Peace Square with our kids

Christmas Pics

Christmas Holiday

Hello everyone!

Happy Holidays! I hope all of you are enjoying these special days. I could not have imagined it, but I had a lovely Christmas.

Some of my friends and I have been volunteering at an Orphanage here. Each Monday night we go and teach English informally to the kids. It has been a wonderful rewarding experience. We have also had the opportunity to do extra curricular activities such as biking, rollerblading and having lunch with them. On Saturday we went out and gave all the children presents. Our other foreign teacher friends here each bought a present for one of the kids. It was really great!

On Christmas Eve I went to the Orphanage Christmas party and dinner. Christa, me, and our friends Marnie and Jan watched the kids open more presents and ate a traditional korean meal with them. What fun! And believe it or not, the food was good! No fishy!!!

Afterwards we had a sleepover at my house and invited another girlfriend, so 5 in total. We exchanged names for stockings and got tons of presents! Of course, we could not wait until the morning so we opened them all up that night. Christa made us tacos (from costco in a neighboring town) and we fell asleep watching the movie "Something's Got to Give".

Christmas day I made pancakes and bacon, we stuffed ourselves and later in the day I had a giant delicious nap. The sun was shining, it was a gorgeous day. I was invited to a dinner, but was enjoying my time in my cozy apartment and decided to stay home. I thought of each of you and wondered how your day was going.

Korea has been challenging to say the least, but I feel as though the most difficult time is over. I am going on vacation Jan 10th until Feb 7th. I will go to Austrailia for 3 weeks with Christa. We are sooooooo excited!! I also have another week and a half off at the end of Feb, then only 5 months to go!

Shocking News...

This just in...

Mr Kim is leaving CheongHo January 1st! He did not even say goodbye to me, I heard it from Mrs. Lee whom I had dinner with tonight. One might think that this is good news, but I have grown accustomed to Mr. Kim and one might even say developed an affection for him. The infamous puppet master is moving on.

Always a lesson

If I believed in god, I would ask her, “Oh Lord, what is that you are trying to teach me here??”
Patience? Maybe. I thought I was doing pretty good. Patience is indeed a virtue, one that I have sought after for some time now. And, I think that I have done alright in that department; in the areas that count anyway.
Positive thinking? Alright, I know I am a positive thinker, but there is always room for improvement. Fine. I will think about the things that make me happy and the things I want to have in my life, rather than the things that I don’t want. Got it.
It might be a little bit of both of these. Or perhaps it is something else. It could be about perception, or compassion and empathy. I know how selective I am when doling those out.
Whatever it is I am supposed to learn I wish the hell I would hurry up and learn it. But no, in the tradition of my previous lessons, it will take me what seems like eons. I will stumble, I will fall (getting pretty close!), and eventually I will get it. I just need to try and stay sane while I am “learning”.
Korea is literally driving me crazy. I go up and down like a horse on a merry go round, only it is not fun! Some days are ok, fun even, then the next could be really difficult. Just when I think I understand how to make my way here and be happy, something throws me for a loop. I find myself getting far more angry here than I ever did at home. I even yell sometimes! I have lost my cool, cried at school, (hey that rhymes ;) ) things that I don’t do, or haven’t done at home.
As I have said many times, there are things here that go against the grain of my soul. The teaching is a joke, the children are like robots, they cannot think outside of the things they have been taught to memorize. It is so disheartening. There is not much respect for me as a person, or a teacher. The things that I want and need are ignored, but everything is expected of me. I am a very opened minded person, but every day I flounder in a very close minded world. Many days I feel as though I am talking to the wall, “Hello, wall.”
Obviously I will not throw in the towel, but right now I am not sure how to deal with these feelings. I am a sensitive being, too sensitive some say. Am I destined to be depressed by the world, wherever I go, because I zoom in on the hardships? Where do people like the Dali Lama and Marc and Craig Keilburger get their inspiration? They for certain have seen worse things than I have.
As usual, after writing this, my feelings and thoughts feel more sorted. And in keeping with the way this mysterious world works, while writing I was interrupted by a friend on messenger whose sunlit beams distracted me from my own sadness.

First I should say that the children here are wild. Like wild horses. They are loud, lack respect for the English teachers (because we do not use physical punishment), hit each other, fight on the playground constantly, and there is too much bullying going on that no one responds to.
Now, the children at my school are being forced into conformity by the teachers and many of the adults around them. There is a certain way that they are expected to conduct themselves, certain beliefs they must have, and definitely certain foods they must eat. This mentality falls in line with the Confucisism (spelling?) way. Everyone should be the same.

Well everybody knows that children are not all the same. They have distinct personalities, regardless of who their teachers think they should be. And the children rebel in any way they can, hence the wild horse syndrome.

Today I was watching the grade fours from the window in my office, and I could not help but chuckle. First a chuckle, then an all out guffaw! The teachers wanted the children to follow them to a designated location. The teacher blows the whistle and walks ahead of the students and they are to follow behind. Instead of walking, as the teacher was, each child started doing something different. It was so funny! They were skipping, marching, twirling, stomping, spinning, you name it, they were doing it. The teacher was swatting at those closest to her, but the whole class was carrying on like that. It was great!

Watching them gave me a little insight into what I am dealing with here. It is hard for me to understand why they are so out of control. Now I realize that they are just trying to express themselves. This realization may not make my job easier, but it sure makes me a little happier.