OHS in Korea

One thing I admire about the Koreans is the fact that they have not succumbed to the urge to legislate away personal responsibility or personal stupidity. By that I mean they have not tied up peoples enjoyment of hazard with lots and lots of red tape. People are left to determine for themselves how to keep safe. Therefore children get to enjoy the feeling of riding their bikes with the wind blowing in their hair.

In fact I think I've seen helmets maybe three times since I've been here. Twice they were dangling from the handle bars as the bike sailed gaily past me. The third time it was actually sitting on the risk takers head - with the chin straps trailing behind them in the wind. Having painted a picture that would have many western parents worry in the extreme I should also point out that here in Korea everybody rides on the footpath. To ride in the traffic should be considered suicide!

There are times however where a few OHS standards might be useful - but then that comes under the category of personal stupidity.

Take for example this man I saw painting the arch above the local 'mall' the other day. He had no harness or anything else to keep him safe. If he slipped it was straight down.

Having said all of the above. I think one of the things stifling western society today is a lack of risk, consequence and personal responsibility. I applaud Korean's for maintaining these traits in their culture. I hope they don't drift into the same trap we have, but I fear they will as I see them drifting into other 'western' traps, like fast food and entertainment, etc.

Speaking Korean

I am coming to understand why my teenage students dislike Speaking Class. I walk into a shop and want to ask for something and the moment I am confronted by a shop keeper my limited vocabulary flees from my mind, even my English seems to disappear at the thought of having to communicate with someone who doesn't understand my language. So there I am left, lost for words to explain what I want and an expectant set of eyes waiting, wondering why I am wasting their time. I find myself resorting to single English  words, pantomime and pointing. I can buy a weeks worth of groceries from the street stalls without even having to speak these days. Not something that pleases me.


Today however I was pleased, I went to a shop and refused to let the 'mind blank' win, pushing through the fog. Between the assistants limited English and my very limited Korean we actually had a conversation that involved more than just making a purchase - I was able to explain the purpose of the purchase and she gave me a loyalty card and I left the shop exultant, because I had actually connected with a Korean in her natural environment. Sorry if that makes her sound like a wild animal, that's not what I mean, it's just that most of the time I connect with my students in class. And while I love them they are coming into my environment, rather than me entering theirs. So sometimes I feel like I am exhibit A in the zoo. This morning I felt more like an explorer on safari. I LIKED IT!!!

PS My students are also getting over their fear/dislike of Speaking Class, and are beginning to speak up and voice their opinions even though they know their grammar is wrong and that their pronunciation is not the best and they are also discovering the joy of being understood regardless of the difficulties.

Love and Marriage Korean Style

Last night I was chatting with my Korean flatmate (room mate for the American readers), she was telling me that that afternoon she and her boyfriend had been discussing their marriage. Apparently the man buys the house and the woman buys the furniture. So they had been discussing things like where to live and styles of furniture, etc. Also the fact that they will probably get married in October next year. I asked her, "How did he propose?" She looked at me strangely, "He didn't propose."

I looked at her strangely!! How can one discuss all these concrete things without having had a proposal? So this morning I asked a couple of my classes about Korean proposals. In the first class it was all older married men. Only one third of them had proposed to their wives the others just got married without ever having asked their wife to marry them. In the second class there was 1 man who is married - he said he did propose to his wife, the other student is an unmarried woman, she looked at me like I was out of my mind. Told me that she was practical and that a proposal was not necessary, she just wanted to get married.

Is it so strange that I think that a woman should be asked "Would you marry me?" Rather than the guy just assuming that she will??

I guess this is part of what is called culture shock.

On the other hand it turns out that some things are the same wherever you are. This evening I was going through a vocab list with one of my classes. The word under discussion was 'Trait,' so I asked the students to list traits that show that you are Korean. The list included things like; black hair, black eyes (they think my green eyes are fascinating), low nose, single eyelid, and short eyelashes. This last led to a  discussion of the fact that women can get eyelash extensions, (something I think is fascinating, and bizarre). Then one of the girls says, "but it's not fair, guys have longer eyelashes than girls," and added in anguish, "and they have better legs!" I remember having this exact same conversation about guys eyelashes and legs when I was her age. I've also heard my students in New Zealand say the same things many times.

A Year in Two Halves

This week brings two BIG events; 1. The 18th of October marked the completion of the first half of my year in Korea, and 2. as we speak the All Blacks are playing the final of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland New Zealand. Current score, 55 minutes and 44 seconds into the game is New Zealand 8, France 7.

