A Christmas miracle!

Hey y'all!

Emily and I together celebrated our second ever Thanksgiving this weekend. A big group of church friends were hosted by a couple who cooked up the most food I have ever seen in a house for one meal. I saw my first ever whole turkey - it was 11kg! I even got to carve it. Getting into the spirit of things, I partook in what I was assured was a time honoured Thanksgiving tradition - eating so much I didn't want to move.

Apparently Thanksgiving ushers in the holiday season, which means we had to put up our Christmas decorations. Here are some photos.

We already have some presents under the tree - cheers, Matt and Sarsch. The second photo is a nice bit of creativity from Em.

Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to say putting up our decorations is a Christmas miracle, but I do think my first blog post in about 9 months is pretty miraculous. More posts to follow! ... Huzzah!

You're in Korea!! (the story for Steve)

Now, I don't mean for this to sound rude, but out of our entire readership, I only had ONE person complain that I didn't tell the promised story. ONE! This leads me to believe that you're not really reading all that carefully. I'm hurt. (sniff).

I'll go ahead and tell the story anyway, because I'm forgiving like that. The first day Chris and I were in Korea, we were whisked away to a university campus for our orientation which lasted about 10 days. We arrived with a lot of other jet-lagged, out of it English speakers and were shuffled into dorm rooms for our stay. As we're moving our luggage into the room and just trying to stay awake long enough to brush our teeth (after 12 hours on a plan and 4 hours on a bus, your mouth gets pretty gross, just fyi) we can hear a girl yelling (and don't just mean talking loudly, I mean YELLING), "Take off your shoes, YOU'RE IN KOREA!!!!!!). Needless to say, we cracked up, and while part of it was definitely the fact that we were sleep deprived, it was also just funny.

So, now when we have to do things that seem a bit weird to us, Chris will usually say/yell/sing/whisper, "You're in Korea!" And just to help you really get a feel for what this sounds like, imagine that the "ee" sound in Korea is really stretched out. Like so: "koreeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ah." And there you have it.

What's going on? Where am I?

Do you ever have days where you think to yourself, "Where am I? What's going on? What in the world!" I'm not talking about the wild days of your youth--- or should I say the mornings after the wild days of your youth when you literally don't know where you. I'm talking about when you look at your life and you think, "I did not see this coming!" I feel like that sometimes here in Korea. Chris does too. In fact, he somewhat regularly yells "You're in Korea!!!!!" at me. There is a story behind that. I'll tell you at the end of this post. How's that for bait?

I get waves of "What is going on?" at school. For example, I'm in the middle of a crazy map game where I give directions and they find the correct building and they are all freaking out and yelling the answers at me. I raise my hand for silence(or yell, but it sounds bad to admit that) and call on a cute little girl who is raising her hand to give me the answer and get a point for her team. She says, "Teacher, your eyes beautiful color. I take them." Ummm... thanks, but no. You will not take them. And you just cost your team a point. I mean, I'll probably give you a point for the compliment, but that's besides the point. Things like this happen all the time. Everything is going as normal as a middle school classroom with a teacher who speaks a different language than her students could go -- when suddenly, I'm again reminded that its kind of crazy that I'm teaching middle school in Korea.


Another circumstance that I sometimes find myself in that causes me to question my situation in life happens more regularly than I would like. Old men approach me and proceed to get uncomfortably close, stare an uncomfortable amount, and ask uncomfortable questions (or make uncomfortable statements). It's generally uncomfortable. I usually end up thinking, "Why did Chris make me come here??" (In a really whiny voice) One particularly funny example is while Chris was talking on his cell phone a man came up to me,  touched both of my arms and said:
Old Korean Man: "Prince William wife? You?"
Me: "Kate?"
Old Korean Man: "Yes. You. Kate? Prince William wife?"
Me: "Umm..... No. I'm not Kate. Bye." (Trying to get out his touching range)
Old Korean Man: "You George Bush daughter?"
Me: "No. I'm not famous, I'm just white. Bye!"

Chris to his phone: "Sorry, I have to go save my wife from a Korean man."
Me to Chris: "Why did you make me come hereeeeee!" (Ooozing with whiny tones and bitter undertones)

There are two girls about my age who work at my school but aren't teachers. One of them is an office administrator and one of them does some IT work. They are about the sweeties girls in the entire country and make such a huge effort to be friends with me. In fact, they come to my classroom every Tuesday and Thursday to "study" English. Now, their English is pretty terrible, and my Korean is worse than their English. Communicating is pretty interesting and often makes me think, "Never in my life did I think that I would have friends that I can't actually talk to." On Tuesday we were practicing ordering drinks at Starbucks in English (don't ask) and then one of them grabs the white board and starts to draw a picture. (Sidenote: I always keep a white board, marker, and eraser handy when I hang out with these girls so that we can play pictionary to communicate.) She draws what I assume is a Sumo wrestler. So I say "Sumo wrestling?" No. that's not it. About 10 minutes later I'm finally able to communicate that when someone is fat we say they are "overweight," "large," or "plus sized." To be fair, sumo wrestlers are overweight. As I'm teaching them these words and looking at this depiction of a giant (apparently woman) I started cracking up. "How ridiculous is this!!" They started laughing too. Of course, they could have just been laughing at me, but I'd like to think we were mutually enjoying the ridiculousness of the situation.

Finally, TV. Watching television frequently makes me think, "Where am I? What is going on here?" I think we've mentioned before that we get about 70 channels and 4ish English channels. We have CNN (the international version), we have the Discovery Channel ( which unfortunately became Discovery Channel Korea recently and no longer is entirely in English.), and then a few other channels which usually play English shows or movies. The most common show? CSI. It's always on. When I'm not in the mood for a gruesome murder/betrayal/assault I will sometimes watch Kung Fu Panda which is so frequently that I have every thing about the movie memorized. When none of the English shows have caught my fancy, I sometimes flick through to a Korean show. Koreans have this style of show that is half game show/half talk show and there are constantly about 20 different ones to choose from. Just a few nights ago, I was watching one of these game/talk shows for about 10-15 minutes and literally the only thing that happened was that about 13 pretty girls watched 3 goofy guys stand on blocks of ice. That's it. I mean, there was giggling and chatting happening as well. But it all revolved around this block of ice.Weird?

