace, His never-ending love, and for tasty Korean food.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Soon and Very Soon...
We get internet in our apartment tomorrow. I know you're all a-titter with anticipation.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I know you all are wanting to see pictures, but...
We still don't have internet at our apartment! So, a lengthy update and pictures will have to wait. But, we are doing well! Right now I (Ferial) am typing to you from our new place of work, the Pyeongtaek Youth Community Center, and we are loving it. We've completely adjusted to the time zone by now, but we still can't seem to get used to the humidity, it's crazy! Our friends and our new "Center Family" have been so kind and welcoming to us; we are so grateful for their blessings. Also, our apartment is coming together quite nicely. Our apartment is wonderful, just the right size for us and everything is brand new and trendy. We love it. It's starting to feel like home.
So, that's it for now, I know it's not much, but I just wanted to let you all know that we are doing very well. We have to rush off to a "Center Family" dinner, but I promise there will more updates soon!
Love.
So, that's it for now, I know it's not much, but I just wanted to let you all know that we are doing very well. We have to rush off to a "Center Family" dinner, but I promise there will more updates soon!
Love.
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