I am keeping an eye on the score, following my friends comments on facebook and feeling just a little homesick right now. Considered going to a pub in Itaewon to watch the game live with other Kiwi's but didn't want to go an hour on the subway, just to mingle with a bunch of strangers for a couple of hours, and then take an hour to come home again. Maybe I should have gone ...

To divert myself I've been thinking about things Korean.

I'm still very exceedingly glad I came to Korea. I have gained so much by being here. I have also made some wonderful friends, both Korean and foreign. I've had all sorts of adventures, I've fulfilled some things on my bucket list, and yesterday one of the church members leant me his violin so I can play in the little church orchestra (it has three members - counting the piano.) I have two weeks to practice back up to being ok - currently my skills are downright dismal, can't even play a scale in tune.

Then I started thinking about some of the mistakes I've made or almost made since I've been in Korea.

Like walking into an all chicken restaurant and trying to get a vegetarian meal - in my first week at my school - the picture of the chicken on the door should have clued me in ... just as well I didn't decide to try my luck at the restaurant next door - it has a picture of a pig on the door ...

There are taxi's everywhere in Korea and they are cheap!! Way cheaper than in NZ (actually everything is way cheaper than in NZ - expensive things in Korea are normal NZ prices.) Anyway the taxis; turns out the yellow taxis aren't taxis, they are learner drivers. Very glad I didn't have to learn that lesson the hard way - imagine the general consternation if I had jumped into the back of a learner driver car when it pulled up to the lights ... hahahaha ... I think I need to go find a tissue to deal with the laughter tears that mental image causes.

And finally there has been huge personal growth, God has used this time to teach me many things; He has taught me to overcome fear, He has shown me things in myself that needed fixing and then proceeded to fix them and now He is teaching me to put Him first, ahead of my hopes, my dreams and my desires. This is not always comfortable - sometimes it's downright painful but it is good. I am clinging to the following promises:

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 1:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

I don't know what will happen in my life when this year is up, maybe I'll stay in Korea, maybe I'll end up somewhere else, I have no plans, I just knock on doors that look interesting. Having said that I would love to stay right where I am. But I do know that wherever I am it will be the place God has planned for me and it will be a place that is very good.

PS New Zealand won the Rugby World cup. 

This is the sermon formally known as 'Big Green Crocodiles with Sharp and Scary Teeth.' I had to cut the crocodile illustration out due to time constraints, that obviously necessatatetid a name change. Seeing as a sermon with Crocodile in the title should have a Crocodile in the actual speaking bit. 

As always the odd formatting is to allow room for translation.

I hope this blesses you. 

The Power Of Positive Choice

A few years ago I had just finished an in depth Bible Study topic that I had been working on for quite a long time and I was trying to decide what I wanted to study next.

But, I was having difficulty.

There were so many interesting ideas.

I would spend a few days on one idea and then get distracted by another idea and then get distracted by yet another topic.

After a few months my computer was full of just started Bible studies and none of them were anywhere near completion.

I decided I had to choose one topic and stick with it until it was finished.

But how to choose?

Eventually I decided to write each idea on a piece of paper.

Then I would put all the pieces of paper into a bowl.

My plan was to pick one at random and that would be the one I would study.

So that’s what I did.

I put over 100 pieces of paper with idea’s written on them into a rose bowl.

The bowl I used was very similar to the one in the picture, notice how small the opening at the top is?

Then I prayed that God would lead my choice and stuck my hand in the bowl.

I gently gave the bowl a 180 degree stir and as I did one of the pieces of paper leapt up, slipped between my wrist and the edge of the bowl, flew through the air and finally landed on the ground under the desk that I was sitting at.

I looked at it in shock, there is no way my stir was strong enough to cause that to happen.

“Well, I guess that’s the one I’m meant to study next!” I thought.

After crawling under the desk to pick the paper up I opened it to read “Victory in Christ.”

Victory in Christ means overcoming sin.

Today I am going to share some opf the things I have learned on this topic.

I definitely do not feel qualified to present anything on this topic seeing as I fail so often.

However the story of Thomas Edison and his failure with the light bulb encourages me.

In the early 1900’s light bulbs were very dim and had a life of about 13 hours before the filament inside died.

Edison wanted to improve this.

He tested thousands of substances to see if they would make a brighter light that lasted longer.

