Korea: Two Years in Four Minutes

And just in case you wanted to watch this on your phone, too:

Birthday Week (plus)

The past week has been a whirlwind to say the least.  I've finally (almost) gotten over a cold-turned-burgeoning-sinus-infection this week; I'll finish my antibiotics tonight.  I've still got a bit of a sore throat, but I think that's allergies taking over at this point.  I've been keeping my window open, because the weather's finally nice enough for that (meaning that my apartment is starting to take on over-like qualities), but the cool breeze brings pollen with it.  What's a girl to do?  I cracked open the Claritin D that Mom sent this morning, and that seems to be helping.

In spite of being sick and voiceless (even literally for a day), I still went about life as usual, because it hit hardest during BIRTHDAY WEEK.  What is it with me and getting sick on my birthday??? (Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I ended up in the ER, unable to breathe on my birthday night.  They ended up giving me some medicine to which I'm allergic... so the whole thing was a pretty big ordeal.)  This year, I planned a bunch of birthday week activities, and had an absolute BLAST.  Even though there are still some ongoing festivities (things I didn't plan, but people wanting to do more for me - I love my birthday and apparently others do, too!!), I'm going to post about what all's been happening!

Monday, April 22, 2013

For sure during Birthday Week, I wanted to go to Mt. Fishtail, my favorite restaurant here in Cheonan.  It's a bit of a trek for me, involving planning my schedule around that of the subway.  Many people go there for birthdays, so it's become a bit cliché to do that.  I don't really like doing the same things as everyone, and people have been starting to complain about that, so I asked two of my friends, Ashley and Heidi, if they'd go with me after our Korean class (which ended up involving a surprise TWO cakes and drinks!).  They happily agreed, making everyone winners.  The two ladies were super nice and even treated me!  

The picture you are seeing actually has nothing to do with Birthday Week, but I wanted to point out that the first time I hung out with Heidi was also the first time I went to Mt. Fishtail.  I conveniently had this photo, therefore, to show me, Heidi, and the restaurant, so I could have just let you think that it was from Birthday Week.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - Birthday!

On Tuesdays, I normally spend time with a young lady I'm tutoring/mentoring.  If you follow my Facebook,
you'll often see me writing about "my student;" that's her - Kristin.  Kristin's family wanted to take me out for my birthday and offered to do it any night, but I thought it was be sweet to see her on my birthday itself.  That afternoon, she and her mom actually met me at my school to walk me over to the restaurant.  Sadly, it was raining that day, and I had worn the wrong shoes, so I got soaked (probably contributing to how sick I got), but it was sweet nonetheless.  Kristin's mom decided just to let the two of us eat, so she paid and left us there.  This restaurant was also a first for me: My first teacher dinner had been there.

The place is rather expensive, but they give you enough food to feed an army.  Just when you think, "Okay, I'm stuffed; I can't eat anymore," they bring another course.  Then, you think, "Surely, that's it," but then, they bring another course.  And I'm not meaning, just a main dish and maybe a side... We actually had to move things off the table to fit all the food on it.

My co-teacher Sam (The CT, again, for Facebook followers), had given me a small cake in the morning to eat at the restaurant.  Often, cakes here come complete with a knife, candles, matches, and poppers for the the occasion, so we had a good time making a lot of noise in the restaurant.

Kristin was pretty nervous about the poppers at first.  I think maybe she doesn't like the noise... Or perhaps she thought she was going to burn her hand?  I'm not really sure, but once the confetti and streamers came out, she was one happy camper.

We both left too stuffed to move properly.  I waddled her home and vowed not to eat another large meal that week... until I realized I'd already planned a couple more.  Oops.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wednesday was pretty low-key.  I went out for coffee with Kris and Cora, which was so fitting, considering Kris' new coffee website that he's about to launch.  We tried a coffee shop that just opened behind Korea Nazarene University called La Noche.  The Spanish in the name caught my eye, and, as it turns out, the owner spent some time in Spain and speaks Spanish.  That's not something to run into every day here.  (I'm not even sure they have a word for Spanish... every time I hear people talking about it in Korean, I'm pretty  sure they're saying "Spain's speaking.")  The place was cute, and the coffee was good (although too sugary for my liking... it tasted sweeter than I'm used to having), but by 8 it was HOPPING, and we, being all of the introversion persuasion, opted to leave.  It was awesome to get some time to talk with them, though, and hear about Kris' new business venture.  We even got a chance to chat a little about copyright law!  (It's begun to cross my mind to do a bit of online copyright law consulting once I'm done in Korea...)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

