I remember when I was a wee lad my mom made me go to RAs every Sunday evening at my church. I was a Royal Ambassadors. Growing up in the South, in the Bible Belt, and in my family I didn’t feel like an ambassador for Christ. I know I would have seen more opportunities if I had only opened my selfish eyes but I didn’t. I also understand that while on the Earth I am an Ambassador for my faith. But for the longest time that just sounded like a Sunday School, “Jesus-Answer” with no personal or practical application. I know not everyone is Christian but I think I’ve been engulfed with Christianity for so long that I’ve lost sight of maintaining the visitor’s mindset.
In Siheung, South Korea, it is obvious I not a pure blood. I am an alien to this Korean world. I also realize that I have a lot of responsibility. I understand that I represent all wagooks (foreigners). I honestly think I do a good job representing the outside world to Korea. (Much better than Lady Gaga or Michael Jackson). There is a likelihood that I am the only foreigner that some of my Korean neighbors meet. I feel obligated to be nice to people and represent myself well.
One of my favorite things to do is to ignore people and to be ignored. And in the States, in the great Nation of Texas, it is easy for me to blend in, to just be one in the crowd. Being white and not having straight, black hair really makes one stand out in Siheung. I am learning that I can’t just be left alone or unnoticed all the time. If I throw a gum wrapper on the ground an old agishe (old man) could rightly assume that ALL Americans throw their trash wherever they want. (Note: That would never happen because I loath littering and I don’t chew gum).
I think it is sad that I feel a greater responsibility to be a respectable representation of America or Texas than I do of my faith. (When America and Christianity both need positive PR). I am learning that I am always accountable. Here it is more obvious because I am more obvious. But more importantly than being an accountable American or even a Texan, I am a Christian. My faith should be more obvious than my nationality. And I should view myself as an Ambassador of my faith and Texas (and America).
In .love.
Jp
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
NOOOOOOO!
It is November 28th and it is snowing outside... I am going to hate my life for the next couple of months.
I don't like snow. I do not like snow in Texas. I do not like snow in Colorado. I do not like snow in the Republic of Korea.
Holy Balls this is gonna suck.
I don't like snow. I do not like snow in Texas. I do not like snow in Colorado. I do not like snow in the Republic of Korea.
Holy Balls this is gonna suck.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Third time... not so charming
I've experienced a significant life moment here in Korea.
I threw up for the third time in my entire existence (that I can remember). Since you are wonder:
The first time I threw up I was eating a red Donald Duck icecream/Popsicle type contraption and I had to be younger than 2nd grade because I was still living in Palestine. I remember being outside and standing by my mom's silver 'rice jet' (Maxima) and just throwing up my red Donald Duck treat.
The second time I threw up was after I had my wisdom teeth removed. I think I was in late High School or early college but the dental surgeon sedated me and I was out cold for over a day. So when I awoke I was really hungry but all I could eat was ice cream and Rice-a-Rony Angel Hair pasta. I ate two boxes of pasta and almost an entire half-gallon of Vanilla with Strawberries Blue Bell ice cream. (Oh that ice cream is delicious...). It didn't take long for my meds, nauseated stomach, and 'Alligator Eyes' to start battling it out in the bathroom.
Then tonight marked a third vomitous experience. One of my bosses took me out to eat dinner since he made me work on Saturday. (Though he said it was because he wanted to spend time with me outside of work. I appreciate the platitude.) We went to eat shabu shabu with his family. When he invited me I thought he was meeting a group of people and I was just going to tag-along but it was just a family dinner. It made me feel part of an more authentic Korea. Inviting people to eat with your family is a nice, warm gesture. If I ever have a family and I am not embarrassed by them, I will invite people to eat with us.
(BTW: Shabu Shabu is a Japanese dish that Koreans have 'Koreanized.' You cook the dish in the center of the table and everyone eats out of the same pan. You first start out with a broth, bring it to a boil and then you add vegetables and beef. The vegetables are an array of mushrooms, carrots, onions, sometimes squash, and then there are other veges that I don't know what they are. You can also add fish and clams or pork. But beef is the best. The beef is cut really thin so it cooks in the boiling broth. At the end of the meal you add noodles. Then rice. -But they are just fillers though.)
Anyway, back to the spewing... I usually don't give into social or cultural norms but I really like this boss so I felt obligated to eat everything he put in my bowl. I will be honest, for my 150 pounds I can really throw back a bunch of food. Not tonight.
I did eat a lot. It surpassed gluttony. (A sin I take pride in committing). Anyway, I was fine throughout the whole meal and the ride home. I was going to go out but I was feeling a little tired so I opted to just stay home and watch 'Bambi' (like most 24 year olds would do on a Saturday night...)
I didn't feel bad in my stomach I just felt full. Really full! Then in my fourth section of 'Bambi' on the youtube I started burping a lot. [I agree this is gross but it is interesting to me]. I usually don't burp so even burping was an unusual and uncomfortable experience. I don't think I eat soup correctly. I think I suck in too much air. And I thought that was the case with the broth from the Sahbu Shabu tonight. Then all of a sudden I realized I need to throw up. A sensation and practice I am not accustom to. So I go to the bath room and start to take out my retainers. Halfway through removing my retainers I just start gagging. And boy did I deliver. Oddly, I was impressed with how much my stomach gave back. Not just once but seven times (divided up into two individual toilet sessions).
What I gathered:
1.It is impressive how our body protects us. I mean, my nonexistent self-discipline didn't stop me from gorging myself on beef and vegetables. Then noodles. Then rice. Then ice cream. But maybe it was punishment for my over eating or maybe my stomach couldn't process all the grub I consumed. Either way, my response was out of my control. So praises to the G.O.D. for knowing what He was doing when he created my digestive system.
2. I feel sorry for my neighbors. Oddly enough the bathroom is the only place in my apartment I ever hear sounds coming from my neighbors. (I don't hear them making 'bathroom noises' I can hear them talking or watching TV. My neighbors also have a little boy that laughs a lot!) Unfortunately for them I'm assuming they can hear me through our shared wall. Most nights they just get to hear me sing along to the soundtrack to 'Spring Awakening' or preform duets with my REBA. However tonight, they got a special performance.
-I hope they don't think I am a drunkard that can't hold my liquor. But since they have heard me sing so much they probably think I'm drunk all the time.
I also thought of something. Do you think the conditions that you eat food affect how the food is digested? Lets assume you didn't like who you were eating with. Would your company enable you body to comfortably digest food. Or is eating with loved-ones a ticket for smooth sailing?
I feel better now. Actually, I never felt bad. Well, the act of throwing up wasn't my favorite but I am glad I did it.
In .love.
Jp
I threw up for the third time in my entire existence (that I can remember). Since you are wonder:
The first time I threw up I was eating a red Donald Duck icecream/Popsicle type contraption and I had to be younger than 2nd grade because I was still living in Palestine. I remember being outside and standing by my mom's silver 'rice jet' (Maxima) and just throwing up my red Donald Duck treat.
The second time I threw up was after I had my wisdom teeth removed. I think I was in late High School or early college but the dental surgeon sedated me and I was out cold for over a day. So when I awoke I was really hungry but all I could eat was ice cream and Rice-a-Rony Angel Hair pasta. I ate two boxes of pasta and almost an entire half-gallon of Vanilla with Strawberries Blue Bell ice cream. (Oh that ice cream is delicious...). It didn't take long for my meds, nauseated stomach, and 'Alligator Eyes' to start battling it out in the bathroom.
Then tonight marked a third vomitous experience. One of my bosses took me out to eat dinner since he made me work on Saturday. (Though he said it was because he wanted to spend time with me outside of work. I appreciate the platitude.) We went to eat shabu shabu with his family. When he invited me I thought he was meeting a group of people and I was just going to tag-along but it was just a family dinner. It made me feel part of an more authentic Korea. Inviting people to eat with your family is a nice, warm gesture. If I ever have a family and I am not embarrassed by them, I will invite people to eat with us.
(BTW: Shabu Shabu is a Japanese dish that Koreans have 'Koreanized.' You cook the dish in the center of the table and everyone eats out of the same pan. You first start out with a broth, bring it to a boil and then you add vegetables and beef. The vegetables are an array of mushrooms, carrots, onions, sometimes squash, and then there are other veges that I don't know what they are. You can also add fish and clams or pork. But beef is the best. The beef is cut really thin so it cooks in the boiling broth. At the end of the meal you add noodles. Then rice. -But they are just fillers though.)
Anyway, back to the spewing... I usually don't give into social or cultural norms but I really like this boss so I felt obligated to eat everything he put in my bowl. I will be honest, for my 150 pounds I can really throw back a bunch of food. Not tonight.
I did eat a lot. It surpassed gluttony. (A sin I take pride in committing). Anyway, I was fine throughout the whole meal and the ride home. I was going to go out but I was feeling a little tired so I opted to just stay home and watch 'Bambi' (like most 24 year olds would do on a Saturday night...)
I didn't feel bad in my stomach I just felt full. Really full! Then in my fourth section of 'Bambi' on the youtube I started burping a lot. [I agree this is gross but it is interesting to me]. I usually don't burp so even burping was an unusual and uncomfortable experience. I don't think I eat soup correctly. I think I suck in too much air. And I thought that was the case with the broth from the Sahbu Shabu tonight. Then all of a sudden I realized I need to throw up. A sensation and practice I am not accustom to. So I go to the bath room and start to take out my retainers. Halfway through removing my retainers I just start gagging. And boy did I deliver. Oddly, I was impressed with how much my stomach gave back. Not just once but seven times (divided up into two individual toilet sessions).
What I gathered:
1.It is impressive how our body protects us. I mean, my nonexistent self-discipline didn't stop me from gorging myself on beef and vegetables. Then noodles. Then rice. Then ice cream. But maybe it was punishment for my over eating or maybe my stomach couldn't process all the grub I consumed. Either way, my response was out of my control. So praises to the G.O.D. for knowing what He was doing when he created my digestive system.
2. I feel sorry for my neighbors. Oddly enough the bathroom is the only place in my apartment I ever hear sounds coming from my neighbors. (I don't hear them making 'bathroom noises' I can hear them talking or watching TV. My neighbors also have a little boy that laughs a lot!) Unfortunately for them I'm assuming they can hear me through our shared wall. Most nights they just get to hear me sing along to the soundtrack to 'Spring Awakening' or preform duets with my REBA. However tonight, they got a special performance.
-I hope they don't think I am a drunkard that can't hold my liquor. But since they have heard me sing so much they probably think I'm drunk all the time.
I also thought of something. Do you think the conditions that you eat food affect how the food is digested? Lets assume you didn't like who you were eating with. Would your company enable you body to comfortably digest food. Or is eating with loved-ones a ticket for smooth sailing?
I feel better now. Actually, I never felt bad. Well, the act of throwing up wasn't my favorite but I am glad I did it.
In .love.
Jp
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Namesake
Today on my way home from work I was looking out over the ocean and my name appeared, almost glistening on top of the water. So I started thinking about my name. I actually don't like my name, never have. It seems like I've hear it my whole life...
"Justin" -How lame and uneventful is that?
But so much of my identity, who I am, is exemplified in that name. In a word. Why is that combination of six letters so significant to me?
One of the first things we do with kids here is give them English names. I actually still feel uneasy with the whole process. I feel like subconsciously I am telling the kids that they aren't good enough using their Korean names. Or that English names are more superior. I also see the practicality of the English names. I mean, they are learning English and it is part of the 'full-immersion' idea. And selfishly, I can't distinguish, much-less pronounce, Korean names. We even started teaching the staff at my school and we asked that they make English names. Thankfully most kids (and adults) are excited to create a new alias.
And you can learn so much about a kid by their choice of name. Usually the most interesting kid's have the most unique names. What do you expect when a prepubescent boy chooses the name 'Monkey.' I've also known a Supermarket, Orange, Bread, People, Ah, Superman, and Madonna (it was a HE that chose that name). It is usually boys who are brave enough to venture into the specialized names. But I've had a Mazinga, Princess, Lucifer, Baby-Jo, and my personal favorite, GaGamell.
I've played with the idea of assuming a Korean alter-ego but I think it is too early for me to commit to a new name.
Contemplating a new name forced me to defend my existing one. 'Justin' has no 'Pop' or 'Bazinga' to it but it is the name my mother unfortunately decided to go with. Though I share the name with thousands of other unlucky guys, it is still mine. It is part of me.
God gives us our past. And our past is part of our testimony. I think our testimony is a beautiful example of God's creativity and grace. If my testimony were a gift to God (which it will be one day). I feel like that gift has to have a "To-From" tag.
My testimony, will be from Justin.
In .love.
Jp
"Justin" -How lame and uneventful is that?
But so much of my identity, who I am, is exemplified in that name. In a word. Why is that combination of six letters so significant to me?
One of the first things we do with kids here is give them English names. I actually still feel uneasy with the whole process. I feel like subconsciously I am telling the kids that they aren't good enough using their Korean names. Or that English names are more superior. I also see the practicality of the English names. I mean, they are learning English and it is part of the 'full-immersion' idea. And selfishly, I can't distinguish, much-less pronounce, Korean names. We even started teaching the staff at my school and we asked that they make English names. Thankfully most kids (and adults) are excited to create a new alias.
And you can learn so much about a kid by their choice of name. Usually the most interesting kid's have the most unique names. What do you expect when a prepubescent boy chooses the name 'Monkey.' I've also known a Supermarket, Orange, Bread, People, Ah, Superman, and Madonna (it was a HE that chose that name). It is usually boys who are brave enough to venture into the specialized names. But I've had a Mazinga, Princess, Lucifer, Baby-Jo, and my personal favorite, GaGamell.
I've played with the idea of assuming a Korean alter-ego but I think it is too early for me to commit to a new name.
Contemplating a new name forced me to defend my existing one. 'Justin' has no 'Pop' or 'Bazinga' to it but it is the name my mother unfortunately decided to go with. Though I share the name with thousands of other unlucky guys, it is still mine. It is part of me.
God gives us our past. And our past is part of our testimony. I think our testimony is a beautiful example of God's creativity and grace. If my testimony were a gift to God (which it will be one day). I feel like that gift has to have a "To-From" tag.
My testimony, will be from Justin.
In .love.
Jp
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Jolly old Saint Nicholas lean your ear this way
I figure if you are taking the time to read this you actually know me. However, for those of you who don't know me, I think I may sounds kind of gay in some of my postings. I am fine with that, I don't need to explain myself to anybody. But saying that, I know this post aint gonna help me sound any less gayer.
I have been here in the Republic of Korea for almost four months now. The novelty has passed. I am not 'homesick' but I do miss some nouns (people, places, things). Like yesterday one of my college friends, Brianne, told me through the facebook that she missed me. Reading that almost brought me to tears. (I say 'almost' attempting maintain some semblance of masculinity). As the words, 'I miss you' maranated, I was reminded about all the relationships I am without. I mean, talking to Miss and Baylor through the Skype sometimes just isn't enough. At times I feel like a solider on the front lines. (That is a gross exaggeration that is probably offensive to actually military men.) I also haven't vocally corresponded with my bff E-currency (as he likes to call himself) since I've been here. I miss my Hardin kids so much but feel uber creepy when I facebook message them. (Just to clarify, I never instigate the message.)
I sometimes feel like the facebook makes things worse because I can see so much. I've watched Jason and Jenny's little mistake grow up through infrequent album postings. And I read about Keys advertising for the TVE stick horse race... I was there with her last year. :(
I have made some Korean friends but they are more acquaintances then actual friends. And their friendships are like Turkish delight. A little bit leaves me craving more. (Much like a REBA kiss... if you didn't get the 'Turkish Delight' simile.) These brief encounters of fellowship leave me recalling the joy relationships I've physically lost (because of Geography.) I have about four Korean, non-work friends (that are dudes) and I value them as much Sarah Palin loves shameless self-promotion.
I have met one Korean guy who is such a jolly 'gift.' His English name is Santa. I met him at the church I started going to and I've gotten to hang out with him a couple of times. This sounds so gay but I want to spend as much time with him as possible. I feel like we are getting past 'just friends' (and I completely mean that in a sexual way. Jk). I know that sounds queer but try to remember all my friends, my BROTHERS, are in the State (TEXAS) and the intRanet is the only form of communication I have with them. (which I am grateful for but I need/want intimacy here.)
