"You're Very Dirty and Smelly"

I started teaching two new kindergarten classes today. One class has three boys and the other has four girls. The kids were good for the most part, though the boys got a little out of hand toward the end. I interpreted it as a signal to wrap things up and return them to their mothers. I'm really glad to be teaching 5 days a week now.

This past weekend I went to church with my coworker Katherine and her boyfriend Mark. Their church started an English language service about 6 months ago. It's a small congregation, all of whom speak English as a second language or grew up in bilingual (Korean-Canadian, Korean-American) homes. Mark and I were the only two solely English speakers. It was a nice service, and the people were friendly and welcoming. I'll probably visit there again, though I'm hesitant to make a commitment at this point since I'm still arranging my new mission work, which might involve church responsibilities on Sundays.

So now for the dirty and smelly part . . . there is a lovely park with a mountain and trails near my apartment. Today was a beautiful day, though a bit warm and humid, so after my classes, I headed to the park to hit the trails. The map at the park entrance indicated that the trail I had chosen was about 3 kilometers long and ended near the top of the mountain. I set off up the trail. It was steep, and I'm out of shape, so it was quite a workout. The view from the top was superb. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera with me, but I'll take it with me next time. In one direction, I could see my entire city and then some. In the other direction, there was nothing but mountains for as far as I could see. It was getting to be evening, and I didn't want to get stuck up there in the dark, so I headed back down.

It was a hard climb up but an easy run down, so when the trail was safe enough (i.e., not too steep, no rocks or roots or mud to avoid, no cliffs on either side), I ran. I slipped a little on one part of the trail and ended up with mud on my legs, and I was sweating considerably. By the time I made it back to my apartment building, I was a certifiable mess. I got on the elevator with two clean, nicely dressed women. One looked me over and said, "Hello, I'm Carmen. Are you new here?"

"Yes," I answered. "I've been here about two weeks."

"You're very dirty and smelly," she said.

What could I say but "Yes, I just climbed the mountain."

"I'm clean and smell nice," she answered.

Just then the elevator stopped and the eleventh floor, so I had to excuse myself from that exciting conversation. I was kind of curious about what else she might point out: that I'm dripping with sweat, that my hair is a mess, that I have a zit on my chin, that I have a big nose? Thanks, clean, nice-smelling Carmen!

I find conversations like this pretty funny. The comments complete strangers will make never cease to astound me. It seems that Koreans are not as reserved as Westerners are when it comes to commenting on a person's appearance. I've never heard anything said maliciously, just matter-of-factly. "You're very dirty and smelly." Well, yes, I was. I can't deny it or hide it, not on an elevator at least.

Good Idea, Bad Idea: An Ode to Prepositional Phrases

Good idea: going for a walk after teaching.
Bad idea: going for a walk without an umbrella on an overcast day during rainy season.

Good idea: wearing lightweight clothes on a summer day.
Bad idea: wearing lightweight clothes that become transparent when wet while going for a walk without an umbrella on an overcast day during rainy season.

You can fill in the details. Let's just say I learned some important lessons today.

Big Ears, Japanese TV Letdown, and Fincels Sweet Corn Withdrawal

Korean kids seem to think that all Westerners have really big noses, so I must make their day by having a big nose even by Western standards. I usually just laugh about it when one of my darlings so matter-of-factly says "Teachuh, you big nose!" I've never heard them say it maliciously, so it doesn't bother me any.

Today we were looking at pictures of animals and talking about their features. Does an elephant have a little nose or a big nose? Does a spider have many legs or few legs? Does a rabbit have little ears or big ears? Then we compared animal features to human features. An elephant has a big nose. Do you have a big nose? A spider has eight legs. Do you have eight legs? A rabbit has big ears. Do you have big ears?

I could have seen it coming with the questions about the elephant, but I certainly thought the rabbit questions were innocent enough. Not so. One of my little darlings looked up at me with this beautiful, innocent, little face and said, "Teachuh, you have big ears."

"I have big ears?"

She nodded yes.

"No," I said. "I have little ears. A rabbit has big ears." I said to all the kids, "A rabbit has big ears. Do I have big ears?"

"YES!" they all said very seriously. Some even nodded to emphasize the point.

Finally the little one who pointed it out in the first place piped in, "Teachuh, you have big ears. We have little ears." Well, I guess she has a point.
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In Sunday's post (click here) I wrote about my television channels. I've been really happy to watch old musicals on the Japanese station at night. Last night, though, I thought the Japanese station was really going to be the best thing ever. After the musical, I heard the familiar music of the ER theme song. ER! My favorite series! But then came the letdown. Unlike the musicals which they show in English with Japanese subtitles at the bottom, they dubbed over ER. It was all in Japanese. Abby, Carter, Luca, Sam--all of them were speaking in Japanese! Oh, the disappointment, BS2!
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And while we're on the subject of disappointment, I have to ask all of you in eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois to eat some good ol' Fincels sweet corn for me this summer. A lot of street vendors in Korea sell steamed corn, so on my way home from my walk tonight, I bought a couple ears, thinking that would be a good reminder of home. When I bit into it, though, it wasn't that wonderful, crisp Iowa sweet corn. Instead, it was tough, rubbery CATTLE CORN! Oh, the disappointment! Someone please go to Kennedy Mall or Dick's or wherever they may be selling it this year and fix yourself some of that fresh Fincel's sweet corn. And tell 'em I say hi.
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So silly things aside, everything is fine here in Korea. I'm getting to know my students and coworkers better and am learning my way around town. As much as I joke about the disappointment of Japanese television and biting into cattle corn, I realize that I have much to be thankful for, including the food before me and the technology that simplifies my life and keeps me connected. I'm looking forward to starting my "real" mission work before too long but am trying to get myself adjusted and settled a little before doing that, so that I can really commit myself to the work ahead of me.

Japanese Television, A New Neighborhood, and the Kid v. Teacher Scorecard Continues

I can hardly believe that my first week is already over. It still feels like I just stepped off the airplane, at least in part because I still have a touch of jet lag. Highlights of this week included discovering Japanese television, exploring my new neighborhood, and of course, meeting my new students.

I get 14 television channels without cable. Two are the same station on different channels. Three are in Chinese. One of the Chinese channels shows music videos 24/7, sometimes Chinese, sometimes American. (The Bee Gees just came on. It's a huge improvement over Lil Bow Wow.) Two are in Japanese. Seven are in Korean. One is Muslim Television Ahmadiyya, which broadcasts mostly in Arabic, occasionally in English, and the other night, Bengali dubbed in German. The Japanese channels are my favorite. They're aptly named BS1 and BS2, but at night, they play old musicals in English with Japanese subtitles. It's the only English language programming I've found, except for the music videos. Good thing I never get tired of Singin in the Rain.

My neighborhood is really nice. My new city is a bustling place with a population of over 300,000 people. It's conveniently connected to Seoul by subway. My apartment is on the 11th floor of a building that's a 2-minute walk to school, right next door to E-Mart (huge department/grocery store), and less than a 10-minute walk to the subway station. My neighborhood has two main squares, connected by a pedestrian walkway. Each square has a fountain in the middle in which children are encouraged to play. It's well lit at night, and there is frequently live music. The whole main corridor of the neighborhood is busy most of the day and well into the night.

The highlight of my week was meeting my new students. I'm teaching kindergarten, and like the vast majority of kindergartners in the world, my students are exceptionally cute. Most of them were really good this week.

Hello from Korea!

I've made it safe and sound to Korea and am connected to the world again. My internet, telephone, and television were all hooked up today.

I started teaching yesterday. I have a really light schedule so far--two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and one class on Wednesdays, all kindergarten. Hopefully I'll have a few more classes next week. Once I'm over my jet lag and settled in a little, I'll start my volunteer work with the non profit agency.

It's nice to be back in Korea, but I really miss my family and friends back home. A year is a long time to be away from all of you, so keep those emails coming and let me know what's going on there. I love you all.

Here, but by the Grace of God

I'm just checking my email and catching up on some things before calling it a night. I leave Chicago tomorrow at noon. I have an 11 hour flight to Tokyo, 2 hour layover, and 2 hour flight to Seoul. I'll catch up with you all sometime this weekend or early next week. If any of you still have my old snail mail address in Korea, please discard it. Send me an email, and I'll give you my new address when I arrive.