I had intended Thursday to be a pseudo-rest-day to prep for the insanity of the weekend to come, but I ended up scheduling a non-birthday-related meeting instead.  Sitting still is apparently not my forte.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I planned my big dinner for Friday night at a buffet called Applebee (no relation at all to Applebee's in America).  I hadn't been there in a while, so I did realize they'd removed all the reasons that had made it worth the price of eating there, which was a bit of a bummer, but we still had fun.  I'd seen an interesting game on a Korean reality TV show, and I wanted to give it a try.  For lack of a better name, I dubbed it "Food Bingo."  Basically, you fill a 5x5 Bingo card with different foods.  Each player takes a turn choosing a food.  If you eat the whole of that food that you placed on your card, you get the space cleared.  If you don't eat all of it, or you didn't select that food, you can't clear the space.  You must have 3 Bingos to win.

My filled BINGO card

To make things more interesting, we required players to include a lychee (Although, at the time, we didn't realize that's what they were... we just saw the spiky fruit.), something dipped in the chocolate fountain, some wasabi, and one of the whole shrimp (gross).

We confused a lot of people while we were playing, and ended up scaring the employees to death: They saw Ashley and me walking around with a notebook, writing down foods, and they assumed we were conducting an inspection of some kind.  Luckily, our Korean friend had come and he explained what was happening to them.  BUT it was a blast, and I'd highly recommend playing it, although, perhaps you should play it at home...

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday morning, all of the KNU program teachers went to Seoul for a culture trip (temple and a show).  IT was pretty fun, but I was mostly jazzed about what was waiting for me afterward.  Seoul has this cool trend that's, sadly, on its way out of fashion, but I'm going to take advantage of it until it dies entirely.  Popular these days are board game cafes.  You go in, buy a drink, pay hourly after the first hour, and have access to basically every board game every created.  Here's a smattering of them from my first trip to Board School:

Situated directly over one of the two Taco Bells in Korea, Board School was Heaven for my inner geeky child.  We stayed for three hours and played our way through Ticket to Ride (I won), some odd pirate game (see the video below) (I think Ashley won), Hulli Gulli (a Korean favorite that is basically Egyptian Ratskcew, plus math) (Ashley also won), Apples to Apples (Nick), and Uno (I don't remember who won this, but Nick introduced us to Killer Uno, which has about 20 extra rules, but is so much fun).  It was definitely the highlight of my week, and I'm already anxious to go back for more!

Plus

More birthday activities keep popping up.  This weekend, Kershea took me to my now undisputed favorite buffet, All That BBQ.  I should be going out with Jolie for coffee tonight.  Maybe I'll also hang out with Joshua on a similar adventure.  This weekend I'll be staying with Samuel and Ashley... it just keeps going, and I love it all!  I don't know how I'm going to top all this next year for the big 2-5, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. :)

MOTh: Day 13

3 Gifts Behind a Door

At this point, I'm pretty sure they're just stretching for these, but, nonetheless, I will complete this challenge... in my own arbitrary pace, as the case may be.

1. I'm thankful for the cabby that was right behind the door to the outside this morning.  I'm also thankful for the particular cabby that was behind the cab door.  With Kris and Cora's wedding rehearsal tonight, I definitely had my hands fool on my way to school (today is a "no rest for the weary" kind of day).  Normally, I have to walk halfway to school and then call a cab from a landmark they'd recognize (my apartment building isn't big enough for them to know it), but today, there was one at the red light outside.  I definitely thanked G-d for His small miracle on that one.
2. I'm thankful for the apartment behind my door.  Despite the bunny smell (which is really bad now that the heat's come on), despite how small it is, despite the fact that it's not really good for entertaining company, I have a roof over my head and a warm, safe place to sleep at night.  There are MANY people who can't claim that; I have no room to complain.
3. I'm thankful for Jeff, Terry, and Jenny, who sit behind a certain door at KNU.  They work their butts off to help all of us here, and they are so often taken for granted.  Our program is unique in that it has people like them to help us out, and, man, do they HELP us.  I feel like they're there to help me every time my eye twitches.  They put up with all of us when we run by at the end of the day, tired and grumpy.  They put up with us when we're panicked.  They put up with us when we're frustrated.  They put up with us letting down our cultural appreciation shield.  And, yet, I've never heard one of them badmouth us.  They deserve some sort of Nobel Prize for that, I think.

An art museum that would make Mary Lennox proud - Hoam Museum

On Saturday, we went to Hoam Art Museum as part of a cultural trip that KNU arranged for us.  There was an inside, too, I just didn't like it as much; I wasn't in a museum-y mood, especially after the outside was so invigorating.  So, I hope you enjoy what I did choose to capture. :)

Today had all sorts of fun candids.

