Dirty Dishes

So, I had been asking my colleagues all week long if they needed my help with the dishes...I think I was just missing all those good memories as an intern at the Jacques Lefèvre Institute where I got to do dishes every day with some really cool people!... but finally today, Friday, they actually needed my help. Ha! Mrs. Choi handed me an apron and some gloves, I rolled up my sleeves, and we began the job! Shortly after starting our cleaning, I must have just looked so 잘생기다 (chalsaenggida = good looking) in all of my colorful cleaning attire that Mrs. Choi had to take a picture. At right, you can observe the result. I had fun! haha.

The above picture was taken just today, the week following my winter break. All The pictures below are from my winter break (Dec. 29 - Jan 6)

 <<<<<Here I am sitting with, from left to right, Yerin (예린), Dayoung (다영), myself, Pastor Keith, and Mizan.

On New Years Eve, I had  a part in a staged music video/skit at my church in Uijeongbu and this picture was taken before our performance on Monday night. The song was "Healer" by Hillsong United. We had basically four separate stories during the song. Each story presented a character struggling with sin in a different way. I played an angry husband who hits his wife and pushes her down because she is reading the Bible when he comes home from work. In practice once, I actually hit my wife (지혜 - Jihye)... she wasn't hurt too bad I hope (ha!) but everyone was laughing at me after the fact so it was okay. It was a little bit awkward, when we first started practicing the skit, kneeling down at the end and asking a girl who I didn't even know to forgive me for being a horrible husband, but since that skit it has been really easy to talk to her and we have become good friends! We always greet each other as "husband" and "wife" ... 재밌어요 (it's fun!).

 At right, from left to right is, Dayoung, Li Ming, Yerin, and myself. The four of us went out for coffee at this really great Italian café after dinner at Pastor Keith's last Wednesday. (As you can see, I am still wearing my wonderful coat everywhere I go... I feel like a lion with an overgrown mane sometimes.)
Below is another angle of the same pic and then, on the right is a picture of the very tasty waffle with gelato on top that Dayoung treated us to :)

Li Ming, second from the left, is actually from Qiqihar, China (near Harbin) and speaks fluent English. She came to our church for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. Dayoung and Yerin have both been at our church for much longer than I have.

 Okay... look closely at the words on the advertisement in the above pic... "this love is brillianter than the jewel"... translations such as this one are, unfortunately, not at all uncommon in Korea. Josh Worthington and I were talking about it one day, and we really think it could be a lucrative job if you had enough connections---fixing all the bad English translations in Korea that is. Josh pointed out the above ad when we were visiting Bosan together last week. Josh came all the way up from Songtan to see me and we had quite the adventure traveling up and down Seoul Subway Line 1 on Saturday. First we went up to Bosan, home of Camp Casey, the largest US military base in the region. While there we enjoyed some good American style sandwiches and some Aloe juice (that stuff is GOOD by the way... we put it on our skin in the US, but here they drink it!) all while watching the Shawshank Redemption on the TV at the restaurant. We were probably the only Americans in town not associated with the US military which was a surprise to most store clerks!

 After Bosan, we headed all the way up to the end of Line 1... to Soyosan. I had been wondering for the longest time "what is up there in Soyosan?" because it's the farthest north one can go on the Seoul Subway and it just seemed like it had to be an interesting place... well... not so much. Haha, we didn't even get off the train because there was hardly any town to explore and what we saw didn't draw our attention much at all. The landscape was beautiful beyond the town, but it was way too cold to go hiking. Thus, we headed back to Uijeongbu for coffee and dinner with Li Ming and her roommate, Tsai Hong (also from the Harbin area). Both Li Ming and Tsai Hong are Chinese language teachers at a local university in Uijeongbu. I am quite sure that our evening was quite a bit more enjoyable spent the way it was than if we had stayed up north!

At right is again Li Ming at our coffee gathering earlier in the week... we took a LOT of pictures that night. That is one more of the many blessings that smartphones provide--the ability to easily take pictures and show others pictures you have taken, which is especially a blessing when there isn't a common language in which everyone is fluent!

