Since when is this ordinary?

I sat down tonight to blog and I went blank. I knew I should blog...its been awhile after all. But for the life of me I could not think of what to write. And for someone who usually lacks the ability to shut up, I found myself in an interesting quandary.

Somewhere along the line, all of this became ordinary to me. Normal, everyday occurrences. Nothing to write home about, so to speak. I mean, I still see and experience really obnoxiously strange things almost everyday. Like on Saturday, Rachel and I were getting on the subway and as we were walking into the car this girl runs up from I don't know where and smacks both of us on the butts. And that is sadly not the first time that has happened.

But instead of getting angry, feeling patronized and objectified, or punching her in the face, I had this thought:

"Whatever."

I don't know if I've become disillusioned or just used to this madness. Or maybe those things are the same. Anyway, Rach and I had a good laugh about it.

For me, Korea has been a mix of things I absolutely love mixed in with things that drive me absolutely bonkers. There has been very little middle ground. I think it would do me some good at this stage to show you some of the things I've become passionate about here:

THINGS ABOUT KOREA THAT JESSICA ABSOLUTELY LOVES:

• My kids!!!

This is a picture of the kids that Ruda and I teach on Sunday afternoons for Sunday School. They are a keen combination of baby geniuses and comedians-in-training. All these kids are from abroad and speak English fluently. Its so nice to teach content instead of always fighting to just be understood. We've got some awesome rugrats!!

I also love my school kids. I started up Teacher Mail again last week for the new 6th-graders, and I got some priceless letters. One girl went on for 2 pages about the boy that she liked...she never did tell me his name though. My favorite letter was from the "coolest" 6th-grade boy in our school (all the girls have a crush on him) which said, and I quote, "I am so happy teacher is from USA!! I want a relationship with my teacher. I love you, teacher!" So...you know this makes me cool by association, right? :)

• My friends!!!
  

Well, I should clarify. These people are not merely my friends. Here in Seoul, we are family. We rely on each other probably more than we should, we fight, we play, we sing Toto's "Africa" in noraebangs, we feed, we eat, we laugh, we worship, we pray, we dance, we live - and we have grown to love each other more than we thought was possible.


We're all so different, from different countries, different backgrounds, different families, different hobbies, different everything - and yet...

"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galations 6:2, 9-10

I can't imagine my life here without them.

I'll blog next time about the things that drive me nuts...but as for right now...they don't seem as important :)

Whoa.

My how the time flies.

I would like to blame my absence on Korea and its terrible, terrible homicidal germs. I've been 3 different kinds of sick for the last 3 weeks; just as I start feeling better from one, another one kicks me in the face. Viral flu, an allergic reaction to "yellow dust" (clouds of dust and pollution from China that invade Korea's airspace each spring), and another episode of my stomach rejecting random food. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired!!!

I guess its partly my fault too - my schedule isn't helping things. I've picked up four extra classes during the week, so I'm currently teaching 26 classes a week. I travel into the city 3/5 weeknights (1 hr travel time both ways) and the weekends are booked solid between meetings, Sunday School planning, and the inevitable socializing with amazing people I don't get to see during the week because of my insane schedule.

As my co-teacher pointed out, I don't really know how to take care of myself. I prefer to think of it as not babying myself, using all of my resources wisely and making the most of my time in Seoul. But I might also be killing myself slowly...must find the elusive dividing line between the two...

But enough whining for now, eh? Lots of things have happened since I last updated, namely:

1) It's spring!
Ah - Korean heart-hands poses - these are all the rage. All cheesy Korean couples do cheesy Korean poses in and amongst the beautiful cherry blossoms that come around every spring. Let me show you a few notable poses:

Pose #1 - The Sniff

Rachel executes "The Sniff" perfectly in a grove of cherry trees, showing a pure expression of joy at the arrival of spring, and perhaps a renewed sense of meaning in the world. Tremendous.

Pose #2 - The Individual Heart

As you can see, Trevor has this pose down to an art. By fashioning a hand-made heart (get it???), Trevor conveys his love for not only spring and cherry blossoms, but also for the woman behind the camera, his lovely wife Rachel. Such emotion.

Pose #3 - The Couple's Heart

This is my favorite pose of the bunch. It takes not only individual artistic skill, but also teamwork in order to execute the perfect couple's heart. You can tell Jeff and Trev have been practicing in the mirror for this one. The look so content in their expression of love toward one another. One can only wonder what their wives are thinking...

*Note: This post serves as partial payback for Trevor and Rachel's shenanigans on my blog a few weeks ago, though I apologize for getting Jeff mixed up in this mess.

Some light reading...

Here are two really interesting articles published in English newspapers recently here in Seoul:

Married to a Stranger: Wives Build New Lives in South Korea

Resurrection and the Korean Church

Sooooo tired...going to bed...hope to have IWE 10th Anniversary Celebration pictures up soon :)

Blog Hackers!!!