Here are the highlights:

• The sixth graders are getting ready to take this majorly important test on Tuesday (please keep them in your prayers), so we spent class time this week playing a review game.  My favorite class was one that went from being a very high-scoring game, to two of the teams losing all their points, due to some unfortunate choices.  Then, when it seemed like a lock for Team B, Team C found a "switch points with another team" option.  Not even Team B could keep from laughing, so you know I lost it (so did my co-teacher, so I don't feel bad).  It was a situation that could have turned ugly, but the kids were having so much fun; I really appreciated it.

• Korea had a blackout drill today.  All of it.  The government shut down the power to certain key buildings, and everyone else was on the honor system to turn it off on their own.  Honestly, I don't know how that helps anyone be prepared for anything, since all it changed was how hot we felt, but maybe my Korean counterparts got something from it.  (Or maybe, possibly the government just saved a TON of money today?  Maybe the U.S. should try it...)

• Somehow a massive wooden structure got ripped out of the solid wood floor to which it was screwed.  The group of students blamed it on the one autistic child in their midst, but, somehow I get the feeling that they weren't being entirely truthful.  Call me crazy.

• In telling my friend Cameron about that, we decided that the child must be the daughter of the Hulk, and is, therefore, genetically mutated.  We concluded that it's very irresponsible to have mutant children and not send them to Dr. Xavier for proper responsibility training.  (These are the things I talk about in real life.)

• We all got together for our quarterly dinner with everyone in the program through KNU.  I remembered tonight how I thought I was going to hate all of those after the first one I went to.  Now, I realized that I very much look forward to them.

All in all, I'd call today quite successful.  Tomorrow, I don't have to teach, so I'm attempting to get ahead on my summer camp planning.  Wish me luck.

Blimey Cow photo-a-day 21. Something you NEED.

I NEED to get back in my Bible more.

All right y'all.  Bedtime.  Have fun with whatever it is that you're doing.

Be Thou my Vision

On Sunday, I sang my favorite hymn in church... in Korean.  They've been on me to sing/play a solo in church for a while now, but I've been hesitant, because I didn't see how I could do that without drawing the attention toward me and away from G-d, but then I figured it out: a melody that I know really well, paired with words my churchmates can understand (i.e., Korean).  So, I sang.  Don't get excited.  There's no media for you today.

From the best I've been able to understand, it's not an incredibly popular hymn here.  No one has recognized it when I've hummed it for them, but holy cow, did G-d speak through it.  Whether it was the shock of Korean coming out of my mouth or the power of the song (or both), I had their attention from the word go (or 가세요, more appropriately).  They "amen"-ed as much as they do during a normal sermon - loud, unashamed, and heart-felt.  G-d was moving.

We often don't pay attention to the words we sing, but what if the person who you could never understand before, suddenly stood up and starting singing one in your language?  You'd probably listen differently.  I think we need to start paying attention to the words we sing like that all the time.  I mean, in Korea, these words are so important that they're included as part of their Bibles.  That's a big deal.

My Pop-pop had a habit of making us read certain verses of songs when he really wanted us to pay attention to their meaning, and you know what?  I can still quote you the verse he did it the most on. (And when I think, that G-d, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.  That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.)

So, in the spirit of truly looking at the words we sing and the message they're trying to give us, I'm going to post the words of this song for you (as printed in the Wesleyan hymnals I've seen), coupled with the Korean, since I seem to have a decent amount of Korean visitors.  I hope you will take the time to read it all.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

내 맘의 주여 소망되소서

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

주 없이 모든 일 헛되어라

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

밤이나 낮이나 주님 생각

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

잘 때나 깰 때 함께하소서 

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

지혜의 주여 말씀으로서

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

언제나 내안에 계십소서

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

주는 내 아버지 나는 아들

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

주안에 내가 늘 살고지고

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

세상의 영광 나 안보여도

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

언제나 주님의 나의 기업

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

주님만 내 맘에 계시오니

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

영원한 주님 참 귀하셔라

High King of Heaven, my victory won,

영원한 주님 내 승리의 주

May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!