Li Ming also gave Josh and I a tour of her school on Saturday before we went to dinner. It was pretty cool to see where Korean college students study. She even let me borrow a book called "Evolutionary Illustration of Chinese Characters" when I said "I wish I had a copy of this!" haha... yes, I was being serious, and yes, it is currently what I read just before going to bed every night.

There are so many things I want to say here and it has been far too long since my last blog post, but I'll just have to save it for later.

Oh, well, I have to say this now, because I thought of it! Christmas in Korea! It was my first one this year! Actually, it was my first Christmas spent away from my family period. It wasn't bad at all, but I did have to work on Christmas Eve, which seemed unreal in my mind (thankfully there were no classes that day and we got to go out for lunch together (all of the faculty)... although the reason wasn't because of Christmas but because Mrs. Kim's contract was ending that day so I guess they thought it would be fun to celebrate ...? Anyway, I didn't work on Christmas. I woke up and for the first time didn't have a tree with presents underneath to run upstairs to... BUT, I did get to skype with my entire (almost) family as we all opened gifts  in our first annual gift exchange (organized by my wonderful sister, Elise Watson). They had previously mailed my gift so I got to open it with them all watching! (it was a nice new case for my macbook) Later that morning, I went to the Christmas worship at church. It was all in Korean, but many of the songs were just Korean translations from their original versions like Silent Night, Joy to the World, and Away in a Manger so I was able to fairly easily follow along. It is such a blessing to hear an old familiar tune sung in a new language.
After the service, Pastor Keith and I went to Outback for some Christmas steak.

New Years was spent with my church family as well. After the skit and other performances at church, a few of us guys went back to the Pastor's house to hang out/chat/watch TV until morning. Then, at 6:40 AM we went to see The Hobbit! Good memories were made :)

My overall impression since coming back to work after break is just how big God's hand has been working in my life even when I don't recognize it at the time. He has provided me with friendship when I need it and even when I don't know that I need it. I am so thankful for all of the people in my life here in Korea. That doesn't change the fact that I love and miss everyone back home!

jdwatson@anderson.edu

A Very Warm Blessing!

I just thought I would share one of the most recent blessings that God has provided in my life here in Korea...

You see, since I'm in the far north of the country, the winters are even colder than those I experienced during college in Anderson, Indiana. I came here with a pretty nice (fake) leather jacket that I thought was pretty warm when I first got it... but the past few weeks have shown me just how thin that jacket is! Ha! Do you know it even snowed for the first time here a couple weeks ago (already!) -- yep, about 3 inches in one day! So, I needed a new coat. Not a jacket, but a coat. One of my co-workers, Mrs. Choi, who works in the administration office, saw my sorry excuse for a winter coat and actually went out and bought me this big guy... who, aside from the rather long fur rim on his hood (which tends to blind me and get in my mouth) is the warmest coat that I have ever owned! I am so grateful to my friend and co-worker for this wonderful Christmas gift :)

The day of the first snow, looking out through the flagpoles at school....

One of the awesome school lunches that we get to have every day! The only thing I could probably do without is the kimchi...

This is a little gift I received from my school... it is a piece of artwork that doubles as a keychain and a pair of fingernail clippers!

 Above is the playground a few days after the first snow...

Below is the statue of 이순신 (Yi Sun Shin), a great Korean naval commander from the sixteenth century.

The setting sun over the playground... this is what Mr. Yi Sun Shin gets to look at every day

The English Zone

Here's a look at my classroom for those who are curious about what my working environment looks like! This will just be a quick post with some pictures. Hopefully I can add some captions or explanations to it later this week.

 Okay, I have to give a caption here... haha.
I just found these audiobooks on the shelf with all the other English reading materials in my classroom and had to take a photo... they just seem sooo out of place on that shelf. I asked my co-teacher where they came from and she didn't even know. She assumed they must have been the property of the previous NET (Native English Teacher) --- but she was from New Zealand! Anything is possible, but this still was very weird.

