Independence Day + My First Week

          This blog will encompass Tuesday as it was a Korean holiday and my whole first week in Korea. Tuesday was Independence day where Koreans celebrate the day that they declared independence from Japan in 1919. My new friend Lillian decided to take me all around and show me things in Seoul. She helped me navigate the bus and subway systems and she decided to take me to a place called Itaewan. This is the place that many foreigners live and it is where the only Taco Bell in Seoul is. Lillian said that it is a very nice place to go especially when you are missing home because more people speak English there and the people are more diverse and look more like what we are used to in the States. Itaewan was wonderful, I really enjoyed it and I learned a little bit about how the bus and subway system work. We went and got a card that you can use on the buses, subways and taxis called a T-Money card. These are handy little cards and I am told they are the fastest and cheapest way to use public transportation here. The subway was crowded but not nearly as crowded as the ones in Barcelona or Madrid. I can say this too because we went on a holiday which is one of the busiest days.

            While in Itaewan we ate at Taco Bell, went around to all the shops and saw many of the street vendors. It was so nice to go there and I had an absolutely wonderful time. I also learned that there is a city wide choir for expats and I am contemplating trying out for it. Lillian plays for the orchestra that plays with them and that is why she knew about it. I am not sure when tryouts are or if I would even be able to make practices but it is something that I am sure I will want to look into.  

            My first day of class with the children was March 2 and it went wonderfully!! My day started out by getting to chat with my sister and mom for a few quick minutes and then it was off to school for me. At school we start out with a devotional and prayer time and then make sure that all the teachers have everything ready for the day. I think in my last blog I stated that I was teaching the green parrots but that is incorrect. I think I got all of the groups wrong when I mentioned them before but I suppose this is to be expected considering I had an immense amount of information overload my first day. I am teaching the yellow canaries which includes children ages 3-5.  I was telling my family that I LOVE working with children because they are the same in every culture; they act the same way, they say the same things and they respond to things in the same way. Even though I did not speak their first language, I was still able to form bonds with each of the children because I have worked with children before. I knew what to expect and that is a wonderful thing when I was in an entirely new environment.

My first day was mainly observation. I had a list of the kid’s names and I tried to come up with something that stood out to me about them so I could learn their names faster. By the end of the week I had all the children’s names down which was a huge load off my shoulders because many of their names were so unfamiliar to me. I am including a list of my children’s names because I would appreciate it if while you are praying for me you remember them in your prayers. They have to adjust to a new teacher and for two of them this is their first week of school as well. Their names are: Seoyoon, Kayden, Ashley, Hyojun, Jungdo, Juana, Jei, Heejun, Janice, Eunseo, Wanyoung and Junghye. Most of their names are pronounced like they are spelled but even if you can not pronounce them, God knows who you are talking about J.

            Here is a rundown of how each day works in our school. The day starts out with the children coming in either on buses or with their parents around 9:15. By 9:30 they should all be in their classroom doing their Montessori work and us helping them whenever they need it. Currently, Mr. Mark pulls each child aside for 3-5 minutes a day and works with them on sandpaper letters or reading. Sometimes this goes longer if the child is really interested in reading and sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get to 3 minutes out of them. This will be something that I will take over as soon as I feel comfortable which should be sometime this coming week. The children have many activities in a Montessori classroom and it is fun to see what they decide to do each day. Around 11:30 the children clean up their materials and then we have circle time. Circle time is where we talk about the days and months of the year, the weather and then we present them with a Bible story of the week. Each day of the week is the same Bible story but presented in a different way so the child will hopefully retain most of the information. They are short Bible stories but it is fun to hear them remember details of the story. This week was the story of the lame man at Bethesda. 