Blessings!
EMH

Do Not Stand Idly By (Lev. 19:16)

I generally don't pass around petitions, but this one is especially important. Please take a moment to read the "National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence against Women," sign it, and pass it on to religious/spiritual leaders in your communities. This sign of support can be a real source of hope for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and may be crucial to their road to safety. The Declaration will be sent to crisis centers and shelters across the United States. Victims will then be able to see if faith communities near them support them in seeking safety.

The declaration is available by clicking here.

Why do we need such a declaration? Violence against women affects each and every one of us. It's prevalence is astounding, and every community in the United States is at risk. Almost 18%, or 17.7 million women, in the United States have been victims of rape or attempted rape sometime in their lives (1). According to a study conducted by the National Victim Center, 1.3 women age 18 and over in the U.S are forcibly raped each minute; 78 per hour; 1,871 per day, or 683,000 per year (2). Nearly 5.3 million incidents of intimate partner violence occur each year among U.S. women ages 18 and older (3).

The FaithTrust Institute is an international, multi-faith organization working to end domestic violence and sexual assault. They have excellent resources and trainings for church leaders. Take some time to check out their website.

Religious leaders can be life-saving resources for victims of violence or hindrances to their journey to safety and recovery. Let us pledge to be sources of hope.

Blessings!
EMH (signer #1104)

(1)U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1998. Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, D.C.
(2) Kilpatrick D.G., C.N. Edmunds, and A. Seymour. 1992. Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Arlington, VA: National Victim Center.
(3) Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington (DC): Department of Justice (US); 2000a. Publication No. NCJ 181867. [cited 2005 September 15]. Available from: URL: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htm.)

Something New

Welcome to my new website! Several friends and family members encouraged me to keep writing about my experiences, so this is the place!

I very regrettably decided to leave my post as a missionary English teacher in Korea. I am back in northern Illinois now, spending time with my family, but will return to a different location in Korea on June 16th. I will teach English part time to kindergarten and first grade students. I will also volunteer part time at a nonprofit organization, which will allow me to continue my purpose in going to Korea in the first place--to be in service in this world. I'm very excited about my new opportunities.

The highlights so far of this unexpected trip home were getting to attend my cousin Brian's wedding in Philadelphia and Galena High School's graduation. It was a blessing to me to share these celebrations with such special people. I hope to include a couple photos once they're developed. (Anyone who already has some, please do email them to me!)

Many blessings!
EM

New Site

I am sorry for the long silence. I have very regretfully decided to leave my mission post but will continue to teach in Korea. Several people have asked me to continue writing about my experiences, so I've set up a new website that is not hosted by the church.

A family who has two kids at Wesley Mission School took all the teachers for an overnight at the beach on Anmyeon Island, just off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.

While it was a very short trip, it was nice to head out of town and relax for a little while, and all of us were very thankful for this family's generosity.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. First, yours truly with the beach (low tide) on Friday evening. It was really foggy, but trust me, the Yellow Sea (or "West Sea," as it's known in Korea) is behind me. Due west across the Yellow Sea is China.

It was low tide while I was out walking on the beach and taking pictures, so I got to explore some marvelous tidepools. I found a few beached starfish and relocated them to some of the deeper pools so they wouldn't dry out. The starfish were thankful, I think, but the little creatures they eat weren't quite so pleased. Here's a look at a starfish and some anemones in the tidepools.

The rocks in the photo below are known as the grandmother and grandfather rocks, and apparently it's quite a sight to position yourself so you can see the sunset between them in the fall. At high tide, the water covers the rocks between them. I walked right up to the base of both big rocks before heading back to the hotel for lunch this afternoon.On my walk back to the hotel, I passed several fresh seafood stands set up on the beach. They sold octopus, sea slugs, and shellfish, collected that very morning. Here's a look in an octopus tub.Now here's the . . . fun? . . . part--well, not for the octopus. If you decide you want an octopus, you get to pick it live out of the tub. They put in on a cutting board and chop it into little pieces, and you eat it raw--and still twitching, I imagine. How's that for a nice snack? I have to say, I didn't have the guts to try it. Actually, I felt a little sorry for the octopus! (Little piece of trivia, did you know the plural of "octopus" is "octopodes"?) That's all for now.

Sorry it has been awhile since I've posted anything. It's past my bedtime, but here's a photo of me in Seoul at the garden behind the hotel on the US Army post at Yongsan. I was there this weekend for a friend's friend's (not a typo) wedding. See my post on 4/15 about clothes shopping in Korea!

In my intermediate class, we're still talking about occupations. They're learning words like veterinarian, doctor, lawyer, teacher, pastor, businessman (and woman!), shopkeeper, biologist, architect . . . I had all the kids list different family members and what occupation they have. Some of them had trouble coming up with a name for their family member's occupation. One girl's dad is a florist, but that was easy enough to explain. The one that really threw me was the girl who said, "My father. Goat kill. Apples make juice. Grapes make juice. Headache. Black. Drink." Then she drew a picture of something that looked like a person with hair sticking straight up and used her hand like a butcher's knife to show cutting the hair off. I was totally confused, so she went in the office and explained it to one of the Korean staff members at the school. She came back and said, "Chinese medicine." So I wrote "Chinese medicine practitioner" on the chalkboard, but she didn't like it. "My father Chinese, no!" she said. "My father Korean!" I tried to explain that "Chinese" was describing the medicine, not her father, but it didn't work, so I just crossed "Chinese" out and wrote "Eastern." That was okay with her, just as long as it didn't say "Chinese."

Here are some photos of another one of my classes. The girls are just about the sweetest kids in the whole school. The four boys give me more trouble than anyone else! There are three more kids who didn't make it into the picture: a boy who is the fifth troublemaker in the group, a boy who is just as sweet as can be and can spell and read anything, and a girl who understands nothing at all and was getting some special one-on-one help when I took the picture.

Happy Belated Easter

Alleluia, Jesus is risen indeed!

Easter was beautiful but chilly here in Korea. The mystery of the hard-boiled eggs is solved. They handed them out to everyone as the entered the church. They had little plastic wrappers with Korean writing on them. I was kind of hoping there would be some kind of massive Easter egg hunt, but such was not the case. We had lots of visitors in church since everyone was supposed to bring someone to church with them. I didn't end up inviting anyone because everyone I know here belongs to the church! The service was very nice, with several pieces of special music.

After church, the choir, praise team, elders, church staff, and missionaries all went to a restaurant for some excellent Korean food. At many Korean restaurants, you sit on pillows on the floor. Since there were so many of us, it was a tight squeeze with very little wiggle room. I ended up with very sore legs by the time lunch was over and managed to spill food all over my skirt. Chop sticks and slippery food are a dangerous combination for me.

After church we had a few free hours before heading back to the church for a joint worship service for all the Protestant churches in town. One of my beginner students sat next to me in the service and was fascinated with my earpiece for the interpretation. It was pretty painful trying to understand what was being said, so I let him listen to it. It entertained him, and I think I understood about as much of the service without the interpretation as with it, though of course I missed Dr. Kim's funny expressions. I swear, he throws them into the interpretation just for fun and not because it's actually in the sermon.

When I packed to come here to Korea, I figured I wouldn't need any really dressy clothes. I knew I'd be spending most of my time teaching and as much free time as possible exploring the country, mostly in blue jeans. I brought two black pants suits (a.k.a. my funeral suits, one short-sleeved, one long sleeved. I mostly wear them to church or things like the parent orientation, where they want the teachers to look really sharp) and a couple very casual skirts, but nothing fancy. All of my clothes are mix and match, very simple, very washable, and mostly good for all four seasons.

So a few weeks ago when I was invited to go to a wedding with a fellow teacher, I started to wonder what I would wear. A black pants suit like I'm going to a funeral? A denim skirt? I contemplated ordering something from the US but didn't want to pay the exorbitant shipping fees. I also contemplated having someone dig through the things I packed away in storage and send me something, but I didn't really want to put my family through an archaeological excavation. So I decided to try my luck shopping for something to wear here in Korea.