Looking for an excuse to spend more time with Mr. Kringle, I asked Santa if he would be interested in reading a book together. Honestly, I was hoping for a non-religious book but he suggested "The Purpose Driven Life." I suggested REBA's autobiography but they haven't translated it into Korean yet...
I haven't read the book and am not really excited to but I look forward to having personal conversation. I think the book will help facilitate that.
In .love.
Jp
I have been here in the Republic of Korea for almost four months now. The novelty has passed. I am not 'homesick' but I do miss some nouns (people, places, things). Like yesterday one of my college friends, Brianne, told me through the facebook that she missed me. Reading that almost brought me to tears. (I say 'almost' attempting maintain some semblance of masculinity). As the words, 'I miss you' maranated, I was reminded about all the relationships I am without. I mean, talking to Miss and Baylor through the Skype sometimes just isn't enough. At times I feel like a solider on the front lines. (That is a gross exaggeration that is probably offensive to actually military men.) I also haven't vocally corresponded with my bff E-currency (as he likes to call himself) since I've been here. I miss my Hardin kids so much but feel uber creepy when I facebook message them. (Just to clarify, I never instigate the message.)
I sometimes feel like the facebook makes things worse because I can see so much. I've watched Jason and Jenny's little mistake grow up through infrequent album postings. And I read about Keys advertising for the TVE stick horse race... I was there with her last year. :(
I have made some Korean friends but they are more acquaintances then actual friends. And their friendships are like Turkish delight. A little bit leaves me craving more. (Much like a REBA kiss... if you didn't get the 'Turkish Delight' simile.) These brief encounters of fellowship leave me recalling the joy relationships I've physically lost (because of Geography.) I have about four Korean, non-work friends (that are dudes) and I value them as much Sarah Palin loves shameless self-promotion.
I have met one Korean guy who is such a jolly 'gift.' His English name is Santa. I met him at the church I started going to and I've gotten to hang out with him a couple of times. This sounds so gay but I want to spend as much time with him as possible. I feel like we are getting past 'just friends' (and I completely mean that in a sexual way. Jk). I know that sounds queer but try to remember all my friends, my BROTHERS, are in the State (TEXAS) and the intRanet is the only form of communication I have with them. (which I am grateful for but I need/want intimacy here.)
Looking for an excuse to spend more time with Mr. Kringle, I asked Santa if he would be interested in reading a book together. Honestly, I was hoping for a non-religious book but he suggested "The Purpose Driven Life." I suggested REBA's autobiography but they haven't translated it into Korean yet...
I haven't read the book and am not really excited to but I look forward to having personal conversation. I think the book will help facilitate that.
In .love.
Jp
Friday, October 22, 2010
I hate to say it but, "Pfth..."
Most of you may think I am flawless or as I tell myself, "the crème de la crème." Surprisingly, that is far from the truth. And one of my genuine bad habits is being too mean to people (especially girls). Oh, and biting my cuticles but that doesn't effect anyone but myself and anyone who has to look at my dry-blood stained fingers... Ewww!
Anyway, I have been told many times in my life that I hurt people's feelings. And my responses are either:
1. I don't care.
2. I feel aweful.
Criteria for me to care is this: I have to like you. Even if it just a little bit.
Most of my three years at SFA were spent being friends with this girl I will call, 'Hebrew.' I easily, sincerely, 100% love Hebrew. She is a friend and sister. One time we were playing one of her 'gay games' (as I insensitively called them). And unfortunately the game required honesty. And through Hebrew's honesty, I learned that I had hurt her feelings by jokes I made. And even though she knew we were friends, it still hurt her. After she struggle to tell me this honest confession, I felt like I had been kicked in the balls. I hate seeing people I like upset. Especially girls. When girls cry I instantly try to figure out ways to 'fix' the problem.
And I know Hebrew isn't the only friend/sister I have hurt through my insensitivity.
Today I learned that my insensitivity also travels internationally. Big surprise.
I know I am socially retarded and so I don't always treat people well. This is my faulty justification, "that is just how I communicate." My 'love language' is discouraging, demeaning words.
Anyway, in an attempt to build a relationship with a co-worker I tried to joke around with them. Lesson learned, I need to actually be friends with someone before you start being mean to them. I am grateful for my co-workers maturity and honesty in addressing her feelings. How else would I have known I was offending her. Either way, I feel like I have to have a awkward D.T.R. when I go back to work. I guess that would be the 'mature' thing to do. (I will probably wigg out though...)
So, to the three people that read my blog, if you are a girl and I have ever hurt your feelings, and you think I actually care for you. Then I am sorry. And if you want me to specifically apologize, call me out. Obviously, I need it.
(If you are dude and I've hurt your feelings, you can find a away to move on.)
Peace out crackers-
Jp
Anyway, I have been told many times in my life that I hurt people's feelings. And my responses are either:
1. I don't care.
2. I feel aweful.
Criteria for me to care is this: I have to like you. Even if it just a little bit.
Most of my three years at SFA were spent being friends with this girl I will call, 'Hebrew.' I easily, sincerely, 100% love Hebrew. She is a friend and sister. One time we were playing one of her 'gay games' (as I insensitively called them). And unfortunately the game required honesty. And through Hebrew's honesty, I learned that I had hurt her feelings by jokes I made. And even though she knew we were friends, it still hurt her. After she struggle to tell me this honest confession, I felt like I had been kicked in the balls. I hate seeing people I like upset. Especially girls. When girls cry I instantly try to figure out ways to 'fix' the problem.
And I know Hebrew isn't the only friend/sister I have hurt through my insensitivity.
Today I learned that my insensitivity also travels internationally. Big surprise.
I know I am socially retarded and so I don't always treat people well. This is my faulty justification, "that is just how I communicate." My 'love language' is discouraging, demeaning words.
Anyway, in an attempt to build a relationship with a co-worker I tried to joke around with them. Lesson learned, I need to actually be friends with someone before you start being mean to them. I am grateful for my co-workers maturity and honesty in addressing her feelings. How else would I have known I was offending her. Either way, I feel like I have to have a awkward D.T.R. when I go back to work. I guess that would be the 'mature' thing to do. (I will probably wigg out though...)
So, to the three people that read my blog, if you are a girl and I have ever hurt your feelings, and you think I actually care for you. Then I am sorry. And if you want me to specifically apologize, call me out. Obviously, I need it.
(If you are dude and I've hurt your feelings, you can find a away to move on.)
Peace out crackers-
Jp
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Hardin, a surprising 4th place.
In my three months here in South Korea, I've received two articles of mail. The first, a letter from Alyssa Gaalema and the second, a card with two re-gifted Cds, from AnJew-We. And none from the rest of you...
In retribution for their gifts I've scribbled a letter to each of them. Now they have to suffer through my ugly handwriting and pur spellin. In the letters I wrote about all the things I miss from 'home.' And that got me thinking...
When I was deciding to come to Korea I knew it would be an emotionally trying experience. I've never really lived outside of the nation of Texas and I've always been able to go wherever I wanted. If I was needing needing a Camp Peniel fix I could just hop in my car and head to Marble Falls. (Camp being in my top three list of things I miss the most). When building myself up for my year here I knew it would be hard to not see my Miss Berkley and her 'spacial' brother (my #1). And physically I knew going without Rudy's pork loin would drain my strength (#3). Naturally, I also knew I would miss my family but I was prepared to miss them so not seeing them isn't as hard because i was predisposed to that struggle.
What has surprised me is how much I miss Hardin. I knew I would miss Mrs. Keys, the Führer of the Social Studies department, and my fellow Social Studies subordinates... I did not realize how much I would miss all of Hardin. For the past two years, the teachers at Hardin High School were my family. And I know that sounds gay but it is true. I have never had so many loving, encouraging, tolerant, patient, forgiving mothers and girlfriends. (Shout-out Mrs. Rao, Carr, and Veach!)
My last year at Hardin was particularly awesome. Even though we lost the immortal Ms. Croft and were stuck with Jonsey, it all worked out aight. I no longer was driving the bus before and after school. I was more confident as a teacher. And we had TWO conferences! I mean a conference and a ultimate period. Just like Camp Peniel and the SFA rock wall, I genuinely enjoyed the people I worked with. Even Mrs. Cisneros was tolerable. And when Via-Tore up wore deodorant and stayed away from the tuna I could suffer through her presence.
But I am not only grateful for my Social Studies, aka the "Department of the Millennium." The entire staff I sincerely like. From Mrs. Betty rockin' up-and-down the halls to Ricky in the bus barn or "Mean Scott" in the Cafeteria; even scary, sweaty Coach Jones threatening a sexual harassment lawsuit, and Charlie allowing me to live adjacent to his mother practically for free... everyone was so... amicable.
I don't know of many schools where the Superintendent would pretend to fire a timid, scrawny first-year teacher in order to play along with a pathetic bald man's prank. Or a vice principal that would allow that same sad, lonely bald man to write explicit Valo-grams to him and other innocent staff. And Mrs. Marberries, not even my mother would have been such a great first-principal. How many bosses would invite you to stay with them when you were being threatened by a psychotic, over-weight redneck? Everyone was so open and welcoming. And I am truly grateful.
No work place is perfect but I 100% took for granted the family I had at Hardin. I have so many memories. Memories my dreams remind me of here in Korea. Like when I had a private slumber-party in the teachers lounge and I think I literally scared the tee-tee out of Mrs. Thornton when she bolted open the door to my safehouseat 4am. That awkward yet delightful tickling strategy from Mr. Mealer while competing at ultimate-football. And the toothpick Slutter infamous trying to shield a poor student's eyes from a urinating Cisneros. And our NYC trip when Keys left the maps in Hardin and tried to blame me... "Good times."
I love each one of the teachers and staff members at Hardin High School/Cafeteria/ Admin office. Except the tech people. I never got them to unblock google images. And I hold grudges really well... (I'm just JK-ing Mrs. Muldrow)
But I not only miss the teachers, it is hard and awkward to describe how empty a part of my heart feels because I am not there for the students. I feel extremely guilty that I will not be there to see my first class of students graduate. I feel like I am betraying them in some way. But I know I will never forget them. (Except oh-whats-his-name... you know the tall one). That class of students are pivotal and significant in my life as an educator. I want to contact them and ask what their plans will be after May but stings from "To catch a Predator" with Chris Hansen flash through my mind... But if any of you Hardin graduates have learned to read and stumble upon this blog, know that you are important to me and I sincerely do care about you and your future.
(Also, I will not forget when Mrs. Koan gave me permission to "beat Carson's ass" if he ever acted up...)
And my freshmen last year... What can I say? I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to take that Geography postition. I had a hard time teaching that subject. I was completely retarded for essentially agreeing to a second 'first-year' of teaching. But I am happy I did. I have been bugging Mrs. Jones and Allen through the facebook checking up on them. Even the kids I didn't like, I still miss them. I don't think students understand how important and consuming they are to their teachers. Especially single losers who have nothing else to do with their lives but go to work during the day and watch Netflix movies at night... My students last year brought me so much joy (and also some not-so-pleasant feelings too). They aren't quite human yet but they are on their way and it is encouraging. I know there is so much life and opportunity out there for all of them and I wholeheartedly pray that they find the person God wants them to be. The funny things is I know they don't give three shakes about me or what I think but those kids are often on my mind.
And my precious SHIP mates. I miss them. Such a diverse and precious mix of chillins.
I am glad to be here in Korea and I am learning a lot but I just want to say that I love and humbly miss all my former co-workers and students at Hardin.
In .love.
Mr. Powers
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Ajima is Korean for 'crazy'
An agjima is a older Korean woman. It was one of the first words I learned here. And they are an enigma. I will be honest, I have always been 'drawn' to older women... But ajimas are crazy! And even though this is a male-dominated country, women run the show.
Ajimas have mastered the "Korean squat." They can squat on the sidewalk for days selling their home-grown vegetables. It is a physical feat that defies nature. Ajimas are so weird. They have an unspoken, unexplainable power about them. They can pretty much do anything they want.
For example, there was this ajima that beat up a younger Korean girl on the subway for not offering her seat.
Today I went to the Seoul zoo and while I was waiting for my friends I was watching a group of ajimas talking on the grass. Then one of them stands up and pulls her pants down to show something to her fellow ajimas. So in the middle of busy, weekend-crowd zoo this old lady is showing her friends (and everyone else) her old-lady underroos.
Another thing I have surprisingly gotten used to are the ajimas who clean the public bathrooms. Unlike the States where janitors close the bathroom to clean them, ajimas literally clean around you while you are using the bathroom. The first time this happened to me I was completely embarrassed. I was urinating at the urinal and this ajima passes from my left, picks up some trash and scrubs the urinal to my right.
However, the most awkward bathroom/ajima experience was at work. The cleaning ladies at work used to ride in the same death-trap we rode into work on so they would try to talk with me and randomly touched my face... So I felt we had a 'relationship.' They would talk to me and I would just smile like a retard watching brownies bake. But one day at work I was peeing and the cleaning lady comes in. When she sees somebody is in there she actually turns to leave but then pauses and watches me pee for a couple of seconds. I am standing there just smiling and she is looking at me, curiously processing my white wiener. I felt so weird. It was obviously what she was doing but what could I do but just finish?
Ajimas can also be ruthless. I have had ajimas almost push me down because I am moving too slow or standing in an area they want to stand in or just want to mark their territory, making sure even the foreigners know of their dominance in this society.
But ajimas are also the cutest things in the world. I get a thrill out of seeing them dressed in the cute, shinny, colorful Sunday clothes. Or their over-sized polarized, prescription-grade visors that cover their entire face and neck. They can also, carry an infant, sell peanuts, direct traffic and change a taxi's oil all at the same time.
I was told a joke by one of my Korean friends. Here it is:
"There are two types of ajimas.
-Tough ajimas and even tougher ajimas."
Jp
Ajimas have mastered the "Korean squat." They can squat on the sidewalk for days selling their home-grown vegetables. It is a physical feat that defies nature. Ajimas are so weird. They have an unspoken, unexplainable power about them. They can pretty much do anything they want.
For example, there was this ajima that beat up a younger Korean girl on the subway for not offering her seat.
Today I went to the Seoul zoo and while I was waiting for my friends I was watching a group of ajimas talking on the grass. Then one of them stands up and pulls her pants down to show something to her fellow ajimas. So in the middle of busy, weekend-crowd zoo this old lady is showing her friends (and everyone else) her old-lady underroos.
Another thing I have surprisingly gotten used to are the ajimas who clean the public bathrooms. Unlike the States where janitors close the bathroom to clean them, ajimas literally clean around you while you are using the bathroom. The first time this happened to me I was completely embarrassed. I was urinating at the urinal and this ajima passes from my left, picks up some trash and scrubs the urinal to my right.
However, the most awkward bathroom/ajima experience was at work. The cleaning ladies at work used to ride in the same death-trap we rode into work on so they would try to talk with me and randomly touched my face... So I felt we had a 'relationship.' They would talk to me and I would just smile like a retard watching brownies bake. But one day at work I was peeing and the cleaning lady comes in. When she sees somebody is in there she actually turns to leave but then pauses and watches me pee for a couple of seconds. I am standing there just smiling and she is looking at me, curiously processing my white wiener. I felt so weird. It was obviously what she was doing but what could I do but just finish?
Ajimas can also be ruthless. I have had ajimas almost push me down because I am moving too slow or standing in an area they want to stand in or just want to mark their territory, making sure even the foreigners know of their dominance in this society.
But ajimas are also the cutest things in the world. I get a thrill out of seeing them dressed in the cute, shinny, colorful Sunday clothes. Or their over-sized polarized, prescription-grade visors that cover their entire face and neck. They can also, carry an infant, sell peanuts, direct traffic and change a taxi's oil all at the same time.
I was told a joke by one of my Korean friends. Here it is:
"There are two types of ajimas.
-Tough ajimas and even tougher ajimas."
Jp
Monday, September 27, 2010
Finally, some prejudice!
