Woke up this morning with clumps of ice cluttering the floor. Okay, not really, but it was frigid when Dan’s alarm went off at six AM. None of us wanted to get up in the freezing cold, though, so we slept an hour later with the snooze follow ups every 10 minutes. Haha. This also had an influence in all of us wearing jeans today.
Today was muggy. Not hot (surprisingly, it has not been that hot yet to date), but very humid. We started the day teaching antonyms & homonyms. I’m glad 10 minutes before my lesson someone told me homonyms weren’t just words that rhyme, but words that sound the same but are spelled differently. I mean, I guess I would have seen that when I did the worksheets, but I guess I just somehow thought they were just words that rhyme. Maybe that’s homophone.
Antonyms, idioms of the day went well. That’s all the teaching I had for the morning. Then two periods of spelling bee meets Jenga. They were a little more mellow today, but we still had a good amount of fun.
Lunch today was glorious. Best lunch of the week. Chicken & potatoes with amazing sauce that I poured over the rice & red pepper soup (classic) and probably something else I’m forgetting. Or didn’t eat/didn’t take. It made me very happy. We had to take a picture afterwards with the principal and staff of the camp, and then had a meeting with the principal while snacking on ice cream. I had this cone that was Americanly patriotic, red white and blue, and had pop rocks in it. I think they were made for the 4th of July. Very firework-ish.
After lunch, we had to teach about homonyms. Eric made a killer powerpoint for us to use. After that, I asked what they wanted to learn about – and I taught them phrases to use during travel. Oh, I didn’t mention, but today I named all my kids English names so I could call on them. From the back of my class, I had Anymore, Earbud, Marshmellow, Matt Damon, Brittney Spears, Michael Jackson, Soap, Justin Beiber, Jerk (he picked it, I didn’t), Afro, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Potter, Emma Watson (somehow when they pronounce this it always sounds like ‘mouse’), Bart Simpson, Old man (he had gray hairs), & Avatar. Helped so much – and made everyone laugh. Afro is my favorite. He is a tall kid that sits in the back.
Two more periods of spelling/Jenga. In the first period, the kids legitimately didn’t want to do anything. They were sleepy, lethargic, and they wouldn’t try to even spell some words. At one point, I was at whit’s end, and Amanda walked in to ask me a question. She saw that I wasn’t having much luck, so she asked to have a go at it, while I watched over her art class. What happened next can hardly be described. Although, I have seen a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and one of them provided a great parallel to what I was feeling. The surgeons from the show discover the dermatology section of the hospital, where everyone is calm, there is no emergencies, and they can relax. That is how I felt – no crazy motivation kids who were unwilling to learn, no shouting or raising my voice, I just got to sit quietly and watch them work. It was a haven of awesomeness.
I eventually had to go back, but it was ok. I was refreshed. After the spelling bee rotations were over, the kids all had to do a school-wide scavenger hunt, where they had to find all different landmarks using clues and get a picture of them on their cell phones. That seemed cool – we got the judge them at the end and get food.
Dan, Eric, and I filmed a documentary tonight about life in Korea. Afterwards, we went to dinner, which was awesome clear dumpling soup and these really good clear noodles. We ate A LOT at dinner tonight because the food was better than usual and didn’t consist of any red peppers (santo!).
After dinner, there was a school wide pop song contest. We were the judges as the foreign teachers. And at the end, we got to perform “Bye Bye Bye.” For those of you who know me, you know that secretly I always wanted to be in a boy band (at least, that’s what you’ve projected on me by your observations). Haha. I had SO much fun singing it though. Some of the girls danced while Amanda sang some back up harmonies. I don’t know how I knew all the words….lol…
We went out for “dinner” with the professors and principal afterwards. Aubrey heard we were having pizza and got really excited. No, no. We had Korean pizza – it is like egg and seaweed and octopus (oh, which is growing slightly on me. Still very rubbery though). I don’t mind their pizza, but it is not the same at all. Also, we had deep friend jinsing, which is a root they commonly use in American tea, so I’ve heard. That was a stronger taste. Watching people’s poker face when they ate it was pretty priceless. Just strong flavor, although Eric will tell you he barely tasted it at all.
We learned Aubrey’s pinky finger on her one hand can’t extend the whole way. Kind of weird. We had prayer time after we got back to the campus (oh, I don’t think I had mentioned that this dinner they took us to the mountain to a place that specializes in vegetarian dishes).
It was a great day. I am still on my plan to read thru the Bible in 90 days. Today I couldn’t find my Bible this morning (I had left it in our meeting room from the night before) and I am a little behind the plan. However, I am still keeping a good pace, and should be done with Proverbs tomorrow – once I finish Psalms and start Proverbs haha).
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Day 6
Things I have not mentioned before:
The other night Amanda had a dream that the North Koreans were attacking. She woke up against a cinder block wall (which was the wall next to her bed). Thinking that the North Koreans were cementing her into her bunk, she starting banging on it screaming for help. She woke up all of her roommates and then had a good laugh about it. Now, while we were all sitting around, Christy told one of the professors. We all sat in shocked silence, until he bust out laughing. Then we laughed just as hard with him.
This morning, I was not about to stress about the lesson plan. I did not really want to spend much time stressing over it. Was that a redundant sentence? lol I am tired today. I skipped breakfast though to work on getting music together for my 2 hour lesson on music genres. Trust me, I wouldn't have devoted that much time to it normally if I wasn't required to. The morning went off well - we taught idioms of the day again, synonyms, and then all about music. Some of my kids fell asleep during a part of the music lecture. I did not really wake them - those same ones struggled in the game afterwards because they didn't know what the genres sounded like.
Lunch - kimchi and rice. and Korean BBQ. Which really means they give you leaves or greens to wrap pork in with this great sauce - i've described it before as really good marinara sauce. I'm not sure if that's the best description, but I can't think of a better explanation. You wrap the pork, rice, and kimchi (except no kimchi for me) and sauce in the lettuce and/or tree leaf and shove it all in your mouth at once. It is very good.
