Anyeong Haseyo (안 녕 하 세 요)!

I hope this October finds you all well. I hear it’s been an unusually hot fall. Apparently it’s been an unusually grey and rainy fall here. Lately, though, we’ve been blessed with some warm sunny days.

Teaching
***this first story is long, but needs to be told in its entirety for the full effect***
Teaching has been getting better for us….certainly better than it was 2 weeks ago, when all the possible miscommunications that could have happened actually happened…in one night. First of all, we knew we had to give a ride to one of our students to the apartment where Will teaches, so we were waiting for him in our apartment. We just assumed that since they were being dropped off, that they would come to our apartment. We waited until we were already too late to get to our destination on time. When we got down to our car, the mother of the student was waiting down there with him! First miscommunication. Also, this was our first night finding the apartment on our own where I was teaching, and of course we got lost. I called the woman (who hosts Will’s class in her home) to say Will would be late, and that we were lost. She offered to come meet us to show us where to go (or so we thought) and Will arranged to meet her at a nearby bakery (or so he thought). Meanwhile, Will noticed the building I needed to get to, so he dropped me off, and went to the bakery to wait for the woman, not wanting to miss her. He waited 15 minutes then gave up and just went to the apartment. Turns out she wasn’t planning on coming to meet him, so it was another miscommunication. Both our classes started late that night. After Will’s class, the boy we were giving a ride home to apparently didn’t know we were giving him a ride, so while Will was busy talking with someone, the boy left to wait for his mother on some street corner, without telling anyone. This lead to a 10 minute search for him around the building by a few people. Third miscommunication. He was soon found, and Will was ready to take him home, when the mother of one of my students offered to lead Will to where I was, so he wouldn’t get lost again. However, there was a miscommunication as to where to meet in their separate cars, and she never found Will to lead him, so she just left without him to get me and her daughter. Meanwhile, I’m waiting at my apartment for 30 minutes for Will to come. Eventually the woman came and said she was taking me back to where Will was, so I went. Meanwhile, Will came to pick me up, and the woman there told Will I went home. Fifth miscommunication. Meanwhile, the woman giving me a ride couldn’t find Will at the other apartment and wasn’t sure what to do with me, so she took me back where she had picked me up . Luckily, we found Will there just before he drove home, without me. And that concluded the crazy miscommunication night. Thankfully, such a disaster night has not occurred since.

Also, I was really struggling with our day students 2 weeks ago, as they were just not answering my questions. I would speak slowly, and they would nod to say they understood when I asked them if they did, but they would just sit in silence. It was so frustrating and confusing! I thought they must be bored or something. I was stressing out a lot, when we decided to just talk to them. I eventually thought to ask them if they don’t know enough English to answer some of the questions we ask, and they all nodded vigorously. Oh. Well that makes sense. Things have been so much better now as we have been finding ways to adjust.

Oh yeah, and one evening while I was teaching, the white board fell on my head, then landed with a thump on the floor. THAT was great.

Neck Problem
Yes. I’m getting older. I stretched wrong one morning and literally snapped a muscle in my neck. Sorry if that’s gross, but that’s what happened. My head was crooked the rest of that day, and oh, the rest of the week. I couldn’t do a lot of things, even my own hair! It was just awful. You don’t realize how much you rely on our neck, until you can’t use it anymore. JVC people were so helpful in praying for me, and directing me to an Orthopedic surgeon in town. The x-ray he took showed that my neck was crooked because of the tense muscles in my neck. After an hour of electro-pulse and heat therapy, he did some “manipulation” on my neck. Before telling me what he was going to do (probably a good thing), he grabbed my head, did a few quick turns to the right, then CRACK! He yanked my head really far to the right, and did the same to the left. I didn’t know my neck could crack so well, or turn that far. Man, did it ever hurt MORE after that. I then had a week of electro-pulse therapy and one day of inter-muscular therapy. Now that it’s all over, I realize it was a blessing in disguise. It provided a different avenue through which I could connect with church members. I was prayed for on many occassions, and accompanied one day by a church member, who I chatted with during therapy. It showed me in a tangible way that this community really cares about each members’ well-being. A truly powerful experience.

Funny Signs and Names
- The cereal we have now is called “Corn Flight” (I think it’s supposed to be “Corn Flakes”.
- One of the offering envelopes we were given said “God Blees You” on it.

Love Cell Group
We have been really happy with our cell group. We are now members of the “Love” cell group, which is the group with the most fluent English speakers, and who enjoy speaking English with us. I know it’s a good match, because they enjoy music and want me to teach them English songs and hymns every week, which I love doing, so I’m in heaven. One cell group member loved “Here I am, Lord” so much she stroked the page and wanted to sing it again. One of the styles of prayer here is for everyone to pray out loud, at the same time. I was a bit uncomfortable with that at first, but now I’ve gotten used to it, and feel comfortable to participate in that way, as well. Will adjusted to that a lot quicker than me.