Being a WASP and a male, I will be honest, I have not experienced too much discrimination. I guess being picked last in P.E. or asking a girl to prom, her saying no, only to see her show up with some D-bag… are forms of discrimination but I am not emotionally traumatized by those prejudices. But I am excited to proclaim that I have experienced prejudice and discrimination since I’ve been here. The most obvious happened this weekend. I was on my way to Seoul on the subway and as usually seats near the whiteys were among that last occupied. (Which I guess is a form of prejudice. But that is understandable.) In the area I live, a non-yellow person is a rarity. So I am used to people, mostly the elderly and young, staring or pointing out the way guk as I walk by. This past weekend I was sitting on the subway and seat opened beside me. A mom standing with her child insinuated to her little boy of about eight to sit down beside me. (I am horrible with guessing people’s age. Especially of Asians. For all I know the kid could have been in university. To clarify, he could speak and stand on his own.) Anyway the boy, staring at me, adamantly shook his head no. To encourage the lad, the mother sat down to my left then tried to pull her son into her lap. He grounded his feet into the floor refusing to budge. I realize that I might be scary to a kid who has never seen a white person before so I wasn’t offended. I actually thought it was funny. And I wish I had offered the kid my seat. I try to be an ‘ambassador’ to Korea while I am here. But my legs were too tired and sore from hiking up that blasted mountain and my stop was far away.
I was convicted though. In the grand scheme of things, I am at the top of the social ladder. I am a white, middle-class, Christian male. How whiter could I be? So I tried to imagine how I would feel to really be discriminated against. I think it would suck. I also thought of how sucky it is that many people are intentionally discriminative. The kid on the subway was only scared of me because of ignorance. I mean his lack of exposure to non-Koreans spurred an unreasonable and natural fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. I will admit that I have prejudices of my own but I try to ignore them or overcome them.
For example, when I was in High School there was this Asian exchange student from Hong Kong that befriended my clique of friends. One time he came over to my house and blew air in my cat’s face. I got so pissed. All my cat wanted to do was love on him and he blew in his face… Also, I was jealous of this guy because my friends hung out with him and I wanted them not too. And this same guy is the ‘D-bag’ I referred to earlier that went to the prom with a friend of mine that I initially invited. Because of my limited and sadly unpleasant interaction with this one guy, I had a prejudice against all Asian guys. Now I have educated myself to dislike only those from Hong Kong. I am conquering my prejudices! “Victory!”
On a related topic, I have learned so much being here. In Texas (and many other southern states) there is an… ‘issue’ with immigration. It is not my intent to talk politics but I have some experiences I want to share.
In the States I thought, yes, there are a butt-load of illegals living in/working in/contributing to/draining/etc. the U.S. but what can we do? Something should be done and I don’t think any problems will be solved by the construction of a wall. It is also irrational to ‘send them all back home.’ I know the United States faces an uphill battle with the whole immigration situation. With my limited knowledge and uneducated opinion, I just think we need to make it easier for foreigners to come to the States LEGALLY and keep them accountable to the same laws all persons living in the United States are held accountable to. The End.
Since I am from Texas I can only speak about the illegals I am most familiar with and that is people from Mexico. I have nothing against Mexicans but I have gained a new perspective since I’ve been here.
In Korea, I am not entitled to many of the benefits Korea citizen have. But you know what, I AM NOT KOREAN. I understand that I am a foreigner, an alien. I went through the relatively strenuous and expensive process to come to Korea legally. (I realize that the process to legally work in the States is much more complex and extensive). But I came to Korea legally and I understand that I am a guest of this awesome, welcoming country. It would be ludicrous and extremely offensive if I took to streets of Seoul waving an American flag demanding rights that are exclusive to Korean citizens. It would be even more pretentious to illegally sneak into a country, use it, then demand rewards for dishonesty?!
As a guest of Korea, I am working under an E2 visa. That visa has many restrictions and stipulation. And no time do I feel like my rights are being violated because of the restrictions. I am grateful for the ‘rights’ given to me by the Korean government. I understand that in Korea, I am a foreigner. I am not entitled to anything except that which the Republic of Korea has given me and I agreed to those rights when I chose to use the vise given to me.
The End.
In .love.
Jp
I was convicted though. In the grand scheme of things, I am at the top of the social ladder. I am a white, middle-class, Christian male. How whiter could I be? So I tried to imagine how I would feel to really be discriminated against. I think it would suck. I also thought of how sucky it is that many people are intentionally discriminative. The kid on the subway was only scared of me because of ignorance. I mean his lack of exposure to non-Koreans spurred an unreasonable and natural fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. I will admit that I have prejudices of my own but I try to ignore them or overcome them.
For example, when I was in High School there was this Asian exchange student from Hong Kong that befriended my clique of friends. One time he came over to my house and blew air in my cat’s face. I got so pissed. All my cat wanted to do was love on him and he blew in his face… Also, I was jealous of this guy because my friends hung out with him and I wanted them not too. And this same guy is the ‘D-bag’ I referred to earlier that went to the prom with a friend of mine that I initially invited. Because of my limited and sadly unpleasant interaction with this one guy, I had a prejudice against all Asian guys. Now I have educated myself to dislike only those from Hong Kong. I am conquering my prejudices! “Victory!”
On a related topic, I have learned so much being here. In Texas (and many other southern states) there is an… ‘issue’ with immigration. It is not my intent to talk politics but I have some experiences I want to share.
In the States I thought, yes, there are a butt-load of illegals living in/working in/contributing to/draining/etc. the U.S. but what can we do? Something should be done and I don’t think any problems will be solved by the construction of a wall. It is also irrational to ‘send them all back home.’ I know the United States faces an uphill battle with the whole immigration situation. With my limited knowledge and uneducated opinion, I just think we need to make it easier for foreigners to come to the States LEGALLY and keep them accountable to the same laws all persons living in the United States are held accountable to. The End.
Since I am from Texas I can only speak about the illegals I am most familiar with and that is people from Mexico. I have nothing against Mexicans but I have gained a new perspective since I’ve been here.
In Korea, I am not entitled to many of the benefits Korea citizen have. But you know what, I AM NOT KOREAN. I understand that I am a foreigner, an alien. I went through the relatively strenuous and expensive process to come to Korea legally. (I realize that the process to legally work in the States is much more complex and extensive). But I came to Korea legally and I understand that I am a guest of this awesome, welcoming country. It would be ludicrous and extremely offensive if I took to streets of Seoul waving an American flag demanding rights that are exclusive to Korean citizens. It would be even more pretentious to illegally sneak into a country, use it, then demand rewards for dishonesty?!
As a guest of Korea, I am working under an E2 visa. That visa has many restrictions and stipulation. And no time do I feel like my rights are being violated because of the restrictions. I am grateful for the ‘rights’ given to me by the Korean government. I understand that in Korea, I am a foreigner. I am not entitled to anything except that which the Republic of Korea has given me and I agreed to those rights when I chose to use the vise given to me.
The End.
In .love.
Jp
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Death March on Korea's K2
This week is Choosok (Korea's Thanksgiving) and so we got three days off of work. I took two extra days to have the whole week off. One of my Korean friends invited me on a camping trip on Monday and Tuesday. When I think of camping I think of poorly prepared road trips, friends drunkenly running into a black forest, plastic gift cards used as spatulas, ditching the tent and sleeping in the car, waking up with friends uncomfortably close to you... but my friend Colin interprets 'camping' as sprinting up Korea's K2 (only slightly smaller. You know, it is Korean...)
I honestly had fun and am glad to have been invited. That being said I will now be honest-er. Colin invited me to go camping with his friends but it ended up just being the two of us. It wasn't the first time a group camping trip dwindled down to just me and one other (that is actually how I met one of my best friends: Christopher Travis Brown). I've hung out with Colin two other times and now we were going to spend two straight days together. I figured, 'whatev!' If it sucks, it would only last two days.
As usual, I let my companion plan everything. I thought this would be best since:
1. He speaks/read/prepares in Korean.
2. Has been to the mountain multiple times.
3. He was the one who invited me.
Anyway, all he suggested I bring was a change of clothes and some 'snakes.' I ASSumed we were going to get to the mountain early, hike to the top and back, find a motel, stay there, and head back to Seoul the next day. I brought a change of clothes, sleeping bag ('just-in-case'), a rain jacket, and some cereal. We met in Seoul then took a three hour+ bus ride to the east coast where the park was. Colin wanted to try to climb to the top of Soraksan, Korea's third tallest mountain at 5,604 feet. (Or as Koreans and the rest of the world prefer, 1,708 meters). I didn't bother to research any of this before the trip. I was just excited to have plans with my Korean friend. So we start up the mountain...
Oh, I want to tell a funny story when we got to the park we sat down to eat before we started up the mountain. A man was varnishing the wood railing near where we ate. I noticed because I love the smell of varnish and my sister HATES that word. (So I try to find as many relevant and irrelevant times I can use it in casual and forced conversation). Anyway, I thought to myself, 'I better not touch the raining and get the varnish on me.' Two seconds pasted and I forgot all about the varnish. Then Colin wanted me to take a picture of him (as all good Koreans do). He sat on the railing and got varnish all over himself. I suggested that he eat a Mentos but he had no idea what I was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4hlzRNu3uE&feature=related
... The first day up the mountain was awesome. It was an ideal day. And the surroundings were beautiful. My tarded mind can not convert meters/kilometers into feet/miles to save my life so I had no idea how far we had hiked or what the meter markers were saying...But I can read pictures. There was a map of the mountain and its trails. I quickly realized we hadn't even traversed one-fifth of the route that would bring us to the top after hours of hiking. I then realized I hated Seoraksan and wasn't mentally or physically ready for this excursion. I figured there wasn't much I can do but finish so I just followed Colin. Thankfully Colin is a smoker and had to stop multiple times for a smoke break. And I stopped for pictures. Colin was sprinting up the mountain like there was a pool of naked girls at the top. And I wasn't feeling the death march so I took my time. I think Colin got the hint that I wasn't going to go fast and slowed down.
I was a geology minor in college and pasted multiple interesting geologic features on our hike. I tried to restrain myself but I had to share the most interesting things about the granite we passed. I got to use the word 'dike' in a lesbionic-free contents. Either way, he wasn't impressed so I kept all my geologic findings to myself.
At about two-thirds up the mountain, it was starting to get dark, Colin's knee was hurting, my entire body was in protest so we pushed forward to the next check point. This park randomly had huge buildings that you could stay in along the mountain. Even though Colin told me to bring 'snakes' he didn't bring any food for himself. So at the camp site these awesome guys gave him some kimchi and other gross Korean food. I usually try not to resit the food people offer me but I didn't want to have the 'green-apple quick step' out in the middle of B.F.E. We slept in this big room with about fifteen other people. I am a light sleeper so I had a hard time with new campers arriving and setting up there beds, Colin snoring like he was having an asthma attack, and sleeping on a dang piece of plywood. One of my pet-peeves is when people wake me up in the morning. I experienced that most disturbingly at Camp Peniel. The Day Camp counselors (specifically Faber McMullen) had to wake up before I did and carelessly slammed doors and turned on lights while others (most specifically/importantly: ME) were still sleeping. Either way I was brought back to waking up pissed off because some D-bags were up at 4am to start hiking to the top of the mountain.
That is how the day started and the rest was 'down hill' (or up a bloody mountain) from there. The second day was colder, wetter, both Colin and I felt worse, and there was so much fog you couldn't see anything. It waited to start raining until we got to the top of the mountain. But mother nature persistently pissed on us the whole way down. And the end of the trail couldn't have come any sooner. I can't contemplate meters but I do register decreasing numbers. I was so excited when the sign read a decimal number of kilometers left to the bottom. As if were were actors in a comedy Colin and I get to the bottom of the Seoraksan drenched and walking like elderly hunch backs. We were then told we had to walk 30 minutes to the bus stop. I almost cussed at the park ranger I was so discouraged. We continued to walk slowly to the bus stop. I was reminded of one time when I went shopping with my cute grandma in Fredericksburg. I have long strides and didn't even notice Mrs. Prejean shuffling to keep up. Finally my frail grandma asked me to slow down and apologized for 'walking like an old woman.' I felt really bad and my grandma is so cute.
After all that, I am glad I went. I just wish I didn't feel like I was hit by eighteen 18-wheelers.
Later.
In .love.
Jp
I honestly had fun and am glad to have been invited. That being said I will now be honest-er. Colin invited me to go camping with his friends but it ended up just being the two of us. It wasn't the first time a group camping trip dwindled down to just me and one other (that is actually how I met one of my best friends: Christopher Travis Brown). I've hung out with Colin two other times and now we were going to spend two straight days together. I figured, 'whatev!' If it sucks, it would only last two days.
As usual, I let my companion plan everything. I thought this would be best since:
1. He speaks/read/prepares in Korean.
2. Has been to the mountain multiple times.
3. He was the one who invited me.
Anyway, all he suggested I bring was a change of clothes and some 'snakes.' I ASSumed we were going to get to the mountain early, hike to the top and back, find a motel, stay there, and head back to Seoul the next day. I brought a change of clothes, sleeping bag ('just-in-case'), a rain jacket, and some cereal. We met in Seoul then took a three hour+ bus ride to the east coast where the park was. Colin wanted to try to climb to the top of Soraksan, Korea's third tallest mountain at 5,604 feet. (Or as Koreans and the rest of the world prefer, 1,708 meters). I didn't bother to research any of this before the trip. I was just excited to have plans with my Korean friend. So we start up the mountain...
Oh, I want to tell a funny story when we got to the park we sat down to eat before we started up the mountain. A man was varnishing the wood railing near where we ate. I noticed because I love the smell of varnish and my sister HATES that word. (So I try to find as many relevant and irrelevant times I can use it in casual and forced conversation). Anyway, I thought to myself, 'I better not touch the raining and get the varnish on me.' Two seconds pasted and I forgot all about the varnish. Then Colin wanted me to take a picture of him (as all good Koreans do). He sat on the railing and got varnish all over himself. I suggested that he eat a Mentos but he had no idea what I was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4hlzRNu3uE&feature=related
... The first day up the mountain was awesome. It was an ideal day. And the surroundings were beautiful. My tarded mind can not convert meters/kilometers into feet/miles to save my life so I had no idea how far we had hiked or what the meter markers were saying...But I can read pictures. There was a map of the mountain and its trails. I quickly realized we hadn't even traversed one-fifth of the route that would bring us to the top after hours of hiking. I then realized I hated Seoraksan and wasn't mentally or physically ready for this excursion. I figured there wasn't much I can do but finish so I just followed Colin. Thankfully Colin is a smoker and had to stop multiple times for a smoke break. And I stopped for pictures. Colin was sprinting up the mountain like there was a pool of naked girls at the top. And I wasn't feeling the death march so I took my time. I think Colin got the hint that I wasn't going to go fast and slowed down.
I was a geology minor in college and pasted multiple interesting geologic features on our hike. I tried to restrain myself but I had to share the most interesting things about the granite we passed. I got to use the word 'dike' in a lesbionic-free contents. Either way, he wasn't impressed so I kept all my geologic findings to myself.
At about two-thirds up the mountain, it was starting to get dark, Colin's knee was hurting, my entire body was in protest so we pushed forward to the next check point. This park randomly had huge buildings that you could stay in along the mountain. Even though Colin told me to bring 'snakes' he didn't bring any food for himself. So at the camp site these awesome guys gave him some kimchi and other gross Korean food. I usually try not to resit the food people offer me but I didn't want to have the 'green-apple quick step' out in the middle of B.F.E. We slept in this big room with about fifteen other people. I am a light sleeper so I had a hard time with new campers arriving and setting up there beds, Colin snoring like he was having an asthma attack, and sleeping on a dang piece of plywood. One of my pet-peeves is when people wake me up in the morning. I experienced that most disturbingly at Camp Peniel. The Day Camp counselors (specifically Faber McMullen) had to wake up before I did and carelessly slammed doors and turned on lights while others (most specifically/importantly: ME) were still sleeping. Either way I was brought back to waking up pissed off because some D-bags were up at 4am to start hiking to the top of the mountain.
That is how the day started and the rest was 'down hill' (or up a bloody mountain) from there. The second day was colder, wetter, both Colin and I felt worse, and there was so much fog you couldn't see anything. It waited to start raining until we got to the top of the mountain. But mother nature persistently pissed on us the whole way down. And the end of the trail couldn't have come any sooner. I can't contemplate meters but I do register decreasing numbers. I was so excited when the sign read a decimal number of kilometers left to the bottom. As if were were actors in a comedy Colin and I get to the bottom of the Seoraksan drenched and walking like elderly hunch backs. We were then told we had to walk 30 minutes to the bus stop. I almost cussed at the park ranger I was so discouraged. We continued to walk slowly to the bus stop. I was reminded of one time when I went shopping with my cute grandma in Fredericksburg. I have long strides and didn't even notice Mrs. Prejean shuffling to keep up. Finally my frail grandma asked me to slow down and apologized for 'walking like an old woman.' I felt really bad and my grandma is so cute.