I have decided "spice" in Korea is very limited to red pepper, and the amount of spice is determined by how much red pepper is put into anything. Hence, sometimes the soup is a little blander, but usually always the same flavor. lol.
We had a Ranking Show today that was a lot of fun - kids were polled to find out what the best thing about the school was, who the best teacher was, etc. Then, they had to vote in teams to try and guess the top 3 choices. Took up time and was SO much fun - Thank you Lord! We also did more music lectures (which i was not a huge fan of) and THEN we got to do Conversational English for two hours. Today, I got to be someone who hired people for Nintendo. This was a 2 hour long task asking kids about their qualifications, and then having to explain what qualification meant to them haha. Again, it is really funny because you can usually ad lib with kids who are more advanced. We were also told to be a little "harder" on them today, so I had to not hire like 10 people out of the 80 or so that came to see me. Oh, but after, let me just tell you, we got ice cream stuff in this package with a straw attached - Santo! The BEST THING I"VE HAD THIS ENTIRE TRIP! Thank you Lord for something sweet and not kimchi flavored or related in any way, shape, form, smell, or taste. Glory!
I realize I'm punctuating like a raving Pentecostal; I don't care. lol. I am tired, and happy. I had to run a Spelling Bee with Jenga tiles and when they missed a word they had to take two Jenga pieces out of their team tower. My voice gets tired though in running all of these activities. I think that might have been it. Yesterday, if i didn't mention, after conversation hour, we had vanilla yogurt with chocolate add-in things. Also, highlight of the food day. Since apparently the followers of my blog love reading my food descriptions haha. My mother actually recommended it to my cousin BECAUSE my cousin would learn about Korean food? So glad I can be the voice of Korean Cuisine to a dark and hurting world. haha
Guess what was for dinner?! KIMCHI! haha. And octopus with kimchi flavoring. And chicken nuggets & soup & rice. I know, you're thinking it was so original. This was the first time I have had octopus. It may be the last. It has a very unique texture. And after only a week of eating Korean food, I just want to lift my hands and sing
"Jesus take the kimchi
Take it from my plate
Cuz I don't want it anymore..
I'm throwing it out
It gives me great heartburn
And it tastes like I regurgitated in my mouth
Jesus Take the Kimchi (and bring me a pizza)
Thank you Jesus! And Carrie (Underwood) Fisher.
We had the most fun team devotional after dinner, including a time for about 5-10 minutes where we could not stop laughing. Kind of cut into Amanda's scripture reading, but it was really good. I'm so glad all these people are with me on this trip. Don't get the idea that I am not having the time of my life. Do I miss something food that isn't rice, soup, or taste like pepper? Yes. But am I totally stoked with how God keeps giving us opportunities to minister, like tonight how there were students who just hung with us as we just blogged and did devotions? Yes. So pumped.
The Lord is awesome people. Thank you for the prayers. Tomorrow (today for you, kind of) you can pray that the Lord helps us in our Talent Show, where I am one of the emcees. Should be fun. Pray that the Lord also opens up doors for us to share our faith. One of my students was talking to Amanda today, and said, (of me), "He has a...a...kindness about Him." She said she so badly wanted to say IT'S JESUS! Pray that our gentleness will be evident to all.
Thanks!
The other night Amanda had a dream that the North Koreans were attacking. She woke up against a cinder block wall (which was the wall next to her bed). Thinking that the North Koreans were cementing her into her bunk, she starting banging on it screaming for help. She woke up all of her roommates and then had a good laugh about it. Now, while we were all sitting around, Christy told one of the professors. We all sat in shocked silence, until he bust out laughing. Then we laughed just as hard with him.
This morning, I was not about to stress about the lesson plan. I did not really want to spend much time stressing over it. Was that a redundant sentence? lol I am tired today. I skipped breakfast though to work on getting music together for my 2 hour lesson on music genres. Trust me, I wouldn't have devoted that much time to it normally if I wasn't required to. The morning went off well - we taught idioms of the day again, synonyms, and then all about music. Some of my kids fell asleep during a part of the music lecture. I did not really wake them - those same ones struggled in the game afterwards because they didn't know what the genres sounded like.
Lunch - kimchi and rice. and Korean BBQ. Which really means they give you leaves or greens to wrap pork in with this great sauce - i've described it before as really good marinara sauce. I'm not sure if that's the best description, but I can't think of a better explanation. You wrap the pork, rice, and kimchi (except no kimchi for me) and sauce in the lettuce and/or tree leaf and shove it all in your mouth at once. It is very good.
I have decided "spice" in Korea is very limited to red pepper, and the amount of spice is determined by how much red pepper is put into anything. Hence, sometimes the soup is a little blander, but usually always the same flavor. lol.
We had a Ranking Show today that was a lot of fun - kids were polled to find out what the best thing about the school was, who the best teacher was, etc. Then, they had to vote in teams to try and guess the top 3 choices. Took up time and was SO much fun - Thank you Lord! We also did more music lectures (which i was not a huge fan of) and THEN we got to do Conversational English for two hours. Today, I got to be someone who hired people for Nintendo. This was a 2 hour long task asking kids about their qualifications, and then having to explain what qualification meant to them haha. Again, it is really funny because you can usually ad lib with kids who are more advanced. We were also told to be a little "harder" on them today, so I had to not hire like 10 people out of the 80 or so that came to see me. Oh, but after, let me just tell you, we got ice cream stuff in this package with a straw attached - Santo! The BEST THING I"VE HAD THIS ENTIRE TRIP! Thank you Lord for something sweet and not kimchi flavored or related in any way, shape, form, smell, or taste. Glory!
