So Much...

"How is Korea?"

I can answer this very simply - "amazing." But any way I answer will never convey how completely blessed I am to be over here. Even if I were able to explain it, it wouldn't do my life here justice. I can't convey that much understanding in one simple answer. How do I explain the peace I feel? The gratitude and freedom? The love I feel? So much love.

Here's how I'll start.

Whitney: Mama Hen. She takes care of us. She has such an open and welcoming heart and personality. She's Canadian. I feel safe and happy around her. Effortless calming presence. Great spooner.

Charissa: I am amazed and jealous of her sense of adventure. I can always count on her to remember any minute detail of our friendship - and there are many. We quote movies, books, and TV shows. She is legen - wait for it - dary.

Tayla: There is so much life in her. I love her humor - she can always make me laugh. She is so direct and open. Most quoted person of our group, I would say. "Lovin you!"

Kelsey: I can't get over how much she loves people. Loves talking to them, and really getting to know them. And we lived on a sailboat together - oh yes.


Kelly: She has such a huge heart. And it was open immediately to all of us. She loves with her whole self, and has such a determined and passionate faith. I trust her scootering abilities completely.

Anna: "I love your hair." Serious statement. She is wise and caring. I look up to her for both these qualities. She is so talented - I could listen to her sing and play the uke for hours "... and teach them how to dance..."

Katie: Full of joy. It overflows from her into all the rest of us. I love being around her, and I love how motivated she is. I respect her determination. If I ever feel like swing dancing, I know who to call.

So how do I answer the question: "How is Korea?" Can I answer it with a grammatically incorrect answer? Shhh... don't tell my students.

"So much Amazing."

Oh the People You'll Meet

Real Conversation - started by discussing the Asian delicacy of dog.

Mindy: So you think a Chihuahua would go good with salsa?

Frankel: The power of advertising. You know Chihuahua, the dog, is actually an Asian dog?

Hannah: Then how was it named after the city in Mexico?

Frankel: Actually, the dog was named first. The city was named after the dog.

Me: How did the Asians name their dog a Mexican name?

Frankel: Well, Chihuahua is actually a Native American word.

Hannah: So, how did the dog end up over here?

Frankel: About 10,000 years ago they walked across the land bridge between Russia and Alaska over the Bering Strait with the huskies, and then down through Canada and America. Or else, they came across on a ship. Imagine that, a Chihuahua on a Polynesian ship.

It was around this time my mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe my good fortune of being able to be a part of such an epic conversation. Maybe not epic. Quote-worthy for sure. Hence, this post.

Thursday Class

Me: Hungry is the opposite of starving. (I was very tired)

Pluto: No, Teacher. Let me do it. See watch - hungry is the opposite of full and starving is the opposite of full. See?

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Me: Okay, so today we're going to try something new called an Oral Summary.

Pluto: A Yellow Submarine???

I Dream in Detail

I move into a new place. At first I'm sure it's Korea, but then I realize it's the apartments at Azusa. And I know, as you can only know in dreams, that I've gone back in time. I'm attending Azusa in its early days, but its also modern times, as that can only work out in dreams as well. 

My roommates, whom I am only separated by a sliding door, decide to make my room theirs, and constantly use my TV for video games and my bed for napping. This is not okay. But as I am an undercover agent, sent to discover the strange cult that is at the center of the university, I must not cause trouble. I'm only a week away from the big "event" that initiates me fully into Azusa "doctrine". I can't blow it now. 

The day of the event, I'm told to report to the field at 6 pm. My roommates decide to use this day to be the most annoying and intrusive that they possibly can. So I decide to run up the wall, and body slam the girl into the bed. I can because I'm a secret agent. We all can do that. Obviously a fight breaks out, and it is me and another agent against the roommates (co-ed, because apparently it was acceptable at the time). Security comes, and as my room was where the fighting started, I am the one who is going to be taken in for questioning.

The other agent and I quickly lock eyes and switch bodies. My body, with her in it, is taken away, while me in her body quietly makes my exit for the event. We're so close. We couldn't risk missing our big chance. That's what I call taking one for the team.

I inform Kelsey that she is to accompany me so it looks like I'm fitting in at Azusa and have friends. We find seats on the front bleacher. There is already a line for initiation. We watch on the screen as each person files down into this tarp-covered and water-filled hole and then up out the other side. Each time someone approaches the hole we hear their thoughts in our heads. They all are thinking "I'm finally one of them. I believe. I've made it." Until one girl gets up and we hear "I don't believe. I'm not sure I want this. What am I doing here?" 

