Please respond to this post by providing me with topics, questions, comments or interests about Korea. I would like to compile a list of things that people are curious about. When I have a list of decent length, I will attempt to post my observations and or fact on the matter.
Please note that I will not hold to anything I am saying as being more than observation and research. Also, while I am very open and willing to take questions (so please don't hesitate) I may not answer questions based on the appropriateness and/or legitimacy of the question.
I am eager to hear from you so bring on the questions!!!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
"Will Smissa"
One of my students in her excitement for the weekend, told me that she can't wait to see some new movie involving "Will Smissa". I asked what she was talking about and she gave me the name of the movie. I then had to tell her to stick her tongue out when she said "Smith" in order to get the right sound at the end of the last name.
That was Friday and she still refuses to say "Smith" correctly--ahh well what are you going to do...
I realized that I haven't posted in awhile and thought I would throw a quick update out to anyone still interested in this little web-log. I sincerely wish to be a more frequent "blogger" but I am finding myself somewhat distracted by a whole country, with new things to see, and teaching, which is still new enough to create some preparation challenges.
Let me see if I can bring you up to date. First, Charity is fully invested in the idea of us getting a dog. Not a big dog mind you but a canine with such diminutive and somewhat demoralizing prefixes to their breed as to include "toy", "miniature" or "teacup". Right now we are looking frantically for something that makes Charity's voice get high and making her almost cry. That seems to be the way we can decipher a good pick over another dog that is just okay.
Who knows though as we have been trying to find one for almost a week now and are continually hindered by the ever-present language barrier. Dave's ESL and Craigslist only give us access to English speakers.
It was funny when we went to the closest pet shop. There were no adults in the store and the small boy "running" the store wanted so badly to tell us about all the great deals and the details of all his inventory. By the way, his inventory included a baby alligator (yes, I said baby ALLIGATOR!) --which he was holding proudly--and a Boa Constrictor which I am guessing was about 6 foot long plus.
As we were leaving he asked me if I would like some "Copi" (an instant coffee drink) and when I said no (by crossing my arms in front of my chest) he held out a handful of various candies to me. When I went to take one, he turned my hand over and traded the handful of candies from his hand to mine.
All and all it was a very comical situation. Him saying things we couldn't understand and us trying to respond with the appropriate "yes" nods and "no" shakes. Us asking questions or making statements but with no ability for him to respond in our language. The whole thing was just shy of ridiculous!
On another note, our washing machine went on the fritz on Friday and we haven't been able to do any laundry since then.
What you have to understand is that the washing machine we have both washes and dries the laundry. That means that the water has to come in from the faucet and then be completely pumped out of the machine before it can begin the next cycle. Now, my diagnostic skills are good enough that I could tell that the water wasn't being pumped back out. (I opened the unit to see how it works and could tell that the pump wasn't even running) I told Pastor Gogh at SCS and he came over this afternoon at 3:00pm (the timing is critical). He spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the company trying different things. Then when he got off the phone and told me to expect the "repair engineer" between 5 and 10pm. I then responded "tomorrow?"
"No", he said, "tonight."
I had to go to the teacher's meeting at 3:40 and as I am packing up stuff in my classroom 20 minutes later and Pastor Gogh calls my room and tells me that the egineer called--he was on his way.
As Charity and I rushed out of the school and back to our apartment we were passed by a man on a scooter (pretty common) heading to our destination (not so common).
To make a long story short (or what could be a much longer story shorter), the egineer ran some tests and told me that the motor to pump out the used water was fryed and he had it replaced in less than 30 minutes.
You find me a service tech that can do that in the US I would be surprised. Start to finish was less than 2 hours!
Conclusions/Observations:
The people here in Korea are not only very kind (the boy in the pet store) but they excel at welcoming visitors into their presence. Also, they may seem impatient about having to wait in line or to get what they want, but they are also amazing when it comes to customer service and efficeincy. Once more my Western filter has been challenged at thinking it is superior.
