THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Day one in the land of 10 billion islands, or something like that, we were off to the longest underground river in the world. The book called the road "butt smacking" but as with everything here the Filipinos just go for it with what they've got.
We should have learned from the night of our arrival that nothing is what it seems here. The guy who grabbed our bag and loaded us on his tricycle at the airport seemed like the consummate rip off sales person trying to milk the white people for all they had. A tricycle, by the way, is a motorbike with an elaborate side car attached which carries between two and twelve people at a time if most of them are under the age of six. So as we were making our way into town our driver tried to sell us everything from private tours to the top accommodations in town. Of course he knows all these guys personally.
We were going for budget accommodation of course but the first place we found from the book left us scared. It's raining and dark by this time. We've been weaving in and out of clouds of these tricycles, which are standard transportation in the Philippines, the hostel is dark, has a closed and broken bamboo gate while the building looks more like salvage from a slum than an accommodation for tourists. So where did we turn for help but to our con artist tricycle driver. At this point he surprised us by performing as a class act chauffeur who took us is circles to find a clean, tidy place to sleep. All for one low price. By the time we went into the place he had convinced us of the legitimacy of his tour out to the underground river. He left us with his cell number and a heartfelt plea to book through him and not the hostel owner because he would get an extra kilo of rice for his hungry family.
THE SECRET RIVER
Thus we found ourselves making our way down the surprisingly possible road to the hidden river. As we went we watched life in the Philippines happening around us. Buses were loaded to bursting with pigs riding on top. (That however was nothing compared to the roosters that flew as carry on luggage on a modern jet plane ). We drove past the long horned oxen right there just like National Geographic, plowing the rice paddies, while next to them the single modern machine was paving the road in a hundred small concrete sections. The contrast of seeing agriculture done the same way it has been for thousands of years while riding in an air conditioned van was almost too strange to comprehend. It still took us two hours to travel about 50 km.
The underground river park was everything we were promised and more: Beautiful vistas, palm tree covered beaches, round mountains riddled with caves, monkeys and monitor lizards along the path and four exceptionally effeminate Filipino boys with us in the van. The lizards and monkeys almost made me poop myself. It's not every day that you're happily strolling down a forest path and see something from the corner of your eye only to realize it's a five foot long lizard. "Oh my stars!" I wanted to get down and play with the little cuties in the worst way but something about losing my hand held me back. The river was an incredible 2 km trip into the heart of a mountain and by the time we made it back to the van I was so tired that I fell sound asleep on the butt smacking road back home.
WHAT IS REAL?
After our return from tropical paradise we decided it was time to explore real life in the Philippines so we set out on foot to see how 200,000 something Filipinos live everyday in our city of Purto Princessa. From the roof of our hostel we had a striking view of the harbor and the ramshackle homes built one on top of another while stretching way out out over the water on stilts and piers. That's where we headed first. As we wove down roads and back streets we saw families living with less than we could imagine owning yet not miserable, sad or destitute in the way one might expect. They were just living with what they had but surprisingly... they appeared to be happy! They were pointing at us and laughing, every little kid shouting hello while playing games in the street. People were running their shops and talking with their neighbors. We came across a basketball game on a tiny outdoor court jammed between buildings with only one hoop. But there was the ref, two teams, one in uniform, and the whole community cheering them on just like a school ball game back home. As we stopped to take in the entertainment it dawned on me that this, right in front of me, was real life. They were living life trying to reach the same kinds of goals that we reach for. Just without all the window dressing and wealth that makes our Western lifestyles such an unusual existence. Standing there right in front of me was what most of the world sees as normal life. This is what most of the people in the world do. This is how they live. Without their comfortable bungalow in the suburbs. And for the most part they find a way to be happy.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
GETTING WARMED UP
A CHANGE OF SCENERY
One day out of class with the little kiddies yelping at your heals "teacher, teacher" all day we hit the streets of Hong Kong! Fantastic! Right? I mean if you don't mind waiting two hours in line to take a tram up the side of the mountain. Not a big deal because we knew that we were in the middle of a big Asian holiday. What we didn't expect was that the line must have been full of the Koreans we thought we had left behind. When the timid Chinese guard opened the gate to line up in front of the trolley you would have thought we were in a mosh pit at a Grateful Dead concert rather than going for a scenic ride up a mountain to see the city. The crowd surged forward in a mass like they were running from the Bolshavik Commies. I was amazed no one got trampled. However after our bone crushing wait in line was over we got to ride this tram train car almost vertically up the side of the mountain. Great views! There we watched the sun slide below the horizon on one of the most famous skylines in the world. Peace, serenity and what an amazing view. I'm gonna love Hong Kong.
IT'S VEGAS BABY
So if Asians like to gamble there are not a lot of places to do it. The only casino in Seoul is only open to foreigners. Then there's Macau island, where gambling is not only allowed but it makes their world turn. After an hour on the ferry from Hong Kong I was expecting a shabby little island town but was I in for a surprise. It's Vegas Baby! Lights shows and sparking lights everywhere. But you're gonna pay cause it's expensive. Having said that before plunging into the hedonistic strip we went to see the colonial past and that was were the real magic was. Plazas and piazzas, castles and churches, chaos and serenity all built on top of each other. We thought we were in Europe taken over by Asia. Great architecture and history everywhere. We even stopped to catch the end of Mass from the square behind the cathedral.
IT'S A DIFFERENT WORLD
From Hong Kong we flew across the sea of China to the Philippines. Welcome to Paradise...and sunburns for us pink skinned people. As our plane flew into Porta Princessa from the Capital of Manila we knew our standard of living was about to change. I mean we arrived on a 373 and there was a terminal off the runway but after we walked down the stairs from the plane we were pointed to a lean to attached to the side of the building. There was an outdoor luggage rack which sort of worked. Most of us walked over t0 the baggage handlers cart and grabbed our own bags before it rained on them Then as we were checking in with the passport guy who used a flashlight to read our documents a little toad ran for cover from the impending downpour under our feet. At this point we realized we were not in Kansas, or Korea for that matter, anymore.
One day out of class with the little kiddies yelping at your heals "teacher, teacher" all day we hit the streets of Hong Kong! Fantastic! Right? I mean if you don't mind waiting two hours in line to take a tram up the side of the mountain. Not a big deal because we knew that we were in the middle of a big Asian holiday. What we didn't expect was that the line must have been full of the Koreans we thought we had left behind. When the timid Chinese guard opened the gate to line up in front of the trolley you would have thought we were in a mosh pit at a Grateful Dead concert rather than going for a scenic ride up a mountain to see the city. The crowd surged forward in a mass like they were running from the Bolshavik Commies. I was amazed no one got trampled. However after our bone crushing wait in line was over we got to ride this tram train car almost vertically up the side of the mountain. Great views! There we watched the sun slide below the horizon on one of the most famous skylines in the world. Peace, serenity and what an amazing view. I'm gonna love Hong Kong.
