Blessed to be a Blessing...

This week, my friend Jina randomly invited me to have dinner with her. She is Korean and speaks English fluently and is kind of like an older sister (I call her eonni in Korean, which means "older sister). She studied abroad in Australia and was shown incredible hospitality by friends/believers there. As we sat down to dinner at a fancy, amazing Italian restaurant [my favorite!!!], she told me that it was on her heart to bless others with the same kind of care that her friends in Australia blessed her with. She said something about freely receiving love and hospitality in Australia and now she wants to freely give. We had such a sweet time of sharing and encouragement. She's an incredible woman of the Lord. I'm so thankful for her...



Her thoughtfulness made me eager to pass on that loving care to foreigners in the US sometime down the road... I feel like I've been overwhelmed with such love and care throughout my entire year here in Korea. God continues to remind me of His tender love through so many of the people that He's placed in my life. I'm so very thankful...

The Swine Flu

This week, I received a notice from the school nurse about the swine flu. She was worried that I might have it... even though I haven't stepped foot in the States (or any other foreign country) for the past nine months.

My co-teacher told me that I should be sure to avoid having any interactions with people that have recently come back from the States. When I informed him that Sara had just returned from the States on Monday and I had spent a good portion of Tuesday afternoon with her, he was quite worried.

Sara's school made her stay home for the whole week because they didn't want to risk an outbreak of the swine flu... even though she had NO symptoms and had gone to the doctor just to make sure that she was okay. I guess it's a SMOE regulation now... no school for seven days after traveling to a foreign country where the swine flu has made an entrance.

Since my co-teacher seemed so worried, I offered to stay home for the rest of the week as well, just to ease his fears. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to think such drastic measures were necessary...yet. lol.

I guess I wouldn't mind if the SMOE regulations are still in effect after my visit HOME in August!!! [I certainly wouldn't mind having a few extra days to adjust back to life in Korea]. Time will tell, I suppose...

Children's Grand Park

Today was a MARVELOUS day. Our entire school went to the Children's Grand Park and the students spent the day painting and writing poetry. It was a thoroughly refreshing day. I will list the things I appreciated about it:

1. Slept in a little (didn't have to show up until 9)
2. Chatted with teachers while sipping a Caffe Latte (compliments of the female gym teacher).
3. Took a lovely stroll through the Botanical Gardens with Teacher Lee Won Kyung.
   
   
   Talk about REFRESHING!!!!! The gardens reminded me of New Zealand...
   
   
   
4. Saw some beautiful roses and actually was able to smell them this time (for those of you that don't know, I don't have the greatest sense of smell, although I think that's changed since coming to Korea...).
   
   
5. The weather was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT while we were there - not too hot, not too chilly, not too humid...
   
6. Chatted with several of my students... I really enjoyed seeing them enjoying life like children are supposed to enjoy it. They were all so friendly to me, too. So sweet today...
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   This is Shawn (Hong Jong Chan). He has been in every one of my after-school classes. It's been so cool to see him grow. I was excited to see his artwork because he's always doodling in class! ^^
   
   
   
   
7. Tasted sushi and didn't die. The raw fish kind of weirded me out so I only tried a couple of pieces before removing the raw fish from the rest. I knew my mom just wouldn't be able to handle the idea of me eating raw salmon...
8. Received a flower from one of my former students. So sweet... it is now being pressed between the pages of my Bible so that I can preserve the memories...
   
   (unfortunately, my camera decided to take dark pictures... so you can't see the flower very well... but it's there, I promise!)
   
9. Was blessed with significant time to spend with my main co-teacher, Lee Hye Eun. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. And... she treated me to a little sea animal show. It was based on Cinderella (my FAVORITE fairy tale growing up) and was definitely targeted for children, but I quite enjoyed it.
   
   
   
10. Finished the day early and had time to go to the bank to wire money home. The teller was SO kind and helpful. It was refreshing not to feel hurried...
11. Perhaps the best part of the day: a THUNDERSTORM!!!!! I've been missing those thunderstorms. I'm not sure why I love them so much, but for some reason, it just does my heart good... I didn't have my umbrella with me, but it didn't matter too much. I didn't mind getting wet. It was just absolutely lovely!
12. Since I finished early, I got to go visit Sara at her place. She just got back from her brother's wedding in Cali, so I was delighted to see her pictures and hear all about her time with her lovely family. We enjoyed dinner and tea together. Once again, it was nice to be able to relax and feel unhurried.
13. Found some stickers that I needed for class at the stationary store for REALLY cheap... Sara and I were also quite easily amused by the random English words slapped together to make some sort of sentences (?) on random notebooks, stationary, and gift bags.
    
14. Had a nice subway ride home and was so encouraged by the Psalms. The Lord just continues to faithfully pursue my heart and remind me of His INCREDIBLE love.
    

I needed today. I'm so thankful...

