The Menno Melange

Anyeong Haseyo (안녕하세요)!

Since I last wrote we have had one, maybe two snow falls, so from what I hear we could maybe borrow some of the snow from our North American friends who are getting possibly too much. We have been in our January break from V-School, so it has been a good opportunity to learn Korean, do some sight seeing and get some exercise.

From L to R: Ana in the snow; Chuncheon bridge and snowy mountains;

Korean Study
Will and I have thrown ourselves head first into Korean studies. Our studies include lessons with certain JVC members, writing daily journals in Korean, listening to a Korean CD and answering questions, doing exercises in a text book supplement that goes with our other text book, and revieweing vocabulary with flash cards. Don’t be fooled. We aren’t anywhere near being fluent. But, this is the kind of intensity we need to get anywhere farther in the language than we already are. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 한국어를 아주 어려워요 (Korean is really hard). The only reason I remember that phrase in Korean is beacuse I say it a lot.

Hockey Game
We went to watch the local professional Chuncheon team play against “Seibu” from Japan. Seibu might sound like a cool name for a hockey team, but imagine the cutest cuddliest little cartoon bunny you ever saw, and that’s their mascot. Will told me to look at their jersey’s to see what their mascot was, and I didn’t even have to tell Will when I did; He knew I saw the mascot because I had started chuckling. We saw a lot of fights disguised as “falls”. We happened to be on the side that had a good view of a player fall (jump) on his opponent with his fist closed ready for a punch. What proceeded was a 7-8 player pile-up. Will was the only spectator clapping (he said that’s what Canadians do). It was my first hockey fight. Fights, by the way, are prohibited in Korean hockey.

Prayer Meetings
Every Friday night prayer meeting is led by a different cell group, so we helped when it was our cell groups’ turn. I led the group in some hymns with guitar (some of the English hymns I had introduced to our cell group), and then ad libbed on guitar while people prayed over top. I was just mimicking what another church member does, and it was quite a neat experience. Another time we went to the 6:00am prayer service, which they do once a month so children and youth can come, as well. After an hour of intercerssory prayer and singing, portable stoves were brought out and breakfast was cooked in front of our eyes; Egg and cheese sandwiches. Mmm.

Church Involvement
Will preached his first sermon a few Sundays back, and he did his “Revelations in nature” sermon, with his slide show of pictures from our cottage, post-tornado. He explained how the trees that had strong roots in good soil remained standing, while the trees that spread their roots thinly over rocks blew over like paper. Very metaphorical I’d say. One woman said she knew her husband liked the sermon because he stayed awake during it. I sang with the choir again, and had the same struggles during the rehearsal time as I did the last 2 times. The choir leader tends to tell everyone where to start singing from in Korean and away they go, and I’m always lost: “Oh, we’re on THAT page….Oops, we’re singing THIS part..” etc.

From L to R: The congregation listening as Will preaches; Will and his slide show

English Camp
During the January vacation time, there is one week of English Camp, which is just like regular V-School English lessons, only more fun! I showed my kids Blues’ Clues videos and had them answer questions and solve puzzles. Will went out on a limb and encouraged his older students to be creative and try to write their own stories.This kind of creativity is not a part of the education in Korean schools, so this proved very difficult. It was so strange to be teaching the same kids as the rest of the year, but they were so much more well-behaved. They paid attention to everything and seemed to really enjoy themselves. One day I taught them how to tell time and appropriately we played “What time is it, Mr Wolf?” They gobbled that game right up. Whenever I caught kids and they became wolves, I would get them to say what time it was, and they always wanted to yell “LUNCH TIME!!” even though the advancing kids were too far away to chase them. It was amusing. Another day we played “Pass the Parcel” (the game where you pass a parcel around to music, and when the music stops you unwrap one layer of wrapping paper-and there are many layers-and the person to unwrap the last layer gets to keep the prize). They’re reactions were opposite to what I thought they’d be. Whenever the music stopped and another layer was exposed they would all SCREAM with joy. When the prize was finally revealed, they all whined with disappointment, aside from the prize winner.

Visit from Friends
We had two friends from Seoul come to visit us one weekend and we had a marvelous time. We first brought them to this neat traditional restaurant with sliding doors and private rooms. The building was so low to the ground that even I hit my head on the roof at one place!! We introduced them to MakGuksu-cold buckwheat noodles- the other trademark dish of Chuncheon, which they enjoyed. We then brought them to Kugok Falls, and we hadn’t been there since the fall. As we suspected, the huge falls was frozen solid, like an ice curtain. We were pleased to watch some ice climbers picking their way up the frozen falls. One man nearby took pictures of us, and only us, for at least 10 minutes. It was awkward, to say the least. Our friend took a picture of him taking a picture of us.

From L to R: Famous Makguksu restaurant in Chuncheon; Frozen river at Kugok Falls; Climbers climbing frozen waterfall; Looking down from the falls; View of falls from farther away; Mysterious man taking our pictures; Our friends and Will at our Dakgalbi restaurant

Swimming Tales
I got new swimming goggles and it was high-time I did. I had forgotten just how clearly you’re supposed to be able to see in water! Also, I had forgotten what swimming goggles are actually supposed to do-keep water out. I had been getting used to my right goggle filling up with water and swimming with my right eye closed for some laps, until one day I realized I could just buy new goggles! WHAT a difference that makes! Will comes to the pool with me sometimes and he observed that while all the men wear skimpy Speedo bathing suits, most of the girls wear skirts and shirts to cover up until RIGHT before they get into the pool. Made me wonder if I should follow that example of modesty, too. As previously mentioned, children are often left unguarded to run around and do their own thing. This, unfortunately, was a reality at the pool the other day. I had to switch swimming lanes twice because a crowd of kids were jumping in and splashing and floating around. I wasn’t the only one that noticed, as I joined clear lanes with other disgruntled lane changers.

DVD Bang
One evening we went out for supper with our former Korean tutor, who we had become friends with. We first went to Mr. Pizza, which is a popular pizza chain here in Korea (among dozens and dozens, which may be surprising to some of you). Their slogan is “Love of Women”, but I think they mean “Loved by women”, because the crust is low in fat, or something. We then went to a DVD Bang, which is a private room (like the Nore Bang) were you get to sit on comfy couches and watch a movie on a decent sized screen. Oh, and play with balloons (there were balloons all over the floor). We watched a Korean romance movie, and as predicted by both my husband and our friend, I cried at the end.

From L to R: Will and our friend; The comfy couches in the DVD room

Our January vacation is almost over, but we have one more glorious week off next week, as it is the Lunar New Year holiday. This is the biggest holiday right up there with Chuseok, where everyone goes home to be with their families, and traffic is clogged right up.