And he failed thousands of times.

His description of this experience is;

"After we had conducted thousands of experiments ... without solving the problem, one of my associates ... expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed to find out anything. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done [those ways], and that we would have to try some other way."

The quote above comes from an interview with Edison that was published in the January 1921 issue of American Magazine.

Eventually Edison succeeded, he discovered a substance that gave a much brighter light and lasted for about 1200 hours.

Our Christian life of overcoming sin is the same.

We may fail many times but as long as we get up, ask for forgiveness and try again then we are on the right path.

Proverbs 24:16

¹⁶ For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
   but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

According to this verse the difference between a righteous man and a wicked man is not the falling but the getting up.

The righteous man rises and goes back to God every time he falls into sin.

The wicked man stays down and wallows in his sin.

A righteous man learns from his mistakes.

“Well that is one way that doesn’t work.” He says, and after asking for and receiving forgiveness, he rises to try to overcome sin again.

Mrs White calls this experimental religion.

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. Experimental religion is what is needed now. {AG 252.5}

Now I will share some of the things I have learned in my efforts to overcome the sin in my life.

1.       Every time we sin there is a moment of choice, a moment when we choose to sin.

How do I know this?

I used to have a very bad temper. I did not lose it very often but when I did it was spectacular.

When I was 14 (16 in Korean age) I tried to stab a boy in my class.

He sat behind me in maths and every day he would annoy me.

He threw spit balls over my shoulders.

He poked me in the back with his ruler.

He dripped glue down the back of my dress.

He did many other things.

This went on continually for a long long time.

I tried to ignore him, but it irritated me – a lot.

One day he started pretending to cut my hair.

This really upset me.

Then he actually did cut my hair.

Great big chunks of it fell to the floor.

I got up out of my chair.

I picked up my hair and I put it in my pencil case.

In my pencil case I saw the knife I used to sharpen my pencils.

I very deliberately picked it up and tried to stab him in the heart with it.

Fortunately for both of us the blade broke.

The reason I tell this story is that the moment when I saw that knife I recognised that I had a choice.

I could choose to keep my temper under control or I could choose to lose it.

I deliberately choose to give in to my temper.

This moment of choice took maybe half a second but I have never forgotten it.

Over the years I have come to realise that every single time a temptation is put in front of me it is a choice.

I can choose to give in to the current temptation.

Or, I can choose to turn to God, for His strength to overcome the temptation.

Unfortunately I do not always choose well.

(You also may be happy to know though that I have never chosen to lose my temper since that day. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I can honestly say that you don’t have to lock up your knives if I come to visit.)

2.       We can only overcome sin by Gods power.

For me overcoming sin is identical to dieting.

I can have all the desire in the world to stick to a diet.

I can have big wonderful plans that will guarantee me success this time.

But the sad truth is that I have never managed to stick to a diet for more than about 4 weeks.

The problem is that sheer determination will only take a person so far before they are overcome by a temptation.

Whether that is the temptation to eat or the temptation to fulfil some other desire; anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

The solution to this problem is God.

God is eagerly waiting to give us the power we need to overcome sin.

Paul told us in Philippians that

... it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13.

Notice God does two things:

                                First He gives us the WILL to do what is right – that is the desire to do what is right.

                                Second He gives us the DO to do what is right – that is the ability to act on our Godly desires.

Our part in this solution is to make the choice to ask for and act on that power

Overcoming sin = God’s desire (WILL) + God’s power (DO) + Our Choice.

3.       The key to overcoming sin is putting choice into action, this is called surrender.

Something that perplexed me for a long time was how to use the power that God was giving me.

I had prayed asking God to ‘will and to do’ His good pleasure in me.

I had the WILL to do right, I desired to do right but when faced with a temptation I would still fail time and time again.

I could not seem to get the DO part right

I heard people talk about surrendering to the will of God, but I thought I had no experience in this and I could not understand what this looked like.

One day it occurred to me that while I had no recognisable experience of surrendering to God I had a lot of experience in surrendering to Satan.

Every time I gave in to a temptation I was surrendering to Satan.

I’m going to use the dieting analogy again.

Imagine, I have a chocolate bar in front of me.

It is definitely not on my diet.

My taste buds are saying “Eat it!! It will taste so good!”

My brain is saying “It’s not on the diet, you really shouldn’t eat it.”

Half of me wants the chocolate desperately.

Half of me does not want the chocolate at all.

