Made in France.

Now, this may look like an ordinary iron to the unobservant...

 But, look more closely, and you will see something really cool...

It was made in France! HA! Who would have guessed that the first iron I get in Korea would be made in France?? I don't know about you, but I am stoked.

Unfortunately it doesn't speak French, so I will have to look elsewhere in order to keep my language in shape. And, guess what. I met an girl from the States last weekend on the subway who majored in French and is now teaching English in Korea just like me! Needless to say, our short train ride was not long enough to discuss all of the things we shared in common. It was, on the other hand, long enough to exchange names and Facebook friendship requests.

I truly do miss France and speaking French with others, be it on AU's campus or in Normandy where I studied for 6 months. On the other hand, the experience of learning Korean is entirely new and entirely interesting to me. In between Korean lessons, however, I have managed to watch French news just about every day for the past few weeks. It is really nice, because they always give an update on the election in the US and normally they have another 4-5 minute story about something in the US. So, I get to stay up-to-date with American and French news, while at the same time keeping my French in shape :)

My interest in French probably doesn't interest a lot of my readers, but it is a big part of my life here so I wanted to share. French is a beautiful language. I can only hope that my interest in it will inspire others to study it or continue where they left off in high school. If you need a good reason... there are over 140 million French speakers in the world and most of them do not know Jesus Christ. Alors, allons-y!

On a different note--for those who are still wondering whether I managed to decipher my thermostat, I can happily report that I did indeed! There were a few fairly cold mornings last week that I had to endure, but now it is up and running... literally, hot water is running underneath the floor-boards.
I had to have my co-worker call the office manager here at my building a few (or maybe 5 or 6) times, but we got it figured out and I am warm. It's good to be warm. 

Blessings of Translation...

I must say, life gets busy. Hence the reason for my absence on this blog. For everyone who has checked for an update from me over the past couple of weeks without any luck, I'm sorry about that. I was blessed in the beginning of my stay here in Korea with a rather light workload which really allowed me the time to process my new environment and make plenty of blog posts in the process. Now that my 16-20 classes per week (depending on how you count) are underway, time is seeming to speed up. Not to mention, I have a lot fewer of those 24 hours in the day to use for social networking!

In any case, I wanted to give an update on things here in my neck of the woods. Currently, the biggest challenge that lies before me is pictured below.

Now, if that sight doesn't scare the living daylights out of you... well, then you're probably Korean. You see, it's not as simple as just flipping on the heat when one is cold. In Korea, they use what is called a floor heater. That's not a space heater I'm talking about. There is actually a system of pipes that runs underneath the floor in most houses and apartments (as far as I know) carrying hot water. This hot water heats the floor (almost always a wooden floor) thereby heating the room above. It makes for some very happy feet in the morning... when it is working properly. I have yet to get it to work in my apartment, in spite of having had the office manager of my building come and check it out with me along with a co-worker from my school. Thankfully it is not very cold outside yet and the only time I might need some extra heat is in the morning. But, all the same, I think this is a battle worth fighting now rather than later.

I am not worried about it though--okay maybe just a tad--BUT, that is my humanity talking. I know God is going to take care of me. He has provided everything I have needed every step of the way these past 22 years and much, much more.

"Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth. After all, we didn't bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content." (1 Tim 6:6-8)

My best friend recently shared this verse with me and it rings absolutely true in my current situation. 

That friend (David, whom many of my readers know already!) happens to be Korean and also happens to really enjoy translation! SO, I am going to take the liberty now to share with you all another of the blessing God has given me...

So, there you have it! (I hope David doesn't mind my showing off of his beautiful work...)

I hope to make another update this coming weekend. Until then, blessings everyone--count them, because they are all around you! 

Teaching is not a cake walk!

What is the hardest thing about my life in Korea? That's a question I was recently posed by my friend David. I had to think about it for a minute. It's not the language, although that is an obstacle to communication, I find so much joy in listening to it and learning it on a daily basis. (Not to mention, in the USA one will very rarely come across an advertisement as entertaining as the one in the picture below--all thanks to the fact that English is not the native language of Korea!)

It's not the food, although that is certainly a challenge at night when I have to come up with something to cook or buy that will fill my stomach and not completely burn my mouth off (Korean food is very hot at times!). But right there is even more motivation to learn the language, so again, I can't complain!

Neither has the hardest part been finding encouraging friends--God has placed so many people in my life already who have been a blessing and whom I have had the opportunity to bless. Just the other day, I had to take the bus home from school because the teacher who normally gives me a ride home had to go somewhere else that day. At first, I was very upset at the thought of spending 45 minutes on a slow-moving bus over about 200 speed bumps all the way home (in Korea, all the roads that are not freeways are littered with speed bumps, or so it seems,--hence: lots of slowing down and speeding up providing a good workout for your breaks and your shocks). But, I knew God had put me in that place for a reason and that He would provide me an opportunity to be a blessing. And He did! I can't really explain it, but I had a couple short interactions with some of the other passengers on the bus which turned out to be a blessing for both them and for me. It's funny how so many times we try to be a blessing in the life of another and it turns out they are the blessing in our life. The key is to have one's mind on Christ and His perfect love for us. Only then can we come close to seeing the world as God does.

