Mrs. Park & finally... a Movie Night!

I met up with Mrs. Park, my vice principal this afternoon. She invited me to hang out with her. We went on a lovely stroll around the Yangjae chun (Yangjae stream). I learned a few new Korean words. She practiced her English. We were able to communicate better than either of us thought we would be able to, which was a blessing. I really had a great time with her - it was relaxing (even though it definitely took a lot of energy to communicate) and it wa lovely to see green trees, grass, and bushes! We ended our stroll with cheesecake and coffee at a cute little coffee shop. It was grand - totally my idea of a perfect afternoon!

Sara popped over tonight on her way home from a long day of sightseeing. I've been wanting to have a movie night with popcorn since we got here... and this was the first official movie night with popcorn! (It's the little things in life...) My dear cousin sent me microwave popcorn and trail mix... which was so exciting!!! We watched part one of a four part series on Jesus in China (compliments of my Aunt Diane). It was so refreshing to my heart and made me all the more eager to learn Mandarin and soak up as much about Chinese culture as possible! Although I am loving my time in Korea and find the Korean people to be incredibly endearing, I still really miss China... and have had a difficult time feeling terribly motivated to learn Korean since it is not really necessary for survival. I'm asking God to give me a "learner's heart" (Bok ja's words) for the Korean language.

Tomorrow, we get to go to church for the first time knowing that it is our church "home" for the year! Alice, one of my Korean co-teachers asked to come along too... which I'm super-excited about! I love her... God is doing great things!

Good night friends...

Happy October!

The best month of the year is here and I'm ready to fully enjoy it! Fall is in full swing. The weather has changed significantly and I'm enjoying light jacket weather. Apples are in season and absolutely delicious (brings sweet memories of apple picking to mind). I ate an apple tonight (compliments of Mr. Chung) and lit my apple cinnamon candle followed by my pumpkin spice candle in honor of autumn. So delightful.

Loving my school... and my teachers. The students have been better behaved this week.

This morning, I was reminded of God's incredible GRACE, which I am so undeserving of! I am so thankful for the power of the cross... so unworthy of His unconditional love... and so in need of it! Bok ja gave me a belated welcoming gift on Saturday - a 30-day Max Lucado journal titled, It's Not about Me. What a timely reminder! Tonight, I had some extra time to just reflect on this journey thus far - the preparation stage, arrival, and getting settled in. Once again, I'm overwhelmed with all He's done. I don't ever want to lose that awe... praise the Lord for reminding me that this is all about HIM and HIS GLORY!

Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
-John 15:4

Persimmons & Apples

Yesterday Mr. Chung (the umbrella man, as my mom likes to refer to him) gave me a persimmon with my fruit purchase of mandarin oranges and grapes. Tonight when I was walking home from the subway, he handed me an apple and told me "an apple for a beautiful girl." So sweet... he has no idea how meaningful his little gifts are to me...

A Refreshing Weekend

Refreshed. I think that's the best word to use to describe this weekend.

Friday night
Good times with Sara, Josie, & Taryn (even though our classical concert plans didn't work out). Tom & Tom's is a great place with great hot chocolate and great pretzels... and it's even better when you can share it with fun people.

Saturday
Got to skype with my lovely familia... attempted to run... good times.

Met up with Bok ja for lunch and some discipleship time. I'm excited to learn from her and grow together with her in the Lord. Very encouraging to my heart.

In the evening, I met up with Hannah Cramer's friends from Word of Life, David & Tae. I had SUCH a great time with them!!!! They speak English really well, so it was easy to communicate and such a great evening! Tae and I met up earlier and saw a Korean-Japanese festival, then had shabu shabu at nearby restaurant. David came to join us, which was really good since we had SO MUCH food! Afterwards, we grabbed some hot chocolate and took a walk down a really pretty part of Seoul and had some great conversations about the Lord and missions and comparing Christianity in the U.S. to Korea. Definitely interesting! I'm looking forward to hanging out much more with David & Tae... it was so much fun! I think we're going to plan on going to the Passion Conference when it comes to Seoul in a couple of weeks (David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, and other amazing people that love Jesus!).

Sunday
Made a decision about a church!!!! Sara and I are going to be attending Onnuri Church. I'll be updating more about that in the future. God is really working there and I'm excited to join in fellowship with the body of believers.

I also got to practice hospitality today!!! I made lunch for Sara and dinner for Brianne, one of the girls that lives in my building. It was so much fun to put my new dishes to use... and to share a meal... and to feel domestic (like my dear mother)... and to eat Italian food and veggie omelettes! Great fellowship too - over coffee and tea... how lovely.

Sara and I worked on our budgets too... we got paid for the first time on Wednesday, which was exciting! So, I think we're going to be trying Mr. Dave Ramsey's envelope budgeting system... we'll see how it goes!

This weekend was much-needed. I can't imagine my life without Jesus... there is such JOY in knowing Him!!!

~Holls

P.S. I'm missing you all (especially my dear family) a lot, but resting in the fact that I can trust the Lord to care for and love you much better than I can... and praying for you! Much love!!!!!