Ok, that's all for now! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything! I'll remind/nag/coax/bribe Chris to post something soon as well! And about that story I said I was going to tell you about, well, maybe next time. OR, maybe I'll just get Chris to write about that!

Spring Sprang Sprung

I’m a horrible person. I’ve left you wondering whether or not I ever made it out of the freezing wasteland that is winter here in Daegu. I’m happy to inform you that Spring did in fact, get my letter and that he has arrived. And, boy am I happy about it! And, to add to the joy of the occasion, we also have lots of cherry blossoms around! Yay! I think there are few things that do a better job of shouting “SPRING IS HERE!” then cherry blossoms.

To enjoy the season, we spent time outside – going for walks, eating on our roof, and to see some cherry blossoms. We took a day trip with some friends to Gyeongju – a famous city with lots of historical sites. They also had a lovely park full of cherry blossoms where we enjoyed watching some little ninjas running around, a little Russian girl engage in an epic ‘sword fight’ with some boys (and beat them!), and lots of couples enjoying time together.

We also spent an hour on the most crowded, hot, rocking bus I’ve ever been on (possibly an exaggeration). But, I’m trying to forget about that so I won’t describe it further.

Chris and I have been feeling a bit more relaxed about teaching this semester, which I think has helped us to enjoy our students more. We both had our students pick English names at the beginning of the semester and it has been fun to learn their names and to surprise them by calling them by name when I see them in class, in the hallway, or even bump into them on the street. I have two girls who quiz me every time I see them. "Emily teacher, what's my name?" and it delights them to no end when I tell them, "Of course I remember you - Sally and Sophia!" They squeal and tell me how beautiful I am and that they love me. My self-esteem is really through the roof here. :) 

When our students selected English names, some of them either didn't quite get the concept of NAME, not just random English words, or they were just really trying to make a statement. I've got Medicine, Greeny, Vitamin, and then a group of girls that I refer to as the "garden" - Lily, Rose, Daisy, and Violet. My personal favorite is 2 boys who sit next to each other and decided on Dragon and Hunter. They absolutely love it when I call on them as  "Dragon-hunter." Mars, Moonvalon, Jelly, Oh No, Do Mo, McDonald, Bart Simpson, Ace, Wow, and Starcraft are just a few others I thought you might enjoy. I certainly do. 

Apartment Tour

This has been a long time coming, but the promised apartment tour is finally here! Enjoy! Just a private word with our family members: this tour does not in any way count as a personal visit. You're not off the hook.

Now, I realize that some of the people who read our blog have actually been to our apartment, so this tour is redundant. My sincerest apologies. But, if I can just entreat you to watch you'll get to see Chris be really awkward! Woop!

Donald's Apartment Tour

Corresponding with Spring

Dear My Long Lost Friend, Spring,

How are you this year? It's been AGES since I've seen you. I kind of forget what you look like! I mean, do you come with sunshine and a little bit of rain? Is there lots of green and growing things? Will I be able to take off my long underwear and winter coat when you get here? Will I be able to open the windows in my apartment without catching my death of a cold? Will I be able to enjoy walking to school with you again? I need you to hurry up and get here so that I can have these questions answered. Please don't keep me wondering and wondering. I can't sleep because I keep thinking about how great it will be when you get here.

I'm really not trying to rush you or anything.

Actually, I am trying to rush you. I've been dealing with your cousin, Winter, for far too long, and frankly, he's not that nice. I don't really like him. He has a bad temper, is bitter, and is making me miserable. I don't want to live with him anymore. Please don't make me. He's not that bad when he lets me have some big, beautiful snowflakes, but he really isn't all that generous, so I didn't get to enjoy them very much while he's been here.

Also, he won't stay outside where he belongs. He keeps coming inside and making everything all cold and miserable like he owns the place. What is that? Can't he learn better manners? I'm not one to complain (clearly that's not true, but work with me), but Winter is overstaying his welcome. Let me just lay out my complaints against him for you, my dear Spring, to see:

1. He left my feet with signs of frostbite
2. He makes me wear at least 4 layers of clothing everyday.
3. I have to re-wear socks several days in a row (to much info??) because I HAVEto wear wool socks everyday.
4. He kept me sick for, oh... 4 months?
5. He made me want to move to Darwin where it's constantly hot. I mean, I've never heard anything about Darwin other than the fact that its hot and yet, I couldn't get it off my mind.
6. I had to hold a mug of hot water constantly in order to maintain feeling in my fingers while at school.
7. I didn't get to show off my cute sweaters to anyone because I was constantly wearing a huge coat.
8. I had to bake banana bread and brownies all the time to stay warm. (This doesn't seem like a complaint, does it? Please refer to #9)
9. I had to run on a treadmill in order to not get fat from eating banana bread and brownies.
10. I can't really think of another good complaint, but a list of 10 is so much better than a list of 9. Don't you think?

Surely you agree, this can't go on any longer. Won't you please come and save me? Challenge him to a duel. Kick is icy butt! I promise I'll be good. I won't complain about the rain you bring or about chilly mornings. I'll be happy and thankful, like a good girl! Really, I will! Cross my heart.

Just one more thing. Just a little question. A tiny one. No big deal. Aren't you late? I mean, I could have sworn you were supposed to be here already. I don't think I have a perfect memory, though some of my friends would say I do, (Name that movie!) but I seem to recall that the end of March is your time to visit. The calendar says so. Don't shoot the messenger, the calendar told me to tell you. So yea, where are you?

Hopefully you receive this correspondence promptly and can rectify the situation. I'd be most obliged to have you here and for you to send Winter packing.

Your ever faithful and somewhat impatient friend,

Emily

Relating to a basically ominpresent internet, and an actually omnipresent God

Emily writes well, doesn't she? It makes being her co-blogger an intimidating prospect and I've been having trouble thinking of things worth sharing via that prestigious medium, the internet. However, writing that sentence has just given me an idea for a blog post (see the blog post's title). Huzzah!