It doesn't take the world's most observant person to see that my build is much different from that of Korean women, but I figured since I've lost almost 10 pounds since I got here (stress, good walking trails, and kimchi will do that to a person) and since I occasionally see women who are taller than I am, it shouldn't be an impossible task to find something that fits. I went to a huge department store in a city of 500,000 people. Surely, they would have something, right? I stopped at the first section in the department store and through pantomime and the few Korean words I know, I tried to ask if something would fit me. No. Again, I asked at the second section. No. Third, no. After being told no at the fourth section, I asked WHERE I can find my size. The answer: "Big size-ee, here (motioning toward the whole department store), no." And she pointed to the next department store, "Big size-ee, yes!"

With that, I went to the other department store, and started asking and pantomiming there, only to get the same answer. No. No. No. No. No. Sometimes they even laughed when I asked if they had my size, "Big size-ee, no. Ha. Ha. Ha." (If you're not built like a typical Korean woman and are even thinking of going clothes shopping in Korea, be sure you have pretty high self-esteem before you start out.) Finally, I asked someone at the information counter where I could find "big size-ee" clothes. She made a few phone calls, and then another department store employee escorted me to a section of the store that carried a few things. I ended up with a very plain but classy black skirt and a very frilly white blouse. Yes, I know I don't ordinarily go for frilly. For that matter, I've never gone for frilly ever in my life, but this was the only shirt in two whole department stores (a total of six floors of clothes) that fit. I'll have to post a photo for you all next weekend.

The sizes here are also totally different from American sizes. It was quite a shock to find out that I now wear a size 77! It is just one more example for me about how the entire frame of thinking for people is different from what I'm used to. Kilograms, not pounds. Kilometers, not miles. Won, not dollars. Celecius, not Fahrenheit. Rice, not bread. Size 77, not size 10. Koreans go by their last name first. They drive on the right side of the road but walk on the left side of the sidewalk. If you frame a question in the negative (i.e., "Isn't he coming to school today?") and the answer is yes, Koreans respond "no." "Yes" would mean you are correct to say he isn't coming to school today. "No" means that it is incorrect to say "he isn't coming to school today" because the truth is that he is coming to school.

It's a completely different way of thinking, and it's a challenge for me everyday to remember that what I have known all my life is no better or worse than what they have known all their lives, but to be effective in my work here, I need to understand the Korean way of seeing the world as best as I can, so I try and I learn a little everyday.

Tomorrow is Easter. I saw the church staff unload an entire truckful of hardboiled eggs yesterday. I'm very curious.

Today the school coordinator gave each teacher a couple dozen hard boiled eggs to distribute to the kids in the classrooms. I've never seen kids get really wild about hardboiled eggs before, but by their reaction, you would have thought we were passing out candy! Other than that, it was a five crying-kid day. Not too bad for a Friday, I'd say!

One of my middle school students gave me a painting he had made today. I asked him to sign it and discovered that the kids don't know how to read or write in cursive. Lesson plan temporarily aborted, we spent the next several minutes practicing signatures. I wrote each student's name in cursive on a piece of lined paper and let them practice. It's been a long time since I learned cursive in 3rd grade, so I really had to think to remember the correct way to make all the letters.

After a few minutes of practicing signatures, we got back to the lesson, which was about occupations. I went around the room and had the students all say what they want to be when they grow up. There's no lack of self-esteem within this group! One student wants to be the CEO of Samsung and another a mathematics professor at Harvard University. I also have an aspiring English teacher, baker (not to be confused with banker--none of those in the class), doctor, and zookeeper in the class. One boy said he wants to stand in front of the train station and say "give me money," which is a standard joke for that class. Whenever someone is absent, I ask the other kids where he/she is. If they don't know, I have them invent excuses, which gets them practicing their English and engaging their imaginations. They really like to tell me that so-and-so is standing in front of the train station saying "give me money!" I thought it was pretty creative the first time I heard it, but it's getting a little old now. My younger, less advanced classes come up with much simpler but just as entertaining excuses. "He is dancing." "She is sleeping." "He is swimming." My personal favorite excuse for someone not being in class: "She is eating noodles." Well, yeah! If you're eating noodles, you can't possibly come to English class!

The yellow dust didn't hit us as badly as they had forecasted, so I took a long walk after my classes this evening and took some pictures of spring springing forth here in Korea. With all the flowering trees and the freshly planted rice fields, it's really lovely. Here are the pictures. Top to bottom: cherry blossoms, more cherry blossoms, a freshly planted garlic field on the outskirts of town, and some of the tiled roofs typical of the houses around here.

Here are some beautiful April flowers from a tree in front of the city hall. There is a similar tree in front of the church, but this photo turned out better.

Today one of the church elders sat in on two of my rowdier classes. It is amazing how their behavior changes when a Korean is in the classroom. This particular gentleman is a Tae Kwon Do expert, so I think the kids were especially careful! They were quiet and had their books out and raised their hands to answer every question and sat in their seats. I almost had to wonder who those children really were!

My preschoolers and kindergartners did really well today, with one exception. No wet pants, no blood, but there were quite a few tears. One little girl, who never says anything or does anything but sit there and look at me and sometimes cry, kept smacking another little girl on the head. Then she stood up and pushed her out of her chair and onto the floor. The victim's face smacked right into the hard floor, and she bawled. I can't blame her. I saw the whole thing happen but was on the other side of the classroom, admiring some other kids' coloring. I could only get there in time to pick the poor, bawling baby off the floor with one hand and grab the perpetrator's wrist with the other and march her into the hallway for time out. She sat in the chair with her arms crossed, pouting for the rest of the class.

This afternoon I tripped over my own feet in one of my classes and just barely managed to regain my balance without falling on the floor myself. Of course, I did this in front of a whole classroom of 9-year-olds, all of whom laughed hysterically for much longer than the incident was really worth. Then one boy announced, "Teacher face very red!" which of course resulted in more laughter. Lesson plan aborted, we spent the rest of the class time learning words like clumsy, embarrassed, klutz and telling stories about making fools of ourselves. Since their English is very basic, we had some interesting pantomimes and drawings to get the stories across.

The weather report says we're due to have another yellow dust storm tomorrow.

It has been a very stressful week here. I appreciate your prayers. The good news is that the weather is starting to warm up. I can hear the birds chirping outside. The trees are all starting to blossom. Spring is here, and this Holy Week, I am reminded of the promise of new life and hope.

This weekend I went back to Seoul and walked past the Deoksugung Palace again. I took this picture of the band (it's for you, Sal) during the changing of the guards.As soon as I took it, my camera flashed "low battery" and shut itself off. I'm hoping to make it back soon to take some pictures of the cherry blossoms. All the flowering trees here remind me of Northern Virginia and Washington, DC.

Last week one of the littlest, cutest, sweetest girls in the whole school jumped up and bit her lip as she landed. She must have bit it just right (or wrong, as the case may be), because it resulted in blood everywhere. Besides being a little shaken up, she's okay.

I had a pretty good morning with my preschool and kindergarten kids today--only two criers, no wet pants, no vomit, no blood. That's what I call success. The preschoolers were tickling each other when I went into their classroom, so I taught them to say "tickle, tickle." It's probably not the most useful expression they'll ever learn, but they had a lot of fun with it.

The rest of today was equally uneventful, except for two more crying kids and one very loose tooth which managed to fall out in the middle of class and caused quite the excitement in an easily excitable class.

There was a lot of yellow dust in Seoul this weekend. It blows in from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia and causes quite the problem here in Korea. All sorts of health and environmental problems are attributed to yellow dust. According to the Korea Times, this weekend's yellow dust storm was the worst since 2002. You can see the haze in the photo below at Deoksugung Palace. Click here for an interesting newspaper article about this weekend's yellow dust storm in Seoul. Click here for a website that explains the Asian dust cloud phenomenon, complete with satellite pictures, photos of extreme yellow dust haze in Beijing, and photos of yellow dust haze as far away from Asia as the Grand Canyon.

I got out to take some photos today of the cherry blossoms here in town, since I'm afraid I'll miss the peak in Seoul, even if I do make it back there this weekend.

