A Little Bit of Everything

I can hardly believe an entire week has gone by since my last update. The days go by so fast. It's now the end of another term, and I'm really sad to say goodbye to some of my students. My 11-year-old student who is going back to Germany stopped by the school to say goodbye to everyone. I wasn't there at the time, so they had her call me, which was sweet. Here's a picture of us on her last day of class.This is my class of only two little boys. One is moving, and the other was going to be moved to the princess class. His mother has decided against it, so he is going to take this next term off, and hopefully we'll have a class for him the following term. I'm going to miss both of them. Here they are:One of my princesses is going to take a term off, too, but she got out the door on Friday before I could get a picture. Her mom said she'll come back the following term, though. Tomorrow is the first day of the new term. I'll still teach my other three kindergarten classes. I'll also start teaching a higher level elementary class and possibly a mother's class as well. I'm looking forward to all of them. I've only taught an adult class once when the regular teacher was sick. It's much harder than kindergarten. I'm a little nervous about it.

I had a nice weekend. I have a friend who likes to explore Seoul with me on Saturdays. This week we went to a replica village that gives you a glimpse of traditional Korean life. It's sort of the colonial Williamsburg of Seoul, except that the history here goes back much farther. Then we went to a really trendy part of the city and walked around. It started to sprinkle, so we took shelter in a Haagen-Dazs shop. Flavor of the day: Belgian chocolate. How can you go wrong? When the rain let up, we ventured back outside, only to be hit by the hardest rainfall I've ever experienced. We were soaked clear through just from sprinting from one building to the next. Drenched and shivering on the air-conditioned subway, we headed home again.

It was a good day at the church. I had 28 children attend Sunday school, which is a huge increase over last week. I have two high school students and one adult who are going to help me with the class next week. Several of the kids speak English at an advanced or near-native level. Others aren't quite so proficient, so it will be really helpful to have some adult interpreters!

Life As Usual

School is going well. I'm finished tutoring both of my individual students now, so I'm just teaching kindergarten these days. I miss my individual students. They are great kids and were a lot of fun to work with. The boy is going back to high school this week. I had a two-hour lesson with him every weekday during his entire summer vacation, and I assigned a lot of homework. My other student has a week of vacation before returning to her home in Germany. I wonder where life will take them. I hope I get to find out someday.

My kindergarten students are exceptionally cute. I have one class of 6 girls that I call my "princess class" because they are all just too adorable and frequently come to school wearing pink sundresses and pink bows in their hair. Little girls here really, really, really like pink. I have never seen so much pink in all my life as I have here! My fairy princesses haven't figured out that I don't understand Korean. One fairy princess especially loves to tell me stories. I look at her and ask "Really?"

"Yes!" she answers.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes!" again. At least she's consistent.

Another kindergarten class has only two students, both boys. One of the boys is very bright and is catching on quickly. The other day, he came to school early and was looking at the globe in the classroom. "Teacher, where Korea?" he asked. I showed him. "Where America?" he asked, followed by "Canada?" "Poland?" "Nigeria?" "Ghana?" "Switzerland?" "Netherlands?" I was floored. This kid is 5 years old and came up with all those countries' names himself. He then went on to name all the continents, minus Antarctica, in English. Unfortunately (for me), his family is moving, so I'll be losing him at the end of the week. The other little boy will move into the princess class. He's a real handful. He tried to use the globe as a soccer ball. Watch out, princesses!

My other two kindergarten classes are just fine. One has three boys and one girl, and the other has three girls and two boys. It's so much fun to have small classes!

The weather has cooled down considerably. When I'm done with school, I go hiking in the mountains, though I haven't done anything as adventurous as my Tuesday trek. On Saturday, a friend and I spent the whole day in Seoul. We went to the fashion and textile district, ate lunch, walked to the top of Namsan mountain, saw a bird's eye view of the city, and then sat in a coffee shop and chatted. It was a great day. On Sunday, I went to church in the afternoon and then went for a walk through a very trendy part of Seoul since it was such a nice evening. Everything is fine at the church. The children's Sunday school class is a lot of fun. The middle/high school class is an icy wall of silence. The Korean pastor told me he has heard that I'm a "dynamic teacher." He apparently didn't hear that from the middle/high school class. The congregation is still impressed that I can read the announcements printed in the bulletin in my native language. That's what I call talent.