The moment I make the choice I am surrendering to one of those wants.

Either I surrender to my taste buds and eat the chocolate.

Or I surrender to my brain and put the chocolate down and walk away.

In both cases I have a desire; ‘eat the chocolate’ or ‘don’t eat the chocolate.’

In both cases I make a choice between two desires.

And in both cases I surrender to the chosen desire and act on it.

If I didn’t act I would be stuck looking at the chocolate forever.

For the record I am not in any way suggesting with this analogy that eating chocolate is a sin.

But the analogy very nicely illustrates the same process of desire, choice and surrender we go through whenever we are faced with a temptation.

We desire the tempting thing. (If we didn’t desire it, it wouldn’t be tempting.)

We make a choice between our conflicting desires.

And we either surrender to the temptation and sin or we surrender to God and become victorious overcomers.

(In the last 18 months I have lost something like 50kg’s. This is entirely by surrendering to God’s power and the health message. I don’t always get it right but I get it right more often than I get it wrong.)

4.        important points I have learned about surrendering to God:

a.       Put your choice into action as soon as you have made it – flee temptation, don’t give Satan the chance to change your mind.

b.      For each of us our moment of choice comes at a different place.

When it comes to chocolate my moment of choice is when I see it in the supermarket.

If it gets into my shopping cart then there is a 99.9% chance that I will buy it and eat it.

I have to surrender to the desire for health before I pick the chocolate up off the supermarket shelf.

Other people can have chocolate in their homes for weeks and not touch it.

c.       God has promised to change our hearts, but this process happens gradually.

Each time we are faced with a temptation and choose to surrender to the Godly desire the satanic desire loses some of its power over us.

Eventually we will no longer desire that thing and it will no longer be a temptation for us.

Satan can never again attack us through that particular desire.

d.      Sanctification is a process, the work of a life time, God doesn’t try to fix everything at once.

Instead He chooses one or two things and points them out to us.

“Look,” he says, “See that, I want you to surrender that desire to me.”

When we have overcome in that area, then He points out another area, and another, and another.

And it is always the same choice, What do I love more? God? or my own sinful desires?

e.      God has made provision for my failure. And, He promises rewards for success:

1 John 2:1-2

... if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ...

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 1:2-4,12

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ... Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Conclusion:

Joshua’s challenge to as all is to

“... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15-16

The choice to serve the Lord must be renewed day by day, moment by moment, temptation by temptation.

Will you persevere in making this choice?

It is my prayer that we all continue to grow in grace as we choose to surrender to the Godly desires Jesus places in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Student Sayings

This evening I was teaching one of my children's classes and we were covering the topic of appearance. The question in the textbook the students had to answer was, "What is one thing that you can do to help your appearance?" One girl (13 years old) wrote, "I can smile." The next question was, "Why is this thing important?" Her answer, "So I can get a husband."

My reaction ... speechless! I mean really??? She's thirteen! (Which is really 11 according to how we work out ages.) Way to young to be worrying about that!!!!!

Big Green Crocodiles with Sharp and Scary Teeth.

Good Evening lovely people.

The title of this post is also the title of the Sermon I am working on for this Sabbath. Just thought you would like to know that. :-D (I'll post the sermon too when it's finished.)

So my self imposed exile from Facebook is over and I actually found it very freeing!! The exile I mean, not the coming back. Was back on this afternoon and got caught up with what people had been doing while I was away. After this initial welcome back binge it is my intention to not spend more than half an hour per day on Facebook - unless I am live chatting to someone. And I will not be using Facebook during the Sabbath hours. It is a wonderful tool but it is only a tool. I also not ruling out longer breaks in the future if I find that it is becoming too addictive again. Amusingly Facebook also noticed I had not logged in for sometime and sent me a "Please come home, all is forgiven!" message, informing me that X number of people had liked my various postings, that Y number of people had commented on things I had initiated and that Z number of people wanted to be my friend. How can I bypass loyalty like that??

Today's post is going to be a random round up of all sorts of things that have been inhabiting my mind in the last few weeks. Things that are not big enough to deserve their own post - or I forgot to include in a previous post or, or, or, whatever!