As I was walking out of my dear friends Trevor and Rachel's lovely flat in the heart of Seoul on Saturday night after spending a relaxing night with Rachel playing Dutch Blitz, eating strawberries and chocolate and teaching their dog, Kimchi, how to roll over on command, I had a fleeting thought:

"Maybe I should've logged out of my Gmail account..."

You see, Trevor and Rachel are undeniably clever. And they mostly use these powers of cleverness to take advantage of unwitting Gmail users who decide to check their email while spending extended evenings at their apartment. Since my blog is part of my Gmail account, I was also left logged into my blog.

Which, in the Olsons' world, is a very dangerous place to be.

I am not the first person to acquire a blog of praises about (and of course written by) Trevor and Rachel. Which means, I should've been more careful. Hence the fleeting thought about logging out. But I drowned that fleeting thought in reassurances of how trustworthy and loyal they are. They are, after all, Canadian.

But not so. So let me take this moment to officially declare war on our maple-syrup making, ice hockey playing, horseback riding neighbors to the north. To Trevor and Rachel:

Life is like a game of chess; one must play with calmly and carefully calculated moves. And I do believe its my turn.


In other news, I'm reading an incredible book. Did she just say "book"? Yes I did. It is a compilation of messages from the 2006 Desiring God conference, featuring such amazing dudes as John Piper, Voddie Baucham, D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and David Wells. The name of the book is The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. I actually found it in a bookstore here in Seoul, but the good news for you is that you can read the whole thing online for free! You can click the link above and download it in a PDF file.

Some of the chapters are really academic/theology-oriented, and some are more like sermons or presentations. So far my favorite chapters are Voddie Baucham's and Tim Keller's. I really encourage you to check that out if you're the type to be interested in such things. Doing Sharing in the Union last year gave me a lot of insight into but also frustration regarding postmodern attitudes amongst American youth. The book has shed some light on things for me, which has been helpful.

Anyway, hope all of you had Happy Easters! From me to you~ Sarang Hae (Korean love)!

Jess

When will you learn...

We'd like to introduce ourselves to you!! We're Rachel and Trevor Olson and we would like to tell you why we are so GREAT! First of all we danced on Broadway, well Rachel did. Trev just posed for the picture.

We are great!! Really! We'll prove it. Let us list the ways in which we are great!

1. We are HOT! Just ask Becker she'll tell you!
2. We have really mad skills...You know, like nun chuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. Ummm...
3. We have a super cute dog.
4. We are Canadian... and yes, that is a good thing!
5. We don't like to brag but we do have pretty nice teeth!
6. We are exceptionally talented.
7. We are smrt!
8. We're pretty good at drawing, like animals and warriors and stuff. In fact we're probably the best that we know of.
9. Everyone loves us.
10. We have the sweetest pad in Seoul!!


***We just want to give a warm thanks to Jess for leaving herself logged into G-mail on our computer and allowing us the privilege to make a post about how great we are.

Happy Monday

It's hard to believe that I'm entering my 30th week in Korea. It's hard for me to process the journey I've been on as its happening, but as of late my brain has reached full capacity and consequently has begun to summarize and generalize some themes of experiential learning I've been subject to over the past 7 months. Here are some life lessons that are being acquired at this very moment:

1) I crave stability. More than anything else here. I feel like a butterfly (you'll have to forgive me...I've watched "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" DVD in every class since last Wednesday and I've got butterflies on the brain apparently) who has the God-given ability to fly and an intended destination, but also must take the wind into account. The winds are strong here in Korea, and they blow different ways on different days.

I like predictability. I like patterns. I like consistency. Being surrounded by external factors that defy those things has taught me that back home I was finding my stability in my circumstances, in the comfort of relationships and familiar problems and challenges - things that appear stable on the surface but are really only man-made substitutes for a solid foundation. I'm excited - the house of my identity is being rebuilt - but that's another metaphor for another blog.

2) I'm impulsive. If there was one biblical character I could compare myself to as of late, it would be none other than Peter. I totally get him. I'm headstrong and stubborn. I want to fight every battle. I feel like God has given me a very strong passion to see His Word preached accurately and honorably all over the world. However, when I see something being taken out of context or being preached in a way that I don't agree with, I get IRATE. And I'm not the kind of person to get mad. Ever. But its like I become the Hulk or something. People have to hold me back. So yeah...I should figure out why that's happening...get that under control...yikes.

3) I want to know everything. And I mean everything. If I ever have a "wondering" (like..."I wonder why September is called September using the Latin prefix meaning 7 when its the 9th month?") it takes me less than 24 hours to acquire the answer, because I am motivated to be knowledgable. However, I recently noticed that I tend to ask God in prayer a lot that He would reveal His plans to me or give me some indication of knowledge regarding certain issues. Man, I gotta let go of needing to know. I just gotta start doing stuff.

