July 31st- Swimming!

Swimming pools in Korea are definitely interesting. We went to one today, and just as I had anticipated, it was shallow all the way around. But, despite the lackluster appearance, I had a ton of fun. We literally catapulted the students into the water, and I would just like to say that I got back at my overactive ones by throwing them over my shoulder into the chilly water. I fee like we are really getting to develop relationships with our students, which makes teaching all the more bearable. Aside from having a blast in the pool, we spent the night exchanging jokes with our Korean friends, Lee and Patrick- I use their American names for confusions sake- and it just so happens that they are completely hysterical.

Earlier on in the evening we took the city bus to Outback Steakhouse. I regret spending 25,000 won, an equivalent to about 20 USD on a steak. Sometimes a gentle rub from Americanized food helps you to focus and stay sane aside from the daily rations of Kim-chi and sticky rice. We found ourselves in the middle of a Korean hornets nest of designer shops and clothing stores, decked out with white lights, and trendy signs. Consumerism is ripe in this culture to say the least. When faith depletes, consumerist notions emerge. The bus system in Korea is spectacular, it is only 1,000 won to ride the bus practical anywhere, and juxtaposing that with a jolting taxi ride coming in around 20,000 won, I prefer the cheap route, and the metro transit experience as a whole. Just like any other city of 600,000 people, Jeonju has many different styles and looks. I saw two white people today and stared at them, it's amazing how accustomed i've become at just seeing asian faces, that the appearance of a white person almost startles me. Korea is predominately homogeneous society, with mostly Korean people residing there. So on a given day, I see Korean after Korea, and practically no other multiethnic people whatsoever.

The zeitgeist of Korea right now could be most positively defined as: luxuriously stagnant. Koreans are a hard working, intelligent bevy of people, dedicated to superiority in their studies, hard work on the side, and a dictum of progression. All the links in the chain connect when one throws in money, attributed to their incessant hard working ideology, and the emergence of designer ideals and Americanism into their culture. Everybody dresses classy. The Koreans make Americans look like slobs and unprofessional bandits. Nevertheless, depending on your persuasion toward formidable fashion, luxury is only a means to show how much you have accomplished. To me, this is all fleeting, however, to some, it is a lifestyle nonetheless. Koreans are classy, and aside from their streets being littered profusely, they are generally speaking, a kind people group. Though spending 200,000 won on a pair of Levis may seem a bit steep, they look good. And everybody wants to look good.

All in all today was a full, enriching day. I got to sleep in an hour extra, and I read an intriguing article about North Korea's soccer team being ignominiously mauled by their own countries media by their inefficient performance in the World Cup. I am eagerly awaiting the day when I can head home, but until then, I will be taking in the sights and sounds of Korea, and taking notes along the way.

Goodnight from Jeonju, South Korea
David

July 29th- The Trials of Teaching

Apart from being called ugly, big nosed and essentially ridiculed during class, my day was quite honestly from the pits of hell. If my heart were a stained glass window, it would have shattered into a slew of vibrant colors. I wish this metaphor was not fictional, because I would make my students walk barefoot across the mess they've created. I disciplined a student today, a young girl whose utter cuteness almost begs of you to let her get away with murder. This is a picture of her. Quite possibly the most adorable little girl ever, but looks are definitely deceiving. This little tiger has got a paw full of claws, and a bucketful of insolence. I made her stand in the hallway outside of the classroom and stare at the wall for an hour and a half. I wish I could feel pity for her, but I do not at this moment at all. My self-esteem was smacked hard on today, and it made me reconsider my career choice. But now that I have had some time to blow of steam and decompress, I have decided that there are flukes in just about everything, and jerks in even more, but it's my job to stay consistent amidst it all. This is the drawing they doodled on the board for me when I initially entered into the classroom. Ironically enough, the thoughtful sketch was done by who else than the little devil herself. This of course didn't assuage any of the pain she had caused prior to the art. I taught the rest of the afternoon reluctantly and found myself beginning to fade considerably early. I sit in my dorm room in JeonJu searching desperately for a dictum stating that committing two years here is worth it. The utter disrespect on my students part was just plain rude, however, I will move forward, and I hope to teach them more and more fluidly as the days progress.
Grudges don't pave roads, they burn bridges instead. I just hope that my students will begin to respect me as time rolls on, and before the team departs to Seoul in two weeks, I hope to have impacted at least one of their lives for the better.

Later in the evening we had a team get to together with the Korean Assistants and our team. We all shared pizza! I love pizza, and the fact that all I have been eating is rice, just adds to how much more I love pizza. It was an interesting experience sharing with the Koreans our lives and culture, and not to mention their outlook as well. It's amazing how similar we all are.