IT'S VEGAS BABY
So if Asians like to gamble there are not a lot of places to do it. The only casino in Seoul is only open to foreigners. Then there's Macau island, where gambling is not only allowed but it makes their world turn. After an hour on the ferry from Hong Kong I was expecting a shabby little island town but was I in for a surprise. It's Vegas Baby! Lights shows and sparking lights everywhere. But you're gonna pay cause it's expensive. Having said that before plunging into the hedonistic strip we went to see the colonial past and that was were the real magic was. Plazas and piazzas, castles and churches, chaos and serenity all built on top of each other. We thought we were in Europe taken over by Asia. Great architecture and history everywhere. We even stopped to catch the end of Mass from the square behind the cathedral.
IT'S A DIFFERENT WORLD
From Hong Kong we flew across the sea of China to the Philippines. Welcome to Paradise...and sunburns for us pink skinned people. As our plane flew into Porta Princessa from the Capital of Manila we knew our standard of living was about to change. I mean we arrived on a 373 and there was a terminal off the runway but after we walked down the stairs from the plane we were pointed to a lean to attached to the side of the building. There was an outdoor luggage rack which sort of worked. Most of us walked over t0 the baggage handlers cart and grabbed our own bags before it rained on them Then as we were checking in with the passport guy who used a flashlight to read our documents a little toad ran for cover from the impending downpour under our feet. At this point we realized we were not in Kansas, or Korea for that matter, anymore.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Singapore
From one pot to the next
It was immediately evident that we were no longer in Korea as we stepped from the airport onto the subway which was exploding with conversation, laughter and musical voices in new languages. What a change from the stoic calm of a subway in Seoul. While the people here are a beautiful array of colours, faces and sizes, again a contrast to the homogony of Korea, we are no less a minority here. The first night we were walking near our hostel in Little India while the occasional white faces popped through (clearly tourists like us) we were in a sea of unfamiliar culture. The first night we stumbled across a major Indian festival and the restaurants were open all night along with the flower shops and places full of hooks and awful tools the Indians use to prove they feel no pain.
Ivory towers
What a beautiful city. The Quays (pronounced keys as Eileen keeps reminding me) are elegant waterfronts flowing through the downtown of a super modern, architecturally stunning city. The waterfront is littered with English style pubs, Chinese seafood restaurants, museums and landmarks. We began at Raffle's place which is the skyscraper central of beautifully designed towers. We crisscrossed the bridges on the quays while enjoying the Merlion (yes the Merlion, part lion, part fish) fountain who guards the city at the harbour. He has become one of the cities iconic symbols. Finally we found our way into the air conditioned downtown shopping malls. Huge and full of all things North American and Asian I would have believe that we were in Canada except that the clientele where a beautiful Asian rainbow with nary a white face among them. Not only did I feel like I was in Canada but the Asians dress Western, walk Western, and shop Western with many Asian brands thrown in for good measure. We ended the day in China town where you can find anything from gorgeous silk clothing to the latest in stylish sunglasses.
Tropical paradise
Yesterday it was time for a change of pace and we hopped a ferry across the China sea to Indonesia. We wove our way through a choppy sea between walls and walls of ships into the open water. We spend a day on beautiful beaches where Eileen found the palm tree leaning over the hammock on the beach she's always dreamed of finding. The water was wavy from the winter monsoons on the east coast but cool and refreshing. Strangely as it is off season the resort was almost empty aside from staff. So we haunted the beautiful empty beaches by ourselves. After only one day of sunburn to show for our adventure we headed back to Singapore.
It was immediately evident that we were no longer in Korea as we stepped from the airport onto the subway which was exploding with conversation, laughter and musical voices in new languages. What a change from the stoic calm of a subway in Seoul. While the people here are a beautiful array of colours, faces and sizes, again a contrast to the homogony of Korea, we are no less a minority here. The first night we were walking near our hostel in Little India while the occasional white faces popped through (clearly tourists like us) we were in a sea of unfamiliar culture. The first night we stumbled across a major Indian festival and the restaurants were open all night along with the flower shops and places full of hooks and awful tools the Indians use to prove they feel no pain.
Ivory towers
What a beautiful city. The Quays (pronounced keys as Eileen keeps reminding me) are elegant waterfronts flowing through the downtown of a super modern, architecturally stunning city. The waterfront is littered with English style pubs, Chinese seafood restaurants, museums and landmarks. We began at Raffle's place which is the skyscraper central of beautifully designed towers. We crisscrossed the bridges on the quays while enjoying the Merlion (yes the Merlion, part lion, part fish) fountain who guards the city at the harbour. He has become one of the cities iconic symbols. Finally we found our way into the air conditioned downtown shopping malls. Huge and full of all things North American and Asian I would have believe that we were in Canada except that the clientele where a beautiful Asian rainbow with nary a white face among them. Not only did I feel like I was in Canada but the Asians dress Western, walk Western, and shop Western with many Asian brands thrown in for good measure. We ended the day in China town where you can find anything from gorgeous silk clothing to the latest in stylish sunglasses.
Tropical paradise
Yesterday it was time for a change of pace and we hopped a ferry across the China sea to Indonesia. We wove our way through a choppy sea between walls and walls of ships into the open water. We spend a day on beautiful beaches where Eileen found the palm tree leaning over the hammock on the beach she's always dreamed of finding. The water was wavy from the winter monsoons on the east coast but cool and refreshing. Strangely as it is off season the resort was almost empty aside from staff. So we haunted the beautiful empty beaches by ourselves. After only one day of sunburn to show for our adventure we headed back to Singapore.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Working
Koreans kids work hard. I've got a room full of elementary school students who grab a snack after school before running to catch the academy bus, finish my class to get the 4 to 8 pages of homework multiplied by the six 6 hours of class at our academy each week. Last week I was leaving the school after work to walk into a crowd of students flooding out of a math academy down the street and I saw one of my students who had left my class 2 hours earlier. It's busy. Often they get home after 10 or 11 at night to sit down to dinner that their mother has kept warm for them. One girl says she does her homework first as eating dinner puts her to sleep before she's finished homework. And these kids are all in grade 6 or less!
