Two Things I don't Understand ...

1. Fashion vs Comfort.

Here in my school the girls all wear teeny tiny skirts, they tell me they have to because that is the uniform. But, I happen to know that a number of them have had them altered in rather substantial ways, such as sewing the skirt pleats closed to make the skirts straight and tight while technically still pleated. So I hazard a guess that there would be no problem in letting the hem down.

Now I have no problem understanding the drive of vanity and conformity, both of which are largely in evidence. What I don't understand is the fact that now that it is winter the girls wrap large blankets around their waists, effectively making a floor length skirt that is so ugly even your blind grandmother wouldn't wear it.

Wouldn't it be better, warmer and way more attractive, to just get a longer skirt???

2. Bathrooms - specifically the room where you pee.

In all four schools that I have taught in here in Korea the bathroom is the coldest room in the building. What is the logic behind having the one room where you take off half your clothes be below freezing?

In my current school they try to compensate for this lack of logic by having heated toilet seats. You would think that is a good thing, but in reality it is slightly uncomfortable - that feeling you get when you sit down too quickly after the last occupant leaves and you feel the lingering traces of their body heat ... not my favourite ...

The Kindness of Strangers

Today I went to pay my utility bills. I've never had to do this in Korea before. In my first job part of the contract was that the school paid all the utility bills. In my second job my roommate and I gave the bills and the money to the real estate man and he paid them for us. In this new job I'm on my own.

I went searching for a post office because my Korean friend had told me that if I took the bills there, with my money, they would pay for them. So off I trotted hoping to bump into a post office. After ten minutes of not bumping into one I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to ask someone where to go. So I looked up the word for post office in my dictionary and in my head I practiced a sentence that I hoped would get me the information I needed and then approached a likely looking lady on the street.

My sentence must have been ok, since she started looking on the Korean internet - the one I can't understand - via her phone - for the nearest post office. Then armed with her information I headed off to snaffle a taxi to take me on the next leg of my journey. Also managed enough understandable Korean for the taxi driver to get me where I wanted to go.

Then at the post office I discovered that that particular post office did not do the bill paying thing. It was a little one that only does the mail. But the lady took me in her own car to the closest bank and then showed me how to use the ATM to pay my bills and she made sure there was a bank assistant to continue helping me before she left and went back to her job. All I have to say is WOW, talk about going the extra mile. the Korean postal service should be proud of their staff!!!!!

...

So I'm sitting on a bus. The driver is having a long and loud conversation on his cell phone. We come to a red light, he hangs up, climbs off the bus, closes the door, stands in the middle of the road in front of the bus and lights up. After maybe half a cigarette the light changes to green so he flicks the butt away, climbs back on the bus amidst a cloud of smoke and we continue on our journey. Nobody else even blinks. I think this goes in the "Only In Korea" file. 

Cold!!!!

Happy Sabbath Lovely People. I'm at the subway station again, waiting to meet my friend so we can make the journey to church together. 

My topic of conversation today is cold. It is COLD!!!!! that time of the year where you get bone chilling cold but no snow to make it pretty and therefore worthwhile. I have started wearing all my clothes (well about 4 layers anyway) and I look like I've gained at least 20 Kgs. Am in that state where you have so many clothes on that you can't actually bend over or sit down very easily.  But I am warm so I don't actually care.  :-D

Thursday night I went draft hunting, had previously gone to Kim's Club - which is a great big supermarket - and bought rolls of foam strips with sticky stuff on the back. Then I went home and sealed up all the gaps around my window frames. Looks ugly but is warm. The next step - if the cold still seeps through the double glazed windows - will be to cover everything in bubble wrap. Only that will produce internal conflict - pop bubbles or stay warm?  Suspect staying warm will win, but then when spring comes - party time :-D

Have a happy blessed and warm Sabbath. 

Things To Do On The Subway ...

I am spending a lot of time in the subway these days. So I thought I would make a list of "Things to do while I'm on the Subway." Here it is - in no particular order ...

1. Write an entry in my blog. 

2. Check Facebook. ^^

3. Practice my Korean. 

4. Memorise Scripture. 

5. Read a book. 

6. Write a bit more of my book - that would be a better story than JK Rowlings  - she write Harry Potter in a cafe. Imagine the novelty of writing a novel on a train over many many kilometers of track, while listening to announcements in a foriegn language. 

7. Send messages to my friends. 

8. Take suruptitious photos of interesting looking people to write blog entries about. 

9. Talk to random foreigners ... Always an interesting experience. Last week it was a slightly drunk English man. He's been in Korea for 10 years. Teaching in a university. 

10. Read articles towards my thesis. 

11. Write my thesis - so I can work in a university too. 

12. Surf the internet for interesting things ...

13. Think of more productive things to do on the subway ... 

PS I did not take the photo at the top but it's typical of a subway carriage. Except often there are more people standing. But not as many as you see in those photos where people are stuffing other people I to trains. 

Preparing For Winter

I'm spending a lot of time on the subway these days. So I think you can expect more regular blog updates. They will probably be a little eclectic - based on whatever I've been taking pictures of recently. Here is today's offering. 