In the previous weeks I have spent desk warming, my apparent sweet release from boredom and inertia has been that triumph of the human spirit, the internet. Where capitalism reigns in equal measure with socialism, so much money and so much freely shared. I cannot fathom the technological advances that have brought us to this place. I have a free period at school. What should I do? What would I like to see? What would I like to know? The internet is basically limitless in promises. I can look up pretty much any subject of history of science or politics or geography or grammar (useful as an English teacher) I want, without moving 90% of my body. I can cross check one source with another. If these immediately accessible sources aren't satisfying my scholarly standards, I can type in my credit card and have instant access to peer reviewed online journals. Humanity's collective knowledge is available to me at the expense of abstract credit card money that I've never seen and doesn't really belong to me, and however many calories it takes to type and think. This surely is remarkable.

But my eyes are lower than the far reaches of humanity's collective knowledge. Or are they perhaps higher? What of art? Music? Beauty? I can go on www.youtube.com and listen to pretty much anything that anyone has ever called a song and anyone else has enjoyed enough to put on the internet. I can look at any painting famous enough to justify looking at, and I can often zoom in so close that I can see the individual hair strokes in the individual brush strokes, an option not possible at most galleries and museums, which wisely wish to prevent my moist breath breathed on that which should instead be breathtaking. But on the internet I will surely miss out on the beauty of collections won't I? I can't see an entire exhibit, I can't go from one painting to the next, so thoughtfully laid out by a passionate and instinctive curator who has made this type of thing their life's work. Or can I? Check this out, it is amazing. www.googleartproject.com. World famous galleries I can virtually walk around in.

But I confess, my eyes are still lower than the higher arts, but surely my time is no less wasted for that. While I don't spend my time listening to and viewing the much heralded genius of Mozart or Monet, I still pay attention to genius. I still see artists at work. I can watch any cricket game good enough to be broadcast in India, which currently includes the World Cup, the greatest of all cricketing events. I need only search "cricket live streaming" and I can watch the graceful art of Tendulkar or the beautiful grit of Kallis. Admittedly, the time zone difference hasn't been generous to me in this regard, but I can still read a ball by ball description of 6 hours worth of play the very next day.

But I confess, my eyes are still lower than that. I wish I could justify the five minutes I spend on Facebook as a reflection of my love for people, but when that five minutes is repeated 6 times over the period of a day and I have barely related to anyone aside from reading their status updates, it's difficult to fool myself.

The internet is revealing to me that my eyes are aimed too low to appreciate the enormity of humanity's knowledge, too low to appreciate the staggering genius of our art, too low even to properly and fully appreciate the people who hold so much of my heart.

This is not a criticism of the internet, just the too often low standards of my heart.

And if I don't take the time to relate to people, observe genius or find out some of the vastness of humanity's knowledge, what hope do I have of ever seeking the God Most High, whose wisdom, knowledge, genius and love we have collectively barely noted, and never measured. The God who is the good giver of our knowledge and genius and passion and relationships.

As I said, this is not a criticism of the internet. But it is a hopeful, tentative, nervous resolve about the internet. I will seek to use it as something that helps me raise my eyes higher than they have ever been raised. As something that will help me seek and know Him who made me and loves me. I say hopeful, tentative and nervous because I know, and you now know, that my heart is easily satisfied. Fortunately, God promises to do something about that.


"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 11:19.

(I wasn't exactly sure where that verse was, so I checked on www.biblegateway.com.)

The Do's and Don'ts of Desk-warming

This is it, folks. Today is my last day of desk-warming this winter. The new school year starts on Wednesday and I'll be in front of the class once again - doing what I get paid to do. I've learned a lot about the fine art of desk-warming this January and February and the time has come for me to divulge some of those secrets to you, our readership.

First, you ask, what IS desk-warming, Emily? Let me ever so briefly explain. During the school year -- we teach kids, during the breaks -- we sit at our desks. Why, you now ask? Good question. There is hardly anyone at school- no students, maybe a teacher or two coming in for a random meet or to clean their desks, and yet, here I am sitting at my desk from 8:20-4:20 (actually, its been more like 9-4:20, but that's beside the point). Our schools aren't being mean or spiteful, we signed a contract that said we would be at the school everyday except for national holidays and our personal vacation days. We suspect (though it hasn't been confirmed by a proper source) that these stipulations are made so that western teachers don't come gallivanting over to Korea and refuse to do things like teach English camp during the break, etc... 

So yes, desk-warming. Basically, there are a good number of days in the past month and a half that I've been sitting at my desk with absolutely no work to do. 8 hours at a desk. No work. Now, Chris has had a much easier time with this than I have. He enjoys taking things slowly and not having tasks piling up before him. I, however, have been stressed about having nothing to do. I get bored. I get frustrated. I feel worthless. You get the picture. It's driven me a little bit crazy. So I've had to implement a set of goals and principals for my day. They are as follows:

1. Don't check your e-mail, facebook, or do any internet research/surfing at home. Save every single bit of internet time for school. Not only do you have a computer sitting in front of you all day long, you also need to give your eyes (and wrists and fingers, etc...) a much needed computer break. I also do quite a bit of chatting online - I'll be honest, I mainly chat to Chris. We walk to work together in the morning and when we break apart to our different schools we always some variation of "Love you! Have a great day! Talk to you on g-mail!"

2. Bring food with you to school. You'd be surprised how long it can take to eat an apple when you are savoring every bite. I've learned to take my time with food and drink. I make a cup of instant coffee, and I don't do anything else while I drink. The coffee (or apple, or cookie, or pb&j) is not merely sustenance, but entertainment as well.

3. Shop. It's amazing all of the steals you can find online. I'm not advocating actually purchasing the items you are looking for, I'm simply saying that you can be a very well educated consumer. The next time I happen to need a set of floral measuring cups, I will not only know exactly where to find them, but I'll know the best price as well. (For those of you interested in floral measuring cups, check THESE cuties out  
Anthropologie Florist Measuring Cups

4. Find new, interesting (even mildly interesting) blogs and start at the beginning. You can read up to 3 years of a person's blog posts in pretty quick fashion. I feel like I've becoming good friends with Ree from www.thepioneerwoman.com, and Dara from www.cookincanuck.blogspot.com and Joy from www.joythebaker.com .... and so many more. Perhaps you noticed that all of these are food blogs -- this brings me to my next point.