Galatians 2:20:

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

No, none of the above things have been terribly difficult. I think the most difficult thing I have had to do is simply teaching the children at my school. Not just teaching them, but finding a balance between motivation, entertainment, and educational-benefit. Again, the Lord is the only One who knows the best way to teach these children and I am trusting Him to guide me in my decisions regarding their learning. Be that as it may, I need your prayers. All of my teacher friends out there will most certainly understand the plea of a first-year teacher---but most of you majored in education! It is a challenge. But it is a welcome challenge and a healthy challenge for which I am thankful. You might think I have a good attitude about it and I guess I do most of the time. But I also (usually) know when I need prayer in a certain area of my life. And this is one of them.

Cooking is not easy without your mom and no college meal plan!

Psalm 40:5 (ESV)

You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.

Since I began my time in Korea and long before that, I could see God working his "wondrous deeds" in and around my life. It really is a matter of perspective and when our perspective is the same as His (or as close as we can get) then life is much more beautiful. Maybe beautiful is not the perfect word for it, but it's the best I can think of at the moment.

One way He has been working in my life is through the friends He has placed around me. I am not that great in the kitchen. I'm a guy. Go figure. But, God knows that much better than I do. Two weeks ago I visited an English service in Uijeongbu (that I mentioned in an earlier post) and had a wonderful experience. Granted, it is a different style of worship than I am used to--they are Pentecostal and I have normally attended a Baptist church--but the people are incredibly welcoming there. So, in spite of the differences I certainly felt God's love and presence. One of the "wondrous deeds" that I noticed from that experience was in a friend who I met there, Matt. Matt is a Korean who has studied English for a long time now (Matt is just the name he uses to make pronunciation easier for westerners). He also spent 4 years studying marketing in China, so he speaks Chinese as well. Aside from the fact that we both are students of language (which in itself is awesome in my opinion!), he also graduated from culinary school so he knows his way around the kitchen much better than I do. When I told him yesterday that I'd been eating quite a bit of ramen lately, he was a bit worried about my health. He's going to give me a few Korean recipes to make my life a bit healthier. In short, God has shown Himself to be strong in my weakness once more. I can't cook, but Matt can!

Although, I still really love ramen. And if you're interested in trying out a good ramen recipe... just watch this video!

The Seoul Experience

Did you know that in Korea buses have their own private lane of traffic on the freeway? It’s true. And that’s why I’m going to get home at 10pm tonight instead of midnight. Right now I’m on a bus back to my home in Dongducheon after having spent 2 very eventful days in Seoul and today in Songtan, a smaller town south of Seoul.

I am so thankful to have a friend here from Anderson University—Josh—who I spent the last three days with. Last week, I was trying to decide what to do with myself over the rather long 6 day vacation for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and I remembered—or rather God brought to my mind—that Josh had come to Korea to teach at Pyeongtaek Christian International School. He didn’t know that I was here yet. Ha! So, I found him on facebook one night while drinking coffee in one of the wonderfully abundant cafes below my apartment and he suggested we get together over the break. We decided to go to Seoul and he invited another friend of his, Laura, who teaches in Busan (on the southern coast). So, we all met up at Seoul station on Saturday afternoon and began our adventure!

King Sejong the Great

The prospect of going to explore a new city with one other guy who I didn’t know very well and a girl who I’d never met was a little ominous, but there is something about being in a foreign place that can really bring you together with others from your own culture. The food for conversation is endless because we are all experiencing a brand new culture for the first time. Not only that, but we all three happened to be Christians, so God was always welcome in that conversation as well. The Lord was watching out for all of us because I think the encouragement we gained from each other is what we really needed more than anything.

We started from here...

Oh and this was at the palace, earlier in the day... it was beautiful

The first night was a blast. It had its ups and downs, but all in all we had a great time exploring together. After filling our tummies at a Korean McDonalds (You betcha!) we headed to the big royal palace at the heart of the city, Gyeongbokgung, but that wasn’t the best part. After exploring the palace and taking some pretty sweet “jumping pictures,” we decided it would be a good idea to go to the top of N Seoul Tower. We didn’t know how we would do it, but we were determined to make it there…

Now, you should be aware, most people take a bus or ride the cable-car to get to the top of the mountain that this tower stands on the top of.  Us? We took the scenic route. To give you the short version, we basically got off the subway in Itaewon and headed toward the tower until we got to the top! I’m not sure how many stairs we climbed to get there, but it was by far the best workout I’ve had since arriving in Korea.

The staircase to the tower....