I was walking with a friend a few weeks back and he pointed out a bunch of trees that were newly wearing hay skirts. He asked if I knew why they were decorated in this way. I said I thought it was to protect them from contact frostbite once the snow starts piling up. Turns our I'm wrong. I should have guessed that since not all the trees had skirts. 

Apparently there are certain insects that attack these trees. In winter they burrow into the ground to keep warm. But if the caretakers of the trees wrap hay around the lower trunks then these insects will huddle up in the hay instead. Then when spring comes the skirts are removed with their load of hibanating insects and burned. The trees are safe for one more year. How clever is that?

New Job

So, it's Wednesday evening, I'm on the subway and I thought I would use the time productively to add to my blog. 

I think tonight I shall update you on my new job. 

I'm back working in a high school. And LOVING it!!!!!!!!!!!! Had forgotten how much I enjoy teenagers. It is a boarding school, all the students stay at the school during the week and go home for the weekend. Even the ones who live in the same town. They can stay over the weekend if they want to - to study more - but they have to apply specially for the privilege. 

This school specialises in languages so every student is studying English, plus at least one other of Japanese or Chinese. Many of the students are close-ish to fluent in English - even if they are majoring in one of the other languages. 

My job is to smooth out the rough edges and help them to sound like native speakers. I have all sorts of great ideas to help achieve this. Including Dr Seuss. ^^ 

Sometimes I feel terribly sorry for these kids. They are so sleep deprived. They get up around 6am and go to bed around midnight. It is not uncommon for me to come into a classroom to find the entire class with their heads down on their desks catching a power nap. I feel almost guilty waking them up for class. 

You can mark the progression of the week by how beautiful they are. Monday they all look lovely, girls hair is smooth, there is a hint of make up etcetera. Boys are bright eyed and bushy tailed. By  about Wednesday those hints are gone, Thursday is pure exhaustion, by Friday I think they get their second wind - or they have mainlined coffee. Partly I think these kids just need someone to show them some love. And teach them about health!!!

I have between 32 and 36 students in each of my three grade 1 classes, the four grade 2 classes have 16 students each, because they split the classes with another teacher. 

Even though those class sizes are large they are really easy to teach. The students are so well behaved, and so focused. Even the first graders who won't be sitting the all important university entrance exam for another 2 years are totally focused on it. Several of them have told me they have gotten rid of their smart phones because they were too much of a distraction. I can't imagine an NZ student of the same age doing that. Actually I can't imagine many NZ students of the same age owing iPhones and the like. These kids are totally wired. 

My first week here they were all giving presentations. I had to grade them, and honestly I would have been impressed if those presentations had come from native English speakers. The fact that they came from ESL students just blew me away. 

I just reread what I wrote above, makes school life seem very dismal. But it isn't, on the whole they seem happy, they horse around in the hallways like normal kids, they goof off and act silly at lunch times, but in class they are totally focused. 

Basically I'm in a school of nerds :-) my favourite kind of people!!!!

One other interesting thing, we have to clock in and out everyday. The machine that scans your thumbprint. Very sci-fi ^^ thrills my nerdy little soul eveytime. 

PS I found the book re my last post. Shall give more details when I post about my new apartment. 

A Mystifying Thing ...

So I ordered a book a few weeks back and I've been waiting and waiting for it to be delivered. Everyday checking the mailbox and the space by my door. Nothing! So I finally asked a friend to call the delivery company and find out where it is. Turns out it was delivered over two weeks ago - the delivery man put it on the water tank on top of my building. What mystifies me is, "Why did he imagine that I would look there?" I mean really??? How often are you possessed by the thought "I'll just climb out on the roof and check if someone left something on the water tower lately?????" Never ever happened to me, not in my entire life.

Also - I know its been a while since I blogged - BIG CHANGES! New job, new apartment, new city. Still in Korea. Also been doing some BIG thinking, some changes there too. Shall blog about all those adventures over the next few days/weeks.

If there is anyone left out there who still reads my blog I hope you have a great day.

P.S. Here is a clue to some of those big changes in my thinking - I made a profile on one of those dating websites. Just one - but for those of you who know me well, you will know just how big a change that is for me. :-) Watch this space.

"I'd Rather Die Than Live Without You."

"I'd rather die than live without you." I was thinking about this phrase this morning. Or more specifically I was thinking about a popular 'quote' that is making it's way around the Christian segment of the Internet these days. "Jesus loves you so much that He would rather die than live without you." I was thinking about what that phrase actually means, and the thing is, it's simply not true. To die rather than live without someone is not love, it is obsession, and it is selfish. To really truly love would be to continue to live without the person and to do good for them, to wish them to be happy, to help them, even though there is no hope that they will love you back.

That is what Jesus did, Jesus came to our earth and died to make a way for us to be in heaven with Him, if we choose to take it. He died so that we could have a chance to love Him, and so that He could have a chance to spend eternity with us. When He came He knew His death would be temporary. He knew He was going to conquer death and be resurrected. Consider Jesus in His two incarnations;

1. As the Prince of Heaven before He comes to earth as the Baby Jesus.
2. As the man, Jesus of Nazareth walking on the planet, a human with us.