Eileen found some stats on the internet saying that working Koreans average over 200 hours more than Canadians every year. That's 4 extra hours every week including holidays. And don't get me started on holidays. If a holiday falls on a Saturday that's the day you get off. There are no days in lue. Then when it comes to actual holidays most companies don't offer them until you've worked for the company two years. Finally there's the question of actually taking the holidays once you've earned them. I was talking to one Korean friend who suggested in some offices they are hesitant to actually use those holidays because of office pressure so many many of those hard earned holidays end up being paid out. Sounds painful right. Maybe not as much as you'd think.
Popular topics of discussion over lunch with my other teachers includes picking apart Korea's apparent cultural weaknesses that will eventually kill their success. This is in despite of the astronomical growth they've created in the last few decades. This includes everything from phobia of foreigners, to the authoritarian management structures, to lack of creativity and entrepreneurship. I tend to disagree. While I certainly have kids who show up regularly without their homework completed, it's sometimes surprising what they do learn through the six hours of class they have each week. Then there are the students who write the essays declaring their national pride in the strength of the education that Korean students get by the time they graduate. Some of our teachers have taken issue with foreigner comments about the excess of education given students here. One teacher argued "what's wrong with working hard so your country gets ahead while improving your personal standard of living." Looking at how far Korea has come from a poor developing country to an essentially first world experience it's hard to argue.
Eileen found some stats on the internet saying that working Koreans average over 200 hours more than Canadians every year. That's 4 extra hours every week including holidays. And don't get me started on holidays. If a holiday falls on a Saturday that's the day you get off. There are no days in lue. Then when it comes to actual holidays most companies don't offer them until you've worked for the company two years. Finally there's the question of actually taking the holidays once you've earned them. I was talking to one Korean friend who suggested in some offices they are hesitant to actually use those holidays because of office pressure so many many of those hard earned holidays end up being paid out. Sounds painful right. Maybe not as much as you'd think.
Popular topics of discussion over lunch with my other teachers includes picking apart Korea's apparent cultural weaknesses that will eventually kill their success. This is in despite of the astronomical growth they've created in the last few decades. This includes everything from phobia of foreigners, to the authoritarian management structures, to lack of creativity and entrepreneurship. I tend to disagree. While I certainly have kids who show up regularly without their homework completed, it's sometimes surprising what they do learn through the six hours of class they have each week. Then there are the students who write the essays declaring their national pride in the strength of the education that Korean students get by the time they graduate. Some of our teachers have taken issue with foreigner comments about the excess of education given students here. One teacher argued "what's wrong with working hard so your country gets ahead while improving your personal standard of living." Looking at how far Korea has come from a poor developing country to an essentially first world experience it's hard to argue.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Top ten reasons our trip to Sokcho rocked
10 I've always wanted to spend 8 hours driving 300k to prove it could be done
9 Why wouldn't you stick a corn dog back in the grease with a bite out of it?
8 The beach
7 Watching the the jealous Korean drivers as 6 apparently healthy Weygook climbed out at the best parking spot at Sorak because some pretty young girl sweet talked the Ajushi
6 Beth's anti constipation muffins which tasted great and finally came through with flare on day three
5 Dave's calm management of wet bed sheets, obnoxious hallway talking, and the loud party next door where 5 dogs were taking advantage of one lonley girl who was looking for love in all the wrong places
4 Badminton that left my feet in a comma but soft as a babies bum
3 Ryan proving that even toy motorbikes can be dangerous but not necessarily fatal
2 The masochist, need I say more
1 Thank you Eileen for the newest in a line of trendy new designer words that will make you the dandy of any party conversation "moho"
9 Why wouldn't you stick a corn dog back in the grease with a bite out of it?
8 The beach
7 Watching the the jealous Korean drivers as 6 apparently healthy Weygook climbed out at the best parking spot at Sorak because some pretty young girl sweet talked the Ajushi
6 Beth's anti constipation muffins which tasted great and finally came through with flare on day three
5 Dave's calm management of wet bed sheets, obnoxious hallway talking, and the loud party next door where 5 dogs were taking advantage of one lonley girl who was looking for love in all the wrong places
4 Badminton that left my feet in a comma but soft as a babies bum
3 Ryan proving that even toy motorbikes can be dangerous but not necessarily fatal
2 The masochist, need I say more
1 Thank you Eileen for the newest in a line of trendy new designer words that will make you the dandy of any party conversation "moho"
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Early Monsoon Season in Seoul
The misty haze of an Asian monsoon season hangs on the lonely mountain peak
The hills echo with he cries of a thousand tiny frogs hiding on the damp earth under leaves
The lush green of the hills are masked by a dark night that still holds the heat of day
It's a quiet night as I survey thousands of homes piled on top of each other and reaching for the sky
The warm blue glow of lonely televisions shine through windows that dot the view like mysterious lights in a cave
Looking from the edge of a wild wilderness up at the granite faces of the mountain is a serenity that makes Seoul so beautifully Asian
Behind me begins a tangled maze of tall buildings that stretches to the horizon and holds the crush of humanity that is so quintessentially Eastern
The hills echo with he cries of a thousand tiny frogs hiding on the damp earth under leaves
The lush green of the hills are masked by a dark night that still holds the heat of day
It's a quiet night as I survey thousands of homes piled on top of each other and reaching for the sky
The warm blue glow of lonely televisions shine through windows that dot the view like mysterious lights in a cave
Looking from the edge of a wild wilderness up at the granite faces of the mountain is a serenity that makes Seoul so beautifully Asian
Behind me begins a tangled maze of tall buildings that stretches to the horizon and holds the crush of humanity that is so quintessentially Eastern
Monday, April 28, 2008
Classroom Shenanigans
Thick as Thieves
So Hyun and Dino are two of my older students who tend to cause a little trouble. Hyun is taller than the other students and it looks like he his puberty about a year ahead of the rest of the class. Dino is about a foot shorter than everyone else but a pretty smart kid. So last week I walk into class and I ask "where's Dino"? The class starts joking that he's sleeping on the bus. So I begin our daily test and we're just about finished when Dino wanders into class all sleepy and sullen. Of course the class erupts. It turns out he really was sleeping on the bus and Hyun told everybody to leave him and sneak away! Twenty minutes later Dino wakes up to an empty bus. While I couldn't stop laughing I suggested that Dino needed to upgrade the quality of his friends.
Violence in School
These are all elementary students but they can really give it to each other. So yesterday David is really giving out to Anna across the classroom. I have to admit in these conflicts I always tend to feel more sympathy for the girls because guys should be able to take it. So she finally get up after looking at me, walks around the classroom, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time to see how I'll respond. Finally walks behind the boy and slugs him for all she's worth in the shoulder. I decided that this was justice and asked Anna to have a seat so we could begin class.