After all that, I am glad I went. I just wish I didn't feel like I was hit by eighteen 18-wheelers.
Later.
In .love.
Jp
Friday, September 17, 2010
My T.all G.irl friend.
A couple of months ago a friend of mine from college named Allison started a tread on the facebook which included random people from her past. I don't know everyone on the thread but we share what is going on in our lives and ask for prayer and what-not... Allison, is one of the top-five funniest girls I have every met and she posted something really funny that I wanted to share.
Background: I met Allison at Grace Bible Church in Nacogdoches in the fall of 2005. We met at a leadership retreat and my first memory of her was how bad she sucked at dodgeball but how unashamedly she played. Seriously, she was awful but was having a blast. I find it encouraging when people naturally enjoying things (even if they aren't good at them.
So this is what Allison recently posted:
I joined an intramural basketball team.
I'm going to say it again so you know that I'm not even kidding.
I joined an intramural basketball team.
WHAT??? I've never been on a team of any sort. I've played a game of ultimate frisbee once and that was fun. They asked if I've even played a "pick up game" and I had to ask what that was. Anyway, they were desperate for a 4th and I said sure, why not, it's probably the last opportunity in my life to be on a team/play basketball. I have to get tennies and shorts. And someone has to explain me the rules.
I'm supposed to be at work this morning but they are revamping the front desk area and so I went home. I hate working but I love that they gave me the opportunity to earn easy money while in school. Thanks, system. Mostly the Madison system because we are under their govern.
My GBob sent me $100 for earning all A's in the summer. He said to take a buddy for a steak dinner with a vintage, high-caliber wine. My first response is "what a waste of money" and then my next one is "about 15% of the world's people are living on less than $1 a day*." Then my next thought was "this is GBob's money and he chose what is to be done with it." And then I thought this; "If I live as though I'm in poverty in order to give to those in poverty, I am essentially aiming to help them to a goal they have already reached." Which, I think, is not actually true, but I have a tendency to look down on America as a whole, when I should actually remember that where "we" are today is somewhat where we are hoping to bring all people at some point (the "where" I refer to is the level of health and access and power (?) and independence and freedom we have). Maybe this is a dumb goal because blessed are the rich is not one of the Be-Attitudes. If we were not in the position of abundance that we are, we would not be able to reach out to those less fortunate. Truth? I want to clean the Ganges and feed the hungry and rock the babies in Chernobyl. It's so hard for me to sit her and not DO that. I know that the essential butterfly effect is not idle and what I'm doing now is a part of the whole; either my contributing to a people who will feed the hungry or working toward a living that will enable me to GO rock babies. Or, maybe I'm just following God's will to another end completely. Perhaps I will end up the next Duggers mother; raising a brood of 20 who will go be my hands and feet in the next generation because we all know it's only to be worse 20 years from now. And knowing that, why are we making an effort to feed the hungry anyway? I'll tell you: Because 1) we are commanded to, 2) it matters to the individual (if you were hungry, you wouldn't say "Don't worry about it, it's only going to get worse.") and 3) selfishly, it's great to serve and compassion is the best. The greatest atrocity these days is apathy toward other humans.* It is simply inhumane. Which brings me to my next rant.
I hate PETA.
I've never really supported treating animals "humanely" because they are, get this, not human. I believe in not abusing animals because 1) animal abuse precedes human abuse, and 2) they are innocent. But I think it's okay to eat them and hunt them (maybe limiting the sport of it is good, but when deer numbers exceeded human numbers in Austin 15 years ago, the roads were outrageously dangerous. What are we; pygmies?). It's also okay to have pets and keep them outside and name them Spot or Dookie or whatever you want because they aren't human (there is a camp that believes you should name animals human names because you treat them more like humans when you call them Ashley or Mike). I love animals as company, as food, as business, but I believe they were created to be subordinate to humans. Why don't Americans eat horse or cat or dog? We are too sentimental toward Fluffy and Dakota and unable to separate ourselves from that. Even if (and when) they are bred to be eaten. Evan, Matthew Richardson's righthand man, once suggested we feed all the stray animals to the hungry/homeless of America thereby killing two birds with one stone and meeting the needs of so so so many. This will never transpire, regrettably, but I really support the idea. It seems at this point like a slightly lesser version of Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal wherein he suggests the Irish eat their babies because there is a huge famine with potato blight et cetera. Because humans have souls (and animals do not but this is hard to prove to PETA), A Modest Proposal is ridiculous and remains satirical. Evan's theory, however, is most logical and I love it. No one cares. In addition to this, PETA has implemented rules (like a union does) for farming. At a surface level, they sound totally fine. "Chickens that are kept 20 to a 3-chicken-pen need to be given more space and be required to have access to outside." Well, yeah, let's put 3 chickens in a 3-chicken pen. But any chicken farmer knows, if you give a chicken an option of being outdoors or in, the chicken will stay inside. So this law was passed in California, and all the chicken farms (which feed us, btw, so this is why it matters) had to build runs for the chickens to have access to the outside. This cuts into their farming area (where they could potentially have more chickens or other animals or et cetera) and funding (that went toward building these areas could either have made the cost of chicken lower or increased productivity or et cetera). The chickens never go outside. The same goes for horses. My dairy-farming uncle has a horse and built him a shed (you know; for rainy days) but the horse hated it and kicked it down and would rather run and roll in the mud than stand under a shed. But PETA, in their infinite wisdom (how much experience do they have on farms anyway?) went around having these "unsheltered" horses kidnapped due to unfit parenting. How stupid. We have bigger fish to fry, people. Like children who are being abused and kept 3 to a 1-child pen. (I'm using analogies, but this one is sadly quite literal.) So I wish Ellen Degeneres and PETA and Bob Barker (I do like the spay and neuter your pets campaign for obvious reasons) should put their efforts to a little more useful and HUMANe causes.
I can't believe that I just said all that or that it took me so long. I have opinions.
I never thought I would miss Texas summers, but now that the trees are changing here in the north, I feel wildly jipped. I've never spent a summer without 100+ degree weather. Last year we had 70 days of it (actually, I left in the middle of that). And here I am with cold feet, wishing I was sunburned and encouraging the cancer.
I had a discussion with Chris Chan a couple weeks ago regarding faith versus expectations of God versus disappointment of unanswered prayer (which you may know as "no-answered" prayers). Like, as a believer if you earnestly as God for what you want (as long as this request is righteous or God-honoring?), this is exhibiting faith, and he will hear your prayer. But if he says no and you don't get what you want in his name, do you have the "right" to be disappointed or, continuing in your faith, do you submit that he is the Sovereign Lord that you know him to be and has your best interest (which is his further glory) in mind? Can you do both? I don't think I have the capacity to do so. I cannot be disappointed while I am trusting Him with my life and His kingdom. I don't know if I should be able to and this is one of my areas of weakness or I should view it as a blessing that my trust is rewarded with ease of believe and lack of disappointment in life. I know some of you were praying that I get the position in Denver and some of you refused to do so (in a holy way). I love your prayers whether they are for the same things I "want" or not because ultimately, we are all praying for God's name, fame, glory, and purpose to be fulfilled in our lives now and eternally. And I cannot imagine anything greater. Why have I put God in a box? Why is he so small? He's not; I am.
I hope you all know I love you the best I can right now. I will continue praying for you because it is such a privilege. Let me know if you have a specific way I can be interceding with you. I kind of apologize that this was so long, but I know that if you don't want to read it, you generally don't. Which is cool by me.
*Sterns, 2009.
I was giggling so intensely people on the other side of our office kept looking at me suspiciously.
T.G. is one funny dame.
Later-
Jp
Background: I met Allison at Grace Bible Church in Nacogdoches in the fall of 2005. We met at a leadership retreat and my first memory of her was how bad she sucked at dodgeball but how unashamedly she played. Seriously, she was awful but was having a blast. I find it encouraging when people naturally enjoying things (even if they aren't good at them.
So this is what Allison recently posted:
I joined an intramural basketball team.
I'm going to say it again so you know that I'm not even kidding.
I joined an intramural basketball team.
WHAT??? I've never been on a team of any sort. I've played a game of ultimate frisbee once and that was fun. They asked if I've even played a "pick up game" and I had to ask what that was. Anyway, they were desperate for a 4th and I said sure, why not, it's probably the last opportunity in my life to be on a team/play basketball. I have to get tennies and shorts. And someone has to explain me the rules.
I'm supposed to be at work this morning but they are revamping the front desk area and so I went home. I hate working but I love that they gave me the opportunity to earn easy money while in school. Thanks, system. Mostly the Madison system because we are under their govern.
My GBob sent me $100 for earning all A's in the summer. He said to take a buddy for a steak dinner with a vintage, high-caliber wine. My first response is "what a waste of money" and then my next one is "about 15% of the world's people are living on less than $1 a day*." Then my next thought was "this is GBob's money and he chose what is to be done with it." And then I thought this; "If I live as though I'm in poverty in order to give to those in poverty, I am essentially aiming to help them to a goal they have already reached." Which, I think, is not actually true, but I have a tendency to look down on America as a whole, when I should actually remember that where "we" are today is somewhat where we are hoping to bring all people at some point (the "where" I refer to is the level of health and access and power (?) and independence and freedom we have). Maybe this is a dumb goal because blessed are the rich is not one of the Be-Attitudes. If we were not in the position of abundance that we are, we would not be able to reach out to those less fortunate. Truth? I want to clean the Ganges and feed the hungry and rock the babies in Chernobyl. It's so hard for me to sit her and not DO that. I know that the essential butterfly effect is not idle and what I'm doing now is a part of the whole; either my contributing to a people who will feed the hungry or working toward a living that will enable me to GO rock babies. Or, maybe I'm just following God's will to another end completely. Perhaps I will end up the next Duggers mother; raising a brood of 20 who will go be my hands and feet in the next generation because we all know it's only to be worse 20 years from now. And knowing that, why are we making an effort to feed the hungry anyway? I'll tell you: Because 1) we are commanded to, 2) it matters to the individual (if you were hungry, you wouldn't say "Don't worry about it, it's only going to get worse.") and 3) selfishly, it's great to serve and compassion is the best. The greatest atrocity these days is apathy toward other humans.* It is simply inhumane. Which brings me to my next rant.
I hate PETA.
I've never really supported treating animals "humanely" because they are, get this, not human. I believe in not abusing animals because 1) animal abuse precedes human abuse, and 2) they are innocent. But I think it's okay to eat them and hunt them (maybe limiting the sport of it is good, but when deer numbers exceeded human numbers in Austin 15 years ago, the roads were outrageously dangerous. What are we; pygmies?). It's also okay to have pets and keep them outside and name them Spot or Dookie or whatever you want because they aren't human (there is a camp that believes you should name animals human names because you treat them more like humans when you call them Ashley or Mike). I love animals as company, as food, as business, but I believe they were created to be subordinate to humans. Why don't Americans eat horse or cat or dog? We are too sentimental toward Fluffy and Dakota and unable to separate ourselves from that. Even if (and when) they are bred to be eaten. Evan, Matthew Richardson's righthand man, once suggested we feed all the stray animals to the hungry/homeless of America thereby killing two birds with one stone and meeting the needs of so so so many. This will never transpire, regrettably, but I really support the idea. It seems at this point like a slightly lesser version of Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal wherein he suggests the Irish eat their babies because there is a huge famine with potato blight et cetera. Because humans have souls (and animals do not but this is hard to prove to PETA), A Modest Proposal is ridiculous and remains satirical. Evan's theory, however, is most logical and I love it. No one cares. In addition to this, PETA has implemented rules (like a union does) for farming. At a surface level, they sound totally fine. "Chickens that are kept 20 to a 3-chicken-pen need to be given more space and be required to have access to outside." Well, yeah, let's put 3 chickens in a 3-chicken pen. But any chicken farmer knows, if you give a chicken an option of being outdoors or in, the chicken will stay inside. So this law was passed in California, and all the chicken farms (which feed us, btw, so this is why it matters) had to build runs for the chickens to have access to the outside. This cuts into their farming area (where they could potentially have more chickens or other animals or et cetera) and funding (that went toward building these areas could either have made the cost of chicken lower or increased productivity or et cetera). The chickens never go outside. The same goes for horses. My dairy-farming uncle has a horse and built him a shed (you know; for rainy days) but the horse hated it and kicked it down and would rather run and roll in the mud than stand under a shed. But PETA, in their infinite wisdom (how much experience do they have on farms anyway?) went around having these "unsheltered" horses kidnapped due to unfit parenting. How stupid. We have bigger fish to fry, people. Like children who are being abused and kept 3 to a 1-child pen. (I'm using analogies, but this one is sadly quite literal.) So I wish Ellen Degeneres and PETA and Bob Barker (I do like the spay and neuter your pets campaign for obvious reasons) should put their efforts to a little more useful and HUMANe causes.
I can't believe that I just said all that or that it took me so long. I have opinions.
I never thought I would miss Texas summers, but now that the trees are changing here in the north, I feel wildly jipped. I've never spent a summer without 100+ degree weather. Last year we had 70 days of it (actually, I left in the middle of that). And here I am with cold feet, wishing I was sunburned and encouraging the cancer.
I had a discussion with Chris Chan a couple weeks ago regarding faith versus expectations of God versus disappointment of unanswered prayer (which you may know as "no-answered" prayers). Like, as a believer if you earnestly as God for what you want (as long as this request is righteous or God-honoring?), this is exhibiting faith, and he will hear your prayer. But if he says no and you don't get what you want in his name, do you have the "right" to be disappointed or, continuing in your faith, do you submit that he is the Sovereign Lord that you know him to be and has your best interest (which is his further glory) in mind? Can you do both? I don't think I have the capacity to do so. I cannot be disappointed while I am trusting Him with my life and His kingdom. I don't know if I should be able to and this is one of my areas of weakness or I should view it as a blessing that my trust is rewarded with ease of believe and lack of disappointment in life. I know some of you were praying that I get the position in Denver and some of you refused to do so (in a holy way). I love your prayers whether they are for the same things I "want" or not because ultimately, we are all praying for God's name, fame, glory, and purpose to be fulfilled in our lives now and eternally. And I cannot imagine anything greater. Why have I put God in a box? Why is he so small? He's not; I am.
I hope you all know I love you the best I can right now. I will continue praying for you because it is such a privilege. Let me know if you have a specific way I can be interceding with you. I kind of apologize that this was so long, but I know that if you don't want to read it, you generally don't. Which is cool by me.
*Sterns, 2009.
I was giggling so intensely people on the other side of our office kept looking at me suspiciously.
T.G. is one funny dame.
Later-
Jp
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
New Goal
Aight. I want to start posting more often. I really have a lot I want to share I am just to lazy to sit down and organize my random thoughts.
School has been uber boring. I have never had an 'office' or '9-to-5' job. (Shout out Dolly!) But we are now in the off season so we have empty schedules for months!
[I guess it is important to clarify that I do not work at a school. I work at an English Camp. We have schools rent us and our facilities and we just teach out of a short book and do 'Theme Classes' that last 40-or-so minutes and just share random 'theme in English. Mostly we are there to just talk with the kids. To show them how to interact with a native English speaker. Mostly, we are just token English speakers. The kids are nervous, ecstatic, scared to speak to us. In a way I guess we humanize this complex subject they study-and-study.]
So real school just started so not too many schools are planning field trips to English Village. So we have to 'prepare.' I do not work well with broad instructions. For the past two days I'v interpreted 'prepare' to mean, watch CMT's 'Reba Giants' on youtube, email countless of friends from the past, and to prepare for a trip to Europe with my Social Studies department from Hardin! Oh, and I've done a little work but I can't just sit there and work.
Also, I suck at creating theme classes.
[I guess it is important to clarify that theme classes are random classes about anything. There is a class about cookies (where the kids make cookies), there is a class about sea mammals (where the kids make plastic phone charms with animals on them), there is a flight class (the kids make paper airplane and helicopters)...]