I had this thought the other day: It's as though God tells me that He's got a project for me, and on the morning I'm supposed to start working on it, He gives me a hammer and a some nails, gives me instructions for my day's work, and leaves me be. And I'm like, "Hey God - what am I building? What am I building? What am I building? What's this? What's this piece of wood for? Is this oak? Spruce? What's this for? Can you teach me how to use this again? When's lunch?"

God - I praise you for the patience you have shown me. I would have fired me long ago.

Cute story to leave you with before I go:

Today I was walking home after school and just about to cross a major road when I saw one of my fifth grade students on the other side of the street, also waiting to cross towards me. And as soon as that pedestrian walk signal flashed on she bolted out to me, and in the middle of the intersection yelled "Jessica Teacher!! I looove you!!" and gave me the biggest hug I've ever gotten from someone under 4'6" right there in the middle of the crosswalk. Hilarious and awesomely special.

Also, one of my fifth grade boys told me today that he thought my hair was beautiful. His actual words were something like...

"Teacher! Hair is...you beautiful!"

My whole life is finding meaning in random pieces of language. Its like a giant jigsaw puzzle. My days are like extended brainteasers. I love it! :)

Korea - Still Strange, Still Oddly Endearing

Our school's second semester started on Monday, which means that I get new 3rd graders. Something that always strikes me about Korean kids is that they're so small! There are two reasons for this: 1) Koreans are generally smaller people than Westerners (Men are generally about 5'6"-5'8", Women are 5'0"-5'4"), and 2) Koreans have a special way of counting age.

When a child is born in Korea, on the day of his or her birth, the child turns one year old. So, a one-day-old child here is called a "one-year-old". All Koreans celebrate turning one year older on the same day (Lunar New Year - Usually sometime in February). So, if you have a kid on the day before Lunar New Year, after the Lunar New Year he/she will be counted as two years old, even if they're only 2 days old. So, though my new third graders are "9 years old" in Korean age, that makes them really about 7.

By the way, in Korean age I'm 24. Soooo weird. Where did 23 go? I was never 23. I turned 22 in July, came to Korea and suddenly I'm counted as 24!

I don't want to be 24 yet :( I think I have a Peter Pan complex or something..."I won't grow up!"

I got a new co-teacher on Monday (a BIG answer to prayer!!!) and she's so nice! Her name is Yu-Sun. Sometimes we just talk and talk about our lives...she is 40 (Korean age...) and just had a baby. She talks to me a lot about how difficult it is to have a baby when you're older; she also has a 14-year old daughter who gives her grief, so she's got a lot to talk about these days. I love it that she feels comfortable enough to talk to me. She is always so surprised that I can understand her even though her English isn't that good. I'm like, "Lady - its my job. I do it everyday."

Some of my former 6th-grade students came to visit me on Friday after school. Emily, Sunny and Anne came to tell me that middle school is NOT fun and that they want to come back to elementary school. I said "Well duh." Sarah came back to get her penpal's email addresses...so, Mom or Christine, if you get an email from your penpal, it is authorized :) I asked them if they have a foreigner English teacher at their middle school, and they said yes, that it was a man with a ponytail from Washington. I asked them if he was as cool as me, they said of course not, so I gave them some candy and then they left...I miss them :(

Today I spent with Hil, Eddy, Ruda, Alicia and her boyfriend Eric. We had lunch at a Japanese place in Yongsan then Ruda and I had to pick up some kids Bibles and other materials from a Christian bookstore for Sunday School. In the midst of everything we decided to try some Korean food that none of us had been brave enough to try on our own: beondegi.


Beondegi is basically roasted silkworm larvae. There are street vendors everywhere that roast the little buggers right up on the street corner. Traditionally its a children's food. Now, here's something about Korean food: 95% of Koreans love all types of Korean food. There really aren't food preferences here; everyone likes everything. However, the main exception I have heard about is beondegi. And when you can find Koreans that strongly dislike a certain Korean food, you know it probably leaves something to be desired. Like a piece of gum.

So we think, why not try it together on a sunny Saturday? We bought a whole cup of it and each ate one. The reactions varied from unpleasant facial expressions to Eddy wretching in the street. "I just lost Fear Factor," he said when he returned. To me, it wasn't too bad. I thought it tasted a bit like roasted soy nuts. Lots of protein. Nice earthy taste. They did kind of explode in your mouth though...and that wasn't at all pleasant.

But it's not like it was the first bug I've eaten. I'm not sure I should be bragging about that.

Hopefully I'll get Hil's video of it up soon. But for now, it is past my bedtime :)