Mmmmm . . . Peaches

Yesterday a student brought a big grocery bag full of peaches to school to share with all the teachers. They came from his grandfather's orchard. They are very sweet a juicy but a little crisper than peaches in the U.S. Today we were eating them in the staff room, and my two Korean friends looked at me aghast when I bit into one.

"Ellen! No! You're supposed to PEEL it!"

"Peel the peach?" I asked. I know that Koreans peel apples and pears because of pesticides, and they peel grapes (concord grapes) because they don't like the peels. They don't peel nectarines or plums, and peaches seems similar to those, so I was confused.

One of the teachers explained to me that people have allergic reactions to the fuzz, and it's not good to eat it. I’ve never heard this before. I've been eating peaches, peel and skin and all, my entire solid-food-eating life, and while my allergies can be a bear, I've never noticed any connection to peach fuzz. I always heard that the peel is the best part of the fruit to eat because that's where most of the vitamins are stored. I can understand peeling it to remove organisms (big problem in tropical countries, not a problem in Korea) or pesticides and chemicals, but because the fuzz isn't good for you . . . what's up with this?

So tonight, when I got home, I ate a Korean peach, peel and fuzz and all, in the privacy of my apartment. I hope I survive the night.

I refuse to peel grapes.

Liberation Day

Today is the national holiday Gwangbok-jeol which celebrates the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the establishment of the Republic of Korea exactly three years later. The Japanese occupation of Korea was quite horrible, and many Koreans still have a strong animosity toward the Japanese.

Since it was a holiday, I decided to follow the mountain trails that Edward (see the post on 8/13) pointed out to me. He said the route should be 4-5 hours. Exactly 8 and a half hours after leaving my apartment this morning, I returned hot and sweaty and dirty and sore but thoroughly satisfied with my day in the mountains.

I left home at 11 AM. According to Edward, the route I was on went along a ridgeline to three separate peaks. Seulgi-bong, which I visit frequently, is the first peak. I made it to the top by 12 PM. The trail is in good shape, and though it's a steep climb, it's really not that difficult. From Seulgi-bong, I found the trail leading in the direction of Suam-bong (the second peak) after a little bit of searching. It wasn't particularly well-marked. This trail was a lot more rugged and very steep with some places that required using a ladder (bolted into the rock) or a rope (also well-maintained by the park system) to make my away along it. I scraped up my knee on a rock and was sweating so much that a bandage wouldn't stick. I rubbed some alcohol-based hand sanitizer on the cut (OUCH!!!!) and kept walking.

At about 1:30 PM, I passed two men and a woman who were having a picnic just off the trail. I nodded to them and said "anyounghasayo" ("hello") and kept walking. They called after me, and one of the men stood up and motioned for me to come over to them.

"Where you from?" he asked.

"America." (No one understands "United States" here.)

"AH! America! I love America!" Then he lifted his paper cup in the air. "Toast to America!"

"Toast to America!" the other man and woman echoed and raised their paper cups in a toast.

"What your name?" he asked.

"Ellen."

"AH! Ellen! Toast to Ellen!"

"Toast to Ellen!" the others echoed.

"Ellen, you like kimchi?"

"Yes." Kimchi is Korea's national dish. It's a very spicy pickled vegetable, usually cabbage. I usually like it. Even if you don't like it, though, the answer to "Do you like kimchi?" is always "Yes."

"AH! Kimchi! Toast to kimchi!"

"Toast to kimchi!"

They insisted that I sit down and join them. It had been a steep climb, and I was tired, so I did. They offered me some of their lunch (bulgogi, which is Korean barbeque--really good stuff--kimchi and rice), and I shared my nectarines and apples with them. They laughed at how sweaty I was, since my clothes were completely soaked by this point. I also had dried blood from my knee and dirt all over me, too. I must have been a sight! After about 20 minutes, I explained that I had to be on my way to make it to the top of Suam-bong, and off I went while my three picnicking friends hollered "Toast to Suam-bong!" behind me. Remember these three, "the picnickers." They will make another appearance in this story.

It's about time for a photo. Here's what I saw on my way to Suam-bong:
Above: I felt sorry for the donkey since it was a really hot day, and he didn't have any water. A little farther down the trail were some vendors selling cold drinks, popsicles, and snacks. I'm guessing he was used to haul the stuff up there. I gave him some of my apple.