I realize I'm punctuating like a raving Pentecostal; I don't care. lol. I am tired, and happy. I had to run a Spelling Bee with Jenga tiles and when they missed a word they had to take two Jenga pieces out of their team tower. My voice gets tired though in running all of these activities. I think that might have been it. Yesterday, if i didn't mention, after conversation hour, we had vanilla yogurt with chocolate add-in things. Also, highlight of the food day. Since apparently the followers of my blog love reading my food descriptions haha. My mother actually recommended it to my cousin BECAUSE my cousin would learn about Korean food? So glad I can be the voice of Korean Cuisine to a dark and hurting world. haha
Guess what was for dinner?! KIMCHI! haha. And octopus with kimchi flavoring. And chicken nuggets & soup & rice. I know, you're thinking it was so original. This was the first time I have had octopus. It may be the last. It has a very unique texture. And after only a week of eating Korean food, I just want to lift my hands and sing
"Jesus take the kimchi
Take it from my plate
Cuz I don't want it anymore..
I'm throwing it out
It gives me great heartburn
And it tastes like I regurgitated in my mouth
Jesus Take the Kimchi (and bring me a pizza)
Thank you Jesus! And Carrie (Underwood) Fisher.
We had the most fun team devotional after dinner, including a time for about 5-10 minutes where we could not stop laughing. Kind of cut into Amanda's scripture reading, but it was really good. I'm so glad all these people are with me on this trip. Don't get the idea that I am not having the time of my life. Do I miss something food that isn't rice, soup, or taste like pepper? Yes. But am I totally stoked with how God keeps giving us opportunities to minister, like tonight how there were students who just hung with us as we just blogged and did devotions? Yes. So pumped.
The Lord is awesome people. Thank you for the prayers. Tomorrow (today for you, kind of) you can pray that the Lord helps us in our Talent Show, where I am one of the emcees. Should be fun. Pray that the Lord also opens up doors for us to share our faith. One of my students was talking to Amanda today, and said, (of me), "He has a...a...kindness about Him." She said she so badly wanted to say IT'S JESUS! Pray that our gentleness will be evident to all.
Thanks!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day 5
Psalm 52:8-9:
"But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and ever.
I will praise You forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your faithful people,
I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good."
The Lord is incredibly gracious to me. I am so aware of that fact today. I am sitting here in awe of just who He is and how He uses people like me in His kingdom. The best way I can describe what I'm feeling today is that the Lord has given me favor with people, and with students. I was extremely nervous to teach English today - from stressing out because I didn't think I would have a computer projector screen or Internet, to trying to plan a 2 hour about me/ice breaker time slot. But the Lord gave me a great day. My kids seem to have really taken a liking to me. And I've met me, and I'm not that funny, or personable. I'm not the most patient person, and definitely not the most creative. But I got the kids pumped up, and everywhere they went today, people commented on how excited my kids were. The Lord has blessed me - I feel like I can't give enough glory to his name for that!
If you want the whole day in perspective, breakfast included chicken nuggets, honey mustard, rice, and CEREAL! The whole team rejoiced when they had cereal for us! Korean food starts to taste all the same after a while. While I don't really mind it, it is starting to become a bit old to some other people on the team. Having a break from rice, seaweed, and kimchi was a gracious change. Thank you Lord!
I then went to my classroom to try and get my powerpoint up and running. I couldn't get it working, even with help from 2 students. They said there was no internet, or a projector for me to use, which took out about half of my activities planned for my two hour time slot that morning. Scared me to death. I stressed a little bit (ok, a lot bit) about that. But - excuse me jumping ahead - I didn't need to. The Lord worked everything out. It went extremely well. Which of you by worrying adds a day to your life? Yes, Jesus, thank you for reminding me.
We had an opening ceremony in front of the whole school where we had to introduce ourselves and the principal gave a speech. After that we went back to our meeting room and waited before we went and taught. The first 2 hours went really well. Thank the Lord the game "2 Truths and a Lie" took 20 minutes - I was starting to freak out a little. Playing Pictionary was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. They had a blast too.
Lunchtime was Bibimbap again and pork/chicken patties. I do not particularly care for their soup, but the rest was good. I am finding I eat the most for lunch, and then don't really have a big appetite for dinner. After lunch we had to teach idioms - "caught my eye", "Dream on!", "I'm broke", two others that I forget...lol.
Then we had Conversation Stations. I had to run a station that was a mock cell phone station. They had to ask about buying a new cell phone. I had a lot of fun with this - I ad libbed from the script when I knew they were capable of actually conversing without just reading the script. I also used a lot of voices and accents. I laughed a lot today haha. I had to run a shoe game afterward where they had to put their shoes in the middle of the room and send someone else to get them with only english descriptions of what they looked like. That was fun.
Dinner was good too. I didn't eat as much. It was fish and rice and soup that wasn't as bad as usual haha. We had another good group devotional tonight - Aubrey shared from Jeremiah. We I think are all growing already as individuals, and growing together. It is really awesome to experience.
I love the Lord a lot, and I'm glad that He has blessed me with this amazing opportunity. Everyone is really working hard for our lesson on music tomorrow. So I'm going to go do that. Thanks for all the prayers, they are greatly appreciated!
"But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and ever.
I will praise You forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your faithful people,
I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good."
The Lord is incredibly gracious to me. I am so aware of that fact today. I am sitting here in awe of just who He is and how He uses people like me in His kingdom. The best way I can describe what I'm feeling today is that the Lord has given me favor with people, and with students. I was extremely nervous to teach English today - from stressing out because I didn't think I would have a computer projector screen or Internet, to trying to plan a 2 hour about me/ice breaker time slot. But the Lord gave me a great day. My kids seem to have really taken a liking to me. And I've met me, and I'm not that funny, or personable. I'm not the most patient person, and definitely not the most creative. But I got the kids pumped up, and everywhere they went today, people commented on how excited my kids were. The Lord has blessed me - I feel like I can't give enough glory to his name for that!
If you want the whole day in perspective, breakfast included chicken nuggets, honey mustard, rice, and CEREAL! The whole team rejoiced when they had cereal for us! Korean food starts to taste all the same after a while. While I don't really mind it, it is starting to become a bit old to some other people on the team. Having a break from rice, seaweed, and kimchi was a gracious change. Thank you Lord!