The director has been calling "secret" meetings with the other staff members--secret from me, that is. I was told about one by another teacher and accidentally walked in on another, to be greeted by a long, awkward silence.

It's not all bad here, though. Funny things happen all the time. There has been a revival in town since Sunday. It's held at a different church in town each night. A funny thing happened on my way home from the revival the other night. The pastor asked me what I thought of being in a Pentecostal church. I told him I didn't know it was Pentecostal. No one told me what church we were at. They just pointed to a steeple, and I followed the crowd. He wanted to know what I thought about the people speaking in tongues. I had to tell him I had no idea they were speaking in tongues--I thought it was Korean! We got a good laugh out of that.

Sorry I haven't been able to post my updates in a few days. I've been having some computer problems. It looks like the problems are at least temporarily solved, though. I'm just home on my lunch break, catching up on a few email messages and recovering from my morning classes. I had five kids cry, one wet her pants, and one little boy fall sound asleep.

We usually sing for the first 10 minutes of my preschool and kindergarten classes. They love "Old McDonald" but don't quite have the concept of farm animals. By the time we're done with the song, Old McDonald's farm usually has a tiger, a lion, King Kong, Ellen, a fish, an elephant . . . interesting farm.

On Sunday, Dr. Kim asked me, "Ellen, did you SHAKE THAT COLD?" I wish I could capture in writing how his voice changes when he gets excited about using a figure of speech. You can just hear how it delights him to come up with something like that.

And that's the news from Wesley Mission School. I'm off to my afternoon classes!

I'm feeling even a little better this weekend. The weather report on Wunderground said it was supposed to be 55 degrees and sunny today, so I decided to head to Seoul for some sightseeing. It's interesting how "55 and sunny" turned out to be "48 and raining steadily" most of the day!

I visited the Deoksugung Palace grounds but didn't stay long because it involves a lot of walking outdoors to various builings, none of which you can actually enter. It was a little too cold and wet to hang around, but I did take a couple pictures. There is also lovely photo slideshow on the Deoksugung Palace website, but the text is all in Korean. It, along with the other palaces in Seoul, is on my list of places to visit again in nice weather! Photos (top to bottom) are the main gate to the palace, the main palace hall, and a detail of the fancy painting on the ceiling in one of the buildings.At 3:30 PM today, I celebrated the beginning of my 9th week in Korea by treating myself to Dunkin' Donuts in Seoul. It was right outside the palace grounds and was a nice place to warm up and dry off. While sitting at Dunkin' Donuts, guidebook to South Korea in hand, I thought about nice, warm, indoor activities to do with the rest of the day and decided on none other than the Kimchi Field Museum where all my questions (and then some) were answered about Korea's favorite spicy dish of fermented cabbage and other vegetables. I kid you not! See the photos below and take a look at the museum's website by clicking the name of the museum above. It's impressive. I provided the link to the page in English, but it's available in Korean and Japanese, too. I especially offer these photos for my dear family members in the museum business and for the youth group members who have fond memories of visiting the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota during our 2003 summer mission trip.

Here is a lovely display where museum visitors are invited to look like they're eating kimchi from the manequin's chop sticks. After putting my mouth so close, I had to wonder how often they disinfect that thing.And finally, a display of just a few of the countless varieties of kimchi one may encounter here in Korea.While it is fun to laugh about, I have to admit, after being here in Korea for 8 weeks and eating kimchi almost everyday, I still like the stuff.

I'm feeling even better today than yesterday, though I still have a dry, wheezy cough, which is more annoying than anything. I was back to teaching all my classes, for the first time in a week. I'm so glad not to be sitting around the apartment anymore!

The kids were especially disruptive (err . . . excited) today. One kid threw a temper tantrum: threw his books and crayons on the floor, put his chin on the desk, and pouted. When I told him to pick his things up, he shouted "No, Teacher!" at me. I picked him out of his seat and pointed at his things. He lay down, beat his fists on the floor, and yelled. I called for one of the Korean staff members who promptly entered carrying a big stick. They didn't hit him, just scared him into picking everything up, and then called his mom. From the way kids respond to threats of calling their moms (note: they never threaten to call dads), I surmise that Korean moms are way scarier than big sticks.

In one of our workbooks today, there was a cartoon drawing of a very ugly man. One little boy pointed to him and said, "Teacher, bonehead!"

"WHAT?" I asked, not believing I had heard him correctly.

"Bonehead, teacher! Bonehead." Then he pointed to the man. "Very stupid. Bonehead!"

I don't think I've ever heard anyone else but Dad say "bonehead" before. I'm always amazed at the words the kids come up with. Of course, they have all picked up on a few less than polite phrases--from TV, I hope, and not from the teachers! I always watch my words carefully, though, because they repeat EVERYTHING.

I'm just checking my email on my lunch break and thought I'd give you today's update a little early. I teach a kindergarten class and a preschool class every morning. I begin each class with all the kids sitting on the floor. I sit in a chair facing them. As we said our prayer this morning, two little boys kept goofing around, touching my slippers and giggling. I just ignored them. Later, I looked down at my feet to notice big boogers on my toes. During the prayer, the boys had been picking their noses and wiping their fingers on my feet! Later, in my preschool class, I had four kids cry and one wet her pants. If this morning is any indication, today is going to be an interesting day. Five classes to go. Who knows what else will happen?!

I'm finally starting to feel a little better. After sleeping for the past four days, it was nice to be back in the classroom today. I had the blessing (curse?) to try to teach a class of 8- and 9-year-olds the ins and outs of this ridiculously complicated language. One little girl wanted to know why "I-G-H" makes a long "I" sound. Why? I have no idea why it does. It just does! But she wouldn't just take my word for it.

"Ellen Teacher," she shouted. "No! I-G-H, I. No! I-G-H, ig-huh. Yes! I, no! Ig-huh, yes!"

"No," I said. "I. Long I. Not ig-huh. I."

"Why?"

"Look," I said and wrote "night" on the chalkboard. "N-I-G-H-T. N-igh-t. Night."

"No, Teacher! N-I-G-H-T. Nig-hut. Nig-hut."

I could tell I was getting nowhere. The argument continued for another couple minutes, using other examples of words in which "-igh-" is pronounced as a long "I" and not as "ig-huh" as she insisted: right, high, light, bright . . .

Finally she sat down, put her chin on the desk, and looked right at me. "English very difficult."

Well, she was right about that at least!

I'm feeling a little better today. Not quite as congested. I'm still real achy and totally wiped. The director is teaching for me again today. I have hardly been out of the apartment in four days.

After what the director said to me yesterday, I've come to the really sad decision to leave Sapkyo at the end of this term in mid-May. I've actually been contemplating it since my first week here but decided to try to stick it out in hopes that some of the problems would resolve themselves. I have requested that the mission board give me some options for what else I can do with the church in Korea (my first choice since I'm already here and really like Korea) or Asia (my second choice since I'm already here and really like what I've seen so far) or elsewhere, but it seems that there aren't any other options for me through the mission program at this time.

I'm going to give the school 1-month notice, as stipulated in my contract, so I'll turn in my resignation on April 10th. I've already emailed the mission board to let them know of my decision. I've applied to a couple other schools here in Korea. I'm just trying to decide if that's really what I want to do since what I love is church work. If all else fails, I'll go back to Illinois, but that's really not what I want to do. I was really excited about having an international experience and serving the church, and I really like Korea. I could even see staying in Korea for longer than a year. It's a nice, clean, safe country. Friendly people. Very low cost of living. Lots to see and do. In fact, the only thing I don't like is this director who has literally made my life unbearable.

I guess that's all to report since I haven't done anything but sit around for four days. I'm down to two more days of Dr. Kim's mystery pills, and my butt still hurts from his shot, though the laugh I got out of the whole experience was worth it. I really, really like Dr. Kim and his wife. They've good people, and they do a lot for us. It's people like them that make it hard to leave here.

I spent the weekend curled up in a chair with my bedspread. (We don't have a couch or afghan, so that's the best I could do.) I'm not yet noticing a difference from the shot Dr. Kim gave me. I feel really weak, achy, cold all the time.