What a Week!

This has definitely been my most challenging week in Korea, without a doubt. Teaching... missing my family... feeling tired... feelings of anxiousness... lots of tears. That sums up the difficulties in a nutshell. Challenges are to be expected. It's part of the journey. God remains gracious and faithful.

In the midst of the difficult times, there have also been several highlights this week...

1) Onnuri Church Visit - really loved it on Sunday! I'm visiting one more church tomorrow, but hopefully I'll be able to decide at the end of this weekend! We joined a small group and had dinner and coffee afterward - it was a whole day event... and I thoroughly enjoyed it! So refreshing...

2) Early Mornings at School - I found out that about 4 or 5 Korean teachers get together a half hour before school begins every Tuesday-Friday morning for Bible reading and prayer... and breakfast! They invited me to join them. Although it is all in Korean, one of my co-teachers (Alice) graciously volunteered to attend the morning sessions with me to translate the Korean into English. It's really sweet... so many of the things I would love to share with her are the things she is telling me as she translates! Kind of ironic... and definitely sweet!

3) Meeting up with Hil - We had dinner together on Tuesday night and had such a great time of fellowship - sharing life and fully enjoying the friendship God is blessing us with. Pretty sure I don't even want to think about her going back to the States in February!

4) Time with Native Teacher friends - Several of the girls met up in Dongdaemun (my territory) for dinner Wednesday night... and then some of us got together again for dinner last night. Although I really am LOVING my time with Koreans, it is definitely good to be able to spend time with other Westerners. We were planning to attend a classical concert last night, but the tickets (within our price range) were sold out by the time we arrived. So, we had galbi (fire meat) for dinner.. which is one of my favorite Korean meals. Then spent the rest of the evening at Tom & Tom's, a cute little cafe with delicious pretzels and hot chocolate (which I've been craving!).

5) Dinner out with Korean teachers - The teachers from our morning Bible study offered to take Alice and I out to a really nice restaurant that serves duck. I think my tolerance for spicy food and seafood is gradually increasing... thanks for all of your prayers! Here's some fun pics from the evening:

My first completely authentic Korean meal out with ONLY Koreans... sitting on the floor at that! I loved it... it was totally a special treat. Mrs. Moon treated us (she's the farthest one back on the left... she always brings us breakfast to Bible study/prayer in the mornings... Alice said she's going to make us "fat" soon... I laughed in agreement).


Ham, I think... along with sesame leaves and radishes (one form of MANY)


Frozen, raw crab... yes, I actually tried it (sorry Mom)! Will I try it again? Uh...probably not. But apparently it's a delicacy here.


I think this is a form of galbi (fire meat)... excpet this looks mostly like kimchi over the fire.


Pig skin. Do you think I tried it?


Yes, I actually did... with Alice! This was the "before" picture. She was pretty nervous (which surprised me... it's encouraging that not all Koreans like this stuff...)


This would be a "during" shot...


And this would be us trying to compose ourselves as we finish swallowing. It actually wasn't terrible... but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.


I'm not sure what got into me, but I was really in the mood for trying stuff on Thursday! Mrs. Moon brought some spicy-ish Korean food to breakfast and I tried it (much to my surprise, I kind of liked it!). The total meal she treated us to after school was NINE courses!!! I'm still feeling bloated... two days later! But any Korean that you talk to will tell you that Korean food is VERY good for your health and well-being. They pride themselves in it... every time I ask them to identify a food for me, I can count on them telling me that it's "good for well-being!" That's encouraging... particularly as I sip on soup made from various roots and disect fish on my plate that is staring me down with eyes still intact. (I'll have to get a picture of this sometime for you...)


6) Mr. Chung, the Fruit Man & my new best friend

So, Mr. Chung is pretty much one of my best friends now. I buy fruit from him in between my subway stop and apartment building. He has met some of my Native Teacher friends and he always tries to speak English to me. Last week he started calling me "Miss Indiana Jones Wonder Woman." So funny! I see him multiple times each day... and I look forward to it! He is a sweet older man and is so concerned for me!

On Thursday, on my way back home from the elaborate duck meal, it started raining and I realized that I forgot my umbrella at school. Fortunately, I didn't have to walk too far in the rain. When I walked hurried past him and gave him a quick wave, I guess he followed me with an umbrella. I don't know how long he was holding the umbrella over my head before I noticed, but it may have been a good 20-30 seconds. He walked me all the way to the front of the Co-op and then waved goodbye. Such a small thing (I only live about 2 minutes away), but made a HUGE difference to me... I love how God reminds me of His love and care through such things!

Today when I bought my mandarin oranges from him, he noticed that I was wearing short sleeves and since the weather has cooled down significantly, he expressed concern about me wearing a jacket. I pointed to my sweatshirt in my hand and assured him I'd be okay. :)

He's such a sweet old man. He sings in his church and studies his music while he's passing time at his little fruit stand. I'm not sure if he's like a dad, a grandfather, an uncle, or what... I haven't decided yet. For now, he's just my new best friend.