First, before Jesus was a man He was God, the Prince of Heaven for want of a better title. He knew the end from the beginning. He and His Father planned the whole Earth Mission together, and they gave prophecies that said that the Messiah would be resurrected. Isaiah 53:7-12 is one of these prophecies,verses 10 and 11 particularly only make sense if they are thought about in terms of Jesus having been resurrected. Jesus' death and resurrection was planned and prophesied before He ever came to earth. Jesus as God knew He would die, and He knew it would not be pleasant, but He also knew He would be resurrected, and that as a result of His life, death and resurrection we would be able to spend eternity with Him. So He chose to go ahead with the plan and be born as the babe in Bethlehem because He wanted to spend eternity with us, not because He couldn't live without us.

Second, when Jesus was a man living on the earth He did not have that 'God's eye view' that He had had in Heaven. He did not know from His own knowledge that He would die and be resurrected, but He did have the prophecies. Prophecies that He Himself had given in His 'God' incarnation. It is obvious that Jesus believed those prophecies because He tells His disciples on several occasions that He will die and be resurrected. One example of this is found in Matthew 17:22-23. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus struggled with His human nature, He knew the trial in front of Him would be terrible, that He would be betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, abandoned by almost all of the other disciples, mocked, beaten, humiliated. And He still chose to go ahead with the plan - on faith, faith in the prophecies that He would be resurrected, faith in the prophecies that we would chose to join with Him, faith that He would get to spend eternity with us.

Jesus did not chose to die because He couldn't live without us. He chose to die because He wanted to live with us - forever. The desire to be with the object of your affection, that is real love, and Jesus, The Prince of Heaven, He really loves us, He was willing, and is still willing to do whatever it takes so that He can be with us. Forever!

Hot Lava and Fruit Stamps

Today I taught the kidlettes the Hot Lava game - the one where the floor is hot lava and they have to get from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor. Funny - they chose the most difficult method to get there in my view. The first girl grabbed two chairs, she sat on one and put her feet on the other and then proceeded to slowly perambulate across the floor inchworm style ... so frustrating to watch, and it got worse, all the others copied her. It became a race about who could inch the fastest. Not what I had been imagining at all!

The worst thing about this blog is that lots of cute things happen and I think "Must remember that to put in the blog" ... and then it gets pushed out of my head by the next thing that happens.

The other funny thing from today that I do remember though is the look if absolute horror on the girls faces as they realised I was about to dip half an apple into paint. We used various fruits and veggies dipped in paint to do stamping. Was fun and the girls enjoyed it, once it was firmly installed in their minds that I was not expecting them to eat the fruit afterwards.

Best best thing though is that today is the start of my holidays. 10 days of no work :-)

One of the things I have learned about teaching...

One of the things I have learned about teaching Kinders is that is very similar in some ways to teaching high school, just more extreme.

For example, when teaching high school I used to plan carefully for each lesson and then once in the classroom just go with the flow. Secure in the knowledge that if the 'flow' came to a stop I had my plan to come back to. When teaching Kinder I have learned that I need to over plan. Plan more activities than can actually be done - according to my ideas anyway - and then be exceedingly flexible once the class starts. As it turns out, some days we do everything I have planned even though I thought it was too much. Other days we don't even finish one thing. But it is always good to have my plan :-)

Today I was very proud of my flexibility, was all set to teach a cooking class - grilled pineapple - the kidlettes were all sitting expectantly around the table in their little yellow overcoat things - to protect their clothes. I picked up the one thing I didn't buy myself - the main ingredient, pineapple. It was off - well and truly vinergarising. What to do? I went rummaging in the kitchen and found two peaches and some boiled potatoes in the fridge. So I taught them how to make grilled peaches and potato skins instead. Same method as the grilled pineapple. (Cut peaches into wedges, paint with a little butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and a tiny bit of powdered ginger - actually if I was doing them at home for me I would use thyme instead of ginger. Potatoes are the same minus the sugar and ginger, and you scoop out the inside of each wedge so you get two chips for the price of one and lots of crunchy bits. Then put everything under the grill. Wait until the peaches are hot, brown and juicey and the potatoes are hot, brown and crunchy. Sprinkle the potatoes with a little salt and enjoy - separately.) Kidlettes loved them, general consensus was that it was very delicious, with the potatoes earning an extra very.

I think the thing I like best about teaching the Kinders is the same thing I liked about teaching high school. I used to love watching my kids develop and grow from runty (and sometimes not so runty) twelve and thirteen year olds into young men and women of eighteen and nineteen. And now with the wonders of facebook I am getting to see them as young adults, in there twenties and even thirties, I get to see them graduate from university, start careers, buy houses, get married, have babies and all those other life mile stones. I got to see and help shape their characters, to help try to set them in an upwards direction. Often this has been highly rewarding, like the student who is about to go and represent NZ in the world championships for her sport, or the students who have reached their goals and become doctors or lawyers or teachers - even chemistry teachers :-D

Here in the Kinder I get to see and do the same thing, to watch my babies characters and help shape them, praise and build up the good and ignore and down play the bad. And again it is more extreme than for high school. What can take years to change in older students can change in just weeks in the Kinders. Seeing the little girl who is a loner and watcher start to become part of the group and participate, to see the girl who is a follower start to become a leader, to see the one who always seems to want to hit me stop and start dressing me in the play jewellery instead, those things are really rewarding.