I could not make a theme class to save my life. I asked my coordinator if instead of creating a new theme class I could clean the classrooms. He thought I was joking so didn't answer me.
Luckily, English Village is renting me out (like a pimp and one of his prostitutes) ...renting me out to the local Middle School. We literally work on an island in the middle of nowhere. I think our address is: B.F.E.
I look forward to going to the Middle School. I miss having the same kids consistently. So, I get to go to Daebu-do Middle School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids are fun. I wish I were a real teacher here... "Oh well, you can wish in one hand and..."
I also want to update in small quantities. it is hard for me to read a lot on the internet so I wont ask you to.
In .love.
Jp
School has been uber boring. I have never had an 'office' or '9-to-5' job. (Shout out Dolly!) But we are now in the off season so we have empty schedules for months!
[I guess it is important to clarify that I do not work at a school. I work at an English Camp. We have schools rent us and our facilities and we just teach out of a short book and do 'Theme Classes' that last 40-or-so minutes and just share random 'theme in English. Mostly we are there to just talk with the kids. To show them how to interact with a native English speaker. Mostly, we are just token English speakers. The kids are nervous, ecstatic, scared to speak to us. In a way I guess we humanize this complex subject they study-and-study.]
So real school just started so not too many schools are planning field trips to English Village. So we have to 'prepare.' I do not work well with broad instructions. For the past two days I'v interpreted 'prepare' to mean, watch CMT's 'Reba Giants' on youtube, email countless of friends from the past, and to prepare for a trip to Europe with my Social Studies department from Hardin! Oh, and I've done a little work but I can't just sit there and work.
Also, I suck at creating theme classes.
[I guess it is important to clarify that theme classes are random classes about anything. There is a class about cookies (where the kids make cookies), there is a class about sea mammals (where the kids make plastic phone charms with animals on them), there is a flight class (the kids make paper airplane and helicopters)...]
I could not make a theme class to save my life. I asked my coordinator if instead of creating a new theme class I could clean the classrooms. He thought I was joking so didn't answer me.
Luckily, English Village is renting me out (like a pimp and one of his prostitutes) ...renting me out to the local Middle School. We literally work on an island in the middle of nowhere. I think our address is: B.F.E.
I look forward to going to the Middle School. I miss having the same kids consistently. So, I get to go to Daebu-do Middle School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids are fun. I wish I were a real teacher here... "Oh well, you can wish in one hand and..."
I also want to update in small quantities. it is hard for me to read a lot on the internet so I wont ask you to.
In .love.
Jp
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hong Kong
This past week I got the opportunity to go to Hong Kong. It sounds ignorant but I am amazed that I can easily go to a different country so quickly and easily. Back in Texas we had Canada (America’s similar but retarded obese brother.) And there was Latin America. I know I am going to sound prejudice and arrogant but, who wants to go south of Texas? Mexico is so dangerous and unattractive. I remember when I went to university in Guanajuato, I enjoyed it and it was beautiful but I never felt safe there. Maybe I was just being paranoid? And as a tourist, the rest of Latin America doesn’t seem worth the plane ticket to get there. (Except Machu Picchu. Number 2 on my ‘Bucket List”)
Enough justifying my statement. I can say whatever I want. Hong Kong was lot of fun. Naturally I didn’t plan well for the trip. I needed Mrs. Keys to daily remind/yell at me to prepare. I went with a co-worker from work since we had the same vacation time. We got off the plane and road the shuttle into town then aimlessly walked around, literally in circles, with all our crap in the humid summer of Hong Kong. Once we finally found the hotel and dropped all our crap we went out to find something to eat. I will admit, the food in Hong Kong was amazing. Everything I ate I enjoyed. Here in Korea there is a lot of hit-and-miss when I go out to eat. (And unless there are pictures, there is a lot of missing).
One of the biggest ‘touristy’ things we did was go on a sky-box trolley thing up to a monastery. It was kind of scary because I do not know the legal safety requirements for sky trolleys… However, I did read that there had never been any accidents resulting in major bodily injury. Everything was fun and pretty. I finally got my family a nice gift. Most of the stuff I’ve been tempted to buy them in Korea was extremely expensive or crap. We hiked up to see some ‘hugitus’ Buddha and a monastery/restaurant. I appreciate the design and architecture of the Buddha/monastery. But I had in my mind that this ‘Buddhism thing’ was a belief of the past. Then I saw people praying to Buddha. It was really depressing. It put me in an odd mood the rest of my time there. I thought, how useless, deceiving, and empty to pray to Buddha! Granted, I know many would believe the same thing about Christians praying to Jesus or God. But at least my Jesus is alive and has real power.
I think this is blasphemous but when I was younger I used to think that if I weren’t Christian, I would be Buddhist. As if I were picking my favorite ice cream flavor at Baskin’s and Robin’s. But Buddhism seems like a discouraging religion. I like the goal of desiring and working for nirvana. Planting good karma, avoiding bad karma… But I am a human and fail miserably at any attempt to be ‘good.’ Even if Buddha did figure life out, that still leaves me searching. As a believer in the true religion, I confess that I can’t reach ‘nirvana’ alone. My humanity traps me on a path bound for hell. But Jesus, completely God while also possessing the same humanity we all share, knew the only real way for man to be released from the chains of this world. Through His own sacrifice we are forgiven from failure and welcomed into an eternal nirvana.
…. So watching people practice Buddhism was not my favorite part of the trip.
I also, got to meet up with a friend-of-a-friend, Watchman. He lives in Hong Kong and we met up for dinner and he showed us around. Though I don’t think I did very much there I enjoyed my time.
Oh, on our way back to the bottom of the mountain with the Buddha and monastery we shared a trolley thing with a Chinese family. They didn’t even try to make conversation (and neither did we.) But one of the ladies got up and stood right in front of my friend and I while someone took her picture. Obviously, she just wanted a picture with foreigners but she didn’t even ask. Oddly enough, that isn’t the first time that has happened. Am I so intimidating that she couldn’t have made a hand jester insinuating she wanted to take a picture? Oh, if I had a nickel for every time someone told me I was scary… I would probably never learn who Thomas Jefferson was.
I also learned that you can go anywhere and have the time of your life if you are with friends. Bonnie, my travel partner, and I are friends and made good travel buddies (I think). But I kept thinking how awesome it would have been to be somewhere with my old Social Studies department or Jenny and Jason. With Bonnie I felt like I had to play the role of ’good travel buddy.’ But I thought that if ole Jonsey were with me I could give her a wet-willie and never think anything of it. Just laugh and wait till she wasn’t looking to do it again.
In .love.
Jp
Enough justifying my statement. I can say whatever I want. Hong Kong was lot of fun. Naturally I didn’t plan well for the trip. I needed Mrs. Keys to daily remind/yell at me to prepare. I went with a co-worker from work since we had the same vacation time. We got off the plane and road the shuttle into town then aimlessly walked around, literally in circles, with all our crap in the humid summer of Hong Kong. Once we finally found the hotel and dropped all our crap we went out to find something to eat. I will admit, the food in Hong Kong was amazing. Everything I ate I enjoyed. Here in Korea there is a lot of hit-and-miss when I go out to eat. (And unless there are pictures, there is a lot of missing).
One of the biggest ‘touristy’ things we did was go on a sky-box trolley thing up to a monastery. It was kind of scary because I do not know the legal safety requirements for sky trolleys… However, I did read that there had never been any accidents resulting in major bodily injury. Everything was fun and pretty. I finally got my family a nice gift. Most of the stuff I’ve been tempted to buy them in Korea was extremely expensive or crap. We hiked up to see some ‘hugitus’ Buddha and a monastery/restaurant. I appreciate the design and architecture of the Buddha/monastery. But I had in my mind that this ‘Buddhism thing’ was a belief of the past. Then I saw people praying to Buddha. It was really depressing. It put me in an odd mood the rest of my time there. I thought, how useless, deceiving, and empty to pray to Buddha! Granted, I know many would believe the same thing about Christians praying to Jesus or God. But at least my Jesus is alive and has real power.
I think this is blasphemous but when I was younger I used to think that if I weren’t Christian, I would be Buddhist. As if I were picking my favorite ice cream flavor at Baskin’s and Robin’s. But Buddhism seems like a discouraging religion. I like the goal of desiring and working for nirvana. Planting good karma, avoiding bad karma… But I am a human and fail miserably at any attempt to be ‘good.’ Even if Buddha did figure life out, that still leaves me searching. As a believer in the true religion, I confess that I can’t reach ‘nirvana’ alone. My humanity traps me on a path bound for hell. But Jesus, completely God while also possessing the same humanity we all share, knew the only real way for man to be released from the chains of this world. Through His own sacrifice we are forgiven from failure and welcomed into an eternal nirvana.
…. So watching people practice Buddhism was not my favorite part of the trip.
I also, got to meet up with a friend-of-a-friend, Watchman. He lives in Hong Kong and we met up for dinner and he showed us around. Though I don’t think I did very much there I enjoyed my time.
Oh, on our way back to the bottom of the mountain with the Buddha and monastery we shared a trolley thing with a Chinese family. They didn’t even try to make conversation (and neither did we.) But one of the ladies got up and stood right in front of my friend and I while someone took her picture. Obviously, she just wanted a picture with foreigners but she didn’t even ask. Oddly enough, that isn’t the first time that has happened. Am I so intimidating that she couldn’t have made a hand jester insinuating she wanted to take a picture? Oh, if I had a nickel for every time someone told me I was scary… I would probably never learn who Thomas Jefferson was.
I also learned that you can go anywhere and have the time of your life if you are with friends. Bonnie, my travel partner, and I are friends and made good travel buddies (I think). But I kept thinking how awesome it would have been to be somewhere with my old Social Studies department or Jenny and Jason. With Bonnie I felt like I had to play the role of ’good travel buddy.’ But I thought that if ole Jonsey were with me I could give her a wet-willie and never think anything of it. Just laugh and wait till she wasn’t looking to do it again.
In .love.
Jp
Thursday, August 26, 2010
“Trust me, one last time.”
I have no idea how many times I have been asked to ‘trust’ my bosses at the English Village ‘just one last time.’ And I tardedly continue to give them multiple last times. I know I have mentioned in the past about how our driver thinks he is racing Honda 2000s on the streets of Tokyo. Most of the commute on my way to work is spent praying that the demons possessing our driver leave his body. And I also ask that when we do get into an accident that the driver get seriously injured and I not get hurt too badly. Yesterday during our meeting our boss ultimately said that our driver drives like Mario Andretti on crack because we are late to the bus stop some days. Then this morning the driver was literally at his worst. In spite he would accelerate quickly then slam on the brakes for no reason. And he was weaving in-and-out of traffic going 160km. It truly is terrifying. And to make it worse, it was raining. The old Korean ladies (affectionately called, ‘agimas’) make the foreigners sit in the back of the van and so when the dude goes over speed bumps he is going so fast we spring up and hit our heads on the roof. After doing that a couple of times one of our Irish yelled at him to slow down. After a couple of uplifting exchanges in Korean then Irish-English, the driver pulls over and tries to pull the Irish out of the back of the van. Luckily, the agimas red-rovered up a barricade blocking the insane driver from the Irish. Then when we finally got to the English Village the driver tried to fight the Irish guy again. He even took off his glasses! I couldn’t help but giggle at the Korean man with three Korean agima ordainment hanging onto him attempting to hold him back from our sturdy Irishman. We went to our main boss’ office and told him what happened and threatened not to come into work if he is driving. I felt like I was part of a Yankee’s union. But at least our threats weren’t ungrounded or our demands selfishly motivated. The best part was that our boss tried to defend the driver saying he was under a lot of stress. And to top it off, the stress was coming from having to drive… also called doing his job?
In .love.
Jp
In .love.
Jp
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Physically I am very lucky…
… that phrase slipped from my mouth yesterday. I meant to say that I was lucky to rarely get sick or even feel poorly. Then yesterday I had an unusual headache and pretty much hated the world. To make things worse, we had kindergartner kids at school. I didn’t know this before but I hate Korean kindergarteners. They are extreme. Not even human. I know my school accepted them because they bring in money but I am completely incapable of and anti the teaching little demons. There was one point where I wanted to pick this one little boy up and throw him against the wall. And what sucks is that of us understand the other. They don’t realize what I am saying. I am not a big fan of math and this is one example why:
318 Korean Kindergarteners + a distracting headache = HELL.
So yesterday was just exhausting.
When I got home I was listening to a sermon called ‘Biblical Manhood’ by Matt Carter (of Austin Stone Community Church, Austin, Texas). The Spirit really convicted me. I remember being back in Texas and worshiping/learning at Austin Stone and I saw how my relationship with God had direction. It felt like I was ‘on the journey of life’ towards God and with God. But last night, God showed me how I am not moving in any direction. And worst, I feel like a Lego-man missing his torso. My feet can walk and I may be moving but I am empty. I hadn’t really seen how hollow I had been until last night. I need to be in the Word more intentionally. I feel like God is a close friend that I’ve kind of lost touch with.
So last night was enlightening.
In .love.
Jp
318 Korean Kindergarteners + a distracting headache = HELL.
So yesterday was just exhausting.
When I got home I was listening to a sermon called ‘Biblical Manhood’ by Matt Carter (of Austin Stone Community Church, Austin, Texas). The Spirit really convicted me. I remember being back in Texas and worshiping/learning at Austin Stone and I saw how my relationship with God had direction. It felt like I was ‘on the journey of life’ towards God and with God. But last night, God showed me how I am not moving in any direction. And worst, I feel like a Lego-man missing his torso. My feet can walk and I may be moving but I am empty. I hadn’t really seen how hollow I had been until last night. I need to be in the Word more intentionally. I feel like God is a close friend that I’ve kind of lost touch with.
So last night was enlightening.
In .love.
Jp
Monday, August 23, 2010
Houston, I've made contact... with people outside of work.
I’ve been intending to start this entry all day but procrastination is an old nemesis of mine…
Things feel like they are going well even though, at times, I feel emotionally bipolar. The summer program is over and I was sad to say goodbye to my kids. (Even though I taught them for only a week rather then the full 4-weeks). I hate that I feel this way but the kids here are much easier to like then the kids back in the States. And before I came here I would have thought this creepy and wrong but the kids are affectionate with me. I will pass a student in the hall and they will say hi or give me a hug. Even students I don’t have in class will say hello. Also, our kids performed their drama this week. They did so well! Honestly, our class was the best. If not the best, a close second to Jinah and Jon’s ‘High School Musical’ parody. I was so proud of them. Sadly, there are many Korean cultural characteristics that I do not see translating well back to the States. For example, the kids doing dramas, watching out for one another, and playing ‘hand-slapping’ games. My Korean kids were entertaining and endearing. It was usually an uphill battle when I asked my kids back in the States to do even the most minimal of tasks. I need to stop. I do not want to compare. I don’t think it is healthy or fair.
On Friday we said, ‘bye’ to the kids and got to quit at lunch. Our administration invited us to Seoul to watch a play/martial arts comedy called Jump. I usually don’t really like physical comedy but this was really amusing. They did a bunch of flips. I like flips. I wish I could do flips. But I can’t… I stayed in Seoul with some fellow teachers then Saturday I met up with my first Korean, non-work friend.
I was so excited yet nervous. I do not make friends easily and I suck super hard at casual conversation. I met up with my friend, Colin, in Itaewon. (I don’t know his Korean name even though he told me multiple times. I just know there is a ‘G’ in it). Itaewon is where most of the Westerners go in Seoul. It the least ‘Korean’ part of Seoul. I don’t really like Itaewon but a friend at work took me to a Brazilian Steak House there a couple of weekends ago and …let me just say, one word that describes my sentiment towards the steak house: gluttony. After we ate glorious beef, Colin then he invited me to ‘play bowling’ with some of his friends.
When I walked into the bowling alley there was literally a hush then an ‘ahhh’ sound. And a lot of staring. I was terribly nervous. First, because I don’t speak any Korean. Secondly, I do not really know Colin well or his friends at all. And third, I suck at bowling. I soon learned that everybody there was in a bowling club and they all had bowling wrist braces on and could easily score more then 100 points (my goal when I bowl). And I could feel myself being anti-social. I have a self defense mechanism that goes into uber-hermit mode when having to meet new people. I was fighting the urge to just recluse against the wall. Luckily Colin kind-of baby-sat me for a while. After bowling we all went to a bar and just talked. Colin assured me that when everyone started to get drunk they would feel more confident in the English and try to speak to me. And he was right.
