No Teacher, I didn't break the pencil

We had a little pencil dilemma today... The kids are always comparing pencils, seeing whose is sharpest or longest. For them, this is a big deal! I've told them before, that as long as it still writes, they don't need to use the pencil sharpener. I said this because the pencil sharpener, is this mysterious item that is soooo tempting to them. Once one kid uses it, suddenly they all NEED to. One of my boys held up the pencil and said, "Teacher, Pencil sharpener?" I said no, because it was sharp enough. Not even a minute later, he held it up and said, "Teacher, broken!" I knew exactly what happened. I knew he stuck his pencil the the table crack to break it, just so that he would get a new (sharp) pencil. I asked him how it broke. He said, "Someone broke it!" Haha, someone huh? There was no one else around. I kept asking him because I wanted him to tell the truth. He continued to make an elaborate story of how a ghost came in and broke the pencil when I wasn't looking." Riiiiight. :) It's funny how kids think they can fool adults. I knew all along he was lying, I just wanted him to admit that it truly was himself who broke the pencil. It was a little hard to keep a straight face when he busted out the ghost story! :) Lying is so tempting to kids... The chin began to quiver when I told him that now I don't know when he is lying or telling the truth. Even after all the naughty things they do, at the end of the day, they still want to please those who care about them!

In need of a change

South Korea has the highest suicide rate among young people in the whole world. The number has doubled in the past decade. The number of private schools like mine has doubled in the last decade as well. At 2:30 I have a class of 8 year olds. At 4:00 I have a class of 10 year olds. Both of these classes of students have already been to public school all day long. I recently listened to a man named Christian Lee talk about this issue. He says:

"If I had to go to school at 7:00 in the morning and then school ends at 3:00 or 4:00, and then I had to go to a private English school from 4:00 to 10:00 and then I had to go to some other private school for piano from 10:00 to 11:00. I would come home at midnight, and then get up at 6:00 the next morning and do it all over again...I don't know what I'd do with myself either."

When I look at the "system" this way, it makes me feel guilty that I'm even involved in the very thing that is driving these young people to be so desperate that they would even take their lives. Why am I here teaching in this system? But then Christian Lee went on to say something that caught my attention.

"All of these Christian foreign teachers are teaching these students, just thinking it's for a pay check. What they don't know, is that they're destined for influence. They're not there to get a paycheck, they're there to turn back the suicide rates. They're there to create an environment of creativity for these children that they've never had in public school."

Though I may not teach elementary kids the rest of my life, today I am called to teach my students I've been entrusted with. My students often come moping in after a long day of public school, in which they have to stand up to talk in class or are hit by the teachers if they misbehave. Even seeing their attitude go from unhappy to actually smiling and having fun learning, is such a reward. Though I only have these older students for 2 hours, 3 times a week, I shouldn't let myself have an "off" day where I don't feel like teaching. My words mean something to them and who knows, maybe someday my words or actions would reverse the statistic for one kid. That would be worth it.

Mini-Vacation

It was Korean Thanksgiving this week. The kids looked so cute! I think it's so cool they still dress up like this, even though the country has changed so much. I hope they won't loose these traditions.

Like father, like son.Grandma's gettin serious on this sandcastle.Heels on the beach! What!?Sun bathing in Korea requires and umbrella!Everyone swims fully clothed at the beach, except this brave old man in his speedo. It was pretty funny to watch everyone snickering!

This weekend I am spending a couple of days at the beach in Incheon, about an hour outside of Seoul. My whole plan this weekend was to get away, spend some time alone and just refresh. It's turning out to be a little bit different than what I'd expected. I actually took a bus to the airport and then wanted to take a taxi to the hotel. As I stepped out of the airport, this taxi driver offered to take me where I wanted to go. I thought it sounded a little fishy since there was not a taxi car in sight. He then proceeded to ask me how much I would be willing to pay for the ride. I gave him a confused look, because no taxi driver before has asked me to name my own price. Then he offered a price. It was a ridiculuous amount of money. He thought he could scam me because I'm a foreigner. I knew the hotel was only 10 minutes away, and it sure wouldn't cost $60 to get there! I kept saying no, no, no, and telling him that it was close. He got very frustrated with me and finally left in a huff. Thank goodness I knew enough Korean to prove I'm not a naive American.