After circle time the children get to have lunch and we as teachers eat with them. Each day they have rice, kimchi, some sort of meat, vegetable, soup and something else like eggs or potatoes. So far the food has been pretty good but the spices are very different from anything I am used to. After lunch the children go to gym. We have a room where there are hockey goals, gymnastic bars, tons and tons of balls and a small basketball hoop. We also have a playground that the children can play on when it is warmer. They really enjoy gym time and most of the children work up quite a sweat. After gym the groups are split into age groups (A,B,C,D) and I am still trying to figure out exactly how the split works but some of the children go to music and others go to art. On the next day, the children flip flop and those that were in music go to art and vise versa. This happens on Tuesday and Thursday and I am still learning what happens the other days. On Friday we took the children on a walk outside which was quite an adventure. I still have a hard time walking around Seoul because of how busy it is and the fact that cars can drive down alleys that look like they would not even fit a motorbike. As you can imagine, taking 25-40 children who are all under 6 years old, out and around town was quite a stressful adventure. We made it safely though and I am not sure if we are planning on doing that every Friday or not. I suppose I will have to wait and find out.

My second day of class actually started with a visit to the hospital. Before everyone starts to worry, this was a routine thing that they do in Korea. Apparently it is a law that before you start any job, you are required to have a physical done. They have a special area in their hospital specifically set up to do this. I had to go because it is a law and I can not go to the embassy and get my identification card until I have a physical done. We are still waiting on the results but once we get those, I can go to the embassy and get a card that looks a lot like a driver’s license but it is something that I can carry around instead of my passport. It is also something I need to have to open a bank account here in Korea.

The experience of getting a physical done is something I can pretty much guarantee I will never forget. It is very intimidating to be in a place with all these doctors and not understand a word anyone is saying. Isajannim (the founder of our school) went with me to help translate but for the most part I had to be taken back behind doors where they ran tests. They tested my eyes, my ears, they took a blood and urine sample, they did a weird test that I have never had done before, they took x-rays, and I think there were a few other things that I do not remember right now but at the end I went into a room where I had to have a conversation with a doctor. This was difficult because the doctor spoke in very broken English. I was lucky that he spoke English at all but it was still an interesting experience. Another thing that they had there was a man who stood at the door and his entire job was to open the door for people to come in and out. He had a glove on and he spoke a sentence of Korean to everyone who either came in or out. I had never seen anything like that before and I asked Isajannim about it. His answer was that most places do not have that but apparently where we went was a very ritzy hospital and that is why the man was there. There were tons of people there getting the same thing done and I guess it is a common occurrence for people living in Korea but for me it was definitely a new experience.

We got back to the school just in time for lunch and so I helped get everything ready in the classroom and finished out our day. After school I decided to try a place near my house called Paris Baguette where I got a delicious sandwich and a very good tasting muffin for the next morning. It is so interesting to shop in stores where if I have any questions at all I can’t really ask anyone because they speak little to no English. I came back and worked on some things for school and tried to keep myself awake until an appropriate time to go to bed but I still experienced jet lag and woke up at 3am.

Friday was a wonderful day. The day before a weekend is always a happy time for everyone. Friday mornings are a little more laid back and at the school we have a little more play time with the children. They are extremely tired from the week and so are the teachers so we try to keep everything light and fun right before the weekend. Next Friday we are going to celebrate International Day which will be a lot of fun. For my first official project I am in charge of running the room where the children learn about the US. I am finding this to be a very difficult thing to be in charge of because most of the things from the US have come from other countries. I am supposed to come up with a song, dance, snack, game and craft that are strictly American. I finally came up with a few things but it took me most of my Saturday to do that. There were things that I would think of but most of them would not be appropriate or fun for children and so that made it hard as well. I really hope it all works out ok next Friday. I am sure it will but I know I am nervous because it is my first project at the school.

