Emily & I both preached today, I at our home church and Emily at a church in Mokpo. Both sermons went well, though I had one lady ask why I didn't finish all of my prayers with "In Jesus' name, Amen." Apparently, in Korea, they always end their prayers that way. I told her it was a cultural thing and we didn't always finish prayers that way. She wasn't too sure about my answer, and so I said I would try to remember that in the future, which made her a lot happier. In the end, it's not really a big deal either way. Hopefully she got more out of the sermon than that.
We then hopped on a train and went out to the church where Emily would preach. In order to not be late, we have to arrive about 90 minutes early what with the train schedule and all. The worship team was practicing when we got there and there were a few other people that were also there early. One lady wanted to take Emily and I hiking up a mountain for 10 minutes before church started (translate: no less than 45 minutes, in my opinion). Instead, we settled on going "out for bread." Koreans are convinced that all foreigners love bread and, compared to their regular diet, it's true.
However, Korean bakeries often leave something to be desired. Worse still is when they include something that was never desired. The most common surprise fillings are red bean paste and sweet potato paste. In addition, every bread is white and every baked good is sweet, even garlic bread and other non-sweet things. In short, going out for bread was a little intimidating. We said yes, however, and to the bakery we went.
We got some sort of round thing that was supposed to be an apple type bread, cream cheese baguette and fig yogurt for drinking. We went to the little sitting area (convenience stores and bakeries alike almost all have an area for you to sit and eat your stuff, 7-11 included) and we ate. The stuff was all much better than we feared and we had a nice chat.
We went back to the church and Emily preached her sermon marvelously. I was very proud of her and it went really well - rebuke free, even. The people at the Mokpo church are amazing - they're all so kind and there's a wonderful feeling of community there. Everybody just seems to care and want to engage with you. If I had to guess, that feeling increases inversely proportional (love that phrase!) to the size of the church. Bigger the church, less the attitude of universal caring. In that way, small churches are amazing.
We got back on the train and I finished up my lesson for tomorrow and then just enjoyed the ride. Our apartment was a bit of a mess when we got home so we cleaned it up, I made ham/egg/cheese bagels for a snack, finished my lesson on the computer and Emily packed up all our meat from Costco yesterday and put it in the freezer. Portioning is the best.
All in all, a grand weekend though busy and tiring. Hopefully I'll get a day off this week because of tests! It's been almost two weeks since my last holiday, so I think I deserve one now. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until next week when we get the Wednesday off because of the federal election. (Good idea, no? Statutory holiday for election day. I like!)
Mmm... holiday.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
The Road Trip
We took a road trip today to Costco. Yes, Costco is road trip worthy here. The nearest one is about 2 hours away and it's a vital source of things like cheddar cheese, dill pickles, nacho chips and Australian beef. (Korean beef is expensive and American is controversial and therefore demand is sporadic at best.)
We rented a van, hopped in with three of our friends and drove north for two hours to Daejeon. the van was a 9 seater so we had more than enough room. It was a diesel, which cost about $1.60 a liter, so it was $75 to fill up. Pricey, but about the same in the end as all of us taking the train (including the cost of rental and tolls). Also GPS. I will never drive in Korea without GPS. Roads don't have names here - intersections do. Ergo, it's impossible to navigate in a city you have never been to as there is no logical system by which to do so.
Anyway, thanks to the GPS (best $10 I ever spent), we got there fine. We ate well, bought lots and came home. We almost died only once, which is really good for Korea. It was my first time driving on the mainland, so it was a little nerve wracking at first but it was a lot of fun in the end. The weather was perfect, the friends were good and the food is always nice to have in the house.
Good times!
Oh, yeah, and Emily and I are preaching at two separate churches tomorrow: me at our home church and Emily at a church in Mokpo, a smaller city outside of Gwangju. This is my second time at our home church and Emily's third time in Mokpo. We both occasionally preach in both of these churches, and tomorrow is the first time our days overlap. If you think of it, please keep us in prayer! Thanks!
We rented a van, hopped in with three of our friends and drove north for two hours to Daejeon. the van was a 9 seater so we had more than enough room. It was a diesel, which cost about $1.60 a liter, so it was $75 to fill up. Pricey, but about the same in the end as all of us taking the train (including the cost of rental and tolls). Also GPS. I will never drive in Korea without GPS. Roads don't have names here - intersections do. Ergo, it's impossible to navigate in a city you have never been to as there is no logical system by which to do so.
Anyway, thanks to the GPS (best $10 I ever spent), we got there fine. We ate well, bought lots and came home. We almost died only once, which is really good for Korea. It was my first time driving on the mainland, so it was a little nerve wracking at first but it was a lot of fun in the end. The weather was perfect, the friends were good and the food is always nice to have in the house.
Good times!
Oh, yeah, and Emily and I are preaching at two separate churches tomorrow: me at our home church and Emily at a church in Mokpo, a smaller city outside of Gwangju. This is my second time at our home church and Emily's third time in Mokpo. We both occasionally preach in both of these churches, and tomorrow is the first time our days overlap. If you think of it, please keep us in prayer! Thanks!
Friday, December 07, 2007
"The $10,000 Mascot" and "Why don't they close the windows?"