First, today I received a care parcel from the Division Office in Australia. When I got it I was like wow, they shouldn't have - you know how you say that when really you're really really glad they did?? Well then I opened it and started delving. Chocolate, stationary, books, All Good!! And then 'they shouldn't have' became "They Really Really Really Shouldn't Have!" A hideous green (the fact that it's patriotic if your Australian is the only redeeming feature about that colour) cap. I shall donate the cap to a South African friend of mine to help him relive the horror of today's World Cup Rugby Quarter Final. Aren't I just ever so nice? Apart from the cap, receiving a care package was just lovely! If any of the rest of you would like to send care packages my way just send me a message and I'll email you my address. (Hint, Hint!)

Now, a missing item from my Girly Stuff post. I have found a LUSH that is only 5 minutes by bus from my apartment!!! This is wonderful news for me, as prior to this magnificent discovery I had to go an hour by subway to the only other LUSH I knew of. LUSH is just my all time favourite shop that sells various gloriously smelling bath products. Most of which come with a teeny tiny sticker on the bottom announcing they are 'lovingly handmade in England'. So then I get to feel patriotically royalist for supporting the Mother Country whilst I luxuriate in fragrant waters.

I am "Knocking on Doors" again. Am entering the Green Card Lottery to see if I can get a work Visa for the US. Have prayed and am praying about this and if God wants me working in the states in the future then He will work out the details. I am just seeing this as an opportunity to see if I can broaden my future options. Having said that I have no intentions of leaving permanently Korea any time soon, but If God sent my dream job along then I want to be free to go!! I just have to trust His timing and keep knocking on those doors. That's how I ended up in Korea after all.

In the evenings I have a class of 7 women and one young man (he's about 24) last week we strayed onto the topic of men and muscles and how nice men with well developed abs look. One of them was trying out her idioms and said you know "a six pack" I smiled and nodded in agreement. And another chipped in with "That's right, chocolate muscles!" I stared her blankly. Chocolate and nicely defined and toned abs do not go together in my mind at all!! Chocolate is much more likely to go along with a beer belly... I mean chocolate melts. However the rest of the class sensed my confusion and joined in to help. These ladies are level one so sometimes understanding each other is a group effort, where they will discuss the best words and their translations in Korean as they attempt to explain things to me. (Can be confusing as a sentence is not necessarily completed by the person who began it or gave it its middle. And, then I draw stick people pictures to make sure that I have understood what they are trying to tell me.) The general consensus we arrived at is that the phrase 'chocolate muscles' is a Korean Idiom and is used because chocolate comes out of the mould in nice defined squares just like the muscles in a well toned and defined set of abs.  (The young man sat very very quietly in the back of the room and tried to look invisible - I suspect he does not have chocolate muscles.)

Another Korean Idiom is "Have you eaten?" It is analogous with our "How are you?" Which Korean people find to be a very intimidating question, because it requires some soul searching "How am I? Really?" Takes them a while to get the hang of our polite lie, "I fine thank you." On the other hand, If they ask you "Have you eaten?" It is not a lead up to a dinner invite or anything, they are just politely inquiring about you wellness.

It is now time for me to go to bed and sleep the sleep of the justified. I will leave you with these two images of the Zefiro in my car park - after my post about it I went out and took pictures - of the car as a whole and also some of the bolts. I believe it is quite an old model, however this does not seem to hinder it impressing every male that walks past it.

Bolts on the outside.

Death

I was going to post about iphones and mobile phones in general today, seeing as I've been waiting for forever for the new iphone announcement before making a decision about which new cellphone to buy. I HATE the phone I'm currently using - with a passion!!!

Then my day happened and I changed my mind.

Death comes to us in many ways;

• It could be the death of a dream, when we finally accept that something we've been wanting/have been working towards/desiring is not going to pan out the way we want. 

• It could be the blue screen of death on our computer as the hardware crashes around us and brings our cyber world crashing down with it.

• It could be the death of a star, shining brightly as he shoots high across our sky before burning out much too early.

or

• It could be the death of a friend. 

Today I've had all four. If I can just manage to stumble across a wedding in the next few hours I'll have the reverse of my favourite Hugh Grant movie.

We respond to each of these kinds of death in a different way;

• The death of a dream - We mourn the loss of our desire, we may get angry at fate/God/whatever is blocking the dream, but then we find new goals or options and we move on and start planning and working towards  something else. And I claim the promise in Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (KJV)

• The Blue Screen of Death - We pray for a resurrection and when it occurs we make sure that everything is backed up to within an inch of its life so that when the day comes that resurrection fails we won't lose anything important!!!!! For me, today I got my resurrection, the computer decided that 'today was NOT a good day to die' and after a brief hiatus whirred back into life. Shall be buying a new external hard drive tomorrow and backing up my photo's. They are the only things not backed up currently. (Drop box is wonderful for backing up documents!!! But it doesn't give me enough free space to back up my photo's too. If you'd like to help and increase my storage space by 250MB then sign up for your own account - it's free - just click on this link and set it up. You'll be doing both yourself and me a favour. And YES, this is a shameless plug that is almost totally self serving!!)