Today the director said she'd teach for me so I could just go home. While I was showing her where the kids are in the books and letting her know the general lesson plan, she proceeded to tell me that I'm not doing a good job at the school, that all the other teachers are better than I am, and that her own children were much smarter than I am when they were learning a foreign language. (She actually said that!)

I really don't see how I can continue working with her. I emailed the mission board and asked if there are other possibilities for me to work as a missionary here in Korea. I also looked into other teaching positions here in Korea--there are literally thousands--and emailed my resume to a few places this afternoon. We'll see what happens. Of course, I know I could always go back to Illinois, but I like Korea and would like to stay. I would also like to continue doing mission work this year, but this setting seems highly toxic.

I'm still sick. After the church service this morning, Dr. Kim said, "Ellen, you are still UNDER THE WEATHER. You come with me to my office, and I give you a shot."

"What kind of shot?"

"I don't know." (It turns out it was an antibiotic. I think he isn't used to their patients asking a lot of questions about what he's doing and what kind of medication he's giving, and I ask lots of questions.)

So I went with Dr. Kim and his wife (I still don't know her name) and Kathy as my chaperone to Dr. Kim's clinic.

He prepared the shot. Kathy and Dr. Kim's wife stood around. I contemplated whether I'd have to take my shirt off or just roll up my sleeve. Enter Dr. Kim with a syringe.

"Undo your pants and lie down here," said Dr. Kim.

Suddenly there was no need to worry about rolling up sleeves.

"I'm sorry for touching your butt," said Dr. Kim as he prepared my rear for the shot, which made me laugh, with Kathy and Dr. Kim's wife as the audience.

After he gave me the shot, he asked "Did that hurt?"

"Nope."

"Want another?"

The whole thing made me laugh, despite feeling "under the weather" for the eleventh day straight.

As I left, Dr. Kim asked, "What is the expression, 'my butt is on fire'?"

I have to admit. I don't know that one, but I did take the time to explain "pain in the butt," which delighted him to no end.

I went home and spent the rest of the day curled up in a chair watching bad American movies with Korean subtitles. During the commercial break, there was an advertisement for bidets that attach to toilet seats and spray a jet of water on your rear end. The demonstrations were pretty impressive.

Here are some photos from the mountain trail just outside my town.
The first picture is a cemetery. I've been told they don't bury people in caskets, which is why they make tall mounds on the graves. I didn't totally understand the explanation. The second picture is of the low mountains that are in the distance any direction you look from town. The third picture is the trail with the mountains in the distance. I took these pictures on a very cold day a few weeks ago.

I've been sick today, so I stayed home and pretty much did nothing at all. Dr. Kim brought some medicine over for me. I have no idea what it is. You know how you get prescriptions with labels on them and a little information sheet in the States? Not so here. They put all the pills you take at one time in a little envelope, no labels. So I have seven little envelopes, each with five pills, and a bottle of red syrup. I wonder what exactly I'm taking.

Dr. Kim is one of our volunteer interpreters for the worship services. He and his wife take the five missionary teachers out for lunch every other Sunday after church. Dr. Kim's English is pretty good, and the man loves idioms, proverbs, and other figures of speech. He uses them every chance he gets. Sometimes I think he throws them into the sermon interpretation just for the fun of it, not because that's what the pastor was actually trying to communicate.

When I called him this morning to tell him I am still sick, he said, "Oh, poor Ellen. Are you feeling UNDER THE WEATHER?" I could just picture his eyes lighting up when he realized he could use an idiom with me. I felt miserable, but I had to laugh.

"Yes, Dr. Kim, I'm feeling under the weather."

"Have you CAUGHT A COLD?" Short pause. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"The COMMON COLD!"

He was very pleased with himself. I could tell. A short time later, he showed up at my door with his little envelopes of mystery medicine.

"You stay inside all day," he said. "Tomorrow, you PLAY IT BY EAR."

I'm staying home sick again this morning. My voice comes and goes, and one of the teachers offered to teach my preschool and kindergarten classes again today since he doesn't have any morning classes.

The pastor has arranged for the teachers to go to Cheonan by one of the school's vans tomorrow to visit Independence Hall so we "can learn how terrible the Japanese are." Someone asked him if he meant how terrible the Japanese WERE, but he maintained that they're still terrible. Interesting to hear, coming from a pastor! Do not suggest loving one's enemies around here when the enemy is Japanese. When I give my kids writing assignments like "Tell me how you and your friend are similar," they'll write "We both hate Japan." Or "Where would you like to go on your vacation?" They'll write "I'd like to go to another country but not Japan." I've had more than a few comments from people when they've heard that I visited Japan briefly BEFORE I came to Korea. They think I should have gone to Korea first. And then when they hear that I LIKED Japan . . . oh my. I've learned not to bring it up unless someone asks.

This is the town I live in, as seen from a hill at the edge of town. There is a nice trail that goes around the hill (a.k.a. "The Mountain") and up to the top. I try to walk it a few times a week. It's very hazy here these days. You can see it in the picture. The haze is caused in part by yellow dust in the air which is blown in from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia. It's a huge health and environmental problem in Korea this time of year. The brown fields in the picture are some of the many rice fields around here. You can see the steeple of the Methodist Church almost right in the center of the photo, with Wesley Mission School next to it. You can't see my apartment building in the photo, but my roommate and I live directly across the street from the church. The other two teachers and the director live in the tall apartment building.

The kids were pretty excited today to discover that I had completely lost my voice. Not a good thing for a language teacher. About a week ago I came down with a cold which has turned into an awful upper respiratory tract infection. So far it's staying clear of my lungs, so I'm thankful. I have asthma that has been very severe in the past when it has been aggravated. On Tuesday, Dr. Kim gave me some medicine for it. I took it Tuesday night and it kept me up all night and made me jittery on Wednesday, so he told me only to take it once a day, rather than twice as he originally said. I woke up this morning and had no voice whatsoever. One of the other teachers taught my morning preschool and kindergarten classes for me. Another did the talking for me in my first elementary class this afternoon since she didn't have a class at that time, but for four of my classes, I was on my own, whispering, sometimes in vain, to a classroom full of talkative children. I had a pretty sore throat by the time my last class was finished.

The pastor and the director are still in the Philippines. It's been my best week since I got here, despite the fact that I'm sick. It makes such a difference to know that I can go to school and not face constant criticism from the director.

I had 7 kids cry today and one wet her pants--a new record. This is not exactly the effect I'm aiming for.

I have a cold or sinus infection or something and am losing my voice, so I can't yell. Dr. Kim gave me some medicine, but I have no idea what it is. When the noise levels get high in the classroom or the kids start acting up, I just stand there completely quiet and start writing on the attendance chart. The kids all think I'm writing about them and get quiet fast, because if there is a note about them on the attendance chart, their parents will be called, and if they're really bad, Brother Lee might paddle them. He's been walking around with a big stick lately.

Lunch today was tofu, fried mushrooms, tiny dried anchovies, seaweed, and of course kimchi and rice. It was actually pretty good, considering that dinner one night was spicy raw squid, hard boiled quail eggs, raw fish eggs, and pickled silk worms (with kimchi and rice, of course). I actually ate two pickled silk worms. I didn't really want to, but I didn't want to be rude either. I was only going to eat one, but I accidentally got two in my chopsticks, and there wasn't a graceful way to put one down, so I ate them both. Korean meals are served in communal dishes, so it's bad form to pick something out of the dish with your chop sticks and then put it back down. You touch it, you eat it. I thought the silk worms were pretty gross. I don't ever need to have another one.

Korea has the best strawberries, and they're in season right now. They build greenhouses right over the strawberry beds to create a good climate for them even in winter. We buy a box of strawberries at the public market, which is every fourth day.

It's starting to get warmer here, which is really nice. That's all the news for now.

Not much to report today. I only had two kids cry today. A big improvement over Friday when I had five cry. Some of my troublemakers are settling down a little because Brother Lee, the youth pastor, paddled a kid for misbehaving on Friday, and word has gotten around. My classroom has a door into Brother Lee's office, and he keeps the door open all the time. When he hears it get noisy in my room, he pokes his head in, and the kids get real quiet real fast. I'm always glad for that, because they just laugh at me whenever I try to get them to be quiet or behave. They think it's funny to be scolded in English, and they repeat whatever I say to them--perfect accent and intonation and everything.