More Teaching

In March, I wrote a long, elaborate post about Learning to Say NO. Well, I need to learn that lesson again. I was approached with another teaching opportunity a few weeks ago and said yes. This means that I now have a total of five after school classes. On Thursdays, I am now teaching eight classes - starting at 8:50 am and finishing at 8:45 pm (with time for lunch and dinner, of course). This was my choice. I don't think it was a good one. I feel like all I do now is teach and prepare lessons. It's exhausting. Next semester, I need to do a better job saying no.

Demo Teaching Lesson

Demo Lesson Update
My demo lesson was on Monday, May 18 a couple of weeks ago. I think things went well. Most everyone was happy: my co-teacher[s], principal, and superintendent. The students behaved nearly perfectly.


We had 20-30 people observing our class. The quarters were definitely tight, but I was thankful we were able to use the classroom instead of the library!


Teaching as a team makes such a difference!


Mrs. Ko


During the speaking activity: controlled chaos.

After the lesson, my co-teacher felt so relieved and happy. I thought I would be too... but actually found myself feeling disappointed/frustrated. The feedback session that followed our lesson was entirely in Korean (except for when I was asked to give an impromptu speech). It seemed that feedback was positive from the body language/atmosphere that I could observe. But I had no idea what was going on. I heard references to yeonga seonsaengnim [English teacher] - I knew they were talking about me but had NO idea what they were saying! I was mostly frustrated because I would have liked to hear their feedback. I found it ironic that the handout they gave to all of the teachers that attended said Teaching English in English.


During the feedback session - my principal is the woman standing in white.

Although I was really frustrated, the next day, I was reminded once again that God has blessed me with an amazing group of teachers. All of the English teachers went to the Outback for dinner after school in celebration of our demo lesson being finished. It was a special treat. The food was good, but the time spent with the teachers was even more meaningful. My main co-teacher had taken notes of all of the things that were said during the feedback session after our demo lesson. She translated them for me, which was SO encouraging and helpful. After spending so much time and energy preparing for the demo lesson, it was nice to hear feedback. Even more meaningful, each of the English teachers shared [in ENGLISH] their own thoughts and feedback about the demo lesson Mrs. Ko and I had. It was a blessing and encouragement to me.

I definitely learned a lot from the whole demo teaching experience. I'm thankful for the relationship that grew between Mrs. Ko and I. I'm thankful for the opportunity to experience what it's like to actually co-TEACH and co-lesson plan. I'm thankful for the new classroom supplies that found their way into my classroom. I'm thankful for the new resources in our little English library. I'm thankful for the opportunity to grow as a teacher. I'm thankful for the opportunities to learn more about Korean culture. Definitely a good growth experience...

Teacher's Day

Teacher's Day
Friday, May 15 was Teacher's Day in Korea. Several of the high school students came back to visit their middle school teachers. Lots of teachers had big bouquets of flowers on their desks accompanied by many visits from students. So many teachers were so happy.

I was really surprised when one of the high school boys that I taught last year came to visit me. He was waiting for me in the Teacher's Office when I got back from lunch. It was SO sweet of him to wait for me... he even brought a carnation for me. I was overcome with his thoughtfulness... and incredibly embarrassed/ashamed because I didn't remember him! (With 800+ students, it's just about impossible to get to know all of my students.) We chatted for a little bit, but I was so confused, I didn't even think to ask him for his email address! It was definitely one of my worst moments as a teacher, I think. I wish I had remembered him... definitely felt like a failure of a teacher. I wish I could know my students on a deeper level...

Heart Check

The last few weeks have been... well, interesting to say the least. To put it simply, I've found myself "worried and upset about many things" (like Martha in Luke 10:41). I've found myself distracted with so much BUSYNESS, exhaustion, homesickness, uncertainties, and feelings of
anxiousness.

Rather than being in love WITH Jesus, I've been busy trying to DO a lot of stuff. Not a good idea...

Last weekend, we had a special speaker (Andres Bisonni) visit our church for a revival meeting. One of the things that he said really convicted my heart:

Your love for Jesus and Jesus alone will keep your fire burning. Your passion for missions, for the lost, for people, for prayer, etc. will come and go. But if you have love for Him, you will be passionate about these other things. You will love what He loves because you love Him!

This was not a new revelation for me, but a good reminder. Something I really needed to hear...

I'm so thankful that God is faithful, regardless of whether or not I am. I guess that's what makes Him faithful, huh? I love the way that He continues to pursue my heart, even though I'm so COMPLETELY unworthy! I feel like God especially encourages my heart through music. I stumbled upon the music of Phil Wickham last week and haven't been able to stop listening to his love songs to our King. My favorite song of his: Divine Romance. One of his albums is posted on his website for a free download (which was a sweet surprise and blessing). Another song that has been incredibly encouraging to me is By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North. God's hand is so gracious... I really don't deserve this love.

Lord Jesus, consume my heart again. Be my everything. Give me a heart like Mary's - eager to just sit at your feet and listen. Thank you for loving me enough to draw my attention back to you... may my soul yearn after you!

Psalm 84:1-2