Gift Giving

In Korea, it is customary when you have a child, buy a car, have a close family member die, or another similar large occasion to buy gifts for everyone at work.  One of the teachers at school had her father die.  Out of appreciation for all the teachers who came to the funeral, she bought gift sets with various rice cakes inside for everyone.

Cherry Blossoms (37 pictures)

Went after church with Michael from Daegu University, Valentina from my school, and Jaywa also from my school to Kyung Ju (or any other variety of spellings) for the cherry blossoms.  Next week they will be in full bloom but today there were plenty opening up already and they were gorgeous to see.  An hour north of here and closer to the ocean, we found parking and walked around the ancient tombs of royalty before touring under the blossoming trees.  It was a delightful experience and I definitely got my exercise in for the day.  Might return next Saturday when they are in full bloom.

These are the cherry blossoms we went to see. 

Valentine doing her signature handstand in front of a small tomb.

I climbed a tree.... and leaned around for a picture.

The sign in front of the largest tomb... the hill was so large I didn't get a whole picture of it.

Michael Powell and JayWa.

The two tombs in the background are small... the one closest and not fully seen is the largest.

Flags can be seen past the buildings' traditional roofs.

Kids pretending to fight with swords... they planned what they were going to do when they saw me watching.

Being reflective among God's beautiful flowers.

Hanging out.

Michael picture bombing Valentina's handstand with Psy's horse dance.

Michael jumping into the air and looking like he is floating there.

Another Michael air jump.  It wasn't looking as cool as it was in person...

Had JayWa jump, see how high he can go?

Michael cheated and used a tree, hahaha... the Koreans behind the Korean taking the picture for us were laughing.

He pulled a muscle doing this one.  However he put his all into the jump, see his determination on his face?

Yes, we are taking pictures of each other ^_^

The trees are only starting to bloom.  Next weekend will be better I am told.

Jellybeans

Friday afternoon was the goal of us girls all week.  Literally.  We had made plans you see.  As soon as we could, we jumped on the school bus and headed towards town.  Enjoyed talking with several students on the way including a junior high school student who felt sad that he was too old to be in our conversation classes.

Got to downtown eventually and hit up the black market.  I looked around and made mental notes for when payday comes around.  However when I saw that one bag of jellybeans, I couldn't resist.  It had been hoped that there would be maple nut goodies or apple cider packets, but this worked too.  You see my grandma is a fan of jellybeans.  The original flavors, not the new 50+ stuff that is sold commonly now.  So eating them brings back memories of her and our shopping trips.  Again, wish there had been maple nut goodies.

Then we headed to Dos Tacos and met up with Jasmine.  She had been our Korean assistant along with Victoria.  However due to unavoidable circumstances, they both quit.  It was nice to see her and hang out.  After supper, we went and explored downtown showing where the book store was as well as some other favorite spots.  Then we headed to Costco and carefully chose what we wanted most.  Mostly because we had to carry it in our arms.  I picked up cereal I wanted as well as some stuff for Keith.  Then we came back.

It was a good trip and a way to chill after this last week.

One thing I want to mention that brought particular pleasure was at one store in the black market.  I noted the place for future reference because there is a chance that beautiful jar of dill pickles will still be there.  As we were leaving, the Korean guy who had already impressed me with his use of English said, "Take it easy." Not even my students know that phrase and they are pretty smart.  This guy has experience with foreigners and I will be going back.

To find Koreans in Korea who understand other cultures or at least how to deal with us is rare.  They mean well, but things get awkward.

For example, on the subway last night, I was standing there with my box of stuff from Costco.  It was crowded and I knew it would be a long 22 minutes.  A seat in the old people's section opened up and an old guy looked at me and forcibly thumped his knuckle on the open seat.  I shook my head... afterall I wasn't old enough by any stretch of the imagination to sit there.  He insisted so I sat.  When I left, I made sure to bow to express my appreciation.  How else could I communicate my thanks?

New Items

So I went shopping the other day and had a pleasant surprise.  You can now buy Ranch at E Mart.  It isn't the brand name we are used to in the states, but it is Ranch.  I haven't tried it yet, but seeing it available was such a surprise I felt it merited mentioning.

Then to my complete disbelief, I found pomegranates at the farmers market.  It was only that one time, but still a rare surprise and treat.  Also worth mentioning here.  South Korea is slowly gaining more imports it seems.  Just like you can now buy Korean food in the states when 20 years ago that would have been impossible.  So now you can buy foreign products here in more and more choices.

Introduction Letters

Something I like to do in my International classes is assign as homework for the first day an assignment where they write me letters about themselves and their goals for this class.  I enjoyed reading the letters for the literature class I teach.  I am just now getting to the world history class.

One of the letters was a student who was very thoughtful in his explanations.  It made me smile as he told me about how he never studied but placed first in all his classes.  He felt like this was deceitful so he decided to go to a better school and came here.  He took his first test and assumed, like always, he would place first.  Instead he placed 47th.  Shocked beyond belief, he realized he would have to study hard.  However here, all the students generally study hard.  So he went to academy (extra tutoring school from late afternoon to 10 or 11pm) and studied hard there.  This year, he finally was able to join the International Program and is excited to be here.  I hope he likes our classes and does well.

Other letters told me things such as one girl's confidence that she can do anything because she has skills in studying.  Then there is students who are separated from their families to be here.  One girl's mother moved with her nearby so she could attend here, but her father works hard in another part of Korea so that she can afford this school.  Another's family lives down in Busan, so she is forced to stay in the English dorm in order to attend.  There are multiple reasons for being here, but mainly it is the school's reputation as a good school.  The middle school programs here are definitely impressive.  We hold high standards for our students.  They know this and want to succeed.

Dream Shopping

We have two new Korean assistants.  Though we have been asked to call them coordinators instead.  That is an interesting situation.  Anyrate, having the extra help is really nice.  One of them, Jasmine, is particularly helpful.  I'm hoping we can be friends.  Last night we went to Costco together.  It was once again amazing to walk through the store and see all the wonderful things there.  They now have some cereal that I really want, but will have to wait to get paid before I pick up even half of what I want there.  Did get the ravioli.  A true treasure here.

Afterwards, on the way to the subway station so I could head home, we stopped by Home Plus.  A wonderful store that has more options than E Mart at better prices.  I was once again wishing I had been paid already.  Oh well.  It was an enjoyable experience.  Also, gives me an idea what is available and what is not.  Some things that once were reachable are not and things once we couldn't get we can now.  It is how things work overseas I suppose.

Hate and War

In Korea, I have gotten a really good look at how Koreans view others from outside their culture.  Last night in the boys English dorm, I even asked them their views on North Korea and Japan.  Knowing their dislike for those groups as well as the Chinese and other countries, I was surprised when one of the students said he would want to move to North Korea and be a nuclear scientist for them.

I asked why and he explained that then he would get a chance to create and send a nuke to Japan.  This led to the question of is it okay to hate others for crimes committed many years ago by people who mostly aren't even alive anymore.  He said yes, then explained that they never apologized or made payments for all the suffering and death they brought to Korea.  So it wasn't their life as much as an apology that they wanted.

Americans are very much the same way.  We cling to the things people do wrong, justified or not, and bash them constantly.  Christians do this to.  It is okay to say bad things about groups or politicians because it is for the cause of right... right?  Not really.

I am including a link to a powerful article that I read.  It really blew me away with it's logical sense.  I suggest, whether you think it applies to you or not, that you read it.  Expanding your world view is a good thing.

http://religiousliberty.tv/love-your-enemies-except-those-slimy-politicians.html