Friday I also got my television hooked up. This took quite a bit of time because everything was in Korean and I can’t read Korean so it presented a bit of a problem. I was able to get it figured out though and I learned that I have over 700 channels. This would be great if I could understand Korean :). I’m just kidding but I am entirely serious about the number of channels. I have learned that at any given time there are about 20 different stations that do show English movies or shows. Most of the shows are obscure American shows that no one in the US really watches but I have seen some shows advertised that are great. There have also been a couple pretty good movies showing. I also did learn that there is a couple Korean channels dedicated to teaching English, a Korean Disney, Nickelodeon, MTV, Discovery and FX channel. These are all hilarious to watch because if any of you have seen Korean tv or movies you know that Korean acting is all about over-dramatizing your facial expressions. I have been told that watching Korean television is a good way to help you learn the language. I know I have heard from others who have had English as their second language that they learned a lot of their English from English tv shows. I am not thinking I will have much time to watch tv but it will be nice to have when I want to have a quiet evening and be by myself and it could also be educational. If any of you are interested in seeing what Korean television is like, go to youtube and look up boys over flowers with English subs – it is quite hilarious and you will understand what I am talking about when I say over-dramatic.

Saturday for me was a time to finish settling in and work on getting all my stuff for our International Day figured out. Today (Sunday) was a wonderful and exciting day. I have official mastered… well at least I feel that way… the bus and subway system. I wanted to try an English speaking church that was on the other side of the city. I had to walk to the bus stop, get on the correct bus, get off at the correct bus stop, get on the subway, get off at the correct stop to transfer lines, transfer correctly to a different subway line, get off at the correct station, get out at the correct exit, find the next bus station, get on the correct bus and make it to church in time. I allowed one and a half hours and I walked in as they started singing the first worship song. I did not get lost and I am proud to say that I only had to call someone twice to make sure I was doing the correct thing. When everything I looked at was in Korean and I have never ridden a subway (even in America) by myself, I have to say that I feel very proud that I accomplished it all without getting lost. I can also guarantee that it was by the grace of God that I did and I could not have done it without knowing that I had Him helping me the whole time. It does make me feel a lot more confident and I even stopped into a place on the way to my apartment and ordered something off the menu. The only time I had been in a restaurant by myself was when I picked everything out and brought it to the counter – at this place (JK Coffee) I had to order and make sure the person at the cash register understood what I meant. It was a thrilling and wonderful experience. For some of you it may not sound like much of a day but for me it was one that made me realize that I can do this. I can live on my own in a huge city where I don’t speak the same language as 90% of the people. It was a very liberating experience and one that I know God has been orchestrating.

The church that I went to was called Onnuri and it was their English service. If any of you want to check it out, their website is onnurienglish.org. I absolutely love the church so far. What really drew me to this church was that they are starting to get into the “Not For Sale” ministry. They are actually going to be on CNN next week because of their ministry with slave trafficking. This is an area that I have had a huge burden for and have wanted to get involved in helping to prevent it but also help in the restoration part of it. Onnuri is involved on both ends. I think it is so neat that God called me to a place halfway across the globe and it is here that I found a church that connects to the same heart issues as me. They also have an outreach program that goes to orphanages around Seoul and that is another area that I have always felt called towards. At the end of the service they had a meet and greet time for new comers in their welcome area where we met in a small group and they told us some of the visions of the church and what they had to offer for small groups and outreach programs. I sometimes have a hard time taking the first step if I am in a new place but I knew I needed to go to the newcomers welcome center and I am so glad I did. I filled out a sheet that said I wanted more information on a lot of their programs and small groups and I also got the emails of the leaders so I am hoping to start to get involved. They even have a small group that meets on Saturdays that helps people learn Korean. I know the church is quite a ways away from where I live but I knew, the minute I heard they were starting a ministry for trafficking victims that I wanted to be a part of this church. It is so neat how God brings things together.

            Well, I realize this is another extremely long blog and I thought that my last one would be the only one this long but I guess when you are in a new place, there are so many things that I want to remember and share with everyone. If you read all the way through the blog – wow - :). If you didn’t, I totally understand but thanks for reading even a little. Thank you all for your prayers, especially this week as I tried to get settled and tried to adapt to a new culture. I know there are going to be a lot of bumps in the road to come but I am so grateful that I have so many people who are thinking of me and praying for me. I love you all and I can’t wait to hear from you. Love you