And this is where we trade in our real shoes every morning for slippers... I can't stand this part of the job because my feet get so cold in the slippers and there is no central heating. But, it keeps the floors semi-clean so, what are you gonna do?

My third and fourth grade sticker chart for the month of November... I have to make a new one in the morning!

Gyeongju - a memory within a memory

When I posted about my very special iron last time, I was really just choosing a simple topic to blog about because I wanted to give a quick update. Now, I still want to give a quick update because my days are getting shorter and shorter it seems... but I have nothing short of a million things to share!

I will start with what I didn't share in my previous blog.

Our AWESOME 3-day field trip to Gyeongju!

Above is Sangsu Elementary, grades 3-6, at Bulguksa Temple, the first stop on our voyage through the old capital of Korea--Gyeongju--when it was ruled by the Silla dynasty more than a thousand years ago. Hence my title for this post: for me, Gyeongju holds a grand memory of Korea's past in which I formed some of my own wonderful memories as well!

The above and following pics were taken at the site of what used to be a large palace complex during the Silla period... the pictures were taken in succession as you might notice. I was not expecting this to happen...

 Or this...

 Or this!

 Above and right, the kids are listening intently to our tour guide who stayed with us throughout the 3-day trip giving us tours and explanations of all the sites we visited. She worked for the youth hostel that we stayed at, so it was very convenient. Apparently there are many youth hostels in Gyeongju with similar programs because all elementary students--and I think even middle school students--get to take at least one trip to the city to see their country's heritage. You can see Mr. 우 (pronounced kind of like the "oo" in "food"), the 6th grade teacher, who I got to know pretty well during this trip.

OH! And, guess what? I was on TV!
There happened to be a talk show from the Busan area filming at one of the monuments that we visited and since I was the most out-of-place-looking person among their onlookers, they came up to me and immediately started asking me how I liked Korea. They asked me how old I was and when I told them, the two women asked if I would marry them LOL.

It was a comedy show of course for a local audience, but still... I was on TV in Korea! hahaha
I haven't received any calls for further interviews... yet.

Left is Bulguksa once again.

This is Miss. 김 (Kim--the Smith of Korean last names, only even more common). She is the 5th grade teacher and also the person who has helped me in adjusting to life in this country more than any other individual over the past month and a half! She also just graduated college and we are the same age--so we can be friends! If you're not the same age as someone in Korea, it is significantly more difficult to become close friends with him or her because of the way their social hierarchy works... but I find this to be different for foreigners like myself thankfully!

Above: The youth hostel where we stayed in Gyeongju. Some 3rd and 4th grade girls are still trying to wake up at 8 in the morning... 

Above and below are all from the Gyeongju National Museum (국립경주박물관)

There were about 3 million of these tombs just laying about all across the Gyeongju landscape and we probably visited 20 of them!  They are, at least on the outside, somewhat similar to some of the Indian mounds you can see in Ohio and other places in the States.




Here is one of the most famous ones below...

And this is the largest bell I have ever laid eyes on... sadly it has not been "ringable" since about 2005 if I remember correctly.... at the Gyeongju National Museum.

These two little girls, Seo Yoon and Min Kyeong, are best friends as you can see... they almost never let go of each other! No joke.
They are also two of my best students!

Mr. 우 taught me an interesting expression (while we were visiting this beautiful park full of burial mounds) that lots of Korean men like to quote when autumn comes around:

"Autumn is the season for men" ("가을은 남자의 계절")

It means that men are at their peak for finding a relationship during autumn or something to that effect... I quoted it to Miss. Kim and she got a kick out of it.

There is a really cool story that goes along with this little artificial stone stream, but it was lost in translation... for me at least.

We also visited the Pacific Ocean! (in Korean: 태평양 "tae pyeong yang") 
It was chilly and the waves were huge... therefore, a lot of fun!