Below: The ridgeline trail from Seulgi-bong to Suam-bong went along the fence of some kind of military observation post, hence the barbed wire. The peak in the distance is Suam-bong.
Here's Suam-bong from a helicopter pad a little closer:
This is my route as seen from the top of Suam-bong. Note that my apartment is on the other side of Seulgi-bong. You can see the helicopter landing pad from the photo above:

I had to climb all the way down Suam-bong into the valley and then climb back up to the third peak, Taeeul-bong. Here's the route:

By the time I made it down to the valley, the last thing I wanted to do was climb back up a mountain. At this point, it was 4 PM, and I was starting to get sore and ready to go home. However, since "home" is on the other side of those mountains, "up and over" was the only choice, other than a rather expensive cab ride. (Mom, you'll be glad to know that I carried enough cash for a cab "just in case.") There was a nice park in the valley with several restaurants and lots and lots of people. Among those lots and lots of people, guess who I ran into. The picnickers from a whole two hours ago! They must have stayed and picnicked for quite a while, since their route to the valley was much shorter than mine since it bypassed Suam-bong.

"Ellen!" I heard someone shout my name.

"AH! Picnickers! Toast to picnickers!" I shouted in return. They laughed and toasted imaginary paper cups in my direction. We talked for a few minutes. Then they headed down the valley to a different city, and I began my ascent to the ridge that led to Taeeul-bong.

The trail up to the ridge was steep but not too difficult, except for the fact that I was tired and sore. The ridgeline trail was another matter. It was very strenuous and rocky with several places that required climbing ladders (once again, bolted into the rocks) or using ropes. The view, however, was beautiful, and it was starting to cool down.

Time for some more pictures:
Above: I passed several of these pine trees on the ridgeline trail. It's amazing how they grow out of the rocks. Their bark is really smooth from people using them for support while climbing the trail.

Below: A tired, sweaty, sore, but nonetheless happy, hiker.
I made it to the top of Taeeul-bong by 6 PM. Here's the view of my city from the peak. Home is within sight!
I walked through my apartment door at 7:30 PM. I had a great day, but I know I'm going to be hurting tomorrow!

Hiking, Bratwurst, and Other Such Delights

This week has been fine. There is really nothing to report. Classes have kept me busy this week. It's very hot and sunny here lately. I try to go walking in the mornings and/or evenings, but it's hard to be motivated when it's this hot. I guess I shouldn't complain. At least it isn't rainy season.

Today was a little cooler, so I picked a new mountain trail to explore. Much to my surprise, I ended up at the same peak I've climbed before. It was a very sunny afternoon, but there was still a haze in the distance. At the peak, I met a British hiker named Edward who is very familiar with the trails around the town I live in. He pointed out some good routes that I didn't even know about, so I was really glad to have met him.

Tuesday is a holiday here (Liberation Day). There is a huge anti-American protest planned in Seoul. They're expecting 6,000-8,000 people at the start of it and as many as 30,000 people at the end of it. The US embassy sent an email out to all Americans who are registered with them, telling us we should avoid that whole downtown area of the city. I guess I'll stay here in the suburbs. No sense inciting people who are already angry! If the weather is bearable, I might try out one of the trails Edwards recommended.

While grocery shopping this week, I found "Wisconsin Bratwurst," so I thought I'd give them a try. Not too bad! They're MUCH better than the Korean sausages I’ve tried. Now I just need to find sauerkraut.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow, and then I'm calling it a night. It's so much easier to teach Sunday school when you have a curriculum! I've been writing my own lessons these past few weeks. It's especially challenging since I have a wide range of ages and English proficiency. The kids get a Bible memory verse printed in English and Korean every week, and they try to memorize it by the following week. (That reminds me--I haven't prepared that for tomorrow yet either!) I made a deal with them that if they try to learn it in English, I will try to learn it in Korean. I don't let the kids write the English verse phonetically in Korean, so they don't let me write the Korean verse phonetically in English. They think it's great. I wonder what I was thinking.

믿음은 바라는 것들의 실상이요 보지 못하는 것들의 증거니

In case you're curious, that's Hebrews 11:1.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Typing in Korean is good practice for me, I think.

We also learn a story each week. I draw or print pictures that tell the story and then have the kids narrate what's happening in the pictures. Then I have one of the more fluent kids read the story (or part of it) from the Bible. I try to include an active game or two that relates to the story. And of course, we have songs, lots and lots of songs. Why on earth I always end up leading music with small children is beyond me. Music is NOT one of my gifts. I can't sing, can't read notes, can't play an instrument. I don't even own a radio (CD player, MP3 player, etc.)! So how exactly do I end up leading music?

