Summer vacation is over and a new term of V-School has begun this fall! September 8th marked our first completed year here in Korea, and we don’t know where the time went.
Pregnancy Update
So, I’m in the home stretch. My baby is completely baked, as some would say. She is in the right, head-down position and all systems are a go! I am in that exciting yet frightening waiting period, knowing that labour could happen at any time, but I also have the comfort of knowing she would be healthy and fully grown if born any time from now to the due date. At least that’s what my doctor said. In fact, at my last appointment, he told me I should “exercise vigorously” to help induce labour. What?! But I’m not ready yet…I’m supposed to still have a few weeks! And, I probably will, as they say the first birth is usually late. But the thought is still quite scary. Oh, and I think I’m realizing that I have grown a bit bigger than most pregnant Korean women do, as I have had to go back a few times for more maternity pants, as I have outgrown a few! I didn’t know that could happen! JVC members are anxiously awaiting the baby’s arrival, and have been really supportive throughout this process. In fact, even though it is not a cultural tradition here, they are organizing a baby shower for us, which will happen this coming Sunday. It’s funny, I have never had one or been to one before, and they have never put one on before…so it’ll be interesting to see how our collective creativity plays out. I have cut back on teaching, which means Will is teaching a little more this term, and that makes the baby’s upcoming arrival that much more real. I’ve had 2 elderly women tell me that we are going to have a girl (not knowing we already are, apparently) based on the shape of my belly. I asked them, “What is the shape?” They say it’s a “pretty” belly when it’s a girl. I wonder what the belly is shaped like when it’s a boy (??). However, another woman said I’ll be having a boy, because my belly is “up higher”. Hmmm…
From L to R: At 35 weeks; At 36 weeks; At 37 weeks; At 38 weeks; At 38 weeks again; At 38 weeks yet again; At 38 weeks one last time
Cell Group Overnight
Every month when there is a 5th Sunday, cell groups worship on their own. Our cell group decided to do an overnight in Hwacheon, at one of our members’ parents’ homes in the country. The first evening we had a BBQ together, followed by S’mores-making, care of Will and I, which went over really well with the kids. The kids later called Will upstairs to swat mosquitos for them, but when he couldn’t find any, he just chased the kids with the swatter instead, which caused quite a stir while the rest of us were stargazing. The following morning Will gave a sermon to the group, then we all went down to the nearby river to wade or fish, or sit on the rocks watching Will make a sandcastle with the kids. It was a great time to connect with members of our church.
From L to R: Ana by the river; Will in the river
V-School Fall Term Begins, and other responsibilities
We have the same boys for Day School this term, and for our first day of classes, we made them talk for 2 minutes about what they did for the summer. We could really see the improvement in one of our students when, a year ago, he was too shy and limited in vocab to say very much, and now he could share his thoughts on evolution! It was quite wonderful. Will also has begun an English conversation class, with up to 12 university students, who meet twice a week at 6:30 in the MORNING. That is literally the only time that works for these busy students, so they must be EAGER to learn English. He also continues to lead an English Bible study to prospective YWAM missionaries, preparing to leave the country, as well as teaching two extra classes for me. What a guy!
Guitar Class
So, my knitting class is kind of finished, as the women mutually and enthusiastically want to learn guitar instead, now. So, I thought I would roll with it, and see where this will go. But, on one condition: That they all have their own guitars. I have learned from teaching music in the past that there is not much point in it, if the student can’t practice at home. So, we had the first lesson last week, and it was..interesting. One of the guitars brought was so old and impossible to tune (and missing a tuning knob that we needed pliers to turn it with) that is was virtually unplayable and the woman who brought it needed to use mine. The other guitar that was brought was also really old, causing it to persistently and consistently go out of tune, which meant I had to tune it about every 10 minutes. I enjoy providing a service that my friends will benefit from, but I have to say, I miss the knitting!