Too Cute

I know I said I would try to post something everyday - well, sorry that hasn't been happening ... on the other hand I've finished making 6 months worth of flashcards. 11 cards per letter of the alphabet, 10 of them with the English word the kids are supposed to learn, the Korean word it translates as, and a picture. All linked to two textbooks and two other resources. Totally worth the effort as I shall be able to use them with every kinder class I teach. :-)

Next project is review sheets to put on the wall, so that kids can have constant review and really master the content - and I can carry a couple in my hand bag and practice my Korean on the bus. ^^

So today's story:
Last week I showed my Kinder's how to fold paper and then cut bits out of it so that when it is unfolded it looks like a snowflake. We put them on the wall. Today one of the kidlets took her snowflake off the wall stuck it on her chest and announced, "I'm a Snow Princess." I laughed and laughed.

Also today I taught them the balloon game - don't let the balloon touch the ground. Awesomeness - in fact for my NZ readers let me tell you it was 'O for Owesome.' Five screaming little girls running around and laughing as hard as possible. Only three balloons were hurt in the making of this fun.

The Ultimate Romance

Here is my latest Sermon, preached it twice in the last two weeks :-) And I'm about to start working on the sequel, "The Ways God Promises To Love Us After We accept His Offer."

The Ultimate Romance

When a person is single and of a certain age suddenly love and romance become very interesting. Us single people, we spend far too much time considering the topic. I think married people do too – it has been my experience that married people can’t seem to believe that it is possible to be single and happy. As soon as one of my single friends gets married, I can almost guarantee that within moments of sliding the ring on the finger they will be turning around and telling me that I must copy them if I wish to be completely fulfilled in life.

However there is a problem with this – marriage requires two people. It is not actually possible to get married by yourself. So then all my friends tell me that I must put myself out there and find my husband. So the question I am forced to ask is “How? How does one find a marriage partner?”

In the Bible we see two basic patterns for finding a marriage partner, these two patterns are the extremes of a continuum, many people fit somewhere between them.

1.      First we have the ‘Hunters’. These people go out searching and hunting, trying to find a wife or husband. Jacob is an example of this, he left his family in Canaan and went to visit his Uncle Laban. When he left he had two reasons for his trip, one was to find a wife who believed in the same God he did. The other reason was to stay alive. You can read the full story in Genesis chapters 27 and 29. When Jacob arrived in Harran he immediately met Laban’s daughter Rachel and fell in love, within  a month he was engaged to her – but he had to work for 14 years to earn her hand in marriage.

2.      I call the people who follow the second pattern ‘Waiters’. These people are not actively searching for a husband or wife. They are simply going about their daily lives and God brings their partner to them. In the story of Isaac and Rebecca, Rebecca is an example of a ‘waiter.’ She goes to the well one day to collect water for her family and she has no idea that God is about to blow her future wide open. At the well she meets a stranger who asks her for a drink of water. Being a kind girl she gives him the requested drink and waters all his camels as well, not realising that she has just fulfilled the sign this stranger has asked God for to identify the girl who is to be the wife of Isaac.

The man gives her expensive gifts and she invites him back to stay in her family’s home. Once the man arrives at her home he reveals his mission. Everybody acknowledges that God has been guiding in this situation and that it is obvious that God plans for Rebecca to go and marry Isaac. But they still turn to Rebecca and ask her “Will you go with this man?” I want you to remember that question, we will come back to it.

(You can read the full story for yourself in Genesis chapter 24 – I highly recommend it. It is one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible.)

Now Isaac, I have trouble classifying him, he was not out searching for a wife for himself, but he did have other people who he trusted actively searching for him. So maybe he fits with the hunters better than with the waiters … On the other hand he did just trustingly wait at home without any say in the result of the search – he simply a deeply loved the girl that was brought to him … so maybe he is a waiter … I’m really not sure.

There is however one person in the Bible who I have no problems at all classifying. That person is God. He is most definitely 100% Hunter, and when you examine the ways that God shows His love for us, I think it is safe to say that God is the most romantic being in the universe.  

Consider:

1.      He loved us first, in fact He loved us when we were his enemies.

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:1-5

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. 

God looked down from Heaven and He saw us and He loved us. We were not thinking about Him, we had no desire to know or love Him, some of us hated Him. But, He loved us anyway. So …

2.      He made the first move – He told us He loved us – without worrying about whether we returned His love or not.

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.

Again, looking down on us from Heaven, God knew it was impossible for us to comprehend His true character; that we could not appreciate Him for who He truly was, so He sent us Jesus …

3.      He came here to be with us, so that we could see His character, so that we could see what he is really like and so that He could demonstrate His love to us. 

Matthew 4:23-24

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed; and he healed them.

Consider, when Jesus was here on earth every single thing he did was done in love. From healing the sick, lame, blind, to forgiving sins and raising the dead. Both implicitly and explicitly He showed us God’s character and God’s love.  And this still was not enough. God knew that even if we returned His love there was no way we could come to Him, so

4.      He made a way for us to choose. He gave everything He has to win us. Jesus gave His life, He died and was resurrected just so that we can have the choice to be with Him, or not.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

What I find most amazing is that Jesus did this before we even realised we needed or wanted Him. He did everything possible so that we could have a chance to choose Him, and even then having given us our choice

5.      He never forces us to come to Him. He respects our choice.

Joshua 24:14-15

¹⁴ ‘Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

If we choose Him He is exceedingly happy, but if we choose against Him, well he will not force us ... but

6.      He never gives up, He is persistent.

Romans 8:35,38-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ^… 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                                          

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Let’s review, God tries to win our hearts in six ways:

Review: 6 Ways God tries to win our love.