하늘의 기쁨을 주옵소서

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

어떠한 고난이 닥쳐와도

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

만유의 주여 소망되소서

Amen

아멘

Pesach 5772

Clearly, I'm catching up on my posts today. I have today off work, as it's election day, so I thought I'd take advantage of it. Many of you have been asking how my Seder turned out, and I thought I'd share the whole story.
I went to a Fat Tuesday dinner at the International Church on KNU's campus.  I went up to their head pastor, Josh Broward, meaning to thank him for the event, and, instead, said, "Hi, I'm Jewish.  Would you be interested in having a Passover Seder at your church?".  I knew from the get-go that this was a G-d thing.  I think that's probably why I didn't stress as much about it.  Yes, there was stress, but not nearly as much as I expected.  In fact, during the all-nighter the night before, there was no stress at all, just exhaustion.  In the end, roughly 2 dozen people showed up, so I had a bit too much food, as I was planning for 40 (thus my Passover recipes that have been using it up).  However, they all seemed very interested and blessed by the event.

Here are some pictures from the night that my friend Taylor took for me:

Pastor Josh, opening us in prayer.

Raising the first glass for its blessing

The table

We did a hand-washing where we washed each other's hands,
in memory of how Christ washed his disciples' feet.

Everyone got involved.

Emma played the role of the youngest child.  Her parents told me how excited she was and how she wanted to get dressed up to fit the part.  They explained how Jewish girls in Israel today wear pretty much the same clothes as they do in Korea.  I gave her my scarf to cover her hair, to help her out a bit.  I had been debating whether or not I would cover mine, but seeing her smile made my choice for me.

Observing the piercings and stripes of the Matzah; Yeshua HaMashiach is our  Afikomen!

Lent: "I will redeem you..."

***Don't forget to sign the petition (and this one too!) to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessing #21 - The freedom to read the Word in community

I've lately had the pleasure of joining in on the planning meetings for the worship services of the International Church that meets on KNU's campus.  I'm helping plan a Passover Seder for them, and in extension some of their Holy Week services.  The whole experience has been extremely moving.  

I've really been enjoying how the planning meetings are run as small worship services: with directed prayer, hymns, scripture reading, and kinesthetic reflection... THEN the planning meeting.  These past two weeks, the reflection time has been focused on art projects.  We're supplied with paper and marking supplies (pencils, pens, pastels, etc.) and told to draw whatever reflects what we're focused on in the scripture passage.

This week was Exodus 6:1-13:

¹ Then the L-RD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
 ² G-d also said to Moses, “I am the L-RD. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as G-d Almighty, but by my name the L-RD I did not make myself fully known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. ⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
 ⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the L-RD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my own people, and I will be your G-d. Then you will know that I am the L-RD your G-d, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the L-RD.’”
9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
10 Then the L-RD said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”
12 But Moses said to the L-RD, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
13 Now the L-RD spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

(NIV)

I was particularly struck by verse six.  Let me repeat it for you:

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the L-RD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.'"

For my reflection, I drew this (All my years of doodling in math class paid off on one thing - I gained the ability to draw hands.):

You can find reflections for all of the verses here, and last week's reflections for Exodus 5 here.

I can't get over how meaningful this particular passage is.  It's stuffed full of promises to which we should be clinging.  G-d has freed us from our slavery and makes our opressor tremble at His power.  Embrace your freedom!  Embrace His protection of you!  He is your Abba Father, and He loves you so very much.

This process of artistic prayer has been incredibly good for me, so I'm thinking I want to start doing this regularly, even though I won't be with this group constantly.  It's been nice communing with G-d creatively.  I bought and was given some art supplies, so maybe you'll be seeing more of this soon.  I hope you'll try it at least one time.  It's good to try different ways of being with G-d, just like we like to mix up our activities with our other friends too.

Which verse in this passage is standing out to you?

Lent: Even though I don't like it at times

***Don't forget to sign the petition (and this one too!) to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessing #6 - Education

Today, I graduated from the TESOL program at KNU.  I must say, I did not enjoy the class, overall.  But, now I'm certified, and I have my certificate, which should be good globally.

Me, my professors, and Dr. Im (and my certificate and plant).

I also appreciated the class, because it gave me the opportunity to re-bond with the people who came in the same time as me, as well as some of the new people.  I really do feel a lot closer to them now.  I hope it sticks!

The whole group, professors, Dr. Im, and all.

What is it that you dislike in the moment, but are grateful for in the end?

Lent: Heartsick

***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessing #5 - A roof over my head

Today was my last teaching practice for TESOL.  All I had to do was prepare and act out a story, equipped with props and strong characterizations.  I picked a story I drilled into myself (and everyone around me) when I was little: The Three Little Pigs.  This is a story I could tell in my sleep, if I wanted.  For props, I collected a bundle of sticks, some hay - straw - from my rabbit's stash, and a bag of rocks that I wedged out of the frozen earth this morning.  Except, I never meant to have rocks at all.