Lingering Cultural Frustrations
Even after being here a year, and knowing what little of the language we do, we still are faced with limitations on a daily basis. The day came when we had to extend our visa’s, and we were so proud of ourselves for finding our way to the immigration office, filling out the needed form on our own, and we had all the documents ready. Or so we thought. We thought it was too good to be true that we could handle this administrative matter on our own, and just like we suspected, there was a problem, and the clerk needed to call our supervisor, for proof that we are doing what we said we are doing. Strangely, we didn’t need this proof last year, when we went through this process with our supervisor. So, that deflated our balloon a little bit. Later that day Will went to make a money transfer at the bank, like he has done many times before, and got the necessary (and correct) forms and was about to wait in the appropriate area, when a bank employee intercepted him, took the form he had and gave him a different one (assuming he had taken the wrong form, because he was a foreigner) and sent him upstairs (thinking he needed to do a different kind of transfer). After much wasted time and confusion, the bank man finally realized what Will actually wanted to do, sent him back downstairs and gave him the form he had originally taken. This was understandably frustrating for Will. We realize one reality to being foreigners is strangers will almost always assume we don’t know what we are doing.
Chuseok Weekend
Once again it is Chuseok time, Korean Thanksgiving. One of the things we love about Chuseok is all the food gifts we get. We got a huge crate of peaches from one of our students, and a huge crate of grapes from another. Also a huge crate of tomatoes from someone else. It’s a blessing, but also a bit of a challenge to finish off all that food before it goes bad! Anyway, we were invited to a church members’ home for supper one night, when some extended family were there, and we had a marvelous time, and shared lots of laughs. It was nice to be included in someone else’s family gathering. We were also invited to a friends’ hometown to her family gathering, so we headed off early the last day of the Chuseok holiday to a town 3 hours away, called Jeongseon. We stopped at a random temple on the way, cause I needed a break from being in the car, and met a friendly elderly lady who was eager to get to know us. She had offered us coffee, which we turned down because we needed to be on our way, but even as we were pulling out of the driveway, she was carrying out a tray with coffee, so we had no choice but to stay. I didn’t want to drink the coffee, as I’m avoiding caffeine right now, so as to avoid offending her, Will and I did a clever cup swap when she wasn’t looking, and he finished off mine. I was a little concerned she’d keep finding ways to make us stay, when our friends’ family was waiting for us for lunch, but using my best Korean sentence, I told her sorry, but we need to get going. She understood and happily waved us goodbye. Anyway, our friend’s family welcomed us like we were distant relatives, and the food was fantastic! Traditional Korean food, and I was reminded again that I need some Korean cooking lessons. For the afternoon entertainment, our friend, her sister and Will and I rode on a rail bike. The town has an old train track that isn’t used anymore for the train, but has become a wonderful tourist attraction, where you can rent a bike that sits on the track and peddle along 7 kms of beautiful country scenery, and of course through some fun dark tunnels! We passed beautiful rice fields, mountains and rivers, and enjoyed picking up some speed when going downhill (although we almost ran into the family in front of us a few times!) The track ended in another part of the town, at this neat restaurant shaped like two fish (see blog for pics, they actually look pretty cool). We had a wonderful time with this family, as well, and cherish the time we had with these Korean families.
From L to R: At the temple we stopped at; Inside the temple; Bell inside temple; Buddha statues; Dragon outside of temple; A waterfall in Jeongseon; Will and I by the waterfall; Giant grasshopper-shaped restaurant; The girls on the railbike; The whole gang ready to go; The view from the back; The first tunnel; The view from the side; Will and I; More beautiful scenery along the way (that’s a rice field); We actually got to stop traffic along the way, with lights and bars and everything; Will and I at the rest stop; Fish-shaped restaurant at the end of the track; Will and I in front of the fish; Our friend and I in front of the fish; The fish from far away; Will and I in the fishes mouth; Ana coming out of the fishes mouth
Random Thoughts and Observations
-We saw a man riding a motorcycle in nothing but pyjamas! No helmet, no boots, just pyjamas!
-One trend here is for couples to wear matching shirts, but the other day I also saw matching pants! Both the guy and girl had the same pants, complete with Superman patches on each right butt cheek
-I think I have mentioned before that ambulances don’t get much respect here, like they do back home. One day we were caught at an intersection being traffic controlled by police because there was a marathon going on. We could understand that we were being stopped so the other group of cars could go through, but then an ambulance from our side, with siren on, tried to get through. Not only did the traffic going the other way NOT stop for the ambulance, but the police man didn’t even TRY to stop the traffic to let the ambulance through. Will and I just watched incredulously.
I don’t know when the next check-in will be, and whether there will be another before the baby arrives, but from here on in, Will may very well be the new author of the Chuncheon Check-in, at least for a little while!