• The death of a star - All over the web this morning was the news that Steve Jobs the founder and creative spirit behind the Apple computer company had died. Strangely shocking but also not. People have known he was sick for a long time. This news is sad but not unexpected. I think what I mourn most is that this is a man who changed the world, and I would have liked to have seen what else he had to offer. Now we'll never know.

• The death of a friend - What is truly shocking is when a friend dies unexpectedly. The death of a friend makes us feel our own mortality. It makes us stop and take stock of our own lives.  If I was to die tomorrow would I be ready to leave? I know where I'm going but would I be happy about leaving? Or maybe that's just me, trying to fill a hole with words.

Mel Weaver, An Internet friend. One of the few people I've added on Facebook who I don't actually know in real life. I broke my Facebook ban for a few minutes to post on her wall and get a picture. Strange how we write messages to people after they are dead and can't appreciate them any more.

Rest In Peace my friend.

Transcendence

Some things transcend culture, country and class.

There has been a fancy red sports car parked out the front of my apartment building for the last couple of weeks. The name on the back is Zephiro, if that means anything to you. The first time I saw it it was surrounded by small boys. They just about had their noses glued to the panels as the intently examined and discussed the cars various features. Today when I was coming home I discovered four grown men lined up and examining the car and taking pictures of it from every conceivable angle. They were also taking turns getting in, posing and revving the engine. Apparently some things don't change with age or culture.

But, what I find amusing is the fact that this car car in not actually that impressive. When you look closely you can see that some of the panels have been bolted on - from the outside. The bolt-heads are clearly visible around the edges of the panels. I'm wondering if it's really just an old Toyota underneath those fancy panels.

(Note: The pic is off the internet, I never seem to have my camera when I really want to take a picture. Think I shall have to only buy clothes with pockets from now on!)

Another thing that doesn't change is people knowing when they are in trouble. Today I had the occasion to talk to (or more likely talk at) three of my teenage students. They may not have understood every word I said, but they definitely knew they were in trouble, and why, and that certain behaviour was not acceptable and had better not appear in my classroom ever again. They reacted exactly the same as any other teenage boys I have had the 'priviledge' of telling off over the years. I think they forget that I actually am a teacher.

The Button Bazaar

Today is a holiday in Korea, called National Foundation Day in English and Gaecheonjoel in Korean - although if you actually want to pronounce it semi accurately think of it as Gachonjol where the 'a' is the same as in apple and the 'o's are the same as in con. I'm not really sure what it's all about, will ask my students tomorrow. I just saw it as a day off :-D

I decided today that I was going to buy the tools I need to do my mending, cotton, some buttons to replace those I have lost and also tailors chalk. Some of the alterations I need to make are too much for hand sewing and I have found a lady who runs a small stall about five minutes walk from my apartment who only charges W1000 a seam.

So after cutting another button off the coat that has already lost one button I headed off to Dongdaemun, where I had been told there is a Button Market. All I have to say is WOW! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There was a whole floor of buttons and another of lace and ribbons and feathers and at least 3 floors of fabric and a whole floor of cotton and another couple of wool, and and and ...!

From outside it just looks like any other building in Seoul, at least 6 floors high and very boring. But when you get inside it is full of small stalls seperated by the narrowest of asles. I proceeded to walk up to the button stalls, show them the button I was trying to match and wait for them to say 'Neh' (yes) or 'Aniyo' (No). Found what I needed by about the fifth stall. There were some amazing buttons, made me want to make some clothes just so I could use the buttons! I have pretty much decided that I will have to save for a sewing machine. I found beautiful fabrics, amazing trims and gorgeous colours, and I want to use them all. (But, I was very restrained and only bought the things on my list.)

On the wool floor all the stall holders were sitting round in little groups knitting, and getting up to attend to there stalls if people needed them. The stuff the were knitting was amazing!!