It's official - I (Jon) am a $10,000 mascot. Not that I cost that much to be a mascot, nor that I earn that much for being a mascot. Last week was an English contest and, to cut a long story short, my school won. As I'm the foreign teacher at this school, and the school won somewhere around $10,000 (or $5,000 - accounts differ), I am the new mascot.
I really had very little to do with it - I teach the grade 7 students and it was the grade 8 students that were in the contest. I see them once a month, and a few of them more than that. However, over 100 students were in the competition, so I had far less to do with their success than may appear at first glance. However, I'm still the mascot: the school with the foreign teacher won the competition and (possibly more importantly) the money.
Woo me!
Which brings me to my next point. Sort of.
Schools in Korea have a basic design: hallway with classrooms on one side and a window to the outside on the other. There are slight variations but nothing too shocking. Also, Korean winter has come upon us. It's cold enough to be chilling to the bone (dang humidity!) but not so cold that any building is really built to withstand the cold. Single paned glass, all glass doors, and (of course!) windows open everywhere.
In Korea, there is a rather popular notion that if you have any sort of a fan on while you are sleeping and you don't have the window open, you will die. Experts disagree as to how this happens (the fan steals your breath, the oxygen in the room gets depleted, etc.) but it's a common enough belief. I've got no idea if that leads to most of the windows being open on December 7 or not, but it just might.
The poor students sit in their classroom (made mostly of concrete and therefore is not warm and cuddly) and discuss how cold they are. With the windows wide open.
Which brings me to my second and final point: Why don't they close the windows?
I really had very little to do with it - I teach the grade 7 students and it was the grade 8 students that were in the contest. I see them once a month, and a few of them more than that. However, over 100 students were in the competition, so I had far less to do with their success than may appear at first glance. However, I'm still the mascot: the school with the foreign teacher won the competition and (possibly more importantly) the money.
Woo me!
Which brings me to my next point. Sort of.
Schools in Korea have a basic design: hallway with classrooms on one side and a window to the outside on the other. There are slight variations but nothing too shocking. Also, Korean winter has come upon us. It's cold enough to be chilling to the bone (dang humidity!) but not so cold that any building is really built to withstand the cold. Single paned glass, all glass doors, and (of course!) windows open everywhere.
In Korea, there is a rather popular notion that if you have any sort of a fan on while you are sleeping and you don't have the window open, you will die. Experts disagree as to how this happens (the fan steals your breath, the oxygen in the room gets depleted, etc.) but it's a common enough belief. I've got no idea if that leads to most of the windows being open on December 7 or not, but it just might.
The poor students sit in their classroom (made mostly of concrete and therefore is not warm and cuddly) and discuss how cold they are. With the windows wide open.
Which brings me to my second and final point: Why don't they close the windows?
Sunday, December 02, 2007
August to December in a Nutshell
Four months is a long time. In order to bring you the most effective and efficient use of your time, here's the highlights:
Obviously, that's just the highlights that come to mind. Our life here has been fantastic as always and God's blessings are consistently numerous and significant. We've been busy but not really stressed. We have a good life and we're really happy for where we are right now, though we miss our family, friends and Canadian food a great deal.
By the way, we use Facebook more than our blog these days. By "we," I mean we both have it but I (Jon) tend to ignore mine for a few weeks at a time. Basically, it's the same as the blog, but with more pictures.
- I (Jon) have been on TV two or three or four or five times. For sure two, possibly up to five times. The TV cameras were there, they were pointing at me but I didn't actually watch the news to see if I was on. Once was the Kimchi festival, once was a teacher training session, one was a promotional video for an English camp and two were about an English competition this past week.
- I was also on the promotional poster for the English festival.
- Emily and I have both preached (and will be preaching) in our home church as well as in a church in Mokpo, a town about 90 minutes away from Gwangju.
- I've had a great semester and have loved my two schools. They're the same as last semester, but I'll probably be changing in a few weeks here.
- I have been teaching at a University once a week for the past few weeks. I've been teaching junior high & high school teachers how to teach speaking, listening and pronunciation. It's been a great experience, and this winter break I teach elementary school teachers similar things.
- We set up our Christmas tree today as well as most of our interior decorations.
- We're going to China for Lunar New Years (also referred to as Chinese New Years, but somewhat inaccurate as much of Asia celebrates it)
- The Jacksons (Emily's folks) will be coming to Korea for the month of January.
- We (Jacksons two and Reesors two) shall be visiting Japan for a week in January.
- Emily is kicking serious butt with her studies and has one and a half more semesters until the end of all learning and the beginning of all teaching.
- We've made a whole bunch of new friends that God has really blessed us with.
- We left our digital camera in a taxi.
- We bought a new digital camera.
- Of the past eight or so weeks of school, I (Jon) have had one full five day week devoid of any sort of significant class canceling interruption or holiday.
Obviously, that's just the highlights that come to mind. Our life here has been fantastic as always and God's blessings are consistently numerous and significant. We've been busy but not really stressed. We have a good life and we're really happy for where we are right now, though we miss our family, friends and Canadian food a great deal.
By the way, we use Facebook more than our blog these days. By "we," I mean we both have it but I (Jon) tend to ignore mine for a few weeks at a time. Basically, it's the same as the blog, but with more pictures.
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