Yesterday, on the way to church, I found some broken bricks at the construction site across the street from my apartment.  I grabbed them, but realized that I was making a trip to Seoul right after church, and I didn't want to be lugging around bricks all day - although I finally could have answered "yes" when someone asked me if I had bricks in my purse, which may have been extremely gratifying.  But I digress.  My solution was to leave my broken bricks with a whole one that I found a few meters later.  I figured that no one would mess with a couple stray bricks.  I was wrong.

When I went to retrieve the bricks this morning, there was no sign of them.  Confused, I panned out and began to radiate from the spot I thought I'd left them, figuring I'd just remembered wrong.  Something about a bottle to my left caught my eye, and I went to get a better look.  Upon closer examination, I realized that the juice bottle was tucked neatly under a black plastic bag, almost as if it was a doll, snuggled into a made up bed.  Then I noticed an interesting layering of rocks nearby.  But black seemed like such an odd color for rocks.  Then my eyes landed on the distinctly circular hole in one of the rocks, and I registered it as a fragment of broken brick.  Finally, I began to put it all together.

The juice bottle was, in fact, marking a bed, the train bridge overhead serving as a decent roof.  The black rocks were not rocks at all, but rather the remains of a fire from last night, serving as a substitute for walls.  My bricks had gone to protect the bed's occupant from being burned to death.  I shivered.  My bricks had certainly been put to a better use than some silly story telling.

Today's Lenten Calendar entry (click on the title) suggests that today we give away something that is adding to the clutter in our lives.  I think I just found a good home for some blankets that have been slowly overtaking my couch.


When was a time that G-d reminded you that everything here belongs to Him, and we are simply stewards, waiting for Him to claim it back?

Wear better clothes.

I'm going to start this post with the conclusion, just so there's no confusion on it: I am absolutely a non-fan of confrontation.  Yes, I like being able to yell my head off and voice my opinions, provided that there are minimal repercussions (i.e. I won't see them again, or they'll yell back, but that'll be the end of it... etc.), but, when that is not an option, I entirely shy away from it.  Just the thought of confronting such a situation gets my heart rate up.  Especially when I realize that my shirt is see-through.

Earlier this evening, I tried my hand shopping at a bigger store than the one I went to when I still lived on KNU's campus.  The mission was a success - I got both my pantry and fridge stocked - but it took three times longer than usual, and I still didn't end up with the fancy trash bags I'm supposed to use.  I may just haul my trash back to KNU and let them handle it... or take my garbage out in the middle of the night.  But, the point of this paragraph is not to debate the morality of ignoring cultural norms when the culture makes it impossible to find the supplies to participate in said norms.  The point of this paragraph is to express how exhausted I was when I finally made it home after my errands.  It was quite a day - TESOL, then a trip to City Hall to turn in my Change of Address, then an attempt at finding a new bus route to school using the 1 Bus (which is a great deal closer to my apartment than the faithful 14) - no dice, btw - , then the E-Mart trip, putting me home around 8:30.  I took care of the rabbit, started some chores, and finally sat down to dinner at (prepare to be horrified) 11:30.  Somewhere in the middle of this, I changed into a pair of pajama shorts and an undershirt that my friend who used to live here, Tori, left me.

It was around the time that I peeked out my front door to investigate the sounds of English coming from the hallway that I realized my shirt was very much see-through.  Great.  Glad I chose to wear a cute bra today.  So, I talked to what turned out to be some other friends of mine for a bit, and then went back to bustling about the apartment, promptly forgetting the encounter.

That is, until I had to run upstairs to Kris' apartment to fix something with our shared internet.  He's not there right now, so I knew that wouldn't be an issue.  What I wasn't expecting was to find Kris' neighbor, sulking in the stairwell, smoking his cigarette.

So, I came flying up the stairs, two at a time, until I saw him.  I stopped, teetering on the edge of the top step.  He stopped, one arm folded across his chest, the cigarette perched against his lip, as if he had been about to take a long drag.  We made eye contact, and, in that second, I thought about the amount of time Kris has spent trying to catch this guy in the act of smoking in the hallway (right underneath the no smoking sign, mind you).  I thought of Kris' determination to drive him out, bleaching the hallway, convinced that the smell would be too intense for him to stay.  I thought of the mad dashes outside in the middle of conversations at just a wiff of smoke.  I thought of all these things, then broke eye contact and ran away, slamming Kris' door behind me.  It would have put some of Carrie Bradshaw's antics to shame.

And, true to form, I left Kris a note, explaining what had happened and apologizing for my lack of filling his shoes.