Nothing especially interesting happened but I had an amazing time. I was so excited to have a relationship outside of English Village (where I work). And I met another guy too named, Jong Hun. He was very friendly and talked with me a lot after bowling. I can’t articulate how ecstatic I was just to not be talking with someone from work (nothing against my work friends but I feel awfully dependent on them). I look forward to seeing my new friends again.
In .love.
Jp
Things feel like they are going well even though, at times, I feel emotionally bipolar. The summer program is over and I was sad to say goodbye to my kids. (Even though I taught them for only a week rather then the full 4-weeks). I hate that I feel this way but the kids here are much easier to like then the kids back in the States. And before I came here I would have thought this creepy and wrong but the kids are affectionate with me. I will pass a student in the hall and they will say hi or give me a hug. Even students I don’t have in class will say hello. Also, our kids performed their drama this week. They did so well! Honestly, our class was the best. If not the best, a close second to Jinah and Jon’s ‘High School Musical’ parody. I was so proud of them. Sadly, there are many Korean cultural characteristics that I do not see translating well back to the States. For example, the kids doing dramas, watching out for one another, and playing ‘hand-slapping’ games. My Korean kids were entertaining and endearing. It was usually an uphill battle when I asked my kids back in the States to do even the most minimal of tasks. I need to stop. I do not want to compare. I don’t think it is healthy or fair.
On Friday we said, ‘bye’ to the kids and got to quit at lunch. Our administration invited us to Seoul to watch a play/martial arts comedy called Jump. I usually don’t really like physical comedy but this was really amusing. They did a bunch of flips. I like flips. I wish I could do flips. But I can’t… I stayed in Seoul with some fellow teachers then Saturday I met up with my first Korean, non-work friend.
I was so excited yet nervous. I do not make friends easily and I suck super hard at casual conversation. I met up with my friend, Colin, in Itaewon. (I don’t know his Korean name even though he told me multiple times. I just know there is a ‘G’ in it). Itaewon is where most of the Westerners go in Seoul. It the least ‘Korean’ part of Seoul. I don’t really like Itaewon but a friend at work took me to a Brazilian Steak House there a couple of weekends ago and …let me just say, one word that describes my sentiment towards the steak house: gluttony. After we ate glorious beef, Colin then he invited me to ‘play bowling’ with some of his friends.
When I walked into the bowling alley there was literally a hush then an ‘ahhh’ sound. And a lot of staring. I was terribly nervous. First, because I don’t speak any Korean. Secondly, I do not really know Colin well or his friends at all. And third, I suck at bowling. I soon learned that everybody there was in a bowling club and they all had bowling wrist braces on and could easily score more then 100 points (my goal when I bowl). And I could feel myself being anti-social. I have a self defense mechanism that goes into uber-hermit mode when having to meet new people. I was fighting the urge to just recluse against the wall. Luckily Colin kind-of baby-sat me for a while. After bowling we all went to a bar and just talked. Colin assured me that when everyone started to get drunk they would feel more confident in the English and try to speak to me. And he was right.
Nothing especially interesting happened but I had an amazing time. I was so excited to have a relationship outside of English Village (where I work). And I met another guy too named, Jong Hun. He was very friendly and talked with me a lot after bowling. I can’t articulate how ecstatic I was just to not be talking with someone from work (nothing against my work friends but I feel awfully dependent on them). I look forward to seeing my new friends again.
In .love.
Jp
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Summer Ends, Tears Begin
This week has been eventful. We are ending our summer programs and the majority of our teaching staff will be leaving Friday. I sincerely like the people I work with and it is hard knowing that I, most likely, will never see them again. But that is life. And I have worked at Camp Peniel to know how those seasonal friends come-and-go. Tomorrow night will be the last time we are together. English Village is taking us to see a Stomp type show called Jump. And I think tomorrow they are giving us half the day off. I know I have complained a lot about my job in this here blog and I still feel it is all justified and well deserved.
Initially I was part of the ‘5-Day’ summer program but because of internally issues (with others, not me) I was reassigned to a class that had been together for three weeks and I was coming in to finish the last week. I was so stressed and intimidated to go into an existing classroom I was literally having nightmares. And I was stepping into drama because the existing teachers were fighting or something… Anyway, I have fallen in love with my class. Korean kids are so much easier to love. And I have a personal goal to not use the word ‘love’ as flippantly as I have in the past.
For example:
I think it is blasphemous to say, “I love Reba!” or “I love You, Father God.” Then in the same breath utter, “I love butterfingers.” I need to find balance.
Let your ‘yes’ be yes and you ‘no’ be no.
But this week has been so awesome with my kids. I wish I could have been with them the whole four weeks. We did our drama today and even though I have been told multiple times the dramas are not a competition, ours was by far the best. I feel like a doting father watching my children perform. They did so well. And they put a lot of work into it. Ours was the best. Or at least second best.
Pray for me this weekend. I am meeting up with one of my new Korean friends form the naked jjimjilbang. And I just want prayer for clear communication and camaraderie. I need friends outside of my job so badly.
And later this month I am going to Taiwan to use some of the overtime hours I’ve racked up. I am going with a friend from work and pray that that go well. Being friends with someone and being good travel buddies are two different rodeos…
Initially I was part of the ‘5-Day’ summer program but because of internally issues (with others, not me) I was reassigned to a class that had been together for three weeks and I was coming in to finish the last week. I was so stressed and intimidated to go into an existing classroom I was literally having nightmares. And I was stepping into drama because the existing teachers were fighting or something… Anyway, I have fallen in love with my class. Korean kids are so much easier to love. And I have a personal goal to not use the word ‘love’ as flippantly as I have in the past.
For example:
I think it is blasphemous to say, “I love Reba!” or “I love You, Father God.” Then in the same breath utter, “I love butterfingers.” I need to find balance.
Let your ‘yes’ be yes and you ‘no’ be no.
But this week has been so awesome with my kids. I wish I could have been with them the whole four weeks. We did our drama today and even though I have been told multiple times the dramas are not a competition, ours was by far the best. I feel like a doting father watching my children perform. They did so well. And they put a lot of work into it. Ours was the best. Or at least second best.
Pray for me this weekend. I am meeting up with one of my new Korean friends form the naked jjimjilbang. And I just want prayer for clear communication and camaraderie. I need friends outside of my job so badly.
And later this month I am going to Taiwan to use some of the overtime hours I’ve racked up. I am going with a friend from work and pray that that go well. Being friends with someone and being good travel buddies are two different rodeos…
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Productive Weekend
I think one of the biggest reasons I was sour about Korea when I first got here is because I was working so often. And I am not complaining, I’m just sayin’… but this is a typical day in the life of Justin Wayne Powers. I have to get picked up at 7:40 every morning and I have a 35 minute commute to the school. From 8:30 to 5, I am working. And there is no conference (or even ‘second conference’). The only break is lunch and that is usually spent eating and getting ready for the afternoon. We end classes at 5, have a meeting at 5:10 then leave around 5:40. But don’t get dropped off until 6:15ish. So all-in-all, that is like a ten hour work day. But I have gotten really lucky, for the past three weekends I have had both Saturday and Sunday off! I will be honest, I have been trying to maneuver myself where I can’t come into work. One weekend I have friends staying at my house then last weekend I went on a trip sponsored by KORAIL. I explain my typical workday to emphasizes how valuable my weekends are to me. (Oh but how I do miss the Hardin work day, and especially those ‘important teacher bonus conferences’).
Have you ever had a day or couple of days where you didn’t really do anything but that nothingness made you feel uber accomplished? That past weekend was one of those times. My kids that week weren’t anything to write home about so it was nice knowing a new batch would be bused in the next week. Unfortunately, I loss my cute, pregnant Joy teacher. Since we are both ‘experienced’ they regrouped the programs and we are no longer in the same program. So that was a sucky way to end the week. Also, Friday two of the Foreign Teachers were leaving so we all went to an extravagant restaurant: Pizza Hut. (Korean Pizza Hut es no bueno, every time I eat there I get sick in my tummy). It was nice to hang out with the other teachers and everybody was more relaxed since it was the weekend. I didn’t get to stay long at Pizza Hut because I had the KORAIL trip and I had to be in Seoul at 10:30. KORAIL offered a free trip to foreigners as a promotion for the tours. And Ryan (another teacher at English Village) and I signed up to go. When I got on our train there were all these low-hanging stars and moons from the ceiling of the train car so I thought is was a ‘booze-cruise’ type trip. I didn’t even look for my assigned seat, I just started looking for another car to sleep in. Since the entire train was used for the trip, I figured there would be at least one car with little or no people. I found the dinning car and nobody was in there so I laid down and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, the dinning cart was where all the organizers for the trip ended up congregating and being noisy. And I fortuitously chose the seat by the door where people kept entering and exiting. So I didn’t get to sleep one wink the entire trip down there. Ryan, my travel companion was in another car and got off at the wrong stop. (That was kind of my fault, I had his travel itinerary). But fortunately, foreigners can almost do anything here and play the ‘I can’t speak Korean’ card and get away with it. I was oddly relieved when he wasn’t at our stop because I want to venture out on my own and I thought it would be a good challenge.
The first thing we did on the trip once we got to Soonchun (in the south) was watch the sunrise on the beach. And in Korean fashion, we got to the beach late and it was cloudy. Then we were all going to a jimjibong, a Korean sauna. I have heard about the jimjibongs and I wanted to go but I was scared to. The saunas are segregated male and female and there is no modesty admitted. And I am not big on the whole nudity scene so I was really nervous. Also, I wasn’t sure of the protocol of a Korean jimjibong and I didn’t want to make a cultural mistake while I was naked. The sauna ended up being awesome. It felt so good. They had huge pools of hot and cold water, also, pools of hot tea and salt water. I have no idea what they are specifically for but they felt so relaxing. So going to a jimjibong was one of my productive feats this weekend. The jimjibong also is related to my second act of productivity.
Segue.
Since I had temporarily misplaced my travel buddy, Ryan, I had started trying to talk with my Korean trip leaders. The leaders were just college students looking to make money on their break and weren’t too concerned that I had lost Ryan somewhere between Seoul and the Sea of Japan. It isn’t odd for Korean guys to talk with one another, while naked at the jimjibong. So that is how I met my first authentic Korean friend (outside of my work): naked. I tried to insinuate that I did not want to talk while naked but that plea was lost in translation. Despite the meeting grounds, I am so excited to have made genuine Korean friends, on my own. I sincerely see this as an accomplishment.
When I was in college, some of my friends were part of Campus Crusade for the Chris. And a huge part of their ministry was befriending foreign students and just hanging out with them. Selfishly, I always thought it sounded like a drag. But, oh how the tables have turned! I want so badly for a Korean guy my age just to come talk with me and ask me to chill with him (though I would prefer that neither of us be naked). And I have met Koreans through my work but I need some segregation in my life, not everything I do and all the people I know be associated with Ansan English Village. I hate talking to with people with a motivation or agenda but I was talking with these guys the whole trip hoping to befriend them (and more then just on the facebook). Even though I felt super queer, on the way back to Seoul I asked for the guys’ numbers. (Even though I don’t have a phone yet, I told them I would call them).
I think it is hard to understand how significant I find these potential friendships. I feel like I have ownership over them. Like they are MY friends and I don’t want any other foreigners I know to meet them and become their friends.
We also went to a green tea farm, a lotus festival, and a disappointing traditional Bazaar. (most of those stops were kind of lame).
Oh, last thing, I ended up meeting up with Ryan at one of the stops and I realized that we were unintentionally wearing ‘couples clothes.’ One of my favorite Korean customs is couples, of all ages, wear matching clothes. Some pairs, that I gather are not very committed and have a bleak future, simply wear an identical shirt. But then there are the inspiring duos that dress as identical as physically possible. Jewelry, shoes, even makeup sometimes (I am guessing. You know how feminine Asian guys can look…). I find couple’s clothes fascinating and I can’t wait to be in a couple so I can match our clothes. I have tried to platonic-ally match clothes with female friends here but they just make fun of me. But Ryan and I both showed up wearing blue shirts and khaki cargo shorts. So we were in weak couple clothes.
Sorry this is long. I don't blame you for not reading it.
In .love.
Jp
Have you ever had a day or couple of days where you didn’t really do anything but that nothingness made you feel uber accomplished? That past weekend was one of those times. My kids that week weren’t anything to write home about so it was nice knowing a new batch would be bused in the next week. Unfortunately, I loss my cute, pregnant Joy teacher. Since we are both ‘experienced’ they regrouped the programs and we are no longer in the same program. So that was a sucky way to end the week. Also, Friday two of the Foreign Teachers were leaving so we all went to an extravagant restaurant: Pizza Hut. (Korean Pizza Hut es no bueno, every time I eat there I get sick in my tummy). It was nice to hang out with the other teachers and everybody was more relaxed since it was the weekend. I didn’t get to stay long at Pizza Hut because I had the KORAIL trip and I had to be in Seoul at 10:30. KORAIL offered a free trip to foreigners as a promotion for the tours. And Ryan (another teacher at English Village) and I signed up to go. When I got on our train there were all these low-hanging stars and moons from the ceiling of the train car so I thought is was a ‘booze-cruise’ type trip. I didn’t even look for my assigned seat, I just started looking for another car to sleep in. Since the entire train was used for the trip, I figured there would be at least one car with little or no people. I found the dinning car and nobody was in there so I laid down and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, the dinning cart was where all the organizers for the trip ended up congregating and being noisy. And I fortuitously chose the seat by the door where people kept entering and exiting. So I didn’t get to sleep one wink the entire trip down there. Ryan, my travel companion was in another car and got off at the wrong stop. (That was kind of my fault, I had his travel itinerary). But fortunately, foreigners can almost do anything here and play the ‘I can’t speak Korean’ card and get away with it. I was oddly relieved when he wasn’t at our stop because I want to venture out on my own and I thought it would be a good challenge.
The first thing we did on the trip once we got to Soonchun (in the south) was watch the sunrise on the beach. And in Korean fashion, we got to the beach late and it was cloudy. Then we were all going to a jimjibong, a Korean sauna. I have heard about the jimjibongs and I wanted to go but I was scared to. The saunas are segregated male and female and there is no modesty admitted. And I am not big on the whole nudity scene so I was really nervous. Also, I wasn’t sure of the protocol of a Korean jimjibong and I didn’t want to make a cultural mistake while I was naked. The sauna ended up being awesome. It felt so good. They had huge pools of hot and cold water, also, pools of hot tea and salt water. I have no idea what they are specifically for but they felt so relaxing. So going to a jimjibong was one of my productive feats this weekend. The jimjibong also is related to my second act of productivity.
Segue.
Since I had temporarily misplaced my travel buddy, Ryan, I had started trying to talk with my Korean trip leaders. The leaders were just college students looking to make money on their break and weren’t too concerned that I had lost Ryan somewhere between Seoul and the Sea of Japan. It isn’t odd for Korean guys to talk with one another, while naked at the jimjibong. So that is how I met my first authentic Korean friend (outside of my work): naked. I tried to insinuate that I did not want to talk while naked but that plea was lost in translation. Despite the meeting grounds, I am so excited to have made genuine Korean friends, on my own. I sincerely see this as an accomplishment.
When I was in college, some of my friends were part of Campus Crusade for the Chris. And a huge part of their ministry was befriending foreign students and just hanging out with them. Selfishly, I always thought it sounded like a drag. But, oh how the tables have turned! I want so badly for a Korean guy my age just to come talk with me and ask me to chill with him (though I would prefer that neither of us be naked). And I have met Koreans through my work but I need some segregation in my life, not everything I do and all the people I know be associated with Ansan English Village. I hate talking to with people with a motivation or agenda but I was talking with these guys the whole trip hoping to befriend them (and more then just on the facebook). Even though I felt super queer, on the way back to Seoul I asked for the guys’ numbers. (Even though I don’t have a phone yet, I told them I would call them).
I think it is hard to understand how significant I find these potential friendships. I feel like I have ownership over them. Like they are MY friends and I don’t want any other foreigners I know to meet them and become their friends.