5. Thoughtfully and with much research, plan dinner for the night. Now, DON'T plan in advance for the entire week. Only plan for tonight. I make a mental note of all the ingredients I have in my kitchen. I begin looking over blogs while I mull over whether I'd like chicken, steak, ground beef, or shrimp -- maybe even tuna. When I limit it to a specific meat (or perhaps another main ingredient that strikes my fancy) I begin the search in earnest. For this example, let's say I chose steak. Maybe 10 websites later I've looked at about 25 difference steak recipes. Some are Italian, some are Mexican, some are Thai.... What do I feel like tonight? I think I feel like Mexican. So I go BACK over all the Mexican recipes I've just looked at, double checking to make sure I have the ingredients or that I can actually acquire the ingredients in Korea for some less than exorbitant price. I think I've found it. Lime Steak Fajitas. Yum. Wish YOU could come over for dinner had have some with us, but maybe its better this way so that Chris can have thirds if he wants.

6. Try to think of creative blog posts.

Well, I hope that this gives you a taste of what I've been up to for the past few weeks. I can't speak for Chris and what exactly he's been up to while he desk-warms, but I have a strong suspicion that a lot of time has been spent pouring over cricket scores and articles and anything else you can read about regarding cricket. :) Ok, I should probably get back to all that instant coffee drinking and blog reading and I'll probably send Chris a message over g-mail just letting him know I finished this post!

Regular, everyday, normal life

People often ask us, "So, what are you guys doing over there?? Anything new? Anything exciting?" I always feel a little bad tell them, "Its all pretty normal, actually." Sure, we have funny things happen to us, but who doesn't? We regularly encounter horrible drivers, have funny exchanges with kids in our classes, and we buy the wrong ingredients in the stores. But even with those reminders that we live somewhere new, after 6 months here, life is starting to feel pretty normal.

Our first month was just a hazy. We like to refer to it has the "blur period." We were like babies. We had no idea how to get anywhere or use anything or find what we wanted. In that time, you assume that what you see is what you get. So, if I couldn't find any dish towels, I assumed that Koreans didn't use dish towels. If I didn''t see any chicken in the store, I assumed Koreans didn't eat chicken. Over time, though, we figured out how to get around our area and where to find certain kinds of food or other items we were wanting.

It's funny how a place that at one time was so foreign can become so regular and comfortable. We notice the smallest change in the junkyard across the street (such as 5 homeless grocery carts disappearing - a mystery?), we wave to the guy who directs traffic outside an apartment complex we pass every day (yes, Chris brags that the guy bows to him and not to me), and we know where to get cheap pizza just around the corner from our apartment. It is the little things like this that make our life here seem normal.

Our apartment is very modern and we've made it a bit more homey. A funny story though. Korea was taking a Census and they kept putting leaflets in our mailbox. They said, "Census" on them in English, but due to the fact that we didn't know what to do, we did nothing. Seems reasonable, right? One night our doorbell rang and Chris was the unlucky one to answer. Despite Chris's best attempts to communicate that he doesn't speak Korean, the woman insisted on talking to him and getting him to answer questions about the Census. When it became clear (why it took so long, I'm not sure) that Chris wouldn't be able to answer the questions in Korean, the woman promised to come back tomorrow at 8pm (how this was communicated, again, I'm not sure. The reason I'm hazy on all the details is that I wasn't actually present for any of these conversations. All of this is from Chris's mouth - I cannot verify its accuracy) She did return the next night with another census taker and Chris was able to answer the questions. A majority of the questions revolved around our apartment. Did you have indoor plumbing? Is your kitchen a modern kitchen? Do you have hot water? It's a bit amusing that these questions made it on the census when we (and everyone else we know) live in very modern housing, but I guess they wouldn't be asking the questions if it wasn't relevant to at least a segment of the population.

So to conclude, our life here is pretty normal. It's good, it has funny moments, frustrating moments, and we wonder if at some point we will no longer have indoor plumbing (I jest), but otherwise its pretty normal.

Swings and Roundabouts (Part 2)

picking it up again here. I preface all of this by acknowledging that what I am comfortable with isn't what is inherently right. Without further ado, here are 5 things that are harder in Korea. 

1. Grocery shopping. The bane of my Korean experience. I've never been a good shopper, but I really struggle here. Partly it's hard because my Korean is dreadful (my own fault). Partly, it's hard because Koreans eat different foods to what I am accustomed to (their fault?). 

Mostly, it's hard due to cultural differences. Koreans have a different concept of personal space to what I have grown up with. Australian cities and towns are sprawling affairs, fueled by the knowledge that there is a pretty decent middle to the continent that is basically uninhabited [citation needed]. Korea is exactly the opposite, with the 22nd greatest population density in the world, as opposed to Australia's ranking of 233rd [Yes, Wikipedia said so]. I like to imagine (while grossly oversimplifying culture) this is why Koreans are much more likely to position themselves in a place where they are touching strangers for as long as it takes to choose which vegetables one might want to buy - which can take a while in any country.

In addition to personal space differences, Koreans and westerners have a different idea on how to behave towards strangers. In the west, we are (supposedly) polite towards strangers, while more likely to be distant towards the vague acquaintance we work with or live near, etc. Koreans, instead, have a concept of in-group versus others (according to the books we have read).  They are conscientious towards people in their in-group, maybe work colleagues, family, club members, but less bothered by strangers. I almost daily get to enjoy being in an in-group as a co-worker, but struggle with being a stranger in a crowd. It is not uncommon to see someone block a grocery store aisle with their trolley (editor's note: cart for y'all Americans) as they casually browse the shelves, or push in front of others to taste a free sample.

Anyway, shopping = harder.

2. Pedestrian safety. Koreans drive their cars like they drive their shopping trolleys. They park them like they park their shopping trolleys. This could be well out from the curb, congesting traffic, or more commonly, by mounting the curb and parking their car on the sidewalk - which, let me tell you, is a bit of a surprise until you get used to it. It makes sense, and is an efficient use of space when there is almost no on-street parking, but I am still getting my head around dodging moving cars (and motorbikes!) while window shopping.

Something Emily and I initially found interesting was that people rarely J-walk in Korea, particularly at traffic lights. Road rules aren't especially policed, so why this aversion to a law that everyone breaks in Australia? Well, we now think it is because of the aforementioned lack of road rule policing. Drivers in Daegu run red lights at will, especially fast food delivery motorbikes, who blow their horns, close their eyes and keeping going almost regardless of the flow of traffic. In such a situation, J-walking becomes a much more dangerous proposition.