From there I stumbled into a building that was all about interior decorating. I would adore to set up a home in Korea. Found a floor dedicated to curtains, nets and drapes. Again WOW!! What we have at home is so plain and boring compared to what was displayed there. And then I found a couple of floors for bedding ... I'm running out of adjectives really quickly. Let's just say I had a glorious few hours poking around in the Button Bazaar and all the associated floors!!!!

And I definitely going to buy a sewing machine!

Things I Find Hard To Get Used To In Korea...

The other day the conversation topic for one of my classes was "Foreigners in Korea" They had all sorts of questions they had to answer about foreigners. One of them was "What do you think foreigners find difficult about living in Korea?' The students offered all sorts of answers for this question - none of which were the things I have on my list of 'Things That Are Hard To Adjust To.'

They suggested things like;

• 'Being bumped into in the street' - here people don't apologise when they bump into you, I understand why - sometimes there are just so many people you can't avoid bumping, so why waste time apologising for something unavoidable that everybody understands. I've gotten used to it, and honestly it's not as bad as I was expecting.

• 'Crowded buses and subways' - to date I have not been on a bus or subway that is more crowded than the buses and trains in South Auckland when the school children are going to school. I spent five years on those buses and so far nothing has come along that has phased me.

• 'The food' - this one actually was at the top of my 'Hard Things' list in my first month. I had very few expectations about Korea before I arrived but one of them was that since Korea had so many Buddhists I would have no trouble finding vegetarian food. Turns out that most Buddhists really really like meat! However it only took about a month for me to become familiar with places where I could get the things I wanted/needed and now I am experimenting more and more with Korean food and eating has become and adventure, (and occasionally an extreme sport,) not a source of angst.

• and of course not understanding the language.

Funny thing is that none of the class thought to ask me - the resident foreigner - what things I found difficult. Probably a good thing as I'm not sure they would have liked what I had to say.

My list of 'Things I Find Hard To Adjust To Here In Korea' - actually I should call it "Things I Find Gross In Korea."

• Toilets - putting your toilet paper in the bin rather than flushing it down the loo. Yes, I understand why this is necessary - plumbing problems, but it is still GROSS!!  

• Spitting - the people spit in the street, on the foot path, anywhere and everywhere. That and the clearing the throat sound they make just before they spit is the most disgusting thing ever!!!!! I have to be very very careful not to look like I'm throwing up when I see it happening!

• Chewing - here in Korea closing your mouth while chewing is an optional extra. And it is not uncommon to see people carrying on an animated conversation through mouthfuls of food. The first time I encountered this I was awestruck by the oxy-moronic quality of the situation - beautiful woman, (and she was very beautiful - one of my students, model quality by western standards,) ugly ugly mouthful of food being masticated in front of my nose. I spent a lot of time looking at my plate. 

• I think the thing I have found hardest here though is being watched. Whenever I'm outside of my apartment I catch people staring at me - particularly the old men - and I really really don't like it. I'm used to being able to hide in a crowd. When you are exceedingly fat people don't really see you, their eyes kind of slide past and around you, not focussing. However losing something like 100 pounds has dropped me out of the 'exceedingly fat' category and into the 'just fat' category, taking away my protections. Add to that the fact that I'm now living in what is essentially a mono-culture, yes there are quite a few foreigners in Seoul but we stand out as different. It's easy to spot a foreigner. Can't hide in the crowd any more. Having said that, I'm just going to have to get used to it because I'm not going to put that 100 pounds back on, (in fact I'm going to lose more,) and I'm not leaving Korea just because people stare!!!!!

I suspect it's probably just as well the students didn't ask my opinion.

Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes | Video on TED.com

Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes | Video on TED.com

The things we learn in our old age!

(Glenn this is especially for you!!)

Yes you will have to follow the link to see the video - couldn't figure out how to embed it here!

No More Facebook - for a bit ...

So I have decided to take a break from Facebook for a bit - it is a time gobbler!!! While I love it for keeping up with my friends I am finding that it is also taking up too much of my time. Time I could be using for other things - like updating this blog.

If you happen to be reading this announcement on Facebook, (the irony of that situation does not escape me,) it is simply that I had set Facebook to import my blog to my notes - not that I have relented or cracked.

To all my facebook friends and family let me just say, "Email me!!" My email address is on the info page, but I think anyone who needs/wants it probably already has it :-D

Love and hugs

PS I will be back!! This is just a temporary hiatus while I experiment with finding balance in my life.

PSS Since I don't have Facebook to share the weird and wonderful things I discover on, I shall have to share them here. Below is tonight's offering.