We also went to a green tea farm, a lotus festival, and a disappointing traditional Bazaar. (most of those stops were kind of lame).
Oh, last thing, I ended up meeting up with Ryan at one of the stops and I realized that we were unintentionally wearing ‘couples clothes.’ One of my favorite Korean customs is couples, of all ages, wear matching clothes. Some pairs, that I gather are not very committed and have a bleak future, simply wear an identical shirt. But then there are the inspiring duos that dress as identical as physically possible. Jewelry, shoes, even makeup sometimes (I am guessing. You know how feminine Asian guys can look…). I find couple’s clothes fascinating and I can’t wait to be in a couple so I can match our clothes. I have tried to platonic-ally match clothes with female friends here but they just make fun of me. But Ryan and I both showed up wearing blue shirts and khaki cargo shorts. So we were in weak couple clothes.
Sorry this is long. I don't blame you for not reading it.
In .love.
Jp
Familiar Face in Korea
I am now having to think when I add up how many weeks I’ve been here. I think that is a good thing. But for now, I am going to stop keeping track. Last week’s kids were awesome. We performed our ‘Sleeping Gorilla’ drama to small, intimate crowd of fans. Joy Teacher and I couldn’t have asked for a better set of kids. Friday morning when I came to class our Prince ran up to give me a hug and told me good morning. I don’t ever recall receiving any such greeting by former students. And if they had I would have probably been fired shortly after. And that whole day when we were saying bye to the kids I was sad to see them go. Prince Harry kept holding my hand until he got on the bus. And I’m not too big on the hand holding or hugging people I don’t’ know well, but it felt good to be liked by one of my students. And they wrote Joy Teacher and I letters goodbye. It was an encouraging week.
One of my biggest motivators in coming to Korea was a friend of mine named Preston. He and I were managers at the rock wall at SFA. I remember hypothetically making plans with him about teaching abroad but then we graduated and I ‘got in the routine of life’ and lost touch with Preston. Then he called to invite me to his wedding last summer and told me that he and his wife were moving to teach in Korea. Him actually doing plans we had made encouraged and challenged me. One thing Preston kept saying when we were in school was how he wanted to be a good ‘ambassador.’ Honestly, I never understood what that meant until I moved here. And working here I don’t feel like a ‘teacher.’ I feel like an ambassador. And I am trying to be a good representative of our Republic (The Republic of Texas that is). And Preston and Camlin (his wife) stayed the weekend with me on their way to Southeast Asia and India. It was odd seeing a familiar face in such an unfamiliar place. Almost like Preston was out-of-place. I am supposed to see him Nacogdoches, not Korea. Seeing and catching up with him was refreshing and easy. We just chilled and went to the zoo. I hadn’t been to a zoo in while and was impressed with childlike awe. Though at times I felt bad for the animals.
I want to not make my blogs so long and update more often so I will stop and try to ass more in a couple of days.
In .love.
Jp
One of my biggest motivators in coming to Korea was a friend of mine named Preston. He and I were managers at the rock wall at SFA. I remember hypothetically making plans with him about teaching abroad but then we graduated and I ‘got in the routine of life’ and lost touch with Preston. Then he called to invite me to his wedding last summer and told me that he and his wife were moving to teach in Korea. Him actually doing plans we had made encouraged and challenged me. One thing Preston kept saying when we were in school was how he wanted to be a good ‘ambassador.’ Honestly, I never understood what that meant until I moved here. And working here I don’t feel like a ‘teacher.’ I feel like an ambassador. And I am trying to be a good representative of our Republic (The Republic of Texas that is). And Preston and Camlin (his wife) stayed the weekend with me on their way to Southeast Asia and India. It was odd seeing a familiar face in such an unfamiliar place. Almost like Preston was out-of-place. I am supposed to see him Nacogdoches, not Korea. Seeing and catching up with him was refreshing and easy. We just chilled and went to the zoo. I hadn’t been to a zoo in while and was impressed with childlike awe. Though at times I felt bad for the animals.
I want to not make my blogs so long and update more often so I will stop and try to ass more in a couple of days.
In .love.
Jp
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Finally, positivity!
Finally positive blog!
I am in my fifth week here and I feel like I am going non-stop. We are in our ‘summer program,’ which for the past four weeks is what we’ve been scrambling to put together. I was nervous because I felt ill prepared and everybody was streesin’ and on-edge. But Monday came and my kids are amazing! They are so sweet. I seriously want to adopt them. I could not ask for a better group of kids. I have a couple of 11 year olds and some 14 year olds. It is interesting to see the different level of maturity all in the same class. I also have an awesome co-teacher, Joy Teacher. She is seven months pregnant and literally the quintessential image of a gracious, steady woman. And she is so cute being all seven months pregnant and Asian. Anyway, her class is a lot of fun too (but not as cool as mine…). We are doing a class drama and Joy Teacher and I chose ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ I honestly don’t remember ever seeing the movie but I thought our script was a little lame so I talked Joy into turning it into a comedy. We have a fat 14 year-old-guy playing the beautiful Princess. It is amazing how cooperative the kids are here. And the kids are so respectful. It is embarrassing how rude and insolent the majority of kids in the States are, even the ‘good’ kids. This week has been exhausting but rewarding. I’ve been told that one month in is when it is hard to be abroad but I am finally feeling affirmed in my decision to come here.
Also the kids here are so sweet and cute. I want at least… two Asian kids when I am older. I think adoption is a beautiful testament of love and humanity. Too bad I foresee being poor the rest of my life. I also think it would be cool to raise your family in different countries around the world. But maybe not cool for the kids, I know how bad it sucks having to move.
Also, two weekends ago I actually had a weekend off and I got to go to Busan with some people I work with. It is on the southern coast of Korea. It was such a cool city. I had a great time and it was refreshing just to get away. We were eating /drinking one night and since I wasn’t drinking that was the topic of conversation for a while. And one of the guys accusingly asked me, “You don’t drink, you don’t smoke, what do you like to do?”
And so I’ve been thinking of things that I truly love to do. Here are a select few:
1. Lying down with Miss and Baby. Just taking maps with or watching TV with my Miss against my leg mages me physically feel love in my heart.
2. Being at camp. God truly has a presence at my camp. As I drive through the gate, I can feel my body loosen up. I feel a supernatural peace absorb my worries and stresses.
3. Praying with Evan. I don’t’ know why but it focuses me and I feel more sincere.
4. Driving around with Jason at camp. We could be driving to build a camp fire, screw in a light bulb that a girl counselor couldn’t figure out, or going into town to get a Route 44 sweet-tea from Sonic during happy hour. Jason makes me feel more useful and when we are driving around, even if we aren’t going anywhere, I feel like I have a purpose.
5. REBA concerts. I am not being silly, REBA concerts give me so much encouragement. Back home, I felt like I worked and just gave-and-gave of myself with little in return. I would put so much of myself into my work and the kids would just piss on it. But when my REBA goes to work, her performance brings joy and temporal deliverance to thousands of people. That is her job, to make people love her!
6. I also love watching the black guy sing at Austin Stone. Sometimes watching him interfered with my worship because I would be enamored with his amazing voice and passion.
I am sure there are other things I like to do but those are what I thought of now…
In .love.
Jp
I am in my fifth week here and I feel like I am going non-stop. We are in our ‘summer program,’ which for the past four weeks is what we’ve been scrambling to put together. I was nervous because I felt ill prepared and everybody was streesin’ and on-edge. But Monday came and my kids are amazing! They are so sweet. I seriously want to adopt them. I could not ask for a better group of kids. I have a couple of 11 year olds and some 14 year olds. It is interesting to see the different level of maturity all in the same class. I also have an awesome co-teacher, Joy Teacher. She is seven months pregnant and literally the quintessential image of a gracious, steady woman. And she is so cute being all seven months pregnant and Asian. Anyway, her class is a lot of fun too (but not as cool as mine…). We are doing a class drama and Joy Teacher and I chose ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ I honestly don’t remember ever seeing the movie but I thought our script was a little lame so I talked Joy into turning it into a comedy. We have a fat 14 year-old-guy playing the beautiful Princess. It is amazing how cooperative the kids are here. And the kids are so respectful. It is embarrassing how rude and insolent the majority of kids in the States are, even the ‘good’ kids. This week has been exhausting but rewarding. I’ve been told that one month in is when it is hard to be abroad but I am finally feeling affirmed in my decision to come here.
Also the kids here are so sweet and cute. I want at least… two Asian kids when I am older. I think adoption is a beautiful testament of love and humanity. Too bad I foresee being poor the rest of my life. I also think it would be cool to raise your family in different countries around the world. But maybe not cool for the kids, I know how bad it sucks having to move.
Also, two weekends ago I actually had a weekend off and I got to go to Busan with some people I work with. It is on the southern coast of Korea. It was such a cool city. I had a great time and it was refreshing just to get away. We were eating /drinking one night and since I wasn’t drinking that was the topic of conversation for a while. And one of the guys accusingly asked me, “You don’t drink, you don’t smoke, what do you like to do?”
And so I’ve been thinking of things that I truly love to do. Here are a select few:
1. Lying down with Miss and Baby. Just taking maps with or watching TV with my Miss against my leg mages me physically feel love in my heart.
2. Being at camp. God truly has a presence at my camp. As I drive through the gate, I can feel my body loosen up. I feel a supernatural peace absorb my worries and stresses.
3. Praying with Evan. I don’t’ know why but it focuses me and I feel more sincere.
4. Driving around with Jason at camp. We could be driving to build a camp fire, screw in a light bulb that a girl counselor couldn’t figure out, or going into town to get a Route 44 sweet-tea from Sonic during happy hour. Jason makes me feel more useful and when we are driving around, even if we aren’t going anywhere, I feel like I have a purpose.
5. REBA concerts. I am not being silly, REBA concerts give me so much encouragement. Back home, I felt like I worked and just gave-and-gave of myself with little in return. I would put so much of myself into my work and the kids would just piss on it. But when my REBA goes to work, her performance brings joy and temporal deliverance to thousands of people. That is her job, to make people love her!
6. I also love watching the black guy sing at Austin Stone. Sometimes watching him interfered with my worship because I would be enamored with his amazing voice and passion.
I am sure there are other things I like to do but those are what I thought of now…
In .love.
Jp
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Goals, Lists, No Checks.
The weekend before I came to Korea I ate lunch with my grandparent’s in Fredericksburg. They have been encouraging and supportive regarding my decision to come to Korea. But my grandpa asked me what my goal was in going to Korea. Surprisingly, I didn’t have a ‘goal.’ Well, if I did, it wasn’t well thought out.
This was my mindset:
1. I have no family of my own (besides Miss Berkley and her brother and My REBA).
2. I had few bills and ‘relatively’ little debt. (I am sure my definition of ‘relative’ differs then more financially stable people).
3. And even though I love Hardin (the kids, my department and co-workers…), I knew that if I had stayed there one more year I would have gotten stir-crazy.
I had the opportunity and desire to come here and so I did. But what was my goal. After my lunch with my grandparents I tried to think of some goals. All I came up with were:
1. Professional Development (whatever the stink that meant at the time?)
2. To learn a little Korea.
Both of those goals have fallen at the waist side. I think the only ‘professional development’ I will learn is how to not care as much. It really is a freeing lesson. I may also learn how to not be so snappy at my bosses. Even though I never had an issue with Tam (my principal from Hardin), Mandy Keys got to me sometimes and as her subordinate (as she often reminded me… “Just J.K.ing”) I probably did not respond maturely or professionally towards her. Here I have been a little snappish or dare I say, “toss, toss-ish” and that might not be wise. If I get fired, I have to go home. My visa is tied to the job. So I am trying to just chill-ax about ‘the Korean way’ and go with the flow.
Anyway, I am at my four-week mark and I am trying to come up with newer, more realistic goals.
1. Be less dependent on the other foreigners. I am scared to go places without them. Though now I am confident to ride the subway by myself and go to some restaurants by myself. (If the menu has pictures). But I can’t talk to people or haggle prices. I don’t even know Korean numbers.
2. Learn some Korea. I am so naïve and arrogant. I thought that I would be able to come here and actually become fluent in Korean. I mean, I will be here a year. I am no longer so optimistic. Some of the other foreigners I work with have been here years and cant read or speak much Korean.
I have learned some phrases like, “Thank you.” and “Hello” (with and without respect) and “Rice?” and Nora bong which is a singing bar. –That was actually the first word I learned.
3. Make Korean friends. Speaking a different language is a huge barrier between potential friends. I like the other foreigners I work with but I want Korean friends. I foresee myself getting comfortably stuck in my ‘foreign circle.’ It is so easy to gravitate towards foreigners because you can talk with them.
It is so weird. I will be on the subway or walking on the street and I’ll see a foreigner and feel like I have to talk with them. In the States, I nonchalantly pass thousands of people and have no desire or inspiration to talk with them. Here my eyes perk up with I see non-Koreans as if they are already acquaintances. I have tried to be friendly with the Korean teachers at my work but I think they just think I’m weird. And they always start conversations in English then start speaking Korean to me…
4. Build fellowship. I thought living in Hardin was hard without ‘fellowship.’ (And by that I mean friends like I had at camp or college. I like to think of ‘fellowship’ as people ‘to do life with.’). I found an English church but it is in Seoul and that is about two hours away on the subway. This past week I asked two Korean guys to do a Bible study together. It have a horrible habit of making normal social conversation awkward so when I asked one of the guys to do the Bible study in my mind it sounded like I was asking him out. And the other guy can’t read English too well so he wasn’t sure… Whatev.
So those are my goals now. I think they are aight.
Before I go I want to share a funny story (well, funny to me):
In my office we have a bunch of little cubical of teachers, both Korean and foreign. And Park is our coordinator. He is the one who schedules us and tells us of all the last-minute changes to our existing schedule (it is hard to be passive-aggressive in text…). Anyway, Park is the middle-man between the administration and the teachers. An awful position to be in. Park is one of the guys I’ve been snappish with. I really like him and think he does a good job with what he is given but sometimes he will spring stuff on me last minute and it just unnerves me. Last he told me that I would be a ‘sub’ this week. Which has been really good because I’ve just gotten to help a lot of different classes and teachers and learn how to teach some of our different classes. So it has been productive. This morning Park was stressed about something and didn’t really know what to do with me (in regards to the schedule). So I told him to give me the master schedule and I would schedule classes for myself to go sub. That obviously helped him out because he kept saying, “Justin you are in my side. You are in my side.” A common prepositional mistake but because I’ve been noticeable perturbed about the surprise, last minute scheduling I thought it more appropriate for him to say, “Justin, you are a thorn in his side.”
Now that I wrote all that I realize it wasn’t very funny.
In .love.
Jp
This was my mindset:
1. I have no family of my own (besides Miss Berkley and her brother and My REBA).
2. I had few bills and ‘relatively’ little debt. (I am sure my definition of ‘relative’ differs then more financially stable people).
3. And even though I love Hardin (the kids, my department and co-workers…), I knew that if I had stayed there one more year I would have gotten stir-crazy.
I had the opportunity and desire to come here and so I did. But what was my goal. After my lunch with my grandparents I tried to think of some goals. All I came up with were:
1. Professional Development (whatever the stink that meant at the time?)
2. To learn a little Korea.
Both of those goals have fallen at the waist side. I think the only ‘professional development’ I will learn is how to not care as much. It really is a freeing lesson. I may also learn how to not be so snappy at my bosses. Even though I never had an issue with Tam (my principal from Hardin), Mandy Keys got to me sometimes and as her subordinate (as she often reminded me… “Just J.K.ing”) I probably did not respond maturely or professionally towards her. Here I have been a little snappish or dare I say, “toss, toss-ish” and that might not be wise. If I get fired, I have to go home. My visa is tied to the job. So I am trying to just chill-ax about ‘the Korean way’ and go with the flow.
Anyway, I am at my four-week mark and I am trying to come up with newer, more realistic goals.
1. Be less dependent on the other foreigners. I am scared to go places without them. Though now I am confident to ride the subway by myself and go to some restaurants by myself. (If the menu has pictures). But I can’t talk to people or haggle prices. I don’t even know Korean numbers.
2. Learn some Korea. I am so naïve and arrogant. I thought that I would be able to come here and actually become fluent in Korean. I mean, I will be here a year. I am no longer so optimistic. Some of the other foreigners I work with have been here years and cant read or speak much Korean.