So Hyun and Dino are two of my older students who tend to cause a little trouble. Hyun is taller than the other students and it looks like he his puberty about a year ahead of the rest of the class. Dino is about a foot shorter than everyone else but a pretty smart kid. So last week I walk into class and I ask "where's Dino"? The class starts joking that he's sleeping on the bus. So I begin our daily test and we're just about finished when Dino wanders into class all sleepy and sullen. Of course the class erupts. It turns out he really was sleeping on the bus and Hyun told everybody to leave him and sneak away! Twenty minutes later Dino wakes up to an empty bus. While I couldn't stop laughing I suggested that Dino needed to upgrade the quality of his friends.
Violence in School
These are all elementary students but they can really give it to each other. So yesterday David is really giving out to Anna across the classroom. I have to admit in these conflicts I always tend to feel more sympathy for the girls because guys should be able to take it. So she finally get up after looking at me, walks around the classroom, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time to see how I'll respond. Finally walks behind the boy and slugs him for all she's worth in the shoulder. I decided that this was justice and asked Anna to have a seat so we could begin class.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand, who knew this would be the most fantastic place I've seen on earth. The mountains rise strait our of the water to hundreds of meters high. Caves form at the water line leading to secret passages under the mountains. The water is a clear, blue and green like it's an emerald sea. With all the sea caves, coves and hidden lagoons you can see why pirates came here to hide their stolen treasure. I can't imagine I'll ever see anything as beautiful as this paradise again.
We're Here
When we arrived five days ago into Krabi town my first impression of Thailand was rough and dirty. There are very rich homes standing right next to dumpy looking slums. Krabi city had young guys and girls cruising up and down the streets on scooters and open air restaurants with all kinds of funny smells coming out into the street. It felt hot, exotic, dirty and kept me a little nervous.
Real Pirates?
Our trip to the resort was a 40 minute ride in a long tail boat powered by a car engine strapped onto the end of a long pole with a propeller on the other end. Speaking of pirates the men who recruited us to get into their boat didn't look too different from what I picture a pirate to be. Then at the last minute the other couple got impatient and we had to bribe not to bail out on us so we didn't have to pay the whole fair. As the boat made it's way through this most fascinating part of the world I began to realize I was living the dream I've had since I first saw pictures of palm trees leaning over perfect sand beaches. The long boat bumped as it beached between the mangrove trees on the shore and we had arrived at our Thailand paradise.
Mixed Messages
Thailand really is a miss match of the rich and poor. As we leave our beautiful resort to reach the beach on the other side of the causeway we need to pass some piles of garbage and shanty homes along the way. There are power lines wrapped together and hanging 4 feet off the ground. At the far end of the beach we had to walk through the water so as not to trespass on the resort that starts at $650 a night. But down a path hidden at the far end of this beach you can walk to another beautiful beach and it was here we found the monkeys. Or they found us.
Getting to Know the Locals
I was sitting on the rail and this big monkey walks up and sits three feet from me. Now of course monkeys are the primary carriers of rabies in this part of the world so the first thing I did was run away. This big guy wasn't worried about me though as he calmly walked over to Eileen's coke, which I was supposed to guard, dumped it over and drank it back. As I'm watching this audacious theft his little buddies in the tree over me gave me another heart attack as they drop to the lower limbs and start demanding their tribute. Buy the time his whole troupe arrived we were becoming good friends. One climbed down a branch onto my arm and walked across my shoulders to get a banana. Another got excited about being left out and almost removed my swim suit as he climbed to my waist. Finally the first big guy got tired of games and strutted across my lap to grab the last two bananas for himself! I took them back before he walked back across. He then leaned over, put his hand on my knee, so we could have a little heart to heart about who really needs the bananas.
Secret Treasure
On my last morning I finally climbed the mountain that has a lagoon hidden in the centre. It was an almost strait climb up the rocks which formed a natural ladder. I met two spider monkeys guarding the passage as I climbed the first 20 feet. At the top of the pass I stepped on a line of tiny ants that was one inch across and streched back and forth until I lost it in the jungle. The narrow crevas down into the mountain was even mor trecherous as there were three vertical sections each 15 feet high. There were little natural steps in the rock to navigate this and the last section had a tunnel to climb down through. At the bottom of this desent was a shallow pool that stretched across the floor of the round chamber deep in the mountain. The white stone walls were thick with ferns, palms and trees yet they reached strait up to a round circle of blue sky over my head. I've seen some increadable cathedrals in Europe including the Vatican. I've never seen a temple as breathtaking and solem as this. Since I had the place to myself I felt compelled to sing a hymn which echoed to the top.
Thailand, who knew this would be the most fantastic place I've seen on earth. The mountains rise strait our of the water to hundreds of meters high. Caves form at the water line leading to secret passages under the mountains. The water is a clear, blue and green like it's an emerald sea. With all the sea caves, coves and hidden lagoons you can see why pirates came here to hide their stolen treasure. I can't imagine I'll ever see anything as beautiful as this paradise again.
We're Here
When we arrived five days ago into Krabi town my first impression of Thailand was rough and dirty. There are very rich homes standing right next to dumpy looking slums. Krabi city had young guys and girls cruising up and down the streets on scooters and open air restaurants with all kinds of funny smells coming out into the street. It felt hot, exotic, dirty and kept me a little nervous.
Real Pirates?
Our trip to the resort was a 40 minute ride in a long tail boat powered by a car engine strapped onto the end of a long pole with a propeller on the other end. Speaking of pirates the men who recruited us to get into their boat didn't look too different from what I picture a pirate to be. Then at the last minute the other couple got impatient and we had to bribe not to bail out on us so we didn't have to pay the whole fair. As the boat made it's way through this most fascinating part of the world I began to realize I was living the dream I've had since I first saw pictures of palm trees leaning over perfect sand beaches. The long boat bumped as it beached between the mangrove trees on the shore and we had arrived at our Thailand paradise.
Mixed Messages
Thailand really is a miss match of the rich and poor. As we leave our beautiful resort to reach the beach on the other side of the causeway we need to pass some piles of garbage and shanty homes along the way. There are power lines wrapped together and hanging 4 feet off the ground. At the far end of the beach we had to walk through the water so as not to trespass on the resort that starts at $650 a night. But down a path hidden at the far end of this beach you can walk to another beautiful beach and it was here we found the monkeys. Or they found us.