3. Home maintenance. We rent a place in a 5 floor building where the landlords occupy the top floor. This is very convenient in some ways, we can ring their doorbell whenever we have a problem, and they are the most obliging lovely couple. But then what? How do you mime that plunging the toilet didn't solve the problem? Do you take the plunger with you? How do you explain that there is an odd water build up along the external walls that is resulting in mould? And most pertinently during the winter, how do you explain that sometimes the hot water doesn't work or disappears mid-shower only to return 10 minutes later after you're freezing, dry and dressed?

4. Cold school. This problem is almost universally complained about by foreign teachers working in Korea. Apparently, the school administration likes to save money on heating bills, and Koreans believe that cold, fresh air is good for our health (maybe it is, I don't know). I say 'apparently', because I haven't experienced this problem, my school is toasty warm except when students leave the staff room door open. Em's school, however, is cheap about heating. She recently got such cold toes that they exhibited signs of frost bite and we had to cancel a ski trip. Fortunately the toes seem to be healing now.

5. We aren't near all of you, our faithful readers (Ohhhhhh!). Nah, I lie, the cold showers are so annoying that they deserve a second mention.

I keep having to remind myself that I've never lived in a place before where I was so free to choose whether to leave or stay, meaning that Korea comes under closer scrutiny than I would normally subject my home to.  Em and I are loving living together, we love being in Korea, we love the area in which we live. 

This time, I'm really finished.

Swings and roundabouts (Part 1)

(Editor's note: I finished this blog post last night but couldn't post it, then Em snuck in and wrote an informative and engaging post that you can find below. How do I compete when she uses photos?)

There is an expression, "what you make on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts". I have no idea where the expression comes from, but to my understanding, it means to break even. We've lost things, but we've also gained things. I have recently been thinking about our move to Korea in this fashion. I should say from the start that we are really glad we are here, and we would do it again in a flash... rendering the theme of this post pointless and untrue... hmmm. Well, minutes have passed and I can't think of a more cohesive theme for what I want to write about, so let's just roll with it.

Anyway, some things here are harder, but many other things are easier. Let me tell you about 5 of each.

Easier

1. The availability of fresh kimchi. Can I describe something that is very fermented as 'fresh'? Anyway, it's much easier to find here in Korea.

2. Going to the doctor. This should be a difficult process. It should be painful, slow, expensive, and confusing. At least, that has at times been my experience in Australia, and Em's in America. But in Korea, wow! I've been to the doctor twice, Em, three times. We have each received prescriptions to be filled out at the pharmacist conveniently located next to any doctor's office. It hast cost under $5 each time we have gone, including medicine. It turns out you don't really need to speak to visit a doctor, just mime. I have taught more than one English lesson on going to the doctor, and can't help having a small existential crisis about what I offer the world.

3. Going to the gym. We joined a gym two days ago and it was easy, hence, its location in this 'Easier' list. It is a 10 minute walk, on the way to school, and it costs about $90 for 4 months membership. The guy who runs the gym seems really nice, even after he patted my protruding belly. It will be gone (again) soon.

4. Spending time together. We work the same hours at schools on the same block. We live a decent distance from our nearest friends. We live a massive distance from our nearest family. The TV is nearly all in Korean. This leaves us basically distraction free. We are so glad we don't need to set time aside for each other, it's happening so easily. This is definitely my favourite thing about being in Korea (Ohhhhh!).

5. Bestowing blessings. In Australia, I was pretty much anonymous to pretty much everyone. Sure I had my friends, family, acquaintances, neighbours I never spoke to, but to most people, I was a stranger that didn't warrant a second glance. In Korea, if Em and I so much as make eye contact with Korean teenager, it makes them excited. If Em and I so much as pretend we don't notice the elderly people staring at us, it  allows them to indulge their curiosity. But the real blessing, is when we say hello to an elementary student. Faces torn in half by huge smiles, they delight in their ability to cross - nay, destroy - cultural barriers. Their parents glow with pride, and I too am able to cross the cultural barrier as I read their thoughts - "my child is a genius and will be the president of Korea." Emily and I bring joy and hope wherever our feet take us. We make a more beautiful world. Previous existential crisis averted.

Now I would post the 5 things that are harder here, but my mother pointed out that Emily has been posting more than me. With that in mind, I'm going to terminate this blog post, with the intention of 

Our American Holiday in Seoul

As I mentioned in my previous post, Chris and I went to Seoul for a few days to submit his visa application (in preparation to hopefully go to seminary when we finish teaching here) as well as to get away and see some sights. Thankfully, everything went incredibly smoothly. We stayed in a hotel just a 10 minute walk from the Embassy, we were the first appointment of the morning, so we didn't have to wait at all. Everyone who helped us was very friendly, and we were assured that we had filled out all of our forms correctly and would hear back from the Department of Homeland Security within a few weeks. Step number one - CHECK. In fact, we even had some extra information that they didn't need. That's how prepared we were.

I'll post a picture of the Embassy below. It really wasn't impressive. The location was fabulous - across the street from a huge palatial complex as well as the cultural center (which is the lovely home of the Seoul symphony). Despite its nice surroundings, the embassy itself looks like a 1970's office building. What WAS impressing, though, was the number of Korean police officers swarming the place. They were guarding all the entrances and there were mobile police stations and we even saw the body shields that you see police carrying if you watch a riot on the news. Intense.

With all this in mind, when I lost my security badge while in the Embassy I started to freak out a little bit. I'm just one little person - no match for the entire Korean police force even with a husband who stands a half a foot (on average) above every other person in the country.  So yes, I lost my badge. Freaking out. I tried to tell a security officer who didn't understand me but then I kept seeing him everywhere watching me! On our way out of the building before we exited through security (and ideally turned in our badges) I asked the last American I saw what I should do. "Well, you're just going to have to risk it with them [meaning the security officers outside the door], we don't handle that." Umm... thanks.

You know what happened next? NOTHING. Chris turned in his badge. I didn't make eye contact with the security officer. We walked out the door. Perhaps I shouldn't be bragging about this in such a public forum, but really. I must look super innocent (or incapable) or doing anything  tricky, because she didn't even bat an eye when I left without giving back my security badge.