I then went to my classroom to try and get my powerpoint up and running. I couldn't get it working, even with help from 2 students. They said there was no internet, or a projector for me to use, which took out about half of my activities planned for my two hour time slot that morning. Scared me to death. I stressed a little bit (ok, a lot bit) about that. But - excuse me jumping ahead - I didn't need to. The Lord worked everything out. It went extremely well. Which of you by worrying adds a day to your life? Yes, Jesus, thank you for reminding me.
We had an opening ceremony in front of the whole school where we had to introduce ourselves and the principal gave a speech. After that we went back to our meeting room and waited before we went and taught. The first 2 hours went really well. Thank the Lord the game "2 Truths and a Lie" took 20 minutes - I was starting to freak out a little. Playing Pictionary was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. They had a blast too.
Lunchtime was Bibimbap again and pork/chicken patties. I do not particularly care for their soup, but the rest was good. I am finding I eat the most for lunch, and then don't really have a big appetite for dinner. After lunch we had to teach idioms - "caught my eye", "Dream on!", "I'm broke", two others that I forget...lol.
Then we had Conversation Stations. I had to run a station that was a mock cell phone station. They had to ask about buying a new cell phone. I had a lot of fun with this - I ad libbed from the script when I knew they were capable of actually conversing without just reading the script. I also used a lot of voices and accents. I laughed a lot today haha. I had to run a shoe game afterward where they had to put their shoes in the middle of the room and send someone else to get them with only english descriptions of what they looked like. That was fun.
Dinner was good too. I didn't eat as much. It was fish and rice and soup that wasn't as bad as usual haha. We had another good group devotional tonight - Aubrey shared from Jeremiah. We I think are all growing already as individuals, and growing together. It is really awesome to experience.
I love the Lord a lot, and I'm glad that He has blessed me with this amazing opportunity. Everyone is really working hard for our lesson on music tomorrow. So I'm going to go do that. Thanks for all the prayers, they are greatly appreciated!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Day 4
We seem to have a pattern of the air conditioner deciding to hate us sometime in the middle of the night. But it definitely wasn't as hot this morning when I woke up. I had set my alarm for 7 am, but around 6:50 I heard all the kids start walking out of the building. It sounded like an army marching out of the barracks. I could have also sworn there was a drum beat behind their marching. Haha it was, however, in no way coordinated or organized.
At 7, I heard this static coming over the loudspeaker (which, the night before, had blared every 10 minutes telling the students how long they had before lights out). As it progressed, it eventually turned into some girl singing. Sounded like a radio station (Korean, obviously). It was. And after the song was finished, the radio announcer yapped in Korean for like 5 minutes straight, and she'd pause and laugh at her own jokes. It was amusing. Also on the radio this morning (which played for a straight hour before classes started) were popular songs: "Isn't She Lovely" - Stevie Wonder, "Complicated" - Avril Lavigne (which also played like 3 times before dinner), and "You are not alone" - Michael Jackson. Lol - such a great way to wake up and shower in the morning. Soundtrack of my life forevermore (or the rest of this trip).
Eric and I went to breakfast. There was rice (surprise surprise!), a hybrid between chicken nuggets and egg rolls, french toast & regular toast (without butter or syrup), and soup. And probably kimchee. If i haven't mentioned kimchee before, it's like the staple and favorite food of everyone in Korea - it's like spicy cabbage. I don't know if any of us are really fans of it. We must have gotten there in the nick of time, because about ten minutes later we got "locked in" from the one entrance, and everyone quickly exited the other. Breakfast was over. I forgot to push in my chair today at breakfast - cultural no-no. I'm going to be much more conscious of that now.
But that wasn't all the culture trouble I had this morning. I went to the girls door to their room on the first floor (we are staying on floor two). I stuck my head in and was talking with Amanda & Aubrey, and all of the sudden I heard Eric saying move move move! I turned, and one of the teachers was walking towards me with a stick. He motioned to where i was, acted like he was pushing me back and then swung his stick like he was going to hit me for being in the girl's room. YIKES! I was a little scared this morning haha.
We talked with teachers for about a hour before we went to climb a mountain, Sound of Music style, except with Asian children who couldn't really sing in perfect harmony. It was a lot of fun. We took a cable car about halfway up (the VonTrapps did not have such technology), but hiked the rest of the way. We sang "Boom Chicka Boom" at the top. Later, at lunch, we had Bee-Bem-Bop (thats how I'm going to phonetically spell it). It was phenomenal. I think I ate more (I totally finished my bowl) than the rest of the group. The principal of the school asked me to lead "boom chicka boom" while we were eating - I told him I didn't know if it was good if people had food in their mouths. lol. We had to sit on the floor indian style while we were eating at a very low table, and in a typical asian fashion, take off our shoes at the door.
After lunch (which the North Central students joined us for), we had a meeting with Scott and went over everything we were doing this week. That was pretty long. After that, we met and made powerpoints for our lessons the next day. Took a short break and rested in the room - chilled with David - went back to the room, and did some more powerpoint work. Took a break for a team devotional/worship, and then again went back to powerpoint development/lesson planning. It is now 10:30 and I am ready for bed. I hope I am prepared. But I am really praying that Jesus will just move through me tomorrow, and as we have fun and learn English, the Holy Spirit will really minister as only He can.
THINGS I HAVE FORGOTTEN SO FAR:
1) Yesterday we got to play Asian Rock Band with ancient Korean instruments.
At 7, I heard this static coming over the loudspeaker (which, the night before, had blared every 10 minutes telling the students how long they had before lights out). As it progressed, it eventually turned into some girl singing. Sounded like a radio station (Korean, obviously). It was. And after the song was finished, the radio announcer yapped in Korean for like 5 minutes straight, and she'd pause and laugh at her own jokes. It was amusing. Also on the radio this morning (which played for a straight hour before classes started) were popular songs: "Isn't She Lovely" - Stevie Wonder, "Complicated" - Avril Lavigne (which also played like 3 times before dinner), and "You are not alone" - Michael Jackson. Lol - such a great way to wake up and shower in the morning. Soundtrack of my life forevermore (or the rest of this trip).