Getting to Know the Locals
I was sitting on the rail and this big monkey walks up and sits three feet from me. Now of course monkeys are the primary carriers of rabies in this part of the world so the first thing I did was run away. This big guy wasn't worried about me though as he calmly walked over to Eileen's coke, which I was supposed to guard, dumped it over and drank it back. As I'm watching this audacious theft his little buddies in the tree over me gave me another heart attack as they drop to the lower limbs and start demanding their tribute. Buy the time his whole troupe arrived we were becoming good friends. One climbed down a branch onto my arm and walked across my shoulders to get a banana. Another got excited about being left out and almost removed my swim suit as he climbed to my waist. Finally the first big guy got tired of games and strutted across my lap to grab the last two bananas for himself! I took them back before he walked back across. He then leaned over, put his hand on my knee, so we could have a little heart to heart about who really needs the bananas.
Secret Treasure
On my last morning I finally climbed the mountain that has a lagoon hidden in the centre. It was an almost strait climb up the rocks which formed a natural ladder. I met two spider monkeys guarding the passage as I climbed the first 20 feet. At the top of the pass I stepped on a line of tiny ants that was one inch across and streched back and forth until I lost it in the jungle. The narrow crevas down into the mountain was even mor trecherous as there were three vertical sections each 15 feet high. There were little natural steps in the rock to navigate this and the last section had a tunnel to climb down through. At the bottom of this desent was a shallow pool that stretched across the floor of the round chamber deep in the mountain. The white stone walls were thick with ferns, palms and trees yet they reached strait up to a round circle of blue sky over my head. I've seen some increadable cathedrals in Europe including the Vatican. I've never seen a temple as breathtaking and solem as this. Since I had the place to myself I felt compelled to sing a hymn which echoed to the top.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
End of an era
So our first semester here in Korea is over and we are three weeks into the new one. I just thought I'd share some highlights
LEARNING ABOUT VIRGINS
Yes, it's true one of the words on the many word lists was virgin. "Teacher, what does virgin mean?" But the time I was done half decided they'd lost their virginity because they sleep with their brother or sister in the same bed. I changed my line to something about moms and dads and I don't think I included anything about babies being born and I left it at that.
JUST LIKE MOMMA TOLD YOU
Contrary to popular belief they don't really love school more than the kids at home they just have no choice. Remember when your mom told you to feel lucky because in Asia the kids go to school 6 days a week and you didn't believe her? It's all true. My last class of middle school students leaves the school at 9:50 PM and sometimes I get home before their buses leave. And Saturday when I go out the streets are full of school students with their uniforms on heading to private tutoring sessions. My Favorite was marking a journal about having a time machine. This kid is in grade 4 and all he wanted was to be 5 again. "All I do is school now and it makes me want to die." That's what I used to think and I never even did my homework.
ROCKSTAR
I love my kids (most of them). If you ever want to feel like a rockstar though you've got to teach the grade ones. I've got two classes of the little cuties and they drive you crazy. Can't sit still, can't stop talking and can't stop pretending that their pencil is a space ship as they act out their own little movie drama on their desks instead of doing phonics! But they love their teacher. I walk in and they cheer themselves horse. I leave to teach the next class for one hour and then we walk everyone out to the bus. As we leave I'm spotted by my grade ones and they lose it like they haven't seen me for weeks! Teacher! Teacher! Goodbye teacher!!!!! Goodbye! High fives teacher! Bye teacher!! If I ever wondered what it's like to be in the spot light you've got to spend time with the little rug rats.
HERE COMES THE SUN SHINE
I know I have no sympathy here but -10 is cold when everything you do is outside. They don't build for the cold like at home so when you go out you usually spend hours of your time with three jackets on. All the markets and sights are outdoors. So the fact that it's warming up has been fantastic. I've climbed the mountain behind our apartment a couple times and it was so beautiful. I put a couple pics on facebook if you'd like to look. Eileen is actually off to Japan this weekend to get the new visa straightened out and says she saw mount Fugi. Things seem to be finally settling into a routine. This Sunday is our last training session to spend our Saturdays working in some of the orphanages here in Seoul. Next Saturday we are taking a week of our holidays and heading to Thailand. Should be very good. We are sad we can't be home for our new church building but I guess we'll let you all break it in for us. Just remember we need to keep the pews!
Cheers, Randall& Eileen,
PS these are videos that I took to show Eileen the view from the mountain They are not spectacular quality but you can see our neighborhood in Seoul! It was a smoggy day and it started to snow by the time I got to the top.
MOUNTAIN 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTbEQCEls0g
MOUNTAIN 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0jwc2o0TsY
LEARNING ABOUT VIRGINS
Yes, it's true one of the words on the many word lists was virgin. "Teacher, what does virgin mean?" But the time I was done half decided they'd lost their virginity because they sleep with their brother or sister in the same bed. I changed my line to something about moms and dads and I don't think I included anything about babies being born and I left it at that.
JUST LIKE MOMMA TOLD YOU
Contrary to popular belief they don't really love school more than the kids at home they just have no choice. Remember when your mom told you to feel lucky because in Asia the kids go to school 6 days a week and you didn't believe her? It's all true. My last class of middle school students leaves the school at 9:50 PM and sometimes I get home before their buses leave. And Saturday when I go out the streets are full of school students with their uniforms on heading to private tutoring sessions. My Favorite was marking a journal about having a time machine. This kid is in grade 4 and all he wanted was to be 5 again. "All I do is school now and it makes me want to die." That's what I used to think and I never even did my homework.
ROCKSTAR
I love my kids (most of them). If you ever want to feel like a rockstar though you've got to teach the grade ones. I've got two classes of the little cuties and they drive you crazy. Can't sit still, can't stop talking and can't stop pretending that their pencil is a space ship as they act out their own little movie drama on their desks instead of doing phonics! But they love their teacher. I walk in and they cheer themselves horse. I leave to teach the next class for one hour and then we walk everyone out to the bus. As we leave I'm spotted by my grade ones and they lose it like they haven't seen me for weeks! Teacher! Teacher! Goodbye teacher!!!!! Goodbye! High fives teacher! Bye teacher!! If I ever wondered what it's like to be in the spot light you've got to spend time with the little rug rats.
HERE COMES THE SUN SHINE
I know I have no sympathy here but -10 is cold when everything you do is outside. They don't build for the cold like at home so when you go out you usually spend hours of your time with three jackets on. All the markets and sights are outdoors. So the fact that it's warming up has been fantastic. I've climbed the mountain behind our apartment a couple times and it was so beautiful. I put a couple pics on facebook if you'd like to look. Eileen is actually off to Japan this weekend to get the new visa straightened out and says she saw mount Fugi. Things seem to be finally settling into a routine. This Sunday is our last training session to spend our Saturdays working in some of the orphanages here in Seoul. Next Saturday we are taking a week of our holidays and heading to Thailand. Should be very good. We are sad we can't be home for our new church building but I guess we'll let you all break it in for us. Just remember we need to keep the pews!