After our embassy adventure, we were free to explore at our leisure. We saw some really pretty sites - a famous palace, a trendy, artsy shopping street, some huge statues, and witnessed a Seoul snow-storm. Side note: apparently they don't plow roads in Seoul. No lie.

But, even though we did make the effort to see some nice, Korean spots in Seoul, we did a lot more "American" things. We went to a theater and saw an American movie (while eating popcorn and drinking Coke). We ate Dunkin Donuts one morning for breakfast, and then McDonalds another morning. We had Indian food one night, and then Subway another night. Oh yes, and I went to Starbucks an embarrassing number of times.  Don't judge us. That's right - you. I know what you're thinking, "Man, they were in Seoul! Why didn't they eat KOREAN food!!"

Upon reflection, we did feel bad about it -- but only for about a minute. We live here. We eat Korean food all the time and our TV has 70 Korean channels. And, for the record, I have missed Subway. It was actually kind of a nice mix of Korean and western on our holiday. I'm looking forward to going back to Seoul in warmer weather. And, I hear they have a few Taco Bell's, so that's definitely incentive. :) Just kidding.

Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that ....

As most of you know, our schools have been on winter break since just after Christmas. When I think about "school vacation" I think of sleeping in, watching movies, playing all day long, and generally relaxing until the point of boredom. This is not what Korean students experience. This is also not what teachers in Korea experience. We have been coming into school everyday even though school technically isn't in session, and we've been teaching extra classes. Our classes are a little more entertaining than the typical class during the semester, but they don't even compare to an afternoon building snowmen.

We've both had English conversation classes for the last 3 weeks and this week we had an "English Camp." Yes, its exactly what it sounds like. It's extra English classes that are jazzed up a bit so that the school can call it "camp." I asked a few of the students how many extra classes they are taking over the break and could only roll my eyes when several of them told me that they have about 4 classes a day - either at school or at a private academy. Give me a break!

In our English camps (we taught together at my school and at Chris's) we were asked to do our classes on practical, situational English. For example: going to the doctor, going to the movie theater, going on a trip, etc... At Chris's school the principal got it in his head that we HAD to take the students on a field trip of sorts for them to use their English. To the bank, perhaps, or the post office? Great idea, right? Wrong. No one at the bank speaks English. Who will the students talk to? The thought did run through my mind that I could make the students come along with me to run all of my errands and just have them translate for me. But, that would really be taking advantage, so this was our brilliant idea. Take the students to Home Plus (a super Walmart style store with groceries on the first floor and clothing/toys/electronics on the second floor).

So, we bussed 60 middle school students to Home Plus for 2+ hours of English activities. We had those students working hard. They were describing different products in English, completing grocery lists, translating shopping conversations, and MORE. Most of the students had a great time and really got into the projects. Chris, however, lost a student. I mean, don't think too badly of Chris -- the student wanted to be lost, and by "lost" I mean that he ran away and hid. As you can imagine, Chris was not pleased. He looked all over the store for the missing child and couldn't find him. That's when special agent Emily stepped in and snagged the deserter and brought him back to base for a sound scolding. I literally escorted him back, as in I was holding on to his coat sleeve the entire walk through the store. Disaster averted.

Other than the fact that we aren't letting kids get away with ANYTHING over here, I have some other good news. We have 2 weeks of vacation starting in .... 1 hour! I thought the best way to spend my last hour of work would be to blog, clearly. We are heading to Seoul on Sunday for a few days (and an embassy appointment) then catching some friends to go skiing. Seoul is going to be teeth-chattering cold, so I'm not really all that excited about it - to be quite frank with you, but I guess I'll suck it up and try to enjoy going on a trip. Sigh. I'm actually really excited about being in a US Embassy. Is that sad? Its fun (obviously, in a nerdy way) to think about being on US soil for an hour or so.

Which gives me an idea - on Monday, Jan 24 at 10 am (that's Sunday night at 8pm for all you Americans in the Eastern time zone) you should stop whatever you are doing and enjoy the fact that Chris and I are visiting the States! woooo!

And, on that happy note, I'll sign off. Missing everybody back at home (and by home we clearly mean Toledo, Melbourne, AND Canberra... duh.)

The Past - any time before now

Earlier this semester, I studied simple past tense with my students.

"Today I eat breakfast. Yesterday I eat breakfast?"
"ATE"
Emily: "Yep, that's right. Yesterday I ate breakfast. Ate is the past tense of eat. What does the word past mean?"
Student A confidently: "Yesterday!"
Student B tentatively: "A...ago"
Student C loudly: "THROW"
Emily: "Throw? Are you thinking about passing a ball?"  
Writes pass and past on the board. 
Emily: "Back to the question. What does the word past mean?"
Student A (again confidently): "Yesterday.... Before"
Emily: "Good! Past means any time before .......?"
Students: "Now!"
Emily: Right!

Now that we've got the word past sorted, I'll actually get to the point. 2010 was a GOOD year. Chris and I each wrote a list of the blessings we experienced in 2010. It was about the easiest list I've ever made, which didn't surprise me at all. I knew that the past year had been amazing. There are the obvious joys - getting engaged, marrying the man I absolutely adore, seeing SO many friends and family that I love, having two wedding celebrations on two continents, and moving to a new country with my husband. Good stuff. Amazing stuff. Moments I will cherish for the rest of my life.

There were also a myriad of smaller blessings, though only smaller in comparison to the massive, life-changing blessings I already mentioned. I got to live with my family again for 6 months in a brief but wonderful stint between two seasons of life overseas. Chris had two great bucks parties. I hiked the Grand Canyon, top to bottom, with my dad (in 8 hours with icy trails - that's right, we are hardcore). I had beautiful flowers at both of our wedding celebrations. Chris saw moose in Colorado. We got to go on a vacation with BOTH sides of our family. All our paperwork for Korea made it on time and my passport didn't get lost in international mail. We can get familiar food here in Korea. On and on and on.

And this - all this - pales in comparison with the gift of our relationship with Jesus.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:3-5


We also learned a lot of lessons. Spending almost our entire engagement on different continents taught us about perseverance and patience. Trying to get teaching jobs in Korea taught us about trusting God and not freaking out about everything that could possibly happen. Learning a new world in Korea has been teaching us about having grace with others and with ourselves and, frankly, how to look the other way as cars careen through red lights.