I have learned some phrases like, “Thank you.” and “Hello” (with and without respect) and “Rice?” and Nora bong which is a singing bar. –That was actually the first word I learned.
3. Make Korean friends. Speaking a different language is a huge barrier between potential friends. I like the other foreigners I work with but I want Korean friends. I foresee myself getting comfortably stuck in my ‘foreign circle.’ It is so easy to gravitate towards foreigners because you can talk with them.
It is so weird. I will be on the subway or walking on the street and I’ll see a foreigner and feel like I have to talk with them. In the States, I nonchalantly pass thousands of people and have no desire or inspiration to talk with them. Here my eyes perk up with I see non-Koreans as if they are already acquaintances. I have tried to be friendly with the Korean teachers at my work but I think they just think I’m weird. And they always start conversations in English then start speaking Korean to me…
4. Build fellowship. I thought living in Hardin was hard without ‘fellowship.’ (And by that I mean friends like I had at camp or college. I like to think of ‘fellowship’ as people ‘to do life with.’). I found an English church but it is in Seoul and that is about two hours away on the subway. This past week I asked two Korean guys to do a Bible study together. It have a horrible habit of making normal social conversation awkward so when I asked one of the guys to do the Bible study in my mind it sounded like I was asking him out. And the other guy can’t read English too well so he wasn’t sure… Whatev.
So those are my goals now. I think they are aight.
Before I go I want to share a funny story (well, funny to me):
In my office we have a bunch of little cubical of teachers, both Korean and foreign. And Park is our coordinator. He is the one who schedules us and tells us of all the last-minute changes to our existing schedule (it is hard to be passive-aggressive in text…). Anyway, Park is the middle-man between the administration and the teachers. An awful position to be in. Park is one of the guys I’ve been snappish with. I really like him and think he does a good job with what he is given but sometimes he will spring stuff on me last minute and it just unnerves me. Last he told me that I would be a ‘sub’ this week. Which has been really good because I’ve just gotten to help a lot of different classes and teachers and learn how to teach some of our different classes. So it has been productive. This morning Park was stressed about something and didn’t really know what to do with me (in regards to the schedule). So I told him to give me the master schedule and I would schedule classes for myself to go sub. That obviously helped him out because he kept saying, “Justin you are in my side. You are in my side.” A common prepositional mistake but because I’ve been noticeable perturbed about the surprise, last minute scheduling I thought it more appropriate for him to say, “Justin, you are a thorn in his side.”
Now that I wrote all that I realize it wasn’t very funny.
In .love.
Jp
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Biggest frustration thus far.
It isn’t healthy to compare teaching in Korea to my job teaching in the States but it is difficult not to. Hardin by no means was flawless and there always seemed to be… something to complain about but I don’t ever remember feeling like I was being taken advantage of. (I just ended two sentences with prepositions… My mom would be disappointed. Good thing she aint here or have internet…) Anyway, the hardest part about being here has been acclimated to being treated so poorly by my bosses. I think it may be a ‘Korean thing’ to expect me to be at the school 12 hours a day and work weekends however, I am not that culturally sensitive. It seems unconscionable to me that an employer would ask an employee to work more then the contracted time and not compensate them. What angers me more though is how my administration will try to guilt us (the Foreign teachers) into their indentured service. They maintain that if we truly cared about the kids and ‘if our hearts were in it’ we would be willing to sacrifice the extra time. Screw that. And what predominantly offends and infuriates me is that all of my bosses in administration are Christians. If you claim to be a follower of Christ by no means are you perfect, myself being the prime example. But I don’t understand how followers of Christ can treat people so poorly. I am embarrassed to claim the same faith. I do not mean to insinuate that I am the best, or even a good representation of my gracious, loving, consistent Father. But I feel guilty when I don’t do ‘right.’ I want to be here and I want it to work but that brazen American pride is making it hard to tolerate my management. I have decided not to quit. That would be too easy. But I will not be taken either. So if you see me back in my beloved State, it is because I was fired.
I genuinely desire to have share interesting, unique stories and adventures with y’all but the repetition of going to work, getting frustrated coming home to read and sleep hasn’t been significant enough to merit.
So I will look for the little stories…
Oh, and if I do die over here I can guarantee it is because I was in a shuttle van accident wither to or from work. Our drivers have to worst road-rage I have ever witnessed. I am not exaggerating by any stretch of the imagination. Actually I wish I were lying. But we almost hit something daily. And this morning our driver was going over 120 miles per hour. And that wasn’t kilometers! I know we will eventually get in an accident. I just hope we don’t end up in water. I think swimming out of a car wreck would be difficult and uncomfortable. And I don’t like to get my ears underwater.
In .love.
Jp
I genuinely desire to have share interesting, unique stories and adventures with y’all but the repetition of going to work, getting frustrated coming home to read and sleep hasn’t been significant enough to merit.
So I will look for the little stories…
Oh, and if I do die over here I can guarantee it is because I was in a shuttle van accident wither to or from work. Our drivers have to worst road-rage I have ever witnessed. I am not exaggerating by any stretch of the imagination. Actually I wish I were lying. But we almost hit something daily. And this morning our driver was going over 120 miles per hour. And that wasn’t kilometers! I know we will eventually get in an accident. I just hope we don’t end up in water. I think swimming out of a car wreck would be difficult and uncomfortable. And I don’t like to get my ears underwater.
In .love.
Jp
Three Week Mark
Blogging is weird. I journal a lot but when I journal, it is as if I am writing a letter to God. Actually writing allows me to just stop, slow down, and talk with God. And naturally I only talk about myself… I can’t approach blogging with the same mindset of journaling because other people (and by that, I mean Mrs. Keys…) will read my blog. So I have to filter myself. And that is difficult. I don’t know how to properly filter myself in conversation. Much less, in an anonymous blog.
Parts of me only want to talk about the positives of leaving the State I’ve now come to represent, walking out on a job/community I reluctantly came to love dearly, and abandoning my spiritually refreshing Camp Peniel (that is “Camp Penis” if you add the lisps…) for a new ‘challenge’ and ‘adventure’ (Practiced responses I repeated when people asked me why I was moving to the other side of the world.) And I partly want to protect those who worry (ie VaLa, my REBA, and Aunt Net) because I don’t want to admit I may have made a mistake in moving here. But honestly, I don’t think I have. So La REBA, it is hard but I’ve waited while you pursued your music career. It’s your turn to wait…
I am now at the three week mark. (So does that mean there are 48 more weeks to go…) And I feel like I have been here longer. As if this has been my life for a while. I am out of the adjustment phase. That by no means, I am ‘well adjusted’ to being here.
Example:
This past Saturday we had to go to work for three hours of classes. We were all a little perturbed about having to work in the middle of the day on our weekend. So after we got off I went into Seoul with my co-foreign teacher creatively nick-named ‘Canada.’ (Guess where she is from?) Anyway, we didn’t have to work on Sunday so ‘Canada’ was going to stay the night in Seoul but I didn’t want to because it was already past 7:30 and I was falling asleep on the subway into Seoul. I ended up going to a English-type bar in Itaewon (the ‘designated foreigner’s section of Seoul). Since I am socially retarded, and I don’t smoke or drink I was a little out of my element. And usually I am uber cool and smooth in any and all social situations but at the bar I felt like the only conversation I could initiate would be about the weather…
Anyway, since I wanted to go home I have to catch the subway before I missed the last train. I live on the last stop of the line 4 train. I managed to transfer and find my subway all by myself and I was feeling a little proud of myself. That was until the train just stopped. And I was about 15 stops from my house. I’ve only managed to fortuitously learn ‘thank you’ in Korean so needless to say my explanation to the train conductor that I needed to go to Oido proves to be fruitless. Unsure of what to do (and still without a cell phone) I figured I would just bit the bullet and get a taxi. Sadly, I didn’t know (and still don’t know) what city I live in. Luckily, I had been carrying some mail that was left at my apartment. Unfortunately I gave that to the people at my work. So I was stuck. All I could tell the taxi driver was, “Oido station?” To make a long, embarrassing story short, 45 minutes and 500,000 WON (about $50) later I was home. The next day when I told the foreigners my helpless story, Rich yelled at ‘Canada’ (Shanna), “You let him go by himself!?!”
So, if you were wondering, I am just as helpless and dependent as I’ve always been. (Shout out to Mrs. Keys, Ms. Croft… the entire staff at Hardin High School…)
In .love.
Jp
Parts of me only want to talk about the positives of leaving the State I’ve now come to represent, walking out on a job/community I reluctantly came to love dearly, and abandoning my spiritually refreshing Camp Peniel (that is “Camp Penis” if you add the lisps…) for a new ‘challenge’ and ‘adventure’ (Practiced responses I repeated when people asked me why I was moving to the other side of the world.) And I partly want to protect those who worry (ie VaLa, my REBA, and Aunt Net) because I don’t want to admit I may have made a mistake in moving here. But honestly, I don’t think I have. So La REBA, it is hard but I’ve waited while you pursued your music career. It’s your turn to wait…
I am now at the three week mark. (So does that mean there are 48 more weeks to go…) And I feel like I have been here longer. As if this has been my life for a while. I am out of the adjustment phase. That by no means, I am ‘well adjusted’ to being here.
Example:
This past Saturday we had to go to work for three hours of classes. We were all a little perturbed about having to work in the middle of the day on our weekend. So after we got off I went into Seoul with my co-foreign teacher creatively nick-named ‘Canada.’ (Guess where she is from?) Anyway, we didn’t have to work on Sunday so ‘Canada’ was going to stay the night in Seoul but I didn’t want to because it was already past 7:30 and I was falling asleep on the subway into Seoul. I ended up going to a English-type bar in Itaewon (the ‘designated foreigner’s section of Seoul). Since I am socially retarded, and I don’t smoke or drink I was a little out of my element. And usually I am uber cool and smooth in any and all social situations but at the bar I felt like the only conversation I could initiate would be about the weather…
Anyway, since I wanted to go home I have to catch the subway before I missed the last train. I live on the last stop of the line 4 train. I managed to transfer and find my subway all by myself and I was feeling a little proud of myself. That was until the train just stopped. And I was about 15 stops from my house. I’ve only managed to fortuitously learn ‘thank you’ in Korean so needless to say my explanation to the train conductor that I needed to go to Oido proves to be fruitless. Unsure of what to do (and still without a cell phone) I figured I would just bit the bullet and get a taxi. Sadly, I didn’t know (and still don’t know) what city I live in. Luckily, I had been carrying some mail that was left at my apartment. Unfortunately I gave that to the people at my work. So I was stuck. All I could tell the taxi driver was, “Oido station?” To make a long, embarrassing story short, 45 minutes and 500,000 WON (about $50) later I was home. The next day when I told the foreigners my helpless story, Rich yelled at ‘Canada’ (Shanna), “You let him go by himself!?!”
So, if you were wondering, I am just as helpless and dependent as I’ve always been. (Shout out to Mrs. Keys, Ms. Croft… the entire staff at Hardin High School…)
In .love.
Jp
Thursday, July 8, 2010
This is for Mandy Keys
I feel vain and self-absorbed thinking anyone would want to read anything I write but I’ve had a few people ask me to set this blog thing up so I will try do it.
I am in South Korea and have signed a year-long contract to teach at a sort-of “English camp.” I made the decision over a year ago to pursue teaching abroad and through the help and encouragement of some friends I am here now. The application and legal hoops I was forced to hurdle were exhausting and stressful. I had made the decision to commit to a year long before I processed the emotional toll I would be subjected to. I wanted to go but it was hard to leave. Much harder then I would have liked. I try to read into signs and the getting over here process was anything but smooth. I feel like if you are pursuing the desires of your heart that the Lord will mold your heart to do what He wants from you. I had the desire to live and teach abroad. So, I figured if God did not want that from me, He would let me know. But I have never been great at hearing, interpreting, or understanding God. I’ve asked to given a direct phone line like in the old Batman television series where Commissioner Gordon could ring Batman on his red phone with the red blinking light. I wanted that red phone with God on the other end of the line. Well, I don’t have a florescent red phone so He is trusting me to use my judgment…
Anyway, the application/interview/Visa process was so stressful and trying I was starting to believe that God was whispering for me to stop. Or maybe it was just a test? Or persecution from the Devil? My traded mind is always trying to confuse me. I finally got my Visa on a Tuesday and flew out of DFW on the following Monday. The flight over wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating. I got a seat by the emergency escape which meant I had a lot of leg room so that was nice. I think I watched four movies on the way from San Francisco to Inchon.
Day one: Needless to say I was a little overwhelmed. The foreign teacher coordinator at the camp picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment. He seemed to be in a rush as if he were in a hurry to watch one of the many awful Korean comedy shows that run 24/7. He also showed me where to meet the shuttle van that picks us up to take us on our 40 minute commute to school. I was so paranoid I would oversleep, miss the van, make a bad impression, get fired, be forced to go back home, and have everyone think I couldn’t handle it… that I kept waking up every 30 minutes or so. When I actually got ready to leave it was raining and I couldn’t remember where the bus stop was. So I stood in the rain just hoping to see another white person. I actually did and they ended up working at my school. So that worked out. The first day at work was odd. Everybody else knew what they were doing and I was just… there.
The entire first week I find hard to remember I just recall being so tired all the time.
I do miss people and Camp Peniel but I don’t think I am homesick. I struggle the most at night. I have been dreaming about my empty classroom at Hardin, walking up-and-down ‘camp road’, American food, and the most random people. I have dreamt about people I never even talked to like Melcher Rockwood and Sayers Arnecke. And if you do not know who those people are, don’t work, neither do I.
That is all for now.
I do miss some of you and it still hasn’t processed that I wont see you for a year.
In .love.
Jp
I am in South Korea and have signed a year-long contract to teach at a sort-of “English camp.” I made the decision over a year ago to pursue teaching abroad and through the help and encouragement of some friends I am here now. The application and legal hoops I was forced to hurdle were exhausting and stressful. I had made the decision to commit to a year long before I processed the emotional toll I would be subjected to. I wanted to go but it was hard to leave. Much harder then I would have liked. I try to read into signs and the getting over here process was anything but smooth. I feel like if you are pursuing the desires of your heart that the Lord will mold your heart to do what He wants from you. I had the desire to live and teach abroad. So, I figured if God did not want that from me, He would let me know. But I have never been great at hearing, interpreting, or understanding God. I’ve asked to given a direct phone line like in the old Batman television series where Commissioner Gordon could ring Batman on his red phone with the red blinking light. I wanted that red phone with God on the other end of the line. Well, I don’t have a florescent red phone so He is trusting me to use my judgment…
Anyway, the application/interview/Visa process was so stressful and trying I was starting to believe that God was whispering for me to stop. Or maybe it was just a test? Or persecution from the Devil? My traded mind is always trying to confuse me. I finally got my Visa on a Tuesday and flew out of DFW on the following Monday. The flight over wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating. I got a seat by the emergency escape which meant I had a lot of leg room so that was nice. I think I watched four movies on the way from San Francisco to Inchon.
Day one: Needless to say I was a little overwhelmed. The foreign teacher coordinator at the camp picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment. He seemed to be in a rush as if he were in a hurry to watch one of the many awful Korean comedy shows that run 24/7. He also showed me where to meet the shuttle van that picks us up to take us on our 40 minute commute to school. I was so paranoid I would oversleep, miss the van, make a bad impression, get fired, be forced to go back home, and have everyone think I couldn’t handle it… that I kept waking up every 30 minutes or so. When I actually got ready to leave it was raining and I couldn’t remember where the bus stop was. So I stood in the rain just hoping to see another white person. I actually did and they ended up working at my school. So that worked out. The first day at work was odd. Everybody else knew what they were doing and I was just… there.
The entire first week I find hard to remember I just recall being so tired all the time.
I do miss people and Camp Peniel but I don’t think I am homesick. I struggle the most at night. I have been dreaming about my empty classroom at Hardin, walking up-and-down ‘camp road’, American food, and the most random people. I have dreamt about people I never even talked to like Melcher Rockwood and Sayers Arnecke. And if you do not know who those people are, don’t work, neither do I.
That is all for now.
I do miss some of you and it still hasn’t processed that I wont see you for a year.
In .love.
Jp
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