Cheers, Randall& Eileen,
PS these are videos that I took to show Eileen the view from the mountain They are not spectacular quality but you can see our neighborhood in Seoul! It was a smoggy day and it started to snow by the time I got to the top.
MOUNTAIN 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTbEQCEls0g
MOUNTAIN 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0jwc2o0TsY
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
In The Trenches
So here's the latest from the Eastern edge of Asia. Most of you heard about my escape from the burning building on Monday. What we hesitated to say anything about because it was so much worse than that is that Eileen got fired the same day two hours before the big adventure began.
So if you're ever wondering labor laws don't exist here. Two weeks before her supervisor told her she was excellent in the class and that her daily plans were the most organized he has seen. She missed a few days of school because she was sick and lost her voice. Last Thursday her supervisor sat her down to say her Korean manager (who has a reputation for being nasty when she chooses) didn't like that she sits from time to time to rest her knee when she's teaching. Monday morning she came in and Tim her manager told her that she was done.
It's so bizarre that we have to say God had this planned from the beginning. We spent a week being very angry and confused never mind dealing with the tension of escaping the fire. Terry called us from home which was good timing for encouragement. Truly after only a week we feel like God is still looking after us and this is just part of the path he has us walking on. I didn't think we were even capable of getting over something like this so quickly. It was interesting that in the sermon on Sunday the pastor spoke about tests of faith and mentioned that God already knows how we will respond to trials. It is also important for us to see the growth that God has already gained inside us by how we respond to these tests.
Don't get me wrong there are still negative emotions there under the surface waiting to bust through but we feel grace to work through them and preserver.
PART II - ONE DAY LATER....
So this is the next day and Eileen left me a note at work today that she would not be home until later. When she got home she informed me that she had been teaching for 3 hours today and before she left for the day she took the job. It sounds fantastic because she teaches 3 hours per day and makes 3/4 of my 8 hour wages. They have a special teachers chair at the front of all the classrooms and they couldn't care less if she sits the whole day while teaching. At the end of Feb she could go full time but the part time pays better so we will see what she does then.
Wow, did we just learn to believe that God has plans even when its very painful in the short term. I wish all of life's lessons worked themselves out this quickly. I know so many people were praying for us so thank you all for your support from afar. We are just feeling very blessed.
One thought that Eileen and I held onto for the last 9 days is that Eileen's Korean manager doesn't have any authority that did not come from God. She may not know this but whether she decides to use her authority for good or evil her power has always rested with a higher authority.
So if you're ever wondering labor laws don't exist here. Two weeks before her supervisor told her she was excellent in the class and that her daily plans were the most organized he has seen. She missed a few days of school because she was sick and lost her voice. Last Thursday her supervisor sat her down to say her Korean manager (who has a reputation for being nasty when she chooses) didn't like that she sits from time to time to rest her knee when she's teaching. Monday morning she came in and Tim her manager told her that she was done.
It's so bizarre that we have to say God had this planned from the beginning. We spent a week being very angry and confused never mind dealing with the tension of escaping the fire. Terry called us from home which was good timing for encouragement. Truly after only a week we feel like God is still looking after us and this is just part of the path he has us walking on. I didn't think we were even capable of getting over something like this so quickly. It was interesting that in the sermon on Sunday the pastor spoke about tests of faith and mentioned that God already knows how we will respond to trials. It is also important for us to see the growth that God has already gained inside us by how we respond to these tests.
Don't get me wrong there are still negative emotions there under the surface waiting to bust through but we feel grace to work through them and preserver.
PART II - ONE DAY LATER....
So this is the next day and Eileen left me a note at work today that she would not be home until later. When she got home she informed me that she had been teaching for 3 hours today and before she left for the day she took the job. It sounds fantastic because she teaches 3 hours per day and makes 3/4 of my 8 hour wages. They have a special teachers chair at the front of all the classrooms and they couldn't care less if she sits the whole day while teaching. At the end of Feb she could go full time but the part time pays better so we will see what she does then.
Wow, did we just learn to believe that God has plans even when its very painful in the short term. I wish all of life's lessons worked themselves out this quickly. I know so many people were praying for us so thank you all for your support from afar. We are just feeling very blessed.
One thought that Eileen and I held onto for the last 9 days is that Eileen's Korean manager doesn't have any authority that did not come from God. She may not know this but whether she decides to use her authority for good or evil her power has always rested with a higher authority.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Korean fire trap
Wow what a day! My school was destroyed by fire yesterday and so today there is no school today. Just what I always wanted as a kid but yesterday when it was happening I wasn't happy about it one bit. Wow Korean fire safety is just not like it is at home.
I was teaching my third period on the 8th floor where our school is when the class heard a fire alarm go off in another building. There was nothing happening on our floor so I spent some time trying to keep the kids focused until they saw the smoke through the door window. I turned to see a thick black smoke filling the hall. I opened the door to see where it was coming from and it seemed to be blocking our exit to the main stairs.
With the door open for two seconds the classroom filled with choking smoke and I had to tell my ten 7 and 8 year olds to get down to the floor. At this point they lost it a little bit and there was some crying. They wouldn't come to the door either so I had to spend a few precious seconds calming them down and gathering them.
This was really the scary point. I'm in the class with 10 students and I really had no idea what the safe thing to do was. I didn't know for sure where the fire was coming from. Every second that the classroom door was open so that I could try to discover what was going on, filled the class with blankets of choking smoke. Someone ran past my room away from the main stairs to the staffroom and I decided that was the safe way out. As I opened the door one of the kids Dorothy, bolted into the cloud of smoke towards the main stairs. I caught her at the last second and pointed her with the rest of the class however I became fearful that another one had run that way but I had missed them.
Down the hall in the staffroom the air was already thick with this awful tarry smoke and there were 5 other teachers who had been on their spare when the fire began. Of course the window to the fire escape which was only installed last March was bolted shut. You may not know this but double glazed windows are extremely hard to break. Two female teachers were pounding the window with a coat rack that was standing there but the window wasn't breaking. At this point several of my students I'm crouched with on the ground start to lose it again.
Finally the window breaks but they have to break away all the edges so no one gets cut. Clare, one of the teachers cut her hand pretty bad trying to get the glass out. So finally we have an opening and we started handing the 10 kids onto a metal stairway that was bolted to the side of our 10 story building. On the platform is shattered glass everywhere and lots of blood from Clare's hand. What's interesting is that our Korean builders they thought that the stairs should go at least to the 5th floor and that would probably be enough. You should stand at the fifth floor sometimes and look down. It's a long way. So at the 5th floor we reenter the burning building to get to the main stairway. Fortunately there is only smoke on this floor coming down from the 8th.