The director has gone to the Philippines with the pastor for a week, and I'm looking forward to the break. I just try to fly under her radar most of the time, but it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about it this week.

I went to Seoul this weekend with another teacher. We left Friday evening and stayed overnight at the bathhouse. The other teacher teaches until 7:00, and we had tickets for the 7:25 train. We have to clean our classrooms after school on Fridays, and we're not allowed to do it before the last class is over. I teach until 6:00, so I cleaned my classroom, went home, packed a dinner, went back to the school, helped the other teacher clean his classroom, and then we ran to the train station. We made it by 7:20, and then the train was 15 minutes late. We went straight to the bathhouse when we got to Seoul.

The other two teachers met us on Saturday morning. We went to the fashion district, where I sent all three of them on a hunt for silk scarves for my mom. We came up with a few. From the fashion district, we stopped briefly at Itaewon before heading to a huge bookstore that has a pretty good English language section, but it was really expensive and REALLY crowded. From there we headed back to the train station and then back to Sapkyo.

Here's a picture from my trip to Seoul. I'm standing in front of the Dongdae-mun gate. It was originally built in 1397 but was reconstructed in 1869 and again following the Korean War. Seoul is such a modern city that it's really exciting to find bits and pieces of the old city, even in reconstructed versions.Church was fine this morning. Dr. Kim took us to a Chinese restaurant in the next town over for lunch today. After lunch, he took us to this beautiful lake, and we went for a short walk. The weather was beautiful, and the lake, surrounded by low mountains, was a great view. I was happy to walk all day, but the others weren’t, so we stayed for about 30 minutes and went back to Sapkyo. I had a few hours at home before going back to church for the evening service.

My little boys were a little better today. They only pointed at my butt once, but they got quiet when I threatened to stick them in the corner again. My other classes were pretty wild. I had a nasty headache all afternoon, and my classes were really loud. They completely ignored me when I told them to be quiet. I had to move kids around so they weren't sitting with their friends. I made one kid sit on the floor in the front of the class. Finally, I called a Korean staff member in to help. By the end of the day, my head hurt so bad that any noise at all made me feel like I was going to puke. Even though I didn't want to, I had no other option but to call the director in to teach for a few minutes so I could run across the street and get some Tylenol.

I'm going back to Seoul this weekend. One of the teachers and I are going Friday night, and the other two are coming Saturday morning. We're all going home together Saturday night. We're going to the textile market, so I'll keep my eyes open for silk scarves for my mom. We're also going to a bookstore and maybe to the national museum. That's a lot to do in one day!

I made one of my preschoolers cry today. It wasn't my intention, but I'm hoping it has a good effect. For the past few days, this little boy and his buddy were getting up in the middle of class, standing behind me, pointing at my rear end, saying something in Korean, and laughing. The first time, I ignored it. The second time, I told them "No!" The third time, I scolded them. Today when it happened yet again, I scolded them, and they looked right at me and repeated me! They had the intonation and accent perfect, but they completely ignored me and kept getting up, pointing at my rear end, and laughing. Finally, I took the two boys by the hand and sat them down in opposite corners of the room, away from the other kids. At that moment, one of the boys burst into tears--real tears, not just pity tears. We'll see if it makes any difference tomorrow. After class was over, I took the first available opportunity to inspect my backside very carefully in a mirror to see if there was indeed any just cause for their laughter. As far as I could tell, there was nothing that made my rear end any more amusing than that of anyone else.
This is a picture of one of my beginning elementary classes. The kids are really sweet but more than a little wild most of the time. Can you pick out the troublemakers? They're a fun, challenging group!

Life around here continues to be interesting everyday, and that's an understatement. We started a new term here last week. My first week of teaching all my classes by myself went pretty well, though I have one class that is really a problem. I think they called some parents after their misbehavior last week! In the mornings I teach a preschool class and a class that is kind of between preschool and kindergarten. In the afternoons, I have two beginning elementary classes, two intermediate elementary classes, and one intermediate middle school class. I have also been helping one of the other teachers with a beginning class since the kids are really wild for her, and for whatever reason, they're scared enough of me to be good! I wish that other problem class would catch a little of that! The kids are very sweet for the most part and study so hard. Everyday I see them and know I never would have lasted as a kid in Korea, so keeping that in mind gives me some patience for my really wild class.

I'm still having a lot of trouble with the director. She keeps talking about returning to the States sometime in the next few months, but I don't know if she's serious. I've had a real lesson in prayer from working with her. She doesn't know this, but I'm willing to bet she has never been prayed for so much in her life. Every time I see her or know I will see her, I pray for her and for the wisdom to relate to her peacefully. It's not easy!

36 days down and I still like kimchi, but who's counting anyway?

Dr. Kim took us all out for lunch this afternoon. They feed us very well, and Korean food is excellent! (30 days down and I still like kimchi!) After lunch, we went to the dedication of a new youth center that the church is opening here in town, complete with not one but six ping-pong tables! Then I came home and slept until the evening church service. They had a Korean Air Force chaplain as a guest speaker at the evening service and an outstanding choir from the air force. Apparently there is a Korean air base close to here because they fly big military planes very, very low over town every now and then. The first time I saw them, it scared me. It looked for all the world like the plane was going to fly right into the apartment building across the street from the school. The windows rattle and the floors shake when the planes fly over. They do all kinds of fancy loops and turns, which is neat, but I can't quite get used to how low they fly right over town!

That's really all the news from here. I start on my own in my classes tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Independence Movement Day

We had the day off yesterday for a holiday (Independence Movement Day), so I took a train Wednesday morning to Cheonan (pop. 450,000), a city about an hour away by train. Cheonan has a movie theater that shows foreign films. I ate an early lunch and then went to the movie theater. I didn't really have choice of which movie to see since the only English-language movie during the day was "Wedding Crashers." The movie itself was pretty bad, but it was something to do. Then I ate an early dinner and had to catch the train back to Sapkyo for the Wesneday evening church service. It was a really nice time--so good to get out of town for a while. It gets a little overwhelming for this introvert to do so much with the group. The five of us missionary teachers are together Monday through Friday at school and then Sunday for church (which is all day except for a few hours in the afternoon), and we frequently get invited places as a group. It was just so nice to get away from it all for several hours.

A Weekend in Seoul

I went to Seoul with the other teachers this weekend. We took the train up Friday night after school and returned late tonight. We stayed overnight at the bathhouse again. I loved it! It's the only place in Korea where I actually feel warm since my apartment is very drafty.

We spent all day Saturday walking around. We visited Insadong, which is the cultural district of Seoul, and Namdaemun, which is a huge market district, where everything from ginseng to clothing to kitchen utensils is sold.

It is very nice to go to Seoul because it is such a huge city--the largest city in the world by some estimates. People still stare at us, but not as much as they do in the smaller town. We were going to go back this coming weekend, but the railway workers are on strike, and only 34% of the country's passenger trains are currently running, including the subway system in Seoul. So much for that plan.

Below are my photos from Seoul. The photo of the sign is my favorite. There are comical expressions printed in English everywhere. The other teachers and I have been using "Dream in popince love for baby" to mean "sweet dreams." As it turns out, "Popince" is the name of the department store. The red writing in Korean says "Po-Pin-Suh." I'm getting very good at being able to sound out writing that I see, but I still have no idea what most of it means. It's become a game for me to look for words I recognize on signs, church bulletins, food packages, etc.

Without further ado, here are the photos!

Above: The Wesley Mission School staff in the hallway outside the classrooms.

Below: Kindergarten graduation. All these kids will move up to first grade in about a week. This was a formal event, as you can tell by their "hanbok" or traditional dress under their graduation gowns!

Here are some photos of my transition class. They will be moving on up to kindergarten in a couple weeks. The kindergarten class is still at our school, so I'll still see them in the cafeteria and halls, but I won't be their teacher anymore. Aren't they cute?