I could just keep going about all the great things and the difficult things that made 2010 a FULL and wonderful year. But, like I said to my students. The past is anytime before NOW. And, thankfully, the now we are living in God's hands as well. (Which definitely means it will probably be an adventure!)

The title of this post was going to be "Now is the winter of discontent" but I decided it was too pretentious

I. Am. Bored.

I'm at school, which is usually a place that keeps me pretty busy, but for the 5th day in the past two weeks, students have exams, which means there is no one I can punish for not giving me their undivided attention.  What, then, is a narcissist to do? I know! Write about myself in a blog, and hope other people in other countries will give me their undivided attention.

I jest, I jest. I don't really think I'm a narcissist, but I do see this current state of boredom as an ideal time to catch up the interested on recent action.

Emily and I must teach 'English Camps' and 'Vacation Classes' during the Winter break. This is code for additional classes to allow already studied out students to study more. Our English Camp classes were due yesterday and today, so we have been working hard getting several more lessons ready than is usually required of us. Em completed her work with a flair of efficiency, diligence, and creativity, while I plodded, pilfered and procrastinated my way to the finish.  Although, to be honest, the procrastinating wasn't done nearly as well as my previous high standards demanded. I think I'm out of practice.  I mean, sure, I could kill the odd 10 minutes here and there, but over the long distance, when I have a whole day at my desk bereft of those inconvenient lessons, I can barely think of what to do to fill my time besides work.

We had snow again the other day. I was teaching my single most troublesome class of boys, and I saw the tell-tale flurries out the window.  Let me confide in you, a battle waged itself within me at that moment. On the one hand, here were 40 boys that could riot at the slightest encouragement, snowballing into an eighth grade boys' rebellion, and no doubt, a middle school revolution before the period finished. On the other hand, SNOW! I so badly wanted to tell everyone that it was snowing, that I had seen it first, that this doesn't normally happen and that it is very exciting and look at the size of those snowflakes. But prudence one out. Adulthood one out. And let me tell you, the child within me wept.

Unfortunately, and perhaps, I confess it now, inevitably, five minutes later a student shot up his hand - "Teacher! Snowing!" Those fateful words echo anew in my mind, as if in slow motion.  Students were drawn to the window before the rebellion's instigator had drawn a new breath, no doubt with the intention of uttering more treachery. However, with a whip crack command and a single unyielding finger drawn to my lips, I quelled their coup before they even knew what could have been - "Shh! Don't tell anyone. Close the windows."

In other less dramatic news, we are going to Busan on Friday night to have Christmas with some old friends of Emily's, and newer friends of mine, Scott and Ashleigh.  We are quite pumped. Christmas present purchasing has been a trial, as it costs around $45 to send a box to the US. We are still trying to work out teleportation, but no luck on that front yet. Maybe I should get to working on that instead, or another creative idea to get family members Christmas presents...

Until next time, faithful readers and obligated friends.

Oh, and this was Chris, by the way.

There isn't really a cohesive theme for this post, hence the title.

As Chris mentioned in his last post. We DID have a bit of snow last week. It was beautiful. It made the freezing cold walk to school bearable. Unfortunately, today its raining. It was not beautiful, and the freezing (and now wet) walk to school was almost unbearable. But, we did in fact make it to school. A triumph of the human spirit.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm taking a 20 minute walk every morning in below freezing temperatures and part of that walk is next to a field (or a rice-paddy for some of us) where the wind has no barrier other than yours truly (and my very strong and broad-shouldered husband), I bundle up! Hat, big scarf, and mittens. This seems smart, doesn't it? Well, my students think it is a bit silly. They always laugh and say, "Ohh... cold?" or they indicate with sign language how bundled up I am. I usually look at them and ask (in an incredulous tone of voice) "Where is YOUR coat?" Some of the students have on a coat, a few wear mittens and no coat, no one wears a hat. Its not that they aren't cold. They admit that its not just cold, its freezing, and yet they don't do anything about it. Well, the good news is that I am no longer in middle school, so I need to be warm WAY more than I need to be cool. :)

As I read through the above paragraph, I recognize that I DO in fact, sound like an old woman. This is because I am turning into an old woman. Chris wanted to take me out for dinner and bowling on Saturday night. (Isn't he lovely!) Well, it was already dark out, and it was very cold, and wouldn't it be sooo nice to just be warm and cozy inside? We could just rent a movie right? So, that's what we did. We got take-away and watched a movie. Actually, we watched a documentary. I'm contemplating deleting this paragraph, because I definitely sound like I've come to Korea and aged about 45 years. Oh well, I need to be warm WAY more than I need to be cool.

We had a good time at our church yesterday. Singing Christmas carols and we are almost finished with a new-comers class. The past few weeks have been doctrinally focused. We've studied salvation, sanctification and the church. This Sunday was on the different ministries at the Korean church (a 4,000 member church) and our English service (about 100 member service). We are really excited about opportunities to serve and grow in ministry here. We're going to start leading a small group in January and we are talking about some other areas to get involved as well. The church is so interesting because it has such high turn-over. Most people are here for 1 year contracts, and they stay a max of 2 years. So, it takes people about 6 months to get into the groove of a new church and then they think, "I only have 6 months left, I can't really commit to anything..." We really don't want that to be our attitude. God brought us to Korea for a purpose and we want to seize it!

We'll let you know what we end up doing! Feel free to comment on how interesting this post was. It seems that Chris is getting more comments than I am. (And yes, EVERYTHING is a competition!! :)  )

SNOW! and other adventures

Want to know why white people are invariably of greater girth than Koreans?  Koreans give white people food.  Every time we go to the fresh produce market in front of our apartment (it wraps around the junkyard) and buy fruit - or donuts - they throw in a few extra. I want to believe it's because we complete the transaction in Korean, but to be honest, our Korean doesn't warrant an a free mandarin, let alone 3 mandarins and an apple.  I stammer my way through, sometimes panicking and saying something stupid.  Yesterday in the supermarket I waved goodbye to the assistant and said in more fluent than average Korean, "How much is this?"  One time in a taxi I spoke to the taxi driver in Hebrew.  He looked bemused, but I made up for it by overpaying him - again accidentally.