Eric and I went to breakfast. There was rice (surprise surprise!), a hybrid between chicken nuggets and egg rolls, french toast & regular toast (without butter or syrup), and soup. And probably kimchee. If i haven't mentioned kimchee before, it's like the staple and favorite food of everyone in Korea - it's like spicy cabbage. I don't know if any of us are really fans of it. We must have gotten there in the nick of time, because about ten minutes later we got "locked in" from the one entrance, and everyone quickly exited the other. Breakfast was over. I forgot to push in my chair today at breakfast - cultural no-no. I'm going to be much more conscious of that now.
But that wasn't all the culture trouble I had this morning. I went to the girls door to their room on the first floor (we are staying on floor two). I stuck my head in and was talking with Amanda & Aubrey, and all of the sudden I heard Eric saying move move move! I turned, and one of the teachers was walking towards me with a stick. He motioned to where i was, acted like he was pushing me back and then swung his stick like he was going to hit me for being in the girl's room. YIKES! I was a little scared this morning haha.
We talked with teachers for about a hour before we went to climb a mountain, Sound of Music style, except with Asian children who couldn't really sing in perfect harmony. It was a lot of fun. We took a cable car about halfway up (the VonTrapps did not have such technology), but hiked the rest of the way. We sang "Boom Chicka Boom" at the top. Later, at lunch, we had Bee-Bem-Bop (thats how I'm going to phonetically spell it). It was phenomenal. I think I ate more (I totally finished my bowl) than the rest of the group. The principal of the school asked me to lead "boom chicka boom" while we were eating - I told him I didn't know if it was good if people had food in their mouths. lol. We had to sit on the floor indian style while we were eating at a very low table, and in a typical asian fashion, take off our shoes at the door.
After lunch (which the North Central students joined us for), we had a meeting with Scott and went over everything we were doing this week. That was pretty long. After that, we met and made powerpoints for our lessons the next day. Took a short break and rested in the room - chilled with David - went back to the room, and did some more powerpoint work. Took a break for a team devotional/worship, and then again went back to powerpoint development/lesson planning. It is now 10:30 and I am ready for bed. I hope I am prepared. But I am really praying that Jesus will just move through me tomorrow, and as we have fun and learn English, the Holy Spirit will really minister as only He can.
THINGS I HAVE FORGOTTEN SO FAR:
1) Yesterday we got to play Asian Rock Band with ancient Korean instruments.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Day 3
My emotion right now? I feel like I'm thrust into a ball full of crazy. It's awesome, nerve wrecking, and more awesome.
In the middle of the night last night, the A/C decided to turn off. I woke up sweating bullets. It was ridic.
This morning, I realized I didn't have a towel packed. We're going to work on getting one. Cotton T-Shirts make adequate substitutes.
Anyway, breakfast this morning was at a pastry shop. I had chocolate chip muffins and a pizza flavored pastry, with a strawberry smoothie. It was great. After breakfast, we had a meeting with Mr. Park and Scott, and went over the schedule for the next five weeks. We then took a tour of the university campus. We got to see some of the recent technology that has come out of the school - it was pretty interesting. There was a giant 'ipod touch-like' tool that was really cool. We also learned about digital imaging and scanning and saw the development of 3D and 4D movies.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant for lunch. I got a chicken soup-esque dish. No lie, it came as a whole chicken sitting in a steaming pot of broth and vegetables. Well, not the head, but seriously, like all of the chicken. And we had things that resemble nutcrackers to kind of pull the chicken apart limb by limb and eat the meat. It was an experience. I am also not talented in using chopsticks. Really. Not. Good. But alas, I have to use them for the next 100 meals or so, so I might as well get used to it. Our desert was this clear cold water with sweet rice in it. Again, very interesting. Tasted a little like chai tea and cinnamon.
We went back to the university dormitories where we were allowed to rest before catching the bus to our Science Academy School. Eric and I slept til 4:25 (when we had to leave at 4:30) and that caused some stress. But we all made the hour bus ride to this Science Academy, where they train students to make video games. It's pretty cool. We'll be teaching here from Wednesday-Saturday. We first got to meet the principal, and then had dinner, which again, I epically failed at using chopsticks, but this time, sitting across from the faculty and principal of this school. The dinner tonight consisted of soup with spam-like bits of meat floating in it with some onions, some squishy pasta that was spicy, white rice, and some egg-roll things with dipping sauce.
After dinner, we went to get the luggage from the bus in the pouring rain. I was completely uncoordinated with my umbrella and two suitcases and ending up getting soaked and walking backwards to the dormitories bc i didn't think of switching hands to roll my luggage the correct way. Aubrey really was laughing at me. We got in the dormitories, and Dan and I asked if we could walk somewhere to buy towels. Eventually, they came out and gave us some with the camp name written on them. We're so grateful. We hung out with some of the professors and then hung in our room for a little bit. Little bit of Ping Pong later with the whole group (minus North Central, who still haven't showed) and then over to the school to use some internet and make this post. But now all the kids are leaving and going to bed so I think I should probably get going too.
Keep the prayers coming - in 2 days I start actually teaching! Yikes!
In the middle of the night last night, the A/C decided to turn off. I woke up sweating bullets. It was ridic.
This morning, I realized I didn't have a towel packed. We're going to work on getting one. Cotton T-Shirts make adequate substitutes.