More again later...
That was Friday and she still refuses to say "Smith" correctly--ahh well what are you going to do...
I realized that I haven't posted in awhile and thought I would throw a quick update out to anyone still interested in this little web-log. I sincerely wish to be a more frequent "blogger" but I am finding myself somewhat distracted by a whole country, with new things to see, and teaching, which is still new enough to create some preparation challenges.
Let me see if I can bring you up to date. First, Charity is fully invested in the idea of us getting a dog. Not a big dog mind you but a canine with such diminutive and somewhat demoralizing prefixes to their breed as to include "toy", "miniature" or "teacup". Right now we are looking frantically for something that makes Charity's voice get high and making her almost cry. That seems to be the way we can decipher a good pick over another dog that is just okay.
Who knows though as we have been trying to find one for almost a week now and are continually hindered by the ever-present language barrier. Dave's ESL and Craigslist only give us access to English speakers.
It was funny when we went to the closest pet shop. There were no adults in the store and the small boy "running" the store wanted so badly to tell us about all the great deals and the details of all his inventory. By the way, his inventory included a baby alligator (yes, I said baby ALLIGATOR!) --which he was holding proudly--and a Boa Constrictor which I am guessing was about 6 foot long plus.
As we were leaving he asked me if I would like some "Copi" (an instant coffee drink) and when I said no (by crossing my arms in front of my chest) he held out a handful of various candies to me. When I went to take one, he turned my hand over and traded the handful of candies from his hand to mine.
All and all it was a very comical situation. Him saying things we couldn't understand and us trying to respond with the appropriate "yes" nods and "no" shakes. Us asking questions or making statements but with no ability for him to respond in our language. The whole thing was just shy of ridiculous!
On another note, our washing machine went on the fritz on Friday and we haven't been able to do any laundry since then.
What you have to understand is that the washing machine we have both washes and dries the laundry. That means that the water has to come in from the faucet and then be completely pumped out of the machine before it can begin the next cycle. Now, my diagnostic skills are good enough that I could tell that the water wasn't being pumped back out. (I opened the unit to see how it works and could tell that the pump wasn't even running) I told Pastor Gogh at SCS and he came over this afternoon at 3:00pm (the timing is critical). He spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the company trying different things. Then when he got off the phone and told me to expect the "repair engineer" between 5 and 10pm. I then responded "tomorrow?"
"No", he said, "tonight."
I had to go to the teacher's meeting at 3:40 and as I am packing up stuff in my classroom 20 minutes later and Pastor Gogh calls my room and tells me that the egineer called--he was on his way.
As Charity and I rushed out of the school and back to our apartment we were passed by a man on a scooter (pretty common) heading to our destination (not so common).
To make a long story short (or what could be a much longer story shorter), the egineer ran some tests and told me that the motor to pump out the used water was fryed and he had it replaced in less than 30 minutes.
You find me a service tech that can do that in the US I would be surprised. Start to finish was less than 2 hours!
Conclusions/Observations:
The people here in Korea are not only very kind (the boy in the pet store) but they excel at welcoming visitors into their presence. Also, they may seem impatient about having to wait in line or to get what they want, but they are also amazing when it comes to customer service and efficeincy. Once more my Western filter has been challenged at thinking it is superior.
More again later...
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Fall
Well, this post will be a bit of a divergence from the normal narrative.
In the poem "Slow Fade" their is a part that goes:
The point is that we never just fall into sin. Sin is a series of choices that take us farther from God than we ever wanted to go...or maybe not. Some people would want to run from God in order to avoid the pain of His judgment (kinda silly if you know about His omniscience).
At this point I am sure that you are wondering if Daniel or Charity or both ran to Korea to escape God's wrath and the answer would be no. This story has little to do with Daniel and Charity.
I was just thinking over the events of the week and thinking about both the fall into and consequences of sin. Amazingly, sin surrounds our spiritual life like a cancer and seeks any entrance upon our already wicked heart. The cost for