Thanksgiving
Our first Thanksgiving in Korea was a blessed one. Friday night there was a prayer meeting, in preparation for Thanksgiving. Part of the meeting involved the leader teaching us some fun praise dance moves, and then played music and everyone danced for about 15 minutes in praise. Then she brought out a box that was “empty”, but people proceeded to pull “blessings” out of it, to shower on each other and thank each other for being who they are. Just beautiful. There were a lot of tears, and as much as I tried to prevent it, it brought some tears to my eyes. Then she turned the lights off, had music playing, and everyone prayed outloud for 30 minutes. It was so calming and wonderful. The next day, workers from the Korean Anabaptist Center, Connexxus (Anabaptist English language teaching Institute) and Grace and Peace Church (the second Anabaptist church in Korea) came, so JVC put them up in cabins at a nearby campground in the mountains. That evening we had a wonderful BBQ of 3 kinds of meat that we ate in lettuce and sesame leaves, followed by a campfire with songs that I led along with another JVC member. The next day was the Thanksgiving service, which was held outside at a park. At the front was a display table with all sorts of fruits and vegtables, which were later taken to the group home that we visited. We all went up to the front as cell groups and shared what we were thankful for. Such an important exercise. The service, of course, was followed by a delicious pot luck. One young man who we had met and hung out with at the young adult event (when we first arrived) introduced himself to me, like we had never met, and I reminded him that we had already met and hung out. Another Korean joked that we are hard to tell apart from other white people. Hmm.

Chuncheon Dance Festival
One JVC member kindly gave us 2 free tickets to the Chuncheon Dance Festival, held at Kangwon University, where we are students. We went one night and we were blown away by the talent, the choreoraphy, the music, wow. We were amused by how many cell phone lights we could see on in the dark auditorium, almost like lighters that were lit, but not. It was just students using their phones as lights for reading the program, or texting someone. Anyway, there were ballet numbers, creative modern, and one traditional Korean style dance. That was incredible. The women were wearing traditional Korean dresses, in groups of different pastel colours; blue, pink, purple, green, etc. They moved so smoothly across the stage, and the dresses were long enough that it looked like they were just gliding without feet.

Day Trip to Seoul with Students
Last Friday we were invited to join our day-school students on a trip to Gyeong-Buk Gung palace in Seoul. Um, sure! The palace covered about 8 city blocks, and there were TONS of cars and buses there. It was originally built in the 1300’s, then many buildings were destroyed by the Japanese, and eventually the buildings were rebuilt. We saw the servants’ quarters, the queen’s terraced garden, the king’s throne room, and the largest gazebo in Korea. The buildings were very colourful, with interesting statues on the rooves. It was a good opportunity to get to know our students out of context, and to learn some history. We then went to the Korean folk museum, in the same park, and got to learn more about the culture.

Our second anniversary
Will and I celebrated our second anniversary on Monday. Unlike our wedding day and first anniversary, it was a nice sunny day. I woke up to the smell of bacon frying, as Will was making breakfast for me. We then took the ferry to Jungdo island, a nice little resort island in Chuncheon. We rented a tandum bike, that said “We are together in the biking” on the side. We rode around the island, and it was a neat experience to pedal a bike without having to look ahead (I was in the back), but could look at the scenery. We went to Outback Steakhouse for supper, but because we haven’t eaten a meal like that in almost 2 monthes (a big meat and potatoes and bread and salad type meal), it sat REAL heavy in our stomachs. I still felt full the next morning, and for most of that day actually.

Other Thoughts
*One thing that amuses us is that everyone in our apartment building that we have come across seems to know that we live on the 5th floor. For example, we will go into the elevator with someone we’ve never seen before, and they will push the button for the 5th floor for us. That has happened at least 3 times. It’s just funny imagining the tenants here talking to each other: “Hey, you know those white people who live here? They live on the 5th floor.”
*Lots of people wear masks here, that cover their mouths. We’ve asked a few people about this, and we haven’t been able to get a clear answer. We’re pretty sure it’s to keep from breathing in pollution.
*There is a tendency to over-package things here. And I thought things were over-packaged and plastic-wrapped in North America! We have bought food here that has the outer packaging, then there will be separate items inside that are individually wrapped, and then maybe more items inside those individual items that are individually wrapped. Wow. And yet, there is a BIG recycling consciousness here. For example, I was about to put my tiny little ice cream container in the garbage bin when the guard of our apartment yelled to me from his booth and pointed to where my little ice cream container should go. Wow. (in my defense, I didn’t think it could be recycled).
*Of all the bad drivers we have seen (mostly taxis and buses) the SCHOOL BUSES are the worst! We saw a school bus make a u-ey right in front of oncoming traffic, causing all traffic to stop, and it was FULL of children.
*We saw a truck driving around our apartment realllly slowly, with a thick smoke coming out of it. We thought this truck needed some serious repairs, and were wondering why on earth it was being driven. We soon realized it was spraying something, and later found out it was bug spray.
*We have noticed a LOT of military helicopters go by, often 2 or 3 at a time.
*The toilet paper here is scented