By the grace of God I was the only class on that floor that day. The really providence was that our heat was not working last week on our floor so we moved most of the classrooms to another floor. This Monday we just kept using the other floors out of habit really because it wasn't that cold at all. We are sure it would not have been easy to escape from the other side of our floor as the smoke was so toxic. So by the grace of God no one was seriously hurt except Clare at the window but it could very easily have gone the other way. It's scary how dizzy and sick that smoke makes you in just a very few seconds.
So as for my students one of them cut his hand on the glass. Most had some blood splattered on their clothes from brushing the window or their friend. We spent the next hour and a half watching thick black smoke billow out of the building as the firefighters smashed out one big classroom window after another. Apparently the 8th floor is destroyed. The buses finally took the kids home. Eileen teaches across the street so those teachers finished their next class an then looked out the window to find that half the school had been on fire. I am going back to school today at 2:00 to see where I will be teaching starting tomorrow.
I realize that in the end nothing really went wrong despite the fact that there were no fire alarms, no sprinklers, no fire evacuation plans at all and the fire escape was shoddy and bolted shut. However, I still have this strange feeling of disaster. Now I might have made fun of someone else saying this before but I feel like something did go wrong even though it didn't. I guess my delicate little feelings were a little traumatized but don't worry about me I'm sure I'll get better. Well, I have to go and find out where my school is moving to tomorrow.
Here's a little video of the floor after the fire and my escape route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbltckSqccE
Here's the building on fire. You can see the fire escape on the left.
Building after the fire. Notice where the fire escape stops. We were one floor from the top.
This is 15 feet behind the white board I was writting on.
One of our classrooms
These classes were moved to a different floor that day
This is where I was teaching class as the building was burning behind us (No smoke alarms)
I was teaching my third period on the 8th floor where our school is when the class heard a fire alarm go off in another building. There was nothing happening on our floor so I spent some time trying to keep the kids focused until they saw the smoke through the door window. I turned to see a thick black smoke filling the hall. I opened the door to see where it was coming from and it seemed to be blocking our exit to the main stairs.
With the door open for two seconds the classroom filled with choking smoke and I had to tell my ten 7 and 8 year olds to get down to the floor. At this point they lost it a little bit and there was some crying. They wouldn't come to the door either so I had to spend a few precious seconds calming them down and gathering them.
This was really the scary point. I'm in the class with 10 students and I really had no idea what the safe thing to do was. I didn't know for sure where the fire was coming from. Every second that the classroom door was open so that I could try to discover what was going on, filled the class with blankets of choking smoke. Someone ran past my room away from the main stairs to the staffroom and I decided that was the safe way out. As I opened the door one of the kids Dorothy, bolted into the cloud of smoke towards the main stairs. I caught her at the last second and pointed her with the rest of the class however I became fearful that another one had run that way but I had missed them.
Down the hall in the staffroom the air was already thick with this awful tarry smoke and there were 5 other teachers who had been on their spare when the fire began. Of course the window to the fire escape which was only installed last March was bolted shut. You may not know this but double glazed windows are extremely hard to break. Two female teachers were pounding the window with a coat rack that was standing there but the window wasn't breaking. At this point several of my students I'm crouched with on the ground start to lose it again.
Finally the window breaks but they have to break away all the edges so no one gets cut. Clare, one of the teachers cut her hand pretty bad trying to get the glass out. So finally we have an opening and we started handing the 10 kids onto a metal stairway that was bolted to the side of our 10 story building. On the platform is shattered glass everywhere and lots of blood from Clare's hand. What's interesting is that our Korean builders they thought that the stairs should go at least to the 5th floor and that would probably be enough. You should stand at the fifth floor sometimes and look down. It's a long way. So at the 5th floor we reenter the burning building to get to the main stairway. Fortunately there is only smoke on this floor coming down from the 8th.
By the grace of God I was the only class on that floor that day. The really providence was that our heat was not working last week on our floor so we moved most of the classrooms to another floor. This Monday we just kept using the other floors out of habit really because it wasn't that cold at all. We are sure it would not have been easy to escape from the other side of our floor as the smoke was so toxic. So by the grace of God no one was seriously hurt except Clare at the window but it could very easily have gone the other way. It's scary how dizzy and sick that smoke makes you in just a very few seconds.
So as for my students one of them cut his hand on the glass. Most had some blood splattered on their clothes from brushing the window or their friend. We spent the next hour and a half watching thick black smoke billow out of the building as the firefighters smashed out one big classroom window after another. Apparently the 8th floor is destroyed. The buses finally took the kids home. Eileen teaches across the street so those teachers finished their next class an then looked out the window to find that half the school had been on fire. I am going back to school today at 2:00 to see where I will be teaching starting tomorrow.
I realize that in the end nothing really went wrong despite the fact that there were no fire alarms, no sprinklers, no fire evacuation plans at all and the fire escape was shoddy and bolted shut. However, I still have this strange feeling of disaster. Now I might have made fun of someone else saying this before but I feel like something did go wrong even though it didn't. I guess my delicate little feelings were a little traumatized but don't worry about me I'm sure I'll get better. Well, I have to go and find out where my school is moving to tomorrow.
Here's a little video of the floor after the fire and my escape route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbltckSqccE
Here's the building on fire. You can see the fire escape on the left.
Building after the fire. Notice where the fire escape stops. We were one floor from the top.
This is 15 feet behind the white board I was writting on.
One of our classrooms
These classes were moved to a different floor that day
This is where I was teaching class as the building was burning behind us (No smoke alarms)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Hi everyone,
Just thought we'd share the latest from the land right next to the land of the rising sun. Teaching is going very well over all. We really enjoy it and my supervisor game me an inital evanluation by sitting in on four of my classes last week. He gave me a full typed page for each one which said that I was doing great. Of course he said several times that I speak way to fast for kids learning a new language. No suprise. It's also hard to remember how hard the material is for the kids. They've taken it in school before sure, but since it's in a whole new languague I really need to go word by word through some of the stuff to be sure they understand.
Eileen still loves teaching but is finding it really challenging with her health. Working 5 days with lots of standing is quite hard on her and then she needs a day and a half to deal with her drugs. Then the last part of sunday is church so she's getting worn down physically and emotionally. Today she felt a bit of a cold coming on so she's getting anxious about things. If you can pray for her we need it.