 After taking "the fastest elevator in the world" to the top of the tower.... this is the view towards the USA:

On Sunday morning, we visited Yoido Full Gospel Church, the biggest church in the world where they seated us in the balcony with other foreigners and provided us with headsets connected to a live interpretation of the service into 10 different languages--it was a real treat for my ears :)... this is a clip from the worship service:

Later that day we visited Insadong... a big shopping district near the city-center

Well, that's it for now. All in all, I had a wonderful and encouraging experience with some new friends. Now I am back in Dongducheon and starting to plan for the upcoming week of classes! Please pray for me as I continue to seek the Lord's guidance in this position of incredible responsibility teaching His little children. My first lesson will be on Thursday afternoon, October 4th! 

Psalm 39:7 -- "And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you."

Paju City English Village & the Korean Laundry Experience

   
     Today was pretty cool. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves to an extent, but I'll try and paint it in words too. Paju City, home of the Paju English Village, is about an hour away from my school. Today, after my 40 minute bus ride from my apartment, I hopped on another bus with all of the students and teachers and headed for Paju. On the way there I saw what looked like a heavily guarded military training ground, but on further investigation found out it was the edge of the DMZ with North Korea! Must have been the closest I've ever come to a communist nation.

      Anyway. The English Village in Paju is basically a small enclosed town that was built specifically for the furthering of the English knowledge of South Korea's children. There were probably around 30 or so native English speakers working there today from all over... I met one guy from New Zealand (stamping mock-passports as we walked in) and another from Las Vegas who led our kids in a lesson on the Olympics. The kids had a great time. I thought the whole experience was a little weird, but I was happy to spend a beautiful day getting to know my students and fellow teachers a little better. Mrs. Jung (one of my Christian sisters at the school) brought a bunch of homemade Kimbab (basically Korean sushi) and shared it with me at lunch time. The children all just love to give me stuff and it is usually food/drinks so, even though I didn't bring my own lunch, I had way more than enough for one meal! God is good and I will always be a Baptist at heart and in my stomach.

     The sixth grade boys (a great group by the way) wanted to do a "jumping picture" before we left--hence the pic below. I was surprised it turned out so well! I think we are going to have a good time together this year.

These two little girls (in the second grade I believe) were always holding hands. They must be very good friends. I asked them for a picture and I got this! (You will probably see the peace sign in every single picture I take of my students ;) -- for some reason Koreans just love to throw up the sign!)

     So... Korea doesn't have any dryers. This was a realization that, quite simply, rocked my world. I spent about a week thinking about how to solve that problem, asking everyone I know how people survive here without a dryer and ended up going to Lotte Mart (Korean Wal-Mart) late last night to buy this drying rack. I must say, it's cheaper than buying a dryer and uses less electricity. You can also catch a glimpse of the view of Dongducheon out my window here.

Not only are there no dryers in Korea, but there is also no English on Korean washers. Go figure. This challenge was also on my mind over the past weak... It thought it could defeat me, but didn't know who it was dealing with. I conquered my washer because she forgot that my favorite thing in the world to do is translation!

Not only is having to set up one's life in Korea for the first time a huge challenge, but it is also the perfect opportunity to be absolutely forced into language learning. Normally it doesn't come so easily! I'm both figuring out life here and taking pleasure in the language-learning experience. I could still complain though... I'm only human. But God has taught me how to count my blessings--and this is one of them.

Sangsu Elementary School

I think now I will talk a little bit about my school.

My hope with this blog is that my family and friends would know where I am and what I am up to so that they know how to pray. Also, I hope it will be a means of accountability for me to all my Christian brothers and sisters back home watching my steps.

So, about my school. I teach English at Sangsu Elementary. It is small... super small. There is a total of 46 children in grades 1-6 and 15 faculty members. Miss. Kim is the best English speaker at the school and she teaches grade 5 (if I remember correctly). She and Mrs. Jung (the next best English speaker who is also my co-teacher for the English classes) have both been helping me as I make the transition to teaching at their school. Now, keep in mind that neither of them speak English "fluently." Communicating with others at my school has been a great challenge during this first week. That said, most of the faculty knows at least some English and they have all been as accommodating as possible to me in their willingness to attempt to communicate. Another teacher, Mrs. Nam, who teaches first grade, studied French in college, so she and I have had a great time exchanging sentences in some form of Franco-Konglish (the best term I can think of to fit the bill).

Not only has God blessed me with a working environment full of hospitality, but He has also placed (already!) two Christian friends in my life. Mrs. Jung, the fourth grade teacher, is a Christian who lives in my town (Dongducheon). She has helped me find a church nearby (in Uijeongbu) that has an English service--which I will be visiting for the first time later today! Another lady (whose name I can't recall at the moment unfortunately) who works in the office at my school is also a Christian who lives in Dongducheon. She gave me a ride home one day last week. That ride saved me about 30 minutes that I would have spent on a crowded bus! I am hoping we can car-pull more often ;)

Naturally, the kids at the school love me despite the fact they don't even know me. They are probably the most welcoming part of my school. If I leave my door open even just a crack, every time the students pass by I am greeted by a wave and a joyous "HELLO MR. WASSSON!"