I was really looking forward to a bathtub in the hotel room (since I don't have one in my apartment), but sadly there is only a shower. :( I thought, well, I guess I'll just have to take a really long shower. No again, the water never gets much warmer than lukewarm... The little town here is cute. The beach is very tiny, but nice. I didn't realize that the tide is opposite on this side of the world! The tide goes out at night, where as at home it comes in. Interesting!

The restaurant situation is a little tricky too, since the hotel's restaurant is closed and all the restaurants here are the sharing type meal, so you can't go alone. I searched and searched, but couldn't find anything around. I found a fried chicken place, in which I had to order a whole bucket of chicken, because they didn't have personal sizes. Lets just say I paid a lot of money for it and I'm eating chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Both the lady at the chicken restaurant and the two people who randomly came and sat with me on the beach, were very concerned about why I was there alone. They said in Korean, "Where are your friends?" Haha! I guess they thought I would be lonely and came up to keep me company.

Sadly, my camera broke after my first day...so I'm not sure what to do about it.

But, I'm reminded that I didn't come here for the bathtub or the restaurants. I came here to get refreshed, read, write, and be away from noise in the city. Mission accomplished (except for a random rooster that crows all day long on the beach!) :)

Ordinary Beauty

Why does a sunset last only 5 minutes? Tonight I got off work a little early, so I ate dinner quickly, so I could go out to the bridge near my house to catch the sunset. It's amazing to me that you can physically see the sun moving, minute after minute as it sets, yet we can't even feel that we are moving around it! As I stood there for probably 15 minutes, many people hurried by on the bridge. Some gave me funny looks, as if to say, "Why are you wasting time up here on a bridge, just standing around?" Others were too busy to even look up from their walking or biking. I stood there looking at the beauty of the sunset, wondering how people could walk by and not even notice it! To them it's become ordinary. Sadly most days I "don't have time" to stand there either. It makes me wonder what other ordinary things I miss the beauty in.

The sunset only lasts a few minutes. As I stood there watching, I felt like saying, "Wait! Don't go down yet, it's only been 5 minutes!" Of course my wishing has no impact on the sun. Soon the sunlight is replaced with artificial city lights, which don't hardly compare. I couldn't help but notice the cooler fall breeze blow my hair. I feel like I've kind of let this summer pass without even noticing. Maybe it's because it's the first summer I've been working (aside from camp), but really I think it's because this summer I've been so busy "do"ing things, that I haven't had time to be a human "be"ing. I think a lot...or at least I used too. I realized as I was standing there, that I miss spending time alone, thinking, journaling, just being.

That led me to think that I've become so wrapped up in the things I do, that I've forgotten how to be the actual me! Earlier today I was pulling on some athletic shorts after work and for some reason volleyball crossed my mind. I have great memories of being on sports teams in high school, particularly my favorite, volleyball. I kind of miss those days of competition, intensity, training and just being part of a team. Though I could join some sort of league now, I'll never be able to play like I did in high school. It's not only volleyball, but some day I'll never be able to do any of the things I like to do. One day my legs will be too weak to run, my hands will be too shaky to write and my voice will be too frail to sing. I need to remember that these things are not who I am, they are merely what I do. The real me is a whole lot more than the things I do.

Korean Wedding #2

Look what I found! I took a double take when I saw the block M, and sure enough it is a Michigan Dentist! Not quite sure what that means exactly, but maybe he studied at UofM. Who would have ever guess finding a piece of my hometown in Seoul!

Cool class project!

I thought this was a cute picture of one of my kids holding my hand on the bus on the way to our class' "farm" field trip part 3.

Today I went to my second Korean wedding. One of my Korean co-workers got married. I was so surprised that this wedding was so different than my last one. Now I'm curious which one is typical. I have a feeling the first one was more typical. This one today, was more like a catholic wedding that I've been to in the States. Today's was in a catholic church, unlike the other in the wedding hall. She looked so beautiful!!

I really don't know much about catholicism, having grown up in a protestant church. I went to the wedding with most of my co-workers. I don't know all the rituals and liturgies in the catholic church...well, and they were in Korean :) I know some really strong Christians who are catholic and much prefer that style of worship, but I think it's harder for me, and I prefer a more contemporary church. Anyway, it was some of my co-workers first time in church. This wedding was all they know of church. Since they know I'm a Christian, they automatically think this is the kind of church I go to. They were confused when I did not get up for communion (I couldn't because I'm not catholic). Though of course God can meet us anywhere, I was still a little bummed that they only saw the ritualistic view of church and from their experience today, have no interest in going back...