New set of wheels
I got a new bike!!! I was actually praying for one and then last week I found one laying on a dumpster. Ye ha! The back tire was finished and it was in rough shape but 8 bucks at a bike shop on our street got that replaced with a full tune up and now I'm good to go. It's so nice since without a car we are a 15-20 minute walk from the bank and grocery stores. Today I did it in 5 minutes flat. Soooo great! Often I feel that praying for those things is so petty and self serving yet sometimes we get them anyway.
Adventures in teaching
It's no secret that it can get lonely here with most English speakers only staying her 12 months so often any friends you do make will leave 3 or 6 months into your term. Nav, one of our teachers decided he'd get a pet rabbit. He gave it all his love, letting it poop in the living room and sleep in his microwave and all. They really came to love each other. But one day Nav was out on the patio with his little buddy and he split the glass door open for some fresh air. Now although his bunny had come to love Nav it still had an instinct for the great outdoors. Sensing an opporunity for freedom Nav's beloved bunny made a dash between the rail for a new life. Unfortuantley at this point the young and naive bunny had to learn a very hard lesson about gravity from the 14th floor of an appartment building. To ad insult to the intense emotional injury Nav then had to go and clean up his new found friend. I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't heard it from Nav himself.
Exotic new friends
The best part of traveling around the world to work is meeting all the interesting people we work and live with. As far as church things have worked out famously. The first week a guy from my floor invited us to his church's (American) thanksgiving dinner. The next week Eileen found that Stephanie who sits behind her on her floor goes to another english church service a bit over an hour away. We went with Stephanie for church at 4:00 on sunday afternoon and she invited us to her small group after church. It's a fun group and they go for dinner after group each week so it's been really easy to get to know them.
Now we had found that Stephanie is from Oak Bluff and lives a 20 minute drive from our house in Winnipeg. On the way home from church Stephanie pipes up to say that I look familiar to her. It turns out that she went to the same church as us before we came to gateway. She was in Senior youth when I was a junior youth leader and she recognized me from the worship team I used to play on. Good thing we all moved to Korea so we could meet each other.
Getting plugged in
Getting to know people has gone well. We are so thankful for finding our school. With 8 foreign teachers on my floor and 5 on Eileens we have lots of people to connect with. We have gotten to be good friends with two of the girls and a guy from Eileens floor who all happen to be Canadians as well. We teach until 10 pm and then usually we end up somewhere for supper. The food is great but you don't know spicy till you've tired Korean! Five peppers on a canadian menu might be mild for a Korean. Eileen has done alright with her diet. The girl that she replaced on her floor was a vegetarian and before she left she gave her some good tips to get by! The food is awesome and cheep despite not being able to read a menu. (some resturants have a few pictures).
Tonight we went to our church for the third time and after church our small group went to one of the pastors homes for a wrap up before the Christmas/January break. (there's no public school through January). It was so great after only three weeks to feel that same immediate connectedness we felt our first sunday at Gateway Lakewood. Again despite the tough parts we are being so looked after. We are greatful for that.
Just thought we'd share the latest from the land right next to the land of the rising sun. Teaching is going very well over all. We really enjoy it and my supervisor game me an inital evanluation by sitting in on four of my classes last week. He gave me a full typed page for each one which said that I was doing great. Of course he said several times that I speak way to fast for kids learning a new language. No suprise. It's also hard to remember how hard the material is for the kids. They've taken it in school before sure, but since it's in a whole new languague I really need to go word by word through some of the stuff to be sure they understand.
Eileen still loves teaching but is finding it really challenging with her health. Working 5 days with lots of standing is quite hard on her and then she needs a day and a half to deal with her drugs. Then the last part of sunday is church so she's getting worn down physically and emotionally. Today she felt a bit of a cold coming on so she's getting anxious about things. If you can pray for her we need it.
New set of wheels
I got a new bike!!! I was actually praying for one and then last week I found one laying on a dumpster. Ye ha! The back tire was finished and it was in rough shape but 8 bucks at a bike shop on our street got that replaced with a full tune up and now I'm good to go. It's so nice since without a car we are a 15-20 minute walk from the bank and grocery stores. Today I did it in 5 minutes flat. Soooo great! Often I feel that praying for those things is so petty and self serving yet sometimes we get them anyway.
Adventures in teaching
It's no secret that it can get lonely here with most English speakers only staying her 12 months so often any friends you do make will leave 3 or 6 months into your term. Nav, one of our teachers decided he'd get a pet rabbit. He gave it all his love, letting it poop in the living room and sleep in his microwave and all. They really came to love each other. But one day Nav was out on the patio with his little buddy and he split the glass door open for some fresh air. Now although his bunny had come to love Nav it still had an instinct for the great outdoors. Sensing an opporunity for freedom Nav's beloved bunny made a dash between the rail for a new life. Unfortuantley at this point the young and naive bunny had to learn a very hard lesson about gravity from the 14th floor of an appartment building. To ad insult to the intense emotional injury Nav then had to go and clean up his new found friend. I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't heard it from Nav himself.
Exotic new friends
The best part of traveling around the world to work is meeting all the interesting people we work and live with. As far as church things have worked out famously. The first week a guy from my floor invited us to his church's (American) thanksgiving dinner. The next week Eileen found that Stephanie who sits behind her on her floor goes to another english church service a bit over an hour away. We went with Stephanie for church at 4:00 on sunday afternoon and she invited us to her small group after church. It's a fun group and they go for dinner after group each week so it's been really easy to get to know them.
Now we had found that Stephanie is from Oak Bluff and lives a 20 minute drive from our house in Winnipeg. On the way home from church Stephanie pipes up to say that I look familiar to her. It turns out that she went to the same church as us before we came to gateway. She was in Senior youth when I was a junior youth leader and she recognized me from the worship team I used to play on. Good thing we all moved to Korea so we could meet each other.
Getting plugged in
Getting to know people has gone well. We are so thankful for finding our school. With 8 foreign teachers on my floor and 5 on Eileens we have lots of people to connect with. We have gotten to be good friends with two of the girls and a guy from Eileens floor who all happen to be Canadians as well. We teach until 10 pm and then usually we end up somewhere for supper. The food is great but you don't know spicy till you've tired Korean! Five peppers on a canadian menu might be mild for a Korean. Eileen has done alright with her diet. The girl that she replaced on her floor was a vegetarian and before she left she gave her some good tips to get by! The food is awesome and cheep despite not being able to read a menu. (some resturants have a few pictures).
Tonight we went to our church for the third time and after church our small group went to one of the pastors homes for a wrap up before the Christmas/January break. (there's no public school through January). It was so great after only three weeks to feel that same immediate connectedness we felt our first sunday at Gateway Lakewood. Again despite the tough parts we are being so looked after. We are greatful for that.
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