Valentine's Day in Korea

I decided to decorate the big picture windows in the hallway outside the classrooms for Valentine's Day. Two of the teachers made a design out of red hearts and wrote "We Love You" on three big hearts. I wrote each student's name in either pink or red on a little heart--all 86 students' names. I was about to start cutting the little hearts out when I remembered reading somewhere that the only time you write a person's name in red in Korea (and some other Asian cultures) is when that person is dead! I didn't want to risk anyone seeing my mistake, so I stuffed all the hearts in my book bag, ran across the street to my apartment, and started rewriting the names in pink instead of red.

Then I started wondering, "Is pink too close to red to be safe? If you write a name in pink, does it mean the person is only sort of dead?" I found Nathan, a Korean guy who is 22 and works at the church, and asked him if it's okay to write names in pink. He said most people wouldn't have a problem with pink, but the old people might. I didn't want to risk it, so I rewrote all the pink names in blue and purple. I'm just glad I caught my mistake before I put them all on the window! I also made a heart for each of the teachers and for Nathan, who helps us out a lot. His English is really good so if we need an interpreter, we call him. He's also the one who drove when they picked me up at the airport. Look carefully, the big hearts say "We Love You!" and the little white hearts have the teachers' names on them.All the little white hearts have students' names on them.I didn't make hearts for the 4 high school students who come for extra homework help in the evenings, and they were really disappointed. The director usually teaches them, but she had to do parent-teacher conferences, so I was in charge of that class. I let each of the high school students write their name on a heart and put it up with the others. They were delighted, but the director walked in as we were cutting them out and threw a fit. She yelled at me in front of the students for letting them do something that wasn't directly related to their studies, even though we had only been doing it for a couple minutes. All they were doing was writing their name, cutting it out, and taping it up with the others.

Yesterday, the director interrupted me in the middle of the Lord's Prayer (we recite it at the beginning of every class) to tell me I was saying it wrong. She said "thine" isn't English, and I'd better learn the prayer the way she does it, which is her own paraphrase. She also interrupted me in the middle of teaching the kindergarten kids the "Apples and Bananas" song and hollered "That song is nonsense! We don't teach nonsense!" Right in front of the kids! All day, every day, it's one thing after another from this director. She seems to hate me.

I sent an email message to the coordinator of the mission program back in the US asking if he can find another assignment for me here in Korea beginning this summer. If not, I may see about coming home then or going somewhere else. It makes me very sad because I think about the people back home who are supporting me in my work here, but I think they'd agree that many of the things I experience here everyday are anything but Christian. I hope something can be worked out here, because I like Korea, but this director makes my life quite miserable. She says horrible things about all of us to the other teachers. She's constantly trying to pit us against each other.

The director just called and said she needs to talk to me and wants me to come to the school an hour early tomorrow. Wonder what that's all about . . .

Class is in Session

Class is in session. This is where students and staff leave their street shoes before entering the classroom area. There is a very specific shoe etiquette here. You must take your street shoes off before entering homes, some restaurants, offices, or classrooms. It is okay to have a clean pair of shoes or slippers that are only worn as indoor shoes. Every once in a while, I break the shoe etiquette and wear my shoes in my apartment but NEVER in the school! I think it's probably grounds for dismissal. (I'm serious about that!)

To get from the classrooms to the teachers' office, you have to pass through a hallway in which street shoes must be worn. From the classroom, you put your shoes back on, walk about 20 feet, take your shoes back off, and enter the office. Many people step down on the backs of their shoes and wear them all as slip-ons. Cobblers and shoe stores have a good business here in Korea!

A Weekend in Seoul

I went to Seoul this weekend with two of the other teachers and had a great time. We left after school on Friday evening. It took a little over two hours to get there. The train was really comfortable because we bought our tickets the day before and had seats. If you don't make reservations, you pay a slightly lower price and end up standing. The train was a lot like Amtrak, except that they allow people to stand in the aisles. It was going on 10 PM when we got to Seoul, and we went to Itaewon, a district just off one of the US army posts that’s the foreigners’ area in Seoul. We ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken and then walked for an hour, not really going anywhere, just taking it all in. Then we caught the last subway of the evening to another part of the city where we stayed at one of the public bathhouses for the night.

The public bath house, or jjimjilbang, was an interesting experience. The first floor is a locker room. You change out of your clothes and into a t-shirt and shorts that they give you. On the 2nd-4th floors, there are sauna-like hot rooms that are supposed to treat various illnesses, video rooms, restaurants, exercise rooms, etc.--something for everyone. The hot rooms are really hot. The coolest hot room was 104 degrees F. The hottest was 158F. I opened the door to that one but didn't go in. Down in the basement are the public baths, which are separate for men and women. First, you sit on a little stool and scrub up and rinse. Then you rinse again at a shower. Then you soak in any of 5 huge hot tubs. The sleeping rooms are on the fifth floor. There was room for men, a room for women, and a room for snorers! I thought that was funny. The sleeping rooms have thin mattresses on the floor--and bunks above them to create another floor for more thin mattresses. I chose a bottom bed so that the lights wouldn't be shining on me all night, since it's dimly lit in there all the time. All in all, it was pretty cool. For $10, it was a clean, safe, comfortable place to stay the night. It's hard to beat that.

In the morning, we ate breakfast at the bathhouse. I had the spiciest ramyeon I've ever tasted. Then we went back to Itaewon to go to a Western grocery store and stopped at McDonald's for lunch. Of all the things we saw yesterday, I was least impressed with Itaewon, because it was so Westernized. From there we went to Dongdemun, the fashion district of Seoul. We literally walked for miles through malls and clothing markets. I wasn't really interested in shopping at Dongdaemun, but it was amazing to see the blocks upon blocks of shopping malls. Then we met up with a Korean friend of the other teachers for dinner at a traditional hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant, which was very good. After dinner their friend took us to the store where he works in one of the huge malls, and we gave him a little business since he works on commission and isn't paid much. I bought a very purple scarf. Since all the clothes were Asian sizes, I knew I wouldn't fit in them!

We caught a taxi from Dongdaemun to the train station and made it just 10 minutes before the train left at 7:55 PM. By a little after 10 PM, we were back in Sapkyo and walked from the train station to our apartment buildings.

It was a good weekend! I'm looking forward to going back to Seoul, but I think if I want to do things like see the gates or the palaces, I might have to break away from the other teachers for a while. They don’t seem to be interested in anything other than shopping and eating.

I had a neutral day yesterday. The director had parent-teacher conferences all day, so I taught her classes. The kids were great for the most part. One kid (11 or 12 years old, I'd guess) was really obnoxious, and another kid in his class fed off of him, but other than that, they were really good.

I sat in on one of the preschool classes in the morning, and two of the kids ended up crying for no apparent reason, so I took them on a walk to find their regular Korean teacher. The preschoolers are so cute! There are two little girls who are serious troublemakers and bordering on being out-of-control. There is another little girl who just doesn't like me. If I look at her or smile at her or wave or anything, she scowls, folds her arms, and turns away from me. My goal is to make friends with her! There is another little girl who is a complete sweetheart. She sees me coming and runs to give me a hug. And there's a little boy who, as soon as I sit down, plops down right next to me. He's the smallest kid in the class but has a very grown up face, and every time I've seen him, he's been dressed in a button down shirt and sweater-vest which makes him look like a little man. There is only one more week in their school year, and then all the kids move up to the next class, so the preschoolers will be in the transition class, and we'll get a new batch of preschoolers.

I thought everything went really well in the director's classes yesterday, but when she was done with conferences, she came into the room and started yelling at me in front of the students for doing too many pages in the workbook and for leaving the classroom unattended. The kids didn't understand what she was saying to me, but they could certainly understand that she was mad at me. She had left me no lesson plan whatsoever, so I had no idea how many workbook pages to do. And the only time I left the room was between classes when all the teachers go stand in the hall to make sure the kids don't kill each other while running from classroom to classroom. When I told her this she said, "Obviously you left the kids in here unattended because look at all these things on the floor." "All these things" included a roll of toilet paper (which people here use for tissues) and a small pencil sharpener that had fallen from a table.