1.      He loved us first

2.      He made the first move

3.      He came here to be with us

4.      He made a way for us to choose

5.      He never forces us to come to Him

6.      He never gives up

Think about this list of things our romantic God has done, just to be able to have a chance to win us for Himself. If you think this list is amazing, then you should see the list of the way God promises to love us after we agree to be His – that list is simply … wonderful.

The questions to each of us is the same one that was asked of Rebecca, “Will you go with this man?”

Now you may be asking, ”Why is she saying all this? We are all good SDA’s, we’ve been baptised, we’ve already said yes to Him.”

The reason I’m saying this is because from my own experience I know it is possible to look like a good Christian and do and say all the right things and still not have a heart connection with God.  Plus even when we do form that heart connection it needs to be renewed each and every day. Every morning when we wake up the question our Guardian Angel is asking us is “Will you go with this man today?”

“Will you go with this man?”

I’ve slowly learned that there is no comparison between the days when I go with that man and the days go on my own. Even the hard days are better with Him.

So How about you? “Will you go with this man?”

Kinder Surprises

One thing about little kids, they have no problems with personal comments. 

Today they said to me "Teacher big." This was  accompanied by expansive arm movements in the chest and belly region. Then they said "Teacher small." The arm movements became flat. as they rubbed their own tiny bellies. They figured out quite quickly that I wasn't getting it. So moved on to drawings of stick figures. A big fat one, and a genuine stick. Finally figured out that they were trying to say that they think I have lost weight.

Happy Teacher 

Also today they decided that I must have a sticker chart just like they do. So I put a chart up with my name on it. From somewhere they produced stickers - not ones I had given them - now i have five stickers on my chart. Another 23 and I get a prize. LOL

Kinders on the Forth of July

This post has absolutely nothing at all to do with America!! It is simply one little tiny short Kinder story that happened in Korea on the 4th of July 2013.

Today's story is short and cute.

My Kinders have decided they need a daily nap. Whoever heard of kids who want to take naps? Each day they will say "Teacher, sleep time?" I say yes and give them a time limit like 10 mintues or so. Then they build themselves beds out of various toys and when they are ready they ask me to sing them a sleeping song. I am getting to indulge my love of Christmas Carols at their expense. Picture Happy Cat ~^^~

KinderSurprises - Surprisingly Surprising

In my new job my time table changes every month - but I started this post a week or so ago so I'll just finish it without a bunch of editing, just read this as if it is still June and not July.

I teaching three hours of kinder each day, a half an hour of 1st grade students and another hour of students who are around the 5th grade.

One class of 5th graders (Monday/Wednesday) have tolerably good English - they can understand just about everything I say, we just need to work on grammar. I brought some games from NZ to Korea with me this time, and this class have fallen in love with Billionaire - so have discovered the perfect motivation - they do two pages in their book - and do it well! Then we spend the rest of the class playing Billionaire.

The other class (Tuesday/Thursday) have terrible English - in fact they have about as much English as I have Korean - we muddle through with translators and dictionaries but it has been a struggle, they don't want to work as they have learned to hate English because it is hard and they continually fail. Today though I put a new plan into place and they actually did homework :-) I have organised that the Korean teacher will cover the textbook and I am just going to work on increasing their vocabulary. So I made a list of 100 words from the textbook and have told them that when they know all 100 words I will take them out for dinner - now they are trying to decide if it will be chicken or pizza or hamburgers ... Anyway as a result they are actually working - however they have insisted that I must learn the Korean for the words they are learning English for - so now I have 100 words to learn too - and I had to do the same homework as I had assigned them :-) All in a good cause!

My 1st graders are very cute, I have been working on getting them into learning habits - eyes on page/computer/me, hands empty, ears open and mouths closed. Today they used tape to tape their mouths closed - totally their own idea. Made me laugh as I remembered certain nameless students from the chemistry days who also used to do this.

And the Kinders, what can I say? I think I am falling in love - who would have thought. So let me describe my life as a Kinder teacher. It could not be more different from, being a chemistry teacher if it tried. I will say I was filled with trepidation when I realised exactly what I had signed up for - but it is turning out to be quite delightful.

This is where today's writing starts :-)

One of my babies, (she is 7 by Korean age, 5 by ours) she is determined to do the things that scare her, to conquer her fears. When I first got there she and her friend would put their chairs on the desk and  sit on then while they practised their vocabulary. When it came time to get down, the friend would just jump, but she would sit down on the edge and then slide off - and it's not actually very high, maybe 50cm, but when your only 100cm tall yourself I guess that seems like a huge amount. Anyway she was determined to master the jump. So each day somewhere during free time she climbs onto the desk, first she would just stand on the edge for a long time looking down, before she would sit and slide off. Then she started squatting on the edge, and holding my hands and she would jump from a squat. The day she jumped from a squat without holding my hands I was so proud!!!!!! Then she started trying to jump from a standing position, again holding my hands. Yesterday she did a standing jump all by herself. Today she did not bother to climb on the desk. Fear conquered. :-D

Now it is time to post this, but I have decided I'm going to get back on the blogging band wagon and tell you a Kinder story every day. :-)

What Would You Take?