A Care Package!

This morning I glanced at my mailbox on my way out the door, and much to my surprise, since it's ALWAYS empty, there was a package sticking out!

Thank you, Uncle Dick (Gillies)!

He sent Kool-Aid, Jello, LifeSavers, and gummy worms. I took them to school and shared them with my coworkers and a couple of the high school students. The LifeSavers were a huge hit all the way around. Two people tried the gummy worms, but the others were a little grossed out by the idea of eating candy worms. I don't understand that since REAL SILK WORMS are a popular snack food in Korea. (I've eaten two of them and don't ever plan to do it again.) I promised to take Kool-Aid in tomorrow, and I'll fix some of the Jello before too long. It was a lot of fun to share a little bit of home with my friends here.

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Thank you for expressing concern about my Aunt Jane. From what I hear, she's in the hospital in Dubuque now and has a long road ahead of her. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Laundry Quandary

Since I don't have a washing machine, and since I really don't want one in my very small bathroom, my directors decided to give me a small stipend each month so I can use the laundry service in my building for one load a week. Last week, I had no problems. I took my laundry downstairs before school and picked it up on my way home. They don’t have dryers, so I had to hang everything up in my apartment to dry, but that wasn't really a problem.

So yesterday I headed back downstairs with this week's load of dirty laundry. The women who helped me last week weren't there, but a man was there, so I figured he could help me. He looked confused, though. I pointed to my bag of dirty laundry and pointed to the washing machine. "Yogiyo," ("here") I said. He nodded and wrote down my apartment number.

When I returned that evening to retrieve my clothing, the man was gone, and the women from the previous week were back. They looked at me in utter confusion when I showed up and started glancing around for some sign of my clothes. None. "Clothes" I said, pinching my shirt to indicate what I was talking about. "Odiyeyo?" ("Where?") The women had no idea what I was talking about. Another customer was attempting to interpret for us, to no avail. Finally, I had the laundry women call my director, and I got the story from her.

It turns out that the man, who was only filling in while the women went to lunch, decided that the foreigner's clothes needed special care, and instead of throwing them in the washing machine, he sent them out to be dry cleaned. That might not have been such a problem if they had been my nice work and church clothes. However, this evening, I picked up the cleanest, most perfectly ironed blue jeans, t-shirts, pajamas, and bedsheets in all the world. I ended up having to pay over $30 to get my clothes back, which is more than my monthly laundry allowance. I was also told that they've recently stopped the wet laundry service and only process dry cleaning and do repairs now. So I guess that brings me back to my laundry quandary. Small things are easy enough to do by hand, but it's awfully inconvenient to wash blue jeans in the kitchen sink. No laundromats in Korea. No laundry service other than dry cleaning in my building. I'm really worried that someone's going to think that putting a washing machine in my bathroom is a good idea again!

Emergency Vehicle Appreciation Day

About 1:00 this afternoon I heard a whole lot of sirens from outside. I looked out my 11th storey window to see smoke rising from the building across the street. On the road below were 8 firetrucks, three police cars, and an ambulance. Unbelievably, the parade of emergency vehicles was stopped by people crossing the street in front of them while smoke continued to rise from the building. I've gotten used to pedestrians not thinking anything of walking in front of moving vehicles, but I'm always amazed by the complete disregard for emergency vehicles. No one yields to them. I've seen ambulances stuck at red lights because the cross traffic doesn't stop. Even this whole convoy of siren-sounding, light-flashing urgency was held at a dead stop by kids, shoppers, mothers, bicyclists, drunk guys, and English teachers crossing right in front of them! I had to leave shortly thereafter for class. The emergency vehicles were gone when I returned home, and the building looks about the same, minus the smoke, with no apparent damage from here. I probably won't ever find out what happened, but the city did put on an impressive display of emergency vehicles, even if they couldn't drive down the street.

One BIG City

Thanks to my friend Ted Newcomb for fusing these two photos together to make a panoramic view looking north over Seoul from Namsan (meaning "South Mountain"). Click on the photo for a screen-width image.

Vacation Resurrected!