So much more to share with you all, but it's time for me to go meet some more new Korean friends for dinner (friends of Hannah Cramer's for those of you from NLB). :)

Getting to Know You... or at least trying!

So, as I may have mentioned in one of my blog posts last week, I was really excited about my lesson plans for this week! I decided to spend this week getting to know my students. So, my lesson plan was focused on learning more about the students and teaching them how to creatively express/introduce themselves. I found myself feeling incredibly inspired by the song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KadOjVl6VCc) from The King & I, "Getting To Know You... getting to know all about you!" I figured I'm definitely not an expert at getting to know my students yet, but was pretty excited about the possibility! They would be picking English names and making nametags so that I could call them by name. Oh, the visions... oh, the dreams... it was going to be a FANTASTIC lesson plan... I was even going to use the song "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music for my upper-level classes. They were going to re-write the song... and who knows, maybe even sing it in front of the class. lol!

I am such a dreamer! Haha...

So, Monday morning, I rushed about making copies and last minute preparations for my lesson plans. I was nervous (as I often find myself being before the first lesson of the week), but excited. What a special lesson I have in store for my classes, I thought. All of my lessons (all TWO of them) have gone really well for the most part... so I think I was feeling a little over-confident... and dreamy.

My students quickly jerked me back to reality Monday morning. It was disastrous. I planned 5 minutes for choosing English names and making nametags... it took more like 25 (and even then, some hadn't chosen names). The students didn't seem to appreciate the video clip (and I realized it was poor quality, particularly on a big screen. They were super-chatty... and barely seemed to notice I was there. Classroom control? Ha! Definitely was lacking. I gave worksheets to some of the students who finished their nametags early... and they finished the worksheets before other students had even chosen an English name. This of course, left the faster students bored and ornery. To make things worse, I had forgotten to bring my microphone and stickers (rewards for good behavior) to class. My sweet plans and visions quickly crumbled. I was frustrated and disappointed... and definitely humbled. I had done a terrible job communicating to my co-teachers what I needed from them... and I didn't give very clear direction to my students. I had a difficult time transferring what was in my head to what I wanted to see happen.

After my third class of the morning, I was spent. I waited until much later to go to lunch in effort to try to collect myself. However, I started talking with one of my co-teachers (Kim Mi Ok - her desk is right next to mine) and ended up in tears... much to my embarrassment. Crying over a lesson plan? It seemed a little ridiculous to me... but I knew it was more than that. I had spent HOURS preparing and really was HOPING to get to know some of my 700+ students. I was wanting to show my students that I care about them. Instead, I got frustrated and upset. Kim Mi Ok was a good listener and did her best to encourage me.

I thought I had things under control until I went to lunch and Kim Yeong Chae (she's basically been like a mom to me here) asked me, Why did you wait to come to lunch, Holly? I was the last one to lunch and most everyone was already finished eating. She sat with me, though... and I started crying again! She was incredibly gentle and understanding though. She reminded me that when she first started teaching, she cried a lot because it was frustrating. She told me that Korean students are difficult to teach. She also reminded me that it was Monday morning and that students are normally not very well-behaved on Monday mornings. I'm so thankful to work with so many kind, nurturing, understanding women!

Thankfully, I had a break after lunch, so I had some time to pray and re-group. I adjusted my lesson plans significantly and things went much better after lunch.

Over all, I think the whole experience was good - the crying and all. I think it built bridges with some of my co-teachers and I noticed that they were especially helpful with discipline in the classroom. Also, I'm noticing that word certainly travels QUICKLY at Cheongryang Middle School among the teachers... at least in regards to the foreign teacher. I had one teacher email me Monday night because she had heard that I cried at school. It was thoughtful of her to send the email. The following morning, I attended the Korean Bible Study/Prayer time with some of the other Christian teachers and they prayed for me because they knew I had a rough Monday. It was an incredible blessing to have their love and support... and I totally see God working through it. (I'll have to share more about the Morning Bible Study another time - a completely different story!)

So, I'm thankful. I'm learning a lot. My lessons are going better for the most part. I'm still using "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music (when the computer works in the classroom). I'm still learning about the students - through their lists of favorite things. I'm not learning names (gave up on the nametags idea at least for the moment). I'm learning "hangman" is a great way to start class and gain the attention of all of the students. I'm learning that I really enjoy the 7th graders and their sweet innocence more than a lot of my 9th grade classes. I'm learning more and more what it means to love my students. Sometimes it is really difficult to be patient with them (particularly when they are falling asleep in class, smacking each other, throwing things across the room, yelling in Korean at each other, and/or refusing to participate). Most of all, I'm learning a whole new aspect of what it means to depend upon the Holy Spirit moment by moment... and NOT to depend on my limited teaching experiences.

Thanks for "listening." :)

Had a rough day at school on Monday (tears were involved), but I'm doing much better now. So much to update you on regarding school stuff... but I need to get some sleep so that I can be an energetic teacher tomorrow morning. More to come... Praise God for amazing teachers at my school!