I was just looking at a series of photos taken of refugee's and their most treasured possession, the things they had been able to escape with. You can see the pictures here.

When I arrived back in Korea at the end of March all the talk in the air was of war. I didn't believe God had brought me back just in time for me to have to run, but at the same time I thought it was prudent to pack a small backpack - just in case.

As I looked at these pictures I thought about what I had packed - documents, a change of underwear, a toothbrush and other hygiene things, a water bottle, a few keepsakes that I would be exceedingly sad to lose, my external hard drive with copies of all my photos and data, and my Bible.

That backpack stands in the corner of my room next to my violin and if I had to run those two things and my handbag are all I would be able to carry... everything else - it's just stuff. And when it comes down to it, even the things I can carry are just stuff. I can buy another violin, the music however will stay in my fingers. Maybe I'll lose the hard drive with my photos, but I still have my memories. I have other Bibles in a box in NZ, but the word of God and His love will stay in my heart.

It is not things that are important, it is life, and people, and experiences, and love, and most importantly, the confidence that God is watching over me every moment of my life, and I can trust Him because He is good.

What would you take?

Korea Bucket List ...

Things to do before leaving Korea:

1. Do the Third Infiltration Tunnel Tour. 

2. Climb BarumSan

3. Visit the Secret Garden

4. Go to a Baseball game 

5. Go to Jeju 

6. Have a Temple meal

7. Cycle along the Han river 

8. Go to the Lantern Festival for Buddha's birthday - DONE 

9. Go to the War Memorial Museum

10. Have a meal in the 'Sky Lounge' - that restaurant in the ring on top of the building near 종각

11. Visit 설악산 in autumn

12. Do a tea making class where you get to dress up in 한복 

13. Eat at that awesome looking restaurant near my current apartment - DONE

14. See the DMZ from the North Korean side.

15. Go to the top of 남산 tower

16. Learn to make 떡

17. Learn to make white 김치

18. Go to the top of the 63 building 

19. Paint a fan

20. Make a kite - and fly it

21. Celebrate NZ Guy Fowkes with my friends

22. Spend a couple of days exploring 남산골 한옥 village - and doing any interesting activities. 

23. Go to the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine and take a class if there is one on a Sunday or Friday

24. Take the guided tour at 창경palace and one or two or more of the other palaces

25. Climb Bugaksan and visit Seoul Fortress 

26. Find and visit the foreigners market in 동대문 

27. Stay at a 한옥 - traditional Korean house - in the country

28. Temple stay

29. Visit 독도 island

30. Go to the 'Garden of Morning Calm' - DOING AS I TYPE

31.   ... And adding to the list continually :-)

The Topic Of Marriage Again - AKA Finding A Marriage Partner

Here in South Korea I have a lovely bunch of friends, we meet every Sabbath for church and spend the day together. They are all very opinionated and we discuss anything and everything. At length, often loudly. Sometimes it becomes difficult to finish a sentence. However terrible that sounds it actually isn't. I consider these wonderful people to be my family in Korea. 

One of the things we often discus is marriage, particularly the finding of suitable  partners for marriage, since we are all (with the exception of one couple) single and once people hit their mid twenties that is an interesting subject. Actually it is interesting before then, but once you hit your mid twenties you're old enough to consider doing something about it.

I have some definite ideas about the finding of said partner, but my friends here in Korea all tell me I'm wrong. I thought I would list them here so that the rest of the world - or at least my four faithful readers can have the chance to tell me I'm wrong too.

It is my thought that I worship a God who knows everything, He knows the future, He knows the past, He knows the number of hairs on my head, and he knows me, inside and out. He understands why I do the dumb things I do, and amazingly with all of that He still loves me and wants the best for me.

Now God also set up marriage to be a blessing for men and women and He gave us guidelines for choosing suitable partners, if we follow those guidelines closely then we will be safe in our choice of marriage partners.

So as I see it for a Christian there are two options for choosing a marriage partner:

1. Follow the guidelines God has given, find somebody you consider to be suitable, who you love, and if they feel the same about you, then get married. 

2. Skip all the above and just ask God to bring your partner to you when He/God is ready. Making it very clear that this is the person you are to marry. 

(3. And obviously for non-christians there is a whole host of other options open to them.)

All my friends are going with Option 1. However it seems to me that option 2. is more trustworthy. 

Option 2 is also rather pragmatic, I mean why spend my every waking moment trying to determine if so and so or such and such 'likes' me? and if they do, are they 'the one'? When I have a God who knows all about me, and all about every potential partner for me on the planet. Why not save myself all the angst and let Him choose the guy, and bring him to me, or me to him, when the time is right? I trust God more than I trust my own judgement, and I know He wants the best for me AND for the guy He chooses. Plus, (pragmatic again,) I have better things to be doing with my time and my brain. (I do confess to slipping into that thinking pattern sometimes, drives me nuts, so NOT peaceful. I don't like it.) 