Anyway, breakfast this morning was at a pastry shop. I had chocolate chip muffins and a pizza flavored pastry, with a strawberry smoothie. It was great. After breakfast, we had a meeting with Mr. Park and Scott, and went over the schedule for the next five weeks. We then took a tour of the university campus. We got to see some of the recent technology that has come out of the school - it was pretty interesting. There was a giant 'ipod touch-like' tool that was really cool. We also learned about digital imaging and scanning and saw the development of 3D and 4D movies.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant for lunch. I got a chicken soup-esque dish. No lie, it came as a whole chicken sitting in a steaming pot of broth and vegetables. Well, not the head, but seriously, like all of the chicken. And we had things that resemble nutcrackers to kind of pull the chicken apart limb by limb and eat the meat. It was an experience. I am also not talented in using chopsticks. Really. Not. Good. But alas, I have to use them for the next 100 meals or so, so I might as well get used to it. Our desert was this clear cold water with sweet rice in it. Again, very interesting. Tasted a little like chai tea and cinnamon.
We went back to the university dormitories where we were allowed to rest before catching the bus to our Science Academy School. Eric and I slept til 4:25 (when we had to leave at 4:30) and that caused some stress. But we all made the hour bus ride to this Science Academy, where they train students to make video games. It's pretty cool. We'll be teaching here from Wednesday-Saturday. We first got to meet the principal, and then had dinner, which again, I epically failed at using chopsticks, but this time, sitting across from the faculty and principal of this school. The dinner tonight consisted of soup with spam-like bits of meat floating in it with some onions, some squishy pasta that was spicy, white rice, and some egg-roll things with dipping sauce.
After dinner, we went to get the luggage from the bus in the pouring rain. I was completely uncoordinated with my umbrella and two suitcases and ending up getting soaked and walking backwards to the dormitories bc i didn't think of switching hands to roll my luggage the correct way. Aubrey really was laughing at me. We got in the dormitories, and Dan and I asked if we could walk somewhere to buy towels. Eventually, they came out and gave us some with the camp name written on them. We're so grateful. We hung out with some of the professors and then hung in our room for a little bit. Little bit of Ping Pong later with the whole group (minus North Central, who still haven't showed) and then over to the school to use some internet and make this post. But now all the kids are leaving and going to bed so I think I should probably get going too.
Keep the prayers coming - in 2 days I start actually teaching! Yikes!
Day 2
Sometimes you have the privilege of sleeping in a room that blocks out all light from the outside. And it’s awesome. Today we slept til half past nine in a pitch dark room. And then Alex and Leah woke us up and made sure we got downstairs for breakfast. I hurriedly put on a shirt and we went downstairs. In the elevator, I realized my shirt was inside out. Good thing there wasn’t a lot of people at breakfast.
In Korea, they don’t have any particular foods that are “breakfast” foods. They pretty much have the same type of food for every meal. So this morning, I had mixed rice and chicken nuggets for breakfast. Then we realized they had toast, so we got some of that. Their jelly packets, (because I know you’re dying to know), you don’t actually peel off the top, but there’s a little crack in the middle, and so you squeeze them, and that’s how the jelly comes out. It took us a few minutes to figure that out.
I know, I know, you are really impressed with my descriptions of the breakfast table. After this, I grabbed a shower, where the light turned off on me mid-shower. We went walking outside for a while before we had to leave. We went to a “walmart” here, and realize that things are priced pretty near to what they are in the States. Don’t think I’m going to be making out of here with a lot of sales.
We headed back to the hotel, hung out with Alex for a while, and then headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the team from VFCC. While at the airport, I thought I had left my cell phone at the hotel, which really scared me. I felt awful – I was “that guy.” I called the hotel and they said a driver would be up to bring it to me, if they could find it. While I was on the phone, Alex came over and told me he had also left his computer charger – so I didn’t feel completely idiotic. Well, I went outside to wait for the driver. 25 minutes later, he showed up with a computer charger – no phone. He told me to recheck my bags. This stressed me out a lot, and I wasn’t very hungry for the Korean KFC I ate a few minutes later (plus, Korea and KFC don’t come together in harmony so well, if you know what I mean).
Met Dan, Amanda, Christy, and Aubrey as they got off the plane. They grabbed some food, and then we got on a bus to Jeon Ju University, which was about four hours long in all. We had a stop halfway for a potty break/food break, but it was kind of scary because we really didn’t know how long the break was supposed to be. Some people got ice cream , I got some chips. OH! So you know those water fountain things they have in churches? With the cone shaped cups? Yeah, they have those here, expect the cone cups are much thinner and cheaper. So I went to get a drink, and as the cup filled with water, it slipped right out of my hand and I dropped it. Who felt like a moron? Um yes, that would be me. ☺
We had some good conversation on the trip down (up? I actually don’t really know what direction we were traveling). I’m excited to work with this group of people. Once we got to the bus stop, there was a group of people from the camps we will be working with to pick us up and take us to dinner. We all piled into this van (I think all the students were in here) with the seats being both backwards and forwards, so we were facing each other. It was really cool, driving thru downtown in some Korean town. It didn’t feel like it was really different from an American city, except that we couldn’t read any of the signs. We would get excited for stores we did recognize – Dunkin Donuts, or Baskin Robbins. We had a lot of laughs, and realized at the end of the bus ride how to open the windows (so glad we are a learning bunch haha).
Dinner. Korean Dinner. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. There were many dishes to try tonight. And we had to use chopsticks to eat. And I am not really a chopsticks extraordinaire. Lucky for me, it doesn’t really look like anyone else is either. We started out with a soup. One of the Korean girls told us it was a little salty, but that we would like it. It was salty – it tasted a lot like seaweed/ocean water. It was a little fishy too. Very unique. We also had another soup-goop thing that was grey, and tasted like peanut butter and black beans. I didn’t finish either of these dishes.
There were two meats on the table – one of them was smoked duck, and we’re not really sure which one it was, but both of them were tasty. We had a variety of dipping sauces. One tasted similar to honey mustard, and another tasted like really good marinara sauce with a bit of a kick. I really liked that one. You could also use the meat to make a wrap. There were some greens that literally looked like someone picked the leaves off the tree that had almost a minty taste. I tried wrapping that with the unknown meat and some kimchee (which turned out to be ridiculously spicy cabbage), and tried eating it with chopsticks. It didn’t really happen so well, haha. But it was good.