Confrontational situations: 2
Confrontations: 0

I don't know whether to label this as a win or a fail.  So, I'm also not going to confront that, and label this one a wail... or a fin... or a whale fin.  Yeah, that's it.  A whale fin.

May your day consist of whole creatures and not just their appendages.

<3,
Anne

Remembering to be Dead

Recently, a good friend of mine and I have been up, talking late into the night about everything from coffee to the ugliest scars on our hearts.  Maybe it's been a little irresponsible of us, as we're supposed to be adults now, going to our 9-5's (okay, 8:30-4:30 on his part, 9:30-4:30 on mine [for now], but you get the idea), and not staying up until 3am every night, but, as I'm trying to teach The Girls, sometimes, what society tells you to do isn't the most right option.  Let me explain why I think that is for this specific case.

I don't know if you've ever stayed up past the point of the second wind, past the point of delirium, all the way until the point of utter openness, but I'm going to work from the assumption that you haven't, as my high school English teachers taught me to do on my essays, so scroll on down if you already know what I'm talking about.  Everyone else, this is for you.  Anymore, my friend shows up around 8:30 or 9:30 at night, and, usually, neither of us have eaten (because we both apparently picked up European eating habits during our stints in Germany), so I'll start making some food; he'll generally start cleaning.  Neither of these tasks require too much brain power, so it really lends itself to opening a conversation.  So we talk.  And we eat.  And we laugh.  Maybe we'll watch a movie.  Maybe he'll help answer some of my questions about TESOL.  Then, one of us will do something that's not funny at all, but it will get the other one (okay... me) laughing uncontrollably, which will get the other laughing uncontrollably,  until we're both laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, contemplating how to get the dust out of my overhead light.

Unavoidably, at this point, something will sneak up out of nowhere - this force I can't explain - and one of us will say, "Can I ask you a weird question?"  And then the openness has arrived.  So, the other will say, "Sure," and the conversation proceeds as if we're not baring our souls to each other, telling the other things that we're not even sure we've told ourselves yet.  Our most recent encounter with this stage has left my mind reeling for the past couple of days.  I've churned it over and over, knowing that he's Biblically correct, but unable to get any kind of firm grip on the topic, because, as our eyes met, and the word "Sure" tumbled over my lips, he asked me,

"Do you think you're beautiful?"

I didn't even need to hesitate, since I'd actually just been thinking of the answer, as I recalled my reflection in the elevator mirror from earlier that day.

"No; not at all."

"I thought so.  It shows in the way you relate to everyone around you.  I'm sure it won't mean much, coming from me, but I want you to know, I think you're a beautiful person."

I was stunned.  Absolutely stunned.  There was so much to contemplate there in the possible literal meanings of the phrase that it really just took me this long to make linguistic sense of it all.  But, as I listened to Matt Maher's Empty and Beautiful album tonight (the title track, specifically), it all seemed to click into place.  I could handle admitting that the areas of G-d in me are beautiful.  This is no problem for me to say.  What else would they be?  As I returned to these thoughts, while wrapping down for the night, the opening lines to the song caught me:

My past won't stop haunting me.
In this prison there's a fight between
Who I am and who I used to be.

And then I remembered:  For me, it's very much who I USED TO BE.  Because, like I've said, If not for G-d, I am dead.  It follows that those things within me that are separate from G-d must be dead.  All that is in me and makes me must be held extremely close to G-d, and, being that close, it cannot fail to reflect Him.  Just look at the story of Moses on Mount Sinai.  Therefore, I MUST be beautiful.

I'm not sure how this conclusion does much for me, other than clearing my head of one more lie that I've been sucked into, but I feel secure in knowing it, which seems like a good enough reason for me.  There are a lot of implications that I could go into about it, but, at this point, it is 2:06am, and I have my first TESOL presentation tomorrow, so I really should get some sleep.

Remember to be dead, my friends.

New things

Again, it's been a while.  I know.  I've had good reason, though.

I've started my TESOL class (which is my first graduate-level class) and moved up to the next level in my Korean class, so I've really had to step up my level of work.  I have two presentations in TESOL this week and one in Korean.  I'm not going to lie... I'm starting to get nervous.  On top of that, this past weekend, I moved into my new apartment.  The heat and hot water had been out in my old one for about a week, so I opted to push up my move-in date.  I'm so glad I did.  My apartment isn't much - a room, a bath, and a loft - but I am a big fan of it.  I don't have any good pictures of it, as I'm still unpacking and storing some boxes in it for its old occupant, a friend of mine, until she comes back for them in about a month.  I do, however, have a picture of my roommate, the occupant of the loft.  It's not a great one, but I think you'll get the gist:

Yup!  The same friend also left me her rabbit, Manila.  Manila's pretty easy-going, although she's a bit territorial right now.  I just need to out-alpha-rabbit her.  I think I can do it.  She needs a lot of attention, but we're working on the balance.  I'm enjoying having her around.  I think we're going to be great friends.