Now I don't think there is anything wrong with Option 1. God gave us these guidelines exactly to allow us to choose for ourselves if we want to and to keep us safe. I also know that I am rather easily pleased and tend to be content in most situations, so I could go with Option 1 and I would probably be happy - as long as the guy I ended up with didn't beat me, etc.

However, why settle for good when I could have best? Maybe that sounds a little selfish? But seriously why not? God is happy to help, in fact longing to help. So why not let Him? Why not allow God to showcase His power and love in my life?

Like I said before there is nothing wrong with choosing Option 1, it is just that Option 2 seems so much more sensible, and safer. 

Now let me clarify about Option 2, I DON'T mean I'm waiting around for God to drop my future partner down my chimney like Santa Claus. What I mean is that instead of concerning myself looking for a husband I'm busy, living a full life, working to show people how good God is and that He is coming back to this earth soon. Basically getting on with life and living as closely to God as I can. And most importantly protecting my heart, not letting my heart belong to anyone except me and God. (Yes, this is possible, it involves refusing to think along certain lines regarding eligible men and keeping them focused on God instead.)

Then when/if the time is right God will somehow connect me with the person I am to marry. I don't know how He will do that, there are a million potential ways, and God will make sure I know - and the guy knows - that we are ones He has planned for each other. I'm refusing to worry about that too. God knows how to get through my thick skull, He does it regularly on other topics, I know He can do it for this too. 

Basically, I'm not hunting for a husband, but I am open to marriage as a life path if God made it clear that that was His choice for me.

And if I never marry? Well I'm ok with that! I have had a wonderful life to date, and I wouldn't change very much of it. Even the hard times. (What I would change is all the doubting and arguing I have done with God over the years.) Why spoil a great life by making a bad choice in the marriage department? Why not leave the choice to God and continue having a wonderful life?

Esther

Like I said a couple of blog posts back, I've been rereading Esther - Not very quickly because I keep getting sidetracked by thinking. Which is really not sidetracking because the whole point of reading the Bible is to stop and think.

This morning I was reading in Esther chapter 2. There are two points that I found interesting.

1. She gets 'taken' to the palace, which suggests it wasn't voluntary. But instead of fighting against what has happened to her she accepts her new situation, she stays kind and does her best in these new circumstances and as a result she wins the favour of the eunuchs who were in charge of looking after her and preparing her for her encounter with the king. So this suggested to me,  that we (I) also need to accept whatever situation we (I) find ourselves (myself) in and ask God to protect and lead and then continue to be kind and loving to the people around us (me).

2. The servants of the King provided all the cosmetics, the clothing, the jewellery, the beauty treatments, and whatever else was necessary for the women to be made as attractive as possible. Esther trusted the servants of the King and allowed them to choose for her. Which is sensible, seeing as they actually knew the King and she didn't. As a result Esther won the ultimate 'Bachelorette' competition and was made Queen. By Analogy, we (I) need to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit and do what He directs us (me) to do through the Bible. So that we (I) can win favour with God and win our (my) place in Heaven.

I am thinking that if we follow these two principles that we will not only please God and win Heaven, we will also have happier lives here on earth.

KinderSurprises

I'm not sure if I mentioned on here what my job is this time around in Korea. Just in case I didn't, I'm working in a kindergarten. A very exceedingly new and interesting experience. I have six little girls who I try to teach the basics of English to for two hours everyday. I suspect you will be hearing a lot more about them. It is a new school, so while they are growing their classes I also teach some of the older children, that is also fun.

Now finally after two months my kinders are starting to be able to communicate little things to me. It is such a feeling of accomplishment when we manage to understand each other on something that is outside of the routine classroom stuff. Like today they managed to tell me that they have a small iguana at there normal kindergarten - the one they go to before their specialised English, ie me!

Anyway, I also discovered today that even at their young ages they have learned the art of flattery and sucking up.

A few weeks back we were doing the face for our weekly theme and I took my glasses off to show them my eyes - they are green, which is incredibly rare in Korea - Korean's all have black/brown eyes, and most foreigners have either brown or blue eyes. (Strange because green eyes are relatively common in NZ - or maybe it is just my family...) Anyway that apparently intrigued them because whenever a new student arrives (there were only three then) the first thing they tell the new student about me is that I have green eyes.

So today, they come into class and start saying "Teacher off" and making motions with their hands like they are taking their imaginary glasses off, so I obliged and took mine off. They looked at me for a moment and then said "Teacher beautiful." And then they all held out their hands and shouted in unison "Sticker."

I nearly fell off the chair laughing and I did not reward the sucking up with stickers. But I did tell them that they were all beautiful too.

The power stickers is a marvellous thing!

This and That

My Goal

Today's post is going to be one of those all over the place 'what have I been doing/thinking lately' randomnesses. Probably full of misspellings, made up words and sentences that are way to long and should have less commas and more full stops.

This morning I went out walking before most of the world was awake. (This is not hard in Korea where most of the world seems to emerge between 9 and 10am.) I explored some new streets, got lost, determined yet again that my sense of direction is completely absent and then studied the map and now I have a much better picture of my area in my head.