After school, the youth pastor at the church invited us to go with the youth group to Yesan, the next town over and the county seat, to hear a band and choral group. The high school kids, most of whom I hadn't met, were impressed by my ability to read Korean, even though I had no idea what I was reading. I'm really working hard to learn how to read, and it always tickles me when I come across an English word written in Korean. The group we heard last night was called the "Korean Continental Singers." In Korean, it's written "Hankuk (means "Korean" in Korean) Con-tee-nen-tal Sing-a-suh." Similarly, Wesley Mission School is "Oeh-sel-lee Mee-shon Suh-kool." There isn't an "L" sound or an "R" sound in Korean, but there is a sound in between, so R's and L's are a little confusing. Words can’t end in some consonant sounds in Korean, so they add a slight vowel sound to the end to make it easier to pronounce. People also seem to have a hard time with V, F, and TH sounds since those don't exist in Korean. People here pronounce their F's as P's. I had a little girl get very mad at me yesterday when I told her "fork" was not a P-word. "Yes, Teach-uh," she said, "PORK, PORK, PORK!"

I'm going to Seoul on the train tonight. I'm staying at a bathhouse, spending all day Saturday in Seoul and coming back on Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to it.

Miss America

Well, today was a much better day. The director, who still doesn't seem to like me very much, called this morning and asked me to meet her at the school in half an hour. She spent almost an hour and a half going over the curriculum with me and explaining how things run, how the classes are divided, etc. I told her again and again how helpful that was. I also told her I intend to be an excellent teacher here at the school and that I take a lot of pride in my work, so having time to prepare is not only helpful but really important to me. That seemed to be a good answer. She was sweet to me all day and even took me for a walk around the town after lunch to show me where some things are. I hope this is a new beginning and not just a temporary reprieve.

I'm going to start teaching preschool (4-year-olds) and the pre-K transition class (5-year-olds) on Monday. The rest of this week I'm mostly sitting in on the other teachers' classes. Just sitting there is really pretty boring. The director has some parent-teacher conferences tomorrow, so I will be teaching a couple of her classes alone. I'm fine with that now that I've actually seen the textbook and have an idea of what they're doing and what they can do.

I just got back from the Wednesday night prayer service. The people all pray aloud at once, so it's a very noisy place. I'm going to use the audio feature on my camera to record it sometime. It's really something to hear! On my way down the church steps after the service, a woman tapped me on the shoulder and started talking excitedly at me. A teacher who has been here three years and can have simple conversations in Korean, said she wanted to know why I was here. He explained I'm the new missionary teacher, and she started jumping up and down in her hanbok (long traditional dress) and almost fell down the very steep stairs. She then followed me across the parking lot saying "Thank you, teacher. Thank you, teacher!" As I've said before, the people couldn't possibly be more welcoming.

Something comical happens everyday. I sat in on the kindergarten class when another teacher was teaching. The kids wanted to know where I was from. "Teacher, you China?" they asked and giggled. "Teacher, you Korea?" More giggles. "Teacher, you Africa?" and they pointed at the other teacher, who is from Liberia, and giggled some more.

I said, "America." (No one says "United States" here, even when speaking English.)

"Oh!" one little boy exclaimed. "Teacher Miss America!"

Now the whole kindergarten class calls me Miss America.

That's all for now. 4 days down and I still like kimchi.

Everything is okay so far. Three days down, and I still like kimchi. Actually, all the food is very good, but I don't know what most of it actually is.

The kids are cute as can be! I'm supposed to get my own preschool and kindergarten classes next week, but it may even be this week since Kathy, my roommate, is going crazy with them. I'll have my own elementary and middle school classes in March. For now I'm just sitting in on the other teachers' classes. Just sitting in is a little boring, and I think the director doesn't like me very much for some reason, but hopefully that'll get better.

A Couple Photos

This is the church building with a light dusting of snow. The school building is to the right of it.This is my apartment building as seen from the steps of the church. I literally live just across the street from the church and school. It's an easy commute!And here's Wesley Mission School on a sunny but cold winter day.The first floor is for the preschool and kindergarten classes. The second floor is for the elementary, middle, and high school English classes. The left hand side of the school building has the cafeteria downstairs and an auditorium upstairs. The right hand side of the building has classrooms. The preschool, transition, and kindergarten classes are all on the first floor. They are in school from 9 until 3 everyday with their Korean teachers, and we go down to their classrooms for an hour in the mornings to teach English. Upstairs are the English classrooms for the elementary, middle, and high school students who come to Wesley from their regular schools for two hours of English classes everyday.

Education is very serious business here in Korea. High school students are in school from 8 AM until 10 PM, with breaks for lunch and dinner. Younger students are in school from 8 AM until 5 PM. There is a lot of pressure on students to do well in school, and parents pay a lot of money to make sure children get the best possible education. Wesley helps keep the costs down for families because it is supported by the church and because we teachers are missionaries and do not receive salaries. This helps make English classes available to more students, which allows the kids from this small community to be competitive for university admission and gives them an edge in the working world. Most of our language students are very serious about their studies and work so hard to learn English.

Having said all that about Korean schools, I must say that kids are kids everywhere. They are mostly well behaved but occasionally act up, and kids here don't like homework or tests any more than kids in the U.S. do!

Greetings from Korea

I made it safe and sound to the Land of the Morning Calm. My flight was uneventful. I had a window seat, so I was delighted to see far northeastern Russia as we flew over. The mountains were beautiful, but did it ever look cold down there!Two of the other teachers and one church member met me at the airport in Seoul. I thought it was really funny that they were holding a sign for me. It said “WELCOME” in big letters and my name in little letters at the bottom. My name was too small to see clearly until I was pretty close to the sign, so it didn’t help me to locate them at all, but I thought it was cute. From the airport, it was a 2+ hour drive to the town I'm now living in. We drove past, but not through, Seoul, and I was struck by what a big city it is. The rows and rows of apartment buildings remind me of dominoes, all lined up and ready to topple, which left me feeling a little uneasy. As it got darker outside, I could see all these neon red crosses on the tops of buildings. The other teachers told me that they’re all churches. It seemed a little like a surreal graveyard

Today church was at 11:00, but everyone goes at about 10:45 because they do all the music before the service. The congregation was really friendly, and the people seem genuinely glad to have me here. The church service today was very nice, though I didn't understand any of it. The service, of course, is in Korean, but they have volunteers who interpret the sermon into English, and we five teachers wear little earpieces to hear the interpretation, which I probably could have done without. The only thing I could really make out was that the interpreter said about 15 times, "Even though Rahab was a prostitute and sold her smile for money, she was a sensible woman." Hmmm . . . I think there must have been more substance to the sermon than that! Everyone at the church was so friendly and welcoming. I had about a dozen people tell me I'm beautiful!

After church, Dr. Kim and his wife took a bunch of us out to lunch--the five teachers, Pastor Jeong and his wife, and another lady. I have no idea who the other lady is. No one introduced themselves by name, only by relation to other people. The other teachers call Pastor Jeong's wife "Pastor Jeong's wife". That's going to take some getting used to. We went to a restaurant in Yesan, the next city over. I have no idea what I ate, but it all tasted good--a little spicy but not too bad. Everyone was impressed by my chop stick dexterity. Apparently Dr. Kim and his wife take the teachers out to lunch most Sundays.

I just got back to the apartment and have free time until evening services at 7:00. I think I'm going to take a nap, because it's Sunday and that's what I do. The apartment leaves much to be desired, but the heated floors are nice. Kathy and I each have a very small bedroom, double bed, nightstand with a little cabinet underneath, and a little wardrobe. There is a kitchenette and a table with 4 chairs (only 3 of which are usable, I found out the hard way), and then a sitting room with a desk and chair, two stuffed chairs, a coffee table, and a credenza. It's pretty bare. There's some serious mildew on the wallpaper, but they say they're going to fix it. The bathroom has a bathtub about half the size of a regular bathtub and a shower head, but no curtain or door, so the water goes everywhere. Fortunately, there is a drain in the floor. It's all sufficient, but bare bones. My room has a little balcony which will be nice when it gets warmer, but for now, it just means that it's drafty. Our apartment is on the first floor. The associate pastor and family live above us, and I think there is another apartment above them.