The most amazing thing happened today. First, there was this brilliant light from the sky. Everything suddenly felt warm. Then I looked up and noticed that the sky was starting to turn the most incredible color--BLUE! Can you believe it? It took me almost no time at all to get outside to enjoy my last day of vacation.

I decided to use my little bit of sunshine to go to the top of Namsan Mountain, really more like a big hill, located in the southern part of Seoul. On top of Namsan is the Seoul Tower. I didn't go to the top of the tower because the clouds returned and visibility wasn't very good. When I do go to the top of the tower, I want to be able to see! Here's a view of the tower (foreboding black sky in the background) from close to its base. I'll post photos of Seoul from the top of Namsan when I figure out how to edit them together as a panoramic view.
This is a door to a shrine on the way up the mountain. I thought it was pretty cool!
After walking back down, I went to the Myeong-dong Cathedral for worship. Many Koreans, Catholic and Protestant alike, do not consider Catholics to be "Christian" so it is very uncommon for a Protestant to visit a Catholic church for Mass. I really enjoyed the experience and plan to go back when I can walk around the inside without disturbing worship. Here are a couple photos of the cathedral:
After worship, I walked around Seoul for the evening. Here are a couple photos I took from the middle of intersections. Don't worry, Mom, I had a green light!

Seoul Tower:
Namdaemun Gate:
Finally, one of the things I love about Korea is that they have these terrific fountains in public places, and kids are encouraged to play in them! There is one in the center of my town that is always full of kids. This one is in front of the Seoul City Hall.

Vacation Aborted

After spending today in a torrential downpour, I decided to abort my vacation plans and head home. I spent today walking from a town called Kangchon to the Gugok Falls. The umbrella served nothing more than psychological purpose. By the time I made it to the park entrance after walking about 3 miles, I was completely soaked. The plastic bags I tied around my feet kept as much water in as out. My backpack was soaked clear through. Nothing was dry.

Despite being the only visitor at the park this afternoon, I decided to walk up the trail toward the waterfall, only to "chicken out" once I got close to the base of the falls. It was mid-afternoon and had been pouring all day. It's a huge waterfall anyway, and the rainfall fueled it all the more. The stream below it was very close to the trail and exceptionally forceful. Since I was the park's only visitor, I didn't want to risk slipping on the slick walkway. The falls created such a strong wind that it was hard to walk and keep my balance, and I couldn't hold the camera still for the close up photo below. I can only imagine how strong it was closer to the falls. I'm definitely planning a trip back in nice weather.

Click on the photos for a larger image:

Above: The North Han River, looking upstream (east) from Gangchon in the direction of Chuncheon.

Below: Gugok Falls, just southwest of Gangchon. That's as far as I was brave enough to walk. I could hardly hold my camera and umbrella and stay standing to take this photo.

Vacation Update

They've changed the weather forecast from 100% chance of rain to 50% chance of rain for today, and guess what. It's pouring! 50% change of rain my foot!

On Vacation

I have the rest of this week off, so I've decided to go out of town. I'm in a city called Chuncheon, which is due east of Seoul. It's a nice city in a lovely mountain valley. If the weather cooperates with me, I'm going hiking. There are a couple waterfalls and mountain temples nearby. Unfortunately, the forecast is for rain, rain, and more rain. The trip here this afternoon was beautiful as the train wound up the river valley through the mountains. I'm staying overnight tonight in a "jjimjilbang" or public bathhouse. Where else can you sleep for $6 a night?! I'm about to run out of time here in the computer room, so I'm signing off for now.

"Blessings to Share"

Since I know several people in the Galena/Dubuque area read my blog, I thought I'd put a plug in here for the musical Blessings to Share, presented by the Main Street Players. One third of the box office earnings will go to Riverview Center on opening night, Thursday, July 27th. There is also a benefit dinner at Fried Green Tomatoes that night. Riverview Center provides free and confidential services to sexual assault survivors, a 24-hour hotline, and community education.

Co-writer/director Carole Sullivan offers this description of the show on her website: "Blessings to Share is a moving story of adoption in the 21st century, a story of non-traditional families and vulnerable children. Experience the rollercoaster of emotions as this tender musical unfolds, renewing our faith that when blessings are shared, love can form new bonds."