July 28th- 21st Birthday in JeonJu South Korea

I was quite taken by the amber sunlight that flooded through my dormitory window this morning. I let my aching, sleepy body linger in its warm light. As the honey hued floor boards were set shimmering with a golden glow, I arose in the silent breath of morning. The gentle hues of Northern Korea blew across the landscape, and I headed to class in a groggy state. Upon arriving I noticed that the lights in my room were not on. I eased into the darkness- and as I flicked on the light switch I heard a unison exclamation of, "Happy Birthday Teacher David!" Quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen occurred right in front of my very eyes. Three little girls threw notes in the folded guise of airplanes at my head. Only one or two of them made contact with me at all. It was the most precious birthday surprise I have ever seen or heard about. My students are absolute gems.

Class was the ritualistic set of methodically processes as it always is. I am finding it increasingly hard for myself to even find interest in the subject matter, let alone teach it creatively. I have no training in conventional teaching methods, so the application of proven methods is not relevant to me since I do not have the slightest idea of what those are. But the birthday cake that my students drew for me on the board, along with the curvy happy birthday wishes scrawled hastily sufficed just enough. After class I had a pleasant surprise. The Korean staff organized a birthday party for me as a suprise. So this was two surprise birthday fiestas. The first one was my class, and the second was in the guise of a staff meeting. The cake I received from the Korean staff was brought up to Amanda my fellow teacher's room on the eighteenth floor of the complex for our nightly devotions as a team. I originally felt a bit melancholy due to my circumstances, those being, the fact that I am overseas, and not with my loved ones. I also signed a contracted stating that no alcohol is to be drank while I'm sojourning here. Obligatorily, I am under no convictions, however I must feign as though I am on this trip. My stance toward alcoholic beverages is a bit lax in the light of others on my team.

As the light began to wan, and elongated shadows stretched their weary arms across the obsidian pavement, a gentle prick of sunlight brushed it's lips across the horizon, and clouds jettied the whimsical darkness from approaching too quickly. My team took me out to pizza, and I had my fill of American food. Homely foods are a solace when traveling abroad, and quite honestly helps you keep your sanity. My team members treated me with geniality and warmth, and though nothing can compensate for the tenderness of my family and friends back home, my team did a very good job at sating my anxiety with love. Though I did not feel at all dolorous during the course of the day, I still at this moment am feeling the tinge of homesickness.

Although there is no immediate remedy for acute homesickness, I still had an awesome 21st birthday. And even though I can not consume any alcoholic beverages- at the moment- when I find myself at home, drinks are on me.

Cheers from JeonJu, South Korea,
your finally of age writer,
David

July 27th- JeonJu English Camp

It was an extremely hot and humid day outside today. The utter monotony of life as an English teacher is beginning to catch up to me. I have decided that I will pursue a righteous attitude that stands above reproach, no matter what. The classroom was more responsive than normal, however, headaches have still occurred. At the end of the day I feel exhausted and drained of all my energy. Though my mental faculties are nonexistent by the end of the day, I still remain optimistic. South Korea is culturally heavy, but with a little but of laughter, homesickness can by assuaged for at least a little while longer.

Here is a poem I just wrote about my Father
Childhood

I would lay awake
as a child, drifting
in and out of dreams-

Those silk threads spinning
in a tapestry of colors
and dreams newly birthed-

My infant heart kept time
with the steady pulse of
my Father's snoring-

Resounding through the wooden
beams of our home, and
within my child-like bones

was a pledge of sanctuary,
where dreams were havens
and sound a solace.

I now sleep with a fan, and
whether it's the subtle purr
of a whirring turbine

that shuts my heavy eyes
night by night, I will
never know-

But every night I hear
his grumbling odes of
protection, the impregnable

strength of his arms, and
the reassuring light
in his brown eyes-

While the blade slices the
heavy air, I hear melodies
spinning eager threads

about my mind, and I ease
into sleep, surrendering to
sound one more time.

July 26th- A Journal Entry

Aldous Huxley wrote this about intellectualism, "An intellectual is a person who's found one thing more interesting than sex." I could not agree more. But isn't the Christian lifestyle supposed to be in the same category? If I simply replaced the adjective, "intellectual" with the adjective and action-verb, "Christian", it would read like so, "A Christian is a person who's found one thing more interesting than sex."

We as Christians are called to live a pure and unstained life, ignorant if you will, of the corroding evils of society. To remain unblemished in the sight of God. I used to desire intellectualism for intellectualism's sake, now, I desire to be an intellectual grafted in with the skin of Christ. The difference is not great, the pain still burdening, but the results all the more rewarding.

cheers,
David

July 26th- WanJu English Camp

Started the afternoon with a cultural clash, not the best way to commence a new English camp. My blog is nascent, and showing signs of maturity, though a thorough proofreading is in order. My morning started off with sweat, as the A/C is turned off at around seven am. The Opening Ceremony was primarily spoken in Korean, so I just sat and listened to line after line of syllables align themselves like a DNA strand and go in one ear and quickly out the other. But what was rather daft of me is that I did not dress up for the ceremony. I did not receive the memo. Upon arriving I, and Josh, were asked to go and promptly change. Quite honestly, this surprised me, because in my mind I was looking good, whether I was sporting sandals or not. Scott had to race Josh and myself across campus to the dormitory to grab a change of clothes. I went in looking like a train wreck, and came out looking rather suave, I say all this without the slightest hint of pretentiousness. We were greeted by warm smiles and clapping, and whether they were in jest or not, I have yet to determine.