We also got a salad-like dish with pasta underneath. The pasta was good – but gave me a real wake up call when it was ice cold and spicy. Our host kept coming by, wondering why we weren’t eating more. And I felt like I was eating a lot – but in sampling almost “buffet style” like we were, I felt like I didn’t eat as much as I normally did. But they thought we didn’t eat enough, because we got most of our leftovers wrapped up to go home with us. It was a lot of fun having my first meal with the rest of the gang, trying to work on our chopstick skills, our basic Korean phrases, and our Korean etiquette (for instance, you aren’t allowed to pour your own drink – things of that nature). We were really tired by the end of the night.
We got to the university and got into our dorms. We all kind of stayed in the hall talking and just sharing the excitement of being in Korea, and then kind of moseyed off to bed. I don’t even remember what happened, but I remember laying down on one of the bunks, and then next thing I knew Eric was brushing his teeth. He apparently had also gotten a shower and I had been conked out during the entire thing. I quickly got ready for bed, and we turned off the lights and went to sleep.
In Korea, they don’t have any particular foods that are “breakfast” foods. They pretty much have the same type of food for every meal. So this morning, I had mixed rice and chicken nuggets for breakfast. Then we realized they had toast, so we got some of that. Their jelly packets, (because I know you’re dying to know), you don’t actually peel off the top, but there’s a little crack in the middle, and so you squeeze them, and that’s how the jelly comes out. It took us a few minutes to figure that out.
I know, I know, you are really impressed with my descriptions of the breakfast table. After this, I grabbed a shower, where the light turned off on me mid-shower. We went walking outside for a while before we had to leave. We went to a “walmart” here, and realize that things are priced pretty near to what they are in the States. Don’t think I’m going to be making out of here with a lot of sales.
We headed back to the hotel, hung out with Alex for a while, and then headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the team from VFCC. While at the airport, I thought I had left my cell phone at the hotel, which really scared me. I felt awful – I was “that guy.” I called the hotel and they said a driver would be up to bring it to me, if they could find it. While I was on the phone, Alex came over and told me he had also left his computer charger – so I didn’t feel completely idiotic. Well, I went outside to wait for the driver. 25 minutes later, he showed up with a computer charger – no phone. He told me to recheck my bags. This stressed me out a lot, and I wasn’t very hungry for the Korean KFC I ate a few minutes later (plus, Korea and KFC don’t come together in harmony so well, if you know what I mean).
Met Dan, Amanda, Christy, and Aubrey as they got off the plane. They grabbed some food, and then we got on a bus to Jeon Ju University, which was about four hours long in all. We had a stop halfway for a potty break/food break, but it was kind of scary because we really didn’t know how long the break was supposed to be. Some people got ice cream , I got some chips. OH! So you know those water fountain things they have in churches? With the cone shaped cups? Yeah, they have those here, expect the cone cups are much thinner and cheaper. So I went to get a drink, and as the cup filled with water, it slipped right out of my hand and I dropped it. Who felt like a moron? Um yes, that would be me. ☺
We had some good conversation on the trip down (up? I actually don’t really know what direction we were traveling). I’m excited to work with this group of people. Once we got to the bus stop, there was a group of people from the camps we will be working with to pick us up and take us to dinner. We all piled into this van (I think all the students were in here) with the seats being both backwards and forwards, so we were facing each other. It was really cool, driving thru downtown in some Korean town. It didn’t feel like it was really different from an American city, except that we couldn’t read any of the signs. We would get excited for stores we did recognize – Dunkin Donuts, or Baskin Robbins. We had a lot of laughs, and realized at the end of the bus ride how to open the windows (so glad we are a learning bunch haha).
Dinner. Korean Dinner. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. There were many dishes to try tonight. And we had to use chopsticks to eat. And I am not really a chopsticks extraordinaire. Lucky for me, it doesn’t really look like anyone else is either. We started out with a soup. One of the Korean girls told us it was a little salty, but that we would like it. It was salty – it tasted a lot like seaweed/ocean water. It was a little fishy too. Very unique. We also had another soup-goop thing that was grey, and tasted like peanut butter and black beans. I didn’t finish either of these dishes.
There were two meats on the table – one of them was smoked duck, and we’re not really sure which one it was, but both of them were tasty. We had a variety of dipping sauces. One tasted similar to honey mustard, and another tasted like really good marinara sauce with a bit of a kick. I really liked that one. You could also use the meat to make a wrap. There were some greens that literally looked like someone picked the leaves off the tree that had almost a minty taste. I tried wrapping that with the unknown meat and some kimchee (which turned out to be ridiculously spicy cabbage), and tried eating it with chopsticks. It didn’t really happen so well, haha. But it was good.
We also got a salad-like dish with pasta underneath. The pasta was good – but gave me a real wake up call when it was ice cold and spicy. Our host kept coming by, wondering why we weren’t eating more. And I felt like I was eating a lot – but in sampling almost “buffet style” like we were, I felt like I didn’t eat as much as I normally did. But they thought we didn’t eat enough, because we got most of our leftovers wrapped up to go home with us. It was a lot of fun having my first meal with the rest of the gang, trying to work on our chopstick skills, our basic Korean phrases, and our Korean etiquette (for instance, you aren’t allowed to pour your own drink – things of that nature). We were really tired by the end of the night.
We got to the university and got into our dorms. We all kind of stayed in the hall talking and just sharing the excitement of being in Korea, and then kind of moseyed off to bed. I don’t even remember what happened, but I remember laying down on one of the bunks, and then next thing I knew Eric was brushing his teeth. He apparently had also gotten a shower and I had been conked out during the entire thing. I quickly got ready for bed, and we turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Day 1
Korea! Korea! I wish I knew your national anthem to sing...but I don't. lol
For those of you who haven't read my blog, prepare yourself. Don't take me too seriously. Or yourself.
Traveling to Asia is quite an experience. The flights are long. We had not one, but three connecting flights today. The first wasn't too bad - to St. Paul. Eric and I sat together, and Leah sat in front of us. Uneventful flight. We got really cool headrests. This was the most upscale plane we had all day, and it was tiny. Thank you Delta for treating us the kindest on the shortest flight of the day.