Anyway, SNOW!  We began our jog today, and it just seemed a little too cold.  Em wanted us to turn back because I wasn't wearing enough clothing, but I assured her that I was far too tough for the weather to get the better of me. I lasted maybe another 20 seconds before drops of rain showed me my hubris and we headed home.  After getting changed we went grocery shopping, and when we came out, it was SNOWING!  The closest thing to SNOW I have seen in December was hail on Christmas Eve during an Australian summer storm.  Needless to say I was pretty excited and decided if anything was blog worthy, SNOW was.

How are our seven readers going?  We would love to hear from you.

You need to wipe your face? What, because you did one squat, you fattie?!

There I was.  All set for an Asian cultural experience.  Sumo wrestling with a gen-u-ine Japanese commentary.  The preparations seemed a little elaborate - the salt, the pacing (waddling), the almost tender pre-match chest bump - but I was trying to be gracious.  Em, on the other hand, was a little more blunt in her opinions, hence, this blog's title.  I like the idea of sumo-wrestling - the kid who got picked on in school is now the one everyone else is cheering on.  But having now actually watched it, I'm not such a fan.  One thing that does impress me about sumo wrestlers however, is their ability to put on - and maintain - serious weight in a culture where rice makes up so much of any meal.  I'm not in Japan, but the Korean diet isn't all that different, and I am dropping the kilos.  Still plenty of 'puppy fat' and limited muscle bulk, but I am definitely a lesser man than I was pre-Korea.

Married to a qualified personal trainer is helping, I'm sure.  It's taking all my wiles to ensure we only go running 3 days a week.  In Year 12 my school required that all students run 6km, which I promptly walked  and came 109th out of 120 boys.  Since then I've had the vague aspiration to one day run 6km without stopping.  I told Em this, and my vague aspiration became her focused goal (for me).  I managed it a few times a couple of weeks ago, but since then Em has had a throat infection, which obviously meant I couldn't exercise.  They amped up her antibiotics meds the other day and it is clearing up, but now I have a convenient throat infection of my own.  This one doesn't require medication, but it should keep me from having to run for another day or two yet.

This blogging business is hard!  My life isn't interesting enough to justify three full paragraphs on, and if I write about Em, she will have nothing to write about.  Thus I am signing off.  To our faithful 6 readers, peace out, hombres.

We just finished reading Romans and I went to the doctor.

Although these two tidbits of information may seem completely unrelated, they are in fact both events that have happened in my life in the last 24 hours. Other than that there is absolutely no connection between the two of them.
When we arrived in Korea, we also decided to start reading Romans together. We read through it once without any commentaries or study guides and would talk about it as we went. In some ways it was really great to just read the Bible without having a set agenda of what we were going to talk about, but at the same time, Romans is deep. We ended up deciding that we wanted to read it through again with a Bible study that had a discussion questions and a commentary.

I'm SO glad we did. Cass Monaco, an amazing author of Bible studies, told me that in order to really say that you have studied a book of the Bible you should read it through 50 times. (As in read it straight through.) We definitely came away with a better understanding of the book having studied it twice in a row. I could easily read it a third (fourth and fifth....) time and learn even more.  I think something that impacted me the most was going through my day and having specific verses from Romans pop into my head about situations that I was in. It can be so easy to have a general "Christian" perspective without really having the foundation be the Word of God. I know that I struggle with this at times. I have "the answer" but I'm not really confident I know WHY its the answer or WHERE I could find it. So, I'm thankful to have a little bit stronger foundation from having studied Romans.

For my second, and unrelated, point. I went to the doctor yesterday. I've been "sick" for about 3 weeks. Never sick enough to put in me in bed, but sick enough to be nagging and annoying. But, in the last week it started to get worse. I was coughing ALL over the place and just feeling like I would contaminate all 700+ of my students. SO - yesterday afternoon, with the help of my co-teacher, I ventured into the world of health care in South Korea. You know what? I'm impressed. The whole process took about 30 minutes. We walked from school to a doctors office. I gave them all my information and waited for about 5 minutes. Went into see the doctor. He spoke pretty decent English which was nice. After looking down and swabbing my throat he told me I had a throat infection - so not a cold like I had thought - and he had me breath over a humidifier of sorts for about 2 minutes. I was a little skeptical of it, but it actually really soothed my throat so I went with it.

Then, I got my perscription and went next door to have it filled. Literally took me 30 minutes. AND - cost me a grand total of about $8 USD. CRAZY. The doctors visit was $4 and the medicine for 3 days was $4. Again, the fact that it was so speedy and so cheap made me question the legitimacy of what I was getting myself into, but let me tell you. I'm feeling MUCH better. :) All in all, a very positive experience.

How is the Korean going?

Well, if you are anything like everyone else I know, you are probably wondering if we are learning any Korean. Other than "How are you?"  the most common question I here from friends in Australia and the USA is "Are you learning any Korean?". The answer is both simple and complicated. That is to say, both "yes" and "no." Let me explain.

Yes. We are taking a Korean class every Friday where we have learned the alphabet, learned to read, how to introduce ourselves, order food, make purchases, and count. That's progress, right? And, in as humble a way as possible, you should know that we are at the top of our class as well. Chris and I have both had recent triumphs in using our newly acquired Korean. Chris was able to order several dishes from a restaurant without using hand gestures to show how many of each. He was also able to order politely and in complete sentences! YAY! My experience was similar. I wanted to buy some apples and so I asked how much a bag of apples cost. The man told me that I could get 1 bag for 3,000 won but 2 bags for 5,000. I went with 2 bags. These may seem like small  victories, but I'm excited about them anyway!

No. We've been here for 3 months and our Korean is really quite minimal. Its difficult because nearly everyone we come into contact with (there are definite exceptions) speaks a bit of English, so the NEED for Korean doesn't feel as urgent. Also, English is a bit of a fad here, so most signs have at least some English on them as well as Korean. People also like to practice their English with a real, live, native English speaker On the bus, I've had people purposely sit next to me to talk English. We know people who have been here for over a year that know almost no Korean, and they've got along fine. We really don't want to be here for a year without learning the language, but its definitely possible.

Here are a few phrases you can try out.

Hello : an yeong ha se yo (this is phonetic, not in Korean script, obviously)
How much does it cost?:   ol ma ye yo
Does this bus go to Costco?: Ee bosu Costco kanayo?