Tonight, I also began the first in my series of new initiatives to get together with my graduated 6th graders.  I want to be able to give them a break from the pressures they're about to face and show them that there's more to life than getting a perfect score.  I want to push the G-d aspect and that he's more important than making good money or gaining social status.  I'm not sure how I'm going to convey all of this, but, right now, I'll settle for an age-appropriate movie and some food that's good for your soul.  I hope you will join me in keeping these kids in prayer - yes, all of them, but especially these three: Emma, Irin (sounds like Irene), and Cleo.  I've given you their English names, not their Korean ones (yes, I finally learned them), because there are a lot of sick-os that use the Internet.  Their names are pretty common in the Korean world, but I'm not taking any chances.  Also, if you have any suggestions of fun things to do with middle school girls, let me know, because I can't always luck out and find a movie (Happy Feet 2) that I know I'll feel comfortable taking them to see.  I know... I can't believe that I'm volunteering to hang out with middle schoolers either.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to.  I've had some people re-connecting with me via Facebook, and I've really been enjoying that.  I'd be incredibly interested in knowing what's new with you too, so leave me a comment!

<3

Chanukah 5772

Well... I finally get to post about CHANUKAH!  If Chanukah was a person, I would fall in love with it.  But, as my friends at Blimey Cow pointed out, I should be more conservative about my usage of the word "love," so, we'll just say that I really like Chanukah.  As I explained to my friends, Chanukah is a holiday about eating fried food, swapping chocolate, and spinning tops - if you can't find something in there to like, I can't qualify you as a person, so you should stop reading now (just kidding).  But my point is that it's really fun.  (For the REAL meaning of Chanukah, click here... I mean here... oh, sorry, I mean the title.)

Anyway, I threw a party, as is quickly becoming my Korea-tradition, and we had an excellent time.  This is how it went down:

1. My family and I made potato latkes and apple latkes, then I went out and bought some 호떡 (Don't get confused, they have nothing to do with rice cakes.) and 붕어빵 (which are usually shaped like fish when you buy them on the street, but that requires a special waffle iron, so don't sweat it).  We ate all these yummy yummy foods until we were stuffed... mostly because I was cooking for an expected 12-15 people, and 9 showed up.  Oops.


2. I gave a short lesson/presentation on the history and traditions of Chanukah, then lit my menorahs and gave everyone a line of tea-light candles so they could sort of make their own, too.  My dad had the brilliant idea of grabbind cups to raise up the shamash, so the menorahs could be kosher.

3. We then broke into two groups and played some excellent games of Dreidel.  It was better than usual, and I think this had something to do with it:

Yeah... We play by our own rules.  How very American of us.  Ah well... the vast majority of us are Waygooks, so I'm not complaining.  Although, how my head teacher fits into that mix, I may never know.

Hope your holidays were good!

(PS.  The next post is one I've been especially looking forward to posting, so be excited!)

<3

This is old, but I want to share it with you anyway.

For a long time, we spent our weekends working with Adam Thomas on his latest project: a series of videos designed to compliment Korea's national curriculum.  The project started after we were disappointed by the videos that came with the curriculum itself, and, although it sucked away a lot of our free time, especially Adam's, I think that the result was well worth it.

The video I've included here is a behind the scenes look at the sport we invented, while making the video attached to the title of this post.  Enjoy!

The in front of the scenes part of the video (seriously, click on the title of the post, you won't regret it if you enjoy slapstick comedy) resulted in my first battle with The Pants.  I won:

You may or may not see my mending handiwork here.  And if you can't see it, I'll take that as a compliment.

And no, I haven't forgotten that I promised updates from my family's time here.  This was just ready to go NOW, and it kind of has seniority.  I PROMISE THE OTHER UPDATES WILL COME.  Promise.  Until then, <3.

Wow... Thanksgiving-Themed Epic Fail

I totally forgot to post the photos I took at the TWO Thanksgiving dinners I went to!  I just found them today when I uploaded the photos I took at the Christmas party.  Epic fail.  I'm so sorry!

So much food!  I had childhood flashbacks to when we'd all go to my Pop-pop's church and have Thanksgiving there, because the family was too big to gather in anyone's house.