We grabbed lunch at the airport, I had a pretzel sandwich I snuck from home, and bought some cheese fries and a cup of cold water for 30 cents. Thank you, greedy St. Paul people. There was also a Minnesota store with a moose that we kept passing - Leah seemed to be drawn to it.
2nd flight - Delta you cheaped out. Epic fail. Usually on flights that last longer than 6 hours, the airline gives everyone an individual tv so they can watch what we want. Delta dealt us the vintage version of this - we had a "big screen" projected image with three bulbs (green, blue, and red) 7 rows in front of us. The first movie seemed to last for eternity, and Eric and I couldn't figure out what it was about. Halfway into the trip though, they showed 3 other movies back to back, which kept the time passing quickly. The one perk to this flight - there were two empty seats between Leah and I, so it allowed a little more leg room. Note: do not eat shrimp cocktail from ANY airline. Just saying...
Got to Tokyo, and transferred to our final flight. Eric got singled out and pulled over and inspected while trying to board the plane. THey searched his entire person and his baggage. I found this somewhat amusing. This is what some call racial profiling, I gather. Leah and I think he must just have the look of smuggling black market goods. This flight was a little more cramped - all of us had window seats, and sat directly behind the other in a line. There was no TV, and for some reason, I couldn't sleep this fight. The 20 minutes that I did were interrupted by the food cart people, delivering this cones of sushi and rice. I totally messed up the first, tore the roll, and then realized I didn't really want to eat raw fish. I went to break my chopsticks, and failed. One of them was huge, the other was a shard of wood. Lol I'm so glad that I have to use them the rest of the trip.
Got to our hotel for the night; we're waiting for the rest of the group to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Eric and I discovered many gems about our new room - they provide hair care products free of charge (we're just not allowed to take them), including mouse, gel, hair brushes, combs, etc, instant coffee, an UltraViolet Light Purifier (yeah, I don't really know what that is. Either it's a sanitizer or a microwave), a remote that controls EVERYTHING in the room (the A/C, the TV, the computer, and the lights), and free wireless internet connection. There is probably more but it's pitch dark as I type this and I don't feel like walking over to see what I missed.
We had a huge laugh not too long after we got here. Eric was taking a shower, and all of the sudden I heard him yelling something about the light. Confused, I walked over to where the bathroom was, and started laughing as the "automatic" lights had decided to turn off, while he was still showering. He thought I had pranked him, and I was so sleep deprived I laughed a good five minutes about that one. I got a shower then too, and we took a walk out on the street afterwards to see what there was around (a lot of minimarts).
Came back, laughed some more, started writing this entry. Now I'm going to have the best sleep I've had in 2 days.
Thanks for the prayers! I'll be updating again soon!
For those of you who haven't read my blog, prepare yourself. Don't take me too seriously. Or yourself.
Traveling to Asia is quite an experience. The flights are long. We had not one, but three connecting flights today. The first wasn't too bad - to St. Paul. Eric and I sat together, and Leah sat in front of us. Uneventful flight. We got really cool headrests. This was the most upscale plane we had all day, and it was tiny. Thank you Delta for treating us the kindest on the shortest flight of the day.
We grabbed lunch at the airport, I had a pretzel sandwich I snuck from home, and bought some cheese fries and a cup of cold water for 30 cents. Thank you, greedy St. Paul people. There was also a Minnesota store with a moose that we kept passing - Leah seemed to be drawn to it.
2nd flight - Delta you cheaped out. Epic fail. Usually on flights that last longer than 6 hours, the airline gives everyone an individual tv so they can watch what we want. Delta dealt us the vintage version of this - we had a "big screen" projected image with three bulbs (green, blue, and red) 7 rows in front of us. The first movie seemed to last for eternity, and Eric and I couldn't figure out what it was about. Halfway into the trip though, they showed 3 other movies back to back, which kept the time passing quickly. The one perk to this flight - there were two empty seats between Leah and I, so it allowed a little more leg room. Note: do not eat shrimp cocktail from ANY airline. Just saying...
Got to Tokyo, and transferred to our final flight. Eric got singled out and pulled over and inspected while trying to board the plane. THey searched his entire person and his baggage. I found this somewhat amusing. This is what some call racial profiling, I gather. Leah and I think he must just have the look of smuggling black market goods. This flight was a little more cramped - all of us had window seats, and sat directly behind the other in a line. There was no TV, and for some reason, I couldn't sleep this fight. The 20 minutes that I did were interrupted by the food cart people, delivering this cones of sushi and rice. I totally messed up the first, tore the roll, and then realized I didn't really want to eat raw fish. I went to break my chopsticks, and failed. One of them was huge, the other was a shard of wood. Lol I'm so glad that I have to use them the rest of the trip.
Got to our hotel for the night; we're waiting for the rest of the group to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Eric and I discovered many gems about our new room - they provide hair care products free of charge (we're just not allowed to take them), including mouse, gel, hair brushes, combs, etc, instant coffee, an UltraViolet Light Purifier (yeah, I don't really know what that is. Either it's a sanitizer or a microwave), a remote that controls EVERYTHING in the room (the A/C, the TV, the computer, and the lights), and free wireless internet connection. There is probably more but it's pitch dark as I type this and I don't feel like walking over to see what I missed.
We had a huge laugh not too long after we got here. Eric was taking a shower, and all of the sudden I heard him yelling something about the light. Confused, I walked over to where the bathroom was, and started laughing as the "automatic" lights had decided to turn off, while he was still showering. He thought I had pranked him, and I was so sleep deprived I laughed a good five minutes about that one. I got a shower then too, and we took a walk out on the street afterwards to see what there was around (a lot of minimarts).
Came back, laughed some more, started writing this entry. Now I'm going to have the best sleep I've had in 2 days.
Thanks for the prayers! I'll be updating again soon!
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