I tell Kelsey that this is the time I have to intervene. I knew something bad was about to happen. There's no time. She approaches the hole. As we watch her wade through, a picture of her body flashes on to the projected screen and suddenly we look over at the hole and she's gone. She's dead. We all know it instantly. 

Kelsey jumps out of her seat and yells "This isn't right! You can't do this! You need to stop this immediately!" The rest of the crowd is confused, but the leaders start rushing towards Kelsey to overtake and quiet her. I must complete my mission. I must expose them for who they are. I run through the gathering crowd and pull the tarp up from over the hole and the dead bodies, including the body of the girl, are exposed for all to see. The crowd is enraged and they turn on the leaders. I fly off through the air to dispose of the tarp that had covered up so much evil. Kelsey is the Aaron to my Moses, and speaks to the crowd to calm them. 

Then I am outside all of this and I see these words on a movie screen before my eyes: "And so began Azusa's purification from the cult and its foundation as a Christian university. These cultic early days are the reason for so much tension between Biola and Azusa." 

I'm so glad it has finally been explained to me.

Oh the Joys of Teaching!

One day more! (Les Mis fans will recognize)

I have almost completed my first full week of teaching, and despite one rowdy class of boys, its been amazing. Not saying I don't love that class, just that it takes a lot of creativity to focus them. And that's what makes it one of my favorite classes, though difficult. I guess I shouldn't complain, cause Kels' rowdy boys class is way more disruptive.

I love my classroom, my kids, and my job! First week positivity coming out, I know, but if I don't put this all down for posterity than I won't have any bright report to look back on when Week 11 hits. Ha! Let's hope I'm still whistling this tune then, right?

Another weekend approaches, another chance to find cheap furniture, explore an unknown part of this beautiful and strange place, and meet new and foreign friends! ONE DAY MORE!

Another fun note of today - I got to hear from the guys on Skype! It was fun seeing their faces, if only for a minute (Ben and Andrew) and also getting to talk (Jeff and Josiah). Yeah!

Ah-Yung-Ha-Se-Yo

... or Something Like That (Hello)

I'm in Korea. What?! I constantly have those moments of reflection where I laugh out loud. It's awesome. Besides the drag of having strep throat my first weekend here, I've really enjoyed getting to explore Seoul. But I will only tell of one such exploration, as it has been the best so far.

Charissa has the most amazing neighborhood. Yes, she's been here way longer so she's established a grocer, a market.... well, a reputation actually. She's the only foreigner and, it goes without saying, everyone's friend. She's the neighborhood blonde. Ha! Well, they all know her and love her (who wouldn't?). So we picked up some pizza, a Korean pear, and packed up a box with this, a blanket, and candles. Oh yes, candles.

We proceed to Olympic Park which is a magical place where one can escape the concrete. It is very oppressive. We climbed up a several flights of wooden stairs and weaved our way through winding pathways of grass and trees, until we came to a hill that overlooked the city. Or part of it, for it is expansive. So fun!

Next, we hopped on her bike, me riding sidesaddle on the back platform over the tire, and rode down to her favorite place in the park - a gazebo-type structure, in the midst of cherry blossom trees. Of course they're not in bloom, but it was still a magical place! We ate ice cream with candles here. I'm telling you, candles add to the adventure tenfold! So here's just a preview to my year in Korea!!

For All My Friends Who Think I'm the Clumsy One

Story 1:

My sister and her friend Shanley were running down an alleyway. Why, you ask? Why not, was their response. I'm not entirely sure of all the particulars in the case but this I do know: Bethany's shoes were slightly loose on her feet.

Imagine, if you will, my sister tripping and diving forward onto the gravelly pavement of the alleyway corridor. I have. Several times. 

She is alive, we can all rejoice, but her arm is a little worse for wear. 

Story 2:

My dad plays tennis; is rather skilled actually. In other words, I will never win a match against him until he is in a wheelchair - and maybe not even then. He passes on his knowledge by giving lessons and was doing one day, about a couple months ago.

Picture a shopping cart full of tennis balls, let's say two hundred. Now picture it tipping over an unseen curb, which also tripped up my dad, and trapping him between its wiry frame and the chain-linked fence behind him. 

Oh how the scattered tennis balls must've rejoiced in their freedom and laughed at the man who clumsily bestowed it.

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As a sidenote, I don't offer these little anecdotes as a way of making fun, rather, they are a very serious endeavor to present my own sometimes-confused equilibrium in their proper familial light.