The turkey.  Vegetarian or not I've never been a fan.  This year's bird looked lovely, but did not tempt me in any way, shape, or form.  I'm actually rather thankful for that, as ingesting it would cause me severe pain.

Leslie and Carly making the honorary first cut.

Larry taking over from there.

Once again, I was very much reminded of my family.  So many people - such a long table!  So much love!

Thanksgiving party number 2.

I spent the vast majority of it hunkered down in my corner, trying not to give into the food coma that was steadily settling in on me.  It was my first time truly experiencing that feeling, and, let me tell you, I did not like it at all.

Well, now that I TRULY am caught up on my posts, we'll soon resume our regularly scheduled Advent-y/Christmas-y posts.  Hope this didn't catch you too off guard, but, just in case it did, your calendar is not very wrong, it is, in fact, two short weeks away from Christmas.  This post was entirely brought on by my scatter-brained nature. ;)

<3

10 Reasons to Smile

I spent today in bed.  Literally.  And I'm not ashamed, because I'm working my butt off, and sometimes people just need a day in bed.  I woke up for my newly-instated, monthly Skype call with my cousin Becky, and we talked for two hours.  We've almost always had a rather communicative relationship, whether being pen pals as children, Facebook chatting, or Skyping, we've always managed to keep in touch.  I'm grateful for that.  But that's not the point of this particular post.

The point is, rather that, in my laying around after my Skype chat, I found this wonderful video.  Now don't be fooled; it's not depressing, even though there's a stretch when you think it's going to be.  Just watch it, okay?:

You can't watch that and tell me it's depressing, because, clearly, this kid is now loving life.

SO, because I'm thrilled by this kid, and I too strive to be loving life, I'm going to take his challenge, and I hope you will too.  That beings said, here are The Ten Things That Made Me Smile Today:

10. The excellent heated floor that I am seated on right now.  Korea has some pretty sweet things that come standard with even the smallest of apartments.

9. The fact that Kyle Funke once lived, laughed, and loved on this earth.

8. The pink sky outside my window, presumably brought on by the lunar eclipse that is taking place behind the clouds right now.

This photo really doesn't do it justice.

7. Switchfoot's 2009 album, Hello Hurricane, and my friend Kyle (former guitarist for Della Rosa), who recently went to (and posted a video of) the Switchfoot concert in Nashville, reminding me that I really do love that band.

6. Seeing cut up red bell-peppers on the food line at the English-speakers' Christmas party I went to tonight.  I love red bell-peppers.  Plus, there were tomatoes sitting right next to them.  Yum!

5. Kris, and his perfectly attuned sense of humor (not to mention his good nature).  He keeps me in stitches. 

This is not my photo, but mine was truly horrible, so I didn't want to post it.  For dirty Santa, Kris picked his gift, opening it to find three large bars of almond-filled chocolate.  Kris is, however, deathly allergic to nuts.  This in and of itself is no reason to smile, but his slow, tantalizing description of the chocolate, ending in a loud, "...AND IT WILL KILL ME." was funny enough to put a smile back on my face as I think about it.

4. The English-speakers' Christmas party in general.  There was so much good American Christmasy food, and the dirty Santa gift exchange kept us constantly laughing.  I don't think I've laughed that much since coming to Korea.

3.  Getting to spend time with the guys as an honorary guy after the Christmas party tonight.  In general, I have always preferred spending time with guys rather than girls, because I feel that I don't have to carefully scan everything I say around them, for fear that it will be thrown back in my face while talking to them later.  I feel free to relax and just be myself around "the guys," and this group of guys in particular.  We spent the evening talking about the stupid things we've done in life, laughing and laughing, until Logan got called away to go partake in the Christmas movie he had suggested watching.  Spending time with them definitely put me in a happy place.

2. The opportunity to talk to not one, but TWO of my wonderful cousins.  Yes, I got to speak to Becky for two hours, covering every topic under the sun.  It was so nice to catch up.  I also got to talk to Dave (the one who just got married).  One of the things that has been weirding me out the most about him being married is the fear that we wouldn't be able to relate any more.  But, our conversation didn't seem that different from usual.  Neither of us had very much to say this time around, but he's a guy, so I don't take that as unusual.  :)

AND:

1. The beautiful, contagious smile of Kieran Miles (the young man in the video).  I love it so much, and it had an instantaneous affect on my whole demeanor and, ultimately, my day.  I am happier because I know that it (and its owner) exist.  I'm glad he chose to speak out.  I don't know what impact he will make on the world, but I know that he has already made an impact on my life.

So, how about it?  What 10 things made you smile today?

<3