After my mishap, the afternoon commenced quite smoothly, and I was in my classroom by three. My class is filled with precious kids, who have seemed to respect me. We played a couple of games and I soon left the bevy of starry eyed students, and made down the hill in the blinding Korean sunlight. The sun was incredibly bright, scorching, and eating away at my skin with tiny mouthfuls of light. I had a couple of minutes to collect my thoughts and wait until the rally. The rally was superb, thereafter, the team and myself had a spontaneous dance. We cranked old nineties tunes and let our bodies groove- with the lights on, mind you. The night assisted in turning my attitude from pessimism toward optimism, and that has and will make all the difference in the outcome of the remainder of my trip.

My evening at WanJu English camp was spectacular. We played a version of rock-paper-scissors, where giants beat wizards, and wizards beat elves, but elves, being the sly little creatures that they are known to be, beat the giants. They do not accomplish this task by mere brute force, but rather with a tactical array of oppositional strategies. Both teams would dash toward each other and present their character, the loser would them sprint back to their wall, hoping not to get tagged. While we were in the propinquity of a work out station which was conveniently alfresco. I stripped down to my boxers along with two of the guys on my team and began the work out. We did an amalgam of workouts, including, push-ups, sit-ups, and a mix of other things. I got my workout in and headed back to the room.

I sit here in my extremely Air-conditioned room in a state of tranquility. I am reluctant to start the day tomorrow at eight am. Goodnight from JeonJu, South Korea

-David

July 24- 25th- JeonJu and Iksan English Camp

We travelled from Jeonju to church today in Iksan, and the forty minute commute did not seem at all like it was forty minutes. I know that you, my audience, are experiencing this trip to Korea vicariously, and possibly even skirting around the bulk of the text, but know that my intensions are to give you an accurate portrayal of what I am experiencing, whether that be by describing- in detail- my incessant headaches, nausea, frustration and/or joy. Teaching through a language barrier, and navigating young minds with gesticulations is not the easiest, or most pretty way of doing things. But I have learned to love it nonetheless. My Korean Assistant Mariane. Seeing kids faces light up with a warm glow is enough to fall in love with the pain, and push forward into excellence. Sometimes God isolates you, and you begin to feel lonely, but through those trying circumstances He is perfecting you. My team member Dan said it to me quite elegantly- that one should count it as a blessing that Jesus is stretching you in that way, and that when times get tough, you can do nothing else but lean on Him who comforts you- and I would have to agree completely.

Teaching is a stretching endeavor, complete with nuts, quarks, quirks and drama. If sarcasm wasn't such a vast chunk of my character, I would have probably hung up the towel by now. stream of conscience: The word Trowel is a beautiful word. I cannot find a particular usage for the word trowel at the moment, therefore, I will leave it be. But for future reference the word means, "a small hand-held tool with a flat, pointed blade, used to apply and spread mortar or plaster." I am occasionally quite tangential. My erratic mind assists me in keeping sanity- and sanity is whatever you deem it to be- in the classroom. We wrapped up the ceremonies in Iksan with a bucketful of smiles and a handful of laughter. I didn't see the night sky on the 24th, but I'm sure the stars were welling up like tears in thick black eyes of Southeast Asia.

I had to discipline more students, and though I saw many tear filled eyes of rebuked adolescent decadency I took no pity. It is quite difficult to teach when the noise in the room overweighs the voice in my head that has a calculated method of progress. Progress has met absolute regression. The rally was ill-planned and ill-coordinated, notwithstanding, we trudged forward, and my class preformed the song, "God is so Good". We also had the skit of the Fiery Furnace as well, whereupon, we scrapped it last minute. I was kind of bummed because it was a purely original script written by me. Life moves on I guess, and so do TEFL teachers. I was surprised at the sheer amount of parents, namely mothers, that approached my genially afterward. They all had beaming smiles and wore a positive countenance. I snapped picture after picture with my students, who were mostly 5th graders. I even received a gift basket from an amiable mother, complete with chocolate, plastic Korean statues and a note folded with the precision of origami. This note was from my student Ho San, who just so happened to be the drummer for the song. I parted with my students, and made the forty minute commute back to JeonJu to commence the WanJu English Camp.

Sunday was like every other Sunday. I got up -waited for the bus- which is almost always at least thirty minutes behind schedule, and went to church. I preformed with my team member Christy, Phil Wickham's, "True Love". We played decently for having no practice, which is a Korean cultural disparity to American culture, and then afterwards waited for our bus again. Soon we found that the driver was fast asleep the back seat, so with a bit of hesitation, I opened the passenger door and startled him. In about three minutes we were on our way to JeonJu University.

The night ended quietly, with the A/C blowing chilly tufts of air into the moisture ridden air. First day of teaching at WanJu English camp in the morning.
Goodnight from JeonJu, South Korea,
Your humble writer, and avid stone thrower,
David