One thing that I love about my city is that it is essentially rural, there is a mountain (large hill for NZ'ers) between me a Seoul and I have a goal to climb to the top of that mountain before I leave this place. Tomorrow I shall start exploring the foothills. (NZ'ers: small rises in the ground) between the hill and my house. Today however I went in the opposite direction and figured out how to get from my apartment to the train station by foot. No longer will I be tied to the very unreliable bus service.

On my walk I found a park with some walking tracks and a large number of what appear to be blackberry or possibly raspberry bushes in full flower. I am planning to keep a regular eye on them and then when the berries are ripe I will partake in the fine Korean tradition of urban foraging. I regularly see people here scrounging through the grass plucking up green delicacies to take home and include in some meal or other. In one instance the grass they were foraging in was those square tiles of grassy earth that I had watched being laid down around some buildings only the day before.

Another time I saw two old people trying to reach the berries in one of the Ginkgo trees that lined the road where I was living at the time. They both appeared to be around 80 years old, maybe ninety. They both walked with walking sticks. When it became obvious that they were not going to reach the berries, even by waving their sticks at them they looked for another solution. Then I saw the old lady climb to the second highest rung of the fence that separated the footpath from the 6 lane highway full of speeding cars wizzing by maybe two feet away, she then proceeded to more successfully wave her stick around the branches of the tree, raining berries down on her intrepid partner who was propping her up on the fence by firmly gripping her knees. Dementia? desperation? or doomed love? (I say doomed because if they keep climbing fences next to busy six lane highways ... well, it could be very not pretty.)

I also found a lovely little pergola which given the time of the morning and the fact that this is Korea was deserted. Am thinking it would make a very nice 'quiet time' spot for my morning devotions. Somehow being able to get out of my room and away from the distractions of life makes it easier to connect.

Change of topic:
This morning as a result of an interesting conversation I had yesterday - which I will elaborate more on later - I started rereading the book of Esther. I didn't get very far. I started thinking about the King. I've always thought he was a bit of a chauvinist. Ordering his wife (Vashti) to come and 'display her beauty' in front of all of his drunk buddies. But I started thinking about this, now correct me if I'm wrong, but men want to be proud of their wives right? They want the other men to be just a little envious of them. Hence all those men in midlife crises's who dump their wives and go marry someone younger. Not saying that is a good thing, because it's not. But just saying that I am thinking it is a natural desire of a man to want to feel proud of his wife, that her condition reflects on him and if it is a good condition then he looks good, and if it is a bad condition then he looks bad. Alsorts of implications there - like if a man wants to look good then he should take care of his wife, and if she is not happy he better find out why, and fix it ... etc, etc, etc. Also a man should be sure of the value of what he considers something to be proud of, physical beauty, brains, kindness, a good character, etc some of these things are worth more than others...

Anyway, I was reading Esther and thinking about the King and it struck me that there is a parallel between the King and God. The Bible uses the analogy of marriage for the relationship between Jesus and those people who claim to follow Him. Now the King wanted to show off his wife's beauty to make the other men admire him. God/Jesus wants to show off our beauty too, so that other people realise that He is a good God and also want to follow Him. The King had a shallow standard, he thought only of his wife's physical attractions. God has a much better standard, He wants to display our characters, our goodness, kindness, gentleness, lovingness, etc, but He also wants to display our happiness, peace, trust and joy. He wants others to see that because of our interactions with Him we are better people and also happier people.

Which brings us to Vashti, the Kings wife. She refused the Kings command, "No, I'm too busy having a good time with my friends, I won't come to the Kings party and make him look good." She forgot that it was because of him that she was even able to have her own party. She took him for granted. All too often I find myself being like Vashti, God shows me something in His word that He wants me to do, maybe it is some character growth to make me more 'beautiful' or maybe it is something that will allow Him to display his goodness through me, and I say "No" because I'm too busy, or too afraid, or too lazy, or too ... whatever... you get the idea. I act like the arrogant Queen Vashti and refuse the God who gave me everything I have. In the story the King demotes the Queen and sends her to the harem of women he never wants to see again. (That's just the first chapter ... ) Luckily for us God does not do that to us, instead He keeps calling and requesting and pleading with us to do things His way. I think it is time to stop taking Him for granted and do what He asks - which will make everybody happier, including me.

So Changing Topic Again - That Interesting Conversation:
I won't repeat the entire conversation but the paraphrased version is ... one of my friends said that Esther is one of his favourite women in the Bible because she used her womanly wiles to good advantage. Now given that we had been chatting about 'womanly wiles' earlier, and he maintains that every female ever born is gifted in the use of manipulation, seduction and blackmail, and that I can't see how any of those things could possibly be good I was rather intrigued by this statement. On elaboration I discovered that according to him "all men want to be manipulated, as long as they don't know they are being manipulated, and as long as it is for their good." And in fact "being manipulated into being a better person causes a man to appreciate the woman he is with even more." I can see and even understand how he arrived at his point, but I'm not sure I agree, somehow it doesn't seem very honest. If it is true then I can safely say I am doomed to be single forever because manipulation is something that requires subtlety and finesse - not two of my biggest talents ... being someone who is a subtle as a brick.

Would be intrigued to hear if other men agree with this or if it is just his idea?