Ticket information:
Dinner and theater ticket: $35. Dinner is at 5:30 at Fried Green Tomatoes, show is at 8 PM at Turner Hall. Seats are limited. Call Riverview Center, Inc. for a reservation, 815-777-8155.
Theater ticket only: Adults $12, children $5. Show is at 8 PM. Tickets are available at the door and in advance at Dubuque 365 (First and Main, Dubuque), Dick's Supermarket, Elizabeth State Bank, and Galena River Wine and Cheese.

New Students and You Want to Put a Washing Machine WHERE?

I started working with two new students this week. I'm tutoring a high school boy for two hours every weekday for the next month. He's preparing his university entrance exams, which are a huge deal here in Korea. Think SAT/ACT/AP times a zillion. That's the kind of pressure Korean high school students are under to get good test scores. I'm especially helping him prepare for the writing portion of the exams.

I'm also tutoring an 11-year-old girl for the next three weeks. Her mother is Korean, and her father is German. Although she's only been studying English for 18 months, she's a near-native English speaker. She also speaks German, Korean, and French. The lessons I'm doing with her are essentially what kids her age are doing in American schools. Today we had a geography lesson on Asia, specifically China. The only time she stumbled using English was when she was trying to come up with the word "parade" to describe the Chinese New Year.

So this week I've met two absolutely incredible, intelligent, not to mention polite and personable, kids! I'm hoping their motivation wears off on me enough to get me back to school one of these days! Like the members of the Galena UMC youth group, these kids give me great hope for the world.

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I don't have a washing machine, and Korea doesn't have laundromats. I've been washing socks, undies, and a few other things by hand, and the directors of my school have been taking my dirty laundry home with them once a week. I think they must be getting tired of it because they've started talking about purchasing a washing machine for me. Great idea! It feels WEIRD giving my dirty laundry to boss, but the question looms:

WHERE DO I PUT IT?!

It turns out that the only place it can go, since it has to have both a water source and a drain, is in the bathroom. And the only place that has enough space in the bathroom is under the showerhead. There is no shower stall, just a small tile bathroom with a showerhead coming out of one wall, which results in the entire bathroom being soaked whenever I take a shower.

The receptionist at my school was telling me this plan, that they were going to purchase a washing machine and put it under the shower in my very small bathroom.

"There isn't room," I argued.

"Yes! I think here is okay!" And she drew a map of my bathroom and pointed to the only empty spot of floor, directly under the shower head.

EMH: "I won't have room to take shower." (Translation: "I don't like this idea.")

RECEPTIONIST: "I think washing machine moving is okay!" (Translation: "You can simply move your washing machine when you take a shower. Just get inside the bathroom, close the door, push the washing machine against it, blocking you inside, so you have 2 square feet to stand in to take a shower. It's all okay!")

E: "It'll get soaked every time I take a shower." (Translation: "I really don't like this idea.")

R: "Washing machine wet is okay!" (Translation: "The washing machine can get wet. It's all okay!")

E: "There's no outlet on that wall. I'll have to run a cord across my bathroom." (Translation: "I don't like this idea, and I'm a little worried about the potential water-electricity hazard and don't really want a cord running from one corner of my bathroom to the other.")

R: "I think you not using unplug is okay!" (Translation: "Unplug it when you're not using it. It's all okay!")

E: "I'll have to climb over it to get to the sink." (Translation: "I really, really don't like this idea.")

R: "I think you and washing machine is HAPPY TOGETHER!" (Translation: "No matter how silly it sounds to you, I really want to put a washing machine in your tiny bathroom so you have to climb over it several times a day. You'll learn to love it. HAPPY TOGETHER!")

E: "IN THE SHOWER?" (Translation: "I can't even begin to explain how much I don't like this idea.")

At this point we both started laughing at the utter absurdity of being happy while sharing a shower with a washing machine.

There’s a dry cleaner/tailor in my building. I think we’re going to work something out to see if they can do a load of wash for me each week.

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It's still a little drizzly here, but the bad thunderstorms have stopped for now. I heard that in the past week over 50 people were killed or missing in the floods and landslides in South Korea and over 100 in North Korea. Over 1,000 had to be evacuated from their homes in South Korea. Everyday on the news they show people returning to homes and farmland that have been destroyed. Please continue to keep the people affected by the floods and landslides in your prayers.

Funny "Konglish" and Too Much Rain

"Konglish" is the made-up term for funny sayings when Korean and English get a little confused. I encounter something in Konglish everyday, but today I heard a particularly funny example.

Today was my second Sunday at the Daerim Methodist Church in Seoul. I taught children's Sunday school and middle/high school Bible study and read the announcements from the bulletin for the English worship service. After the service, a church member told me "Your announcements are very good. You are a refreshment!"

So my question is, "What kind of refreshment am I?"

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I don't know if any of this has made the news in other parts of the world, but we're experiencing lots of rain and flooding here in Korea. Tropical Storm/Typhoon Bilis, which caused a lot of destruction in the Philippines and China last week, crossed the Korean peninsula this weekend. My immediate area is not affected, but there have been at least 12 deaths in the country, and 17 people are missing so far. Thousands of people have been evacuated. There have been landslides and broken dams. Houses and farmland have been destroyed. Please keep the people of Korea in your prayers. Thousands of lives have been affected by this already, and the rain is supposed to continue through Thursday of this week. Click on any of the photos below for larger images.

Here are some photos from Yonhap News:
And here's one from the Korea TimesAn article from the Korea Times can be found here.

Finally Some SNAPSHOTS

Hello everyone! After several days of rain, the sun came out this afternoon, so I decided to head on up the mountain with my camera after school. It was hot and extremely humid, so I was literally dripping with sweat before I made it to the top. This photo is about 2/3 of the way up. (Do you recognize the hat, Aunt Mary Ellen? It has served me well in the U.S., Mexico, the Philippines, and now Korea! I forgot to take it to Germany with me last May and was very disappointed at the oversight.)

The view was beautiful. In one direction are green mountains and valleys all the way to the horizon. In the other direction is my city and neighboring suburbs. I could even pick out my apartment building!

Here are a few more shots.

Just a Matter of Black and White?

I haven't written about my classes in some time because nothing particularly noteworthy has happened. I teach four classes of kindergartners: two meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and two meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Today, one of my very bright little boys announced, "My black hair. Ellen-Teacher white hair." I thought it would be a good opportunity for a new vocabulary word.

"No," I said, "I have blonde hair, not white hair."

He held a black crayon up to his head. "Black hair," he said. Then he pointed a white crayon in the direction of my head, "Ellen-Teacher white hair."

"White? No." I held up a yellow crayon. "Blonde hair."

He shook his head. "Okay," I thought, "my hair isn't yellow. Maybe brown is closer." So I held up a brown crayon.

"You have black hair," I said. "I have blonde hair."

This time I could see the frustration in his face. He thrust the white crayon in the direction of my head. "No!" he shouted at me. "Ellen-Teacher white hair. Ellen-Teacher OLD!"

Thanks, kiddo!

Other than that, there is nothing to report. It's still the rainy season here, which means it rains almost every day. I can usually find some time when it's not raining to get out for a walk, but it has been raining all day today, so I'm feeling a little cooped up. On Monday, Tropical Storm Ewiniar hit the Korean peninsula. For me, it amounted to nothing more than a lot of wind and rain. It had been downgraded just the day before from a Category 2 Typhoon which would have been much worse. Typhoon season continues until September. Gotta love Korean weather: winter, yellow dust, rainy season, typhoon season. I hear fall is nice. Come visit!

Mission Update

The bishop of the Northern Illinois Conference put me in touch with a pastor at a large (1,500 member) Methodist church in Seoul. I will begin working with them next week. They have an English-speaking congregation of about 30 members, most of whom I met today. I will help lead worship, preach on occasion, and lead a weekly middle/high school Bible study, along with some other responsibilities. They've decided to call me "Missionary Herbert," despite my insistence that "Ellen" is just fine. It makes me laugh. Titles are really important here, so I can understand the formality, even if it feels a little unusual to me. I'm really excited to be in mission and ministry again; I've felt a little lost the past several weeks without that church connection. Thank you all for your prayers during this transition time. I feel them carry me through each day.

National Declaration to Address Violence Against Women

I'm just bumping a previous post back up to the top. The FaithTrust Institute has recently written a "National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence Against Women."

I'm drawing your attention to it again because I noticed that some signatures were lost from it, including a couple from Galena. I encourage you to take a look at it and sign it again if your name disappeared.

Among other things, this declaration is a chance for faith communities and their leaders to support victims of violence and lend faith as a tool for safety and healing. Click here to read my post from June 12, 2006 and why I think this is so important.

Please take a moment to read over and sign the declaration by clicking here, and pass it on to other religious leaders.

EMH (now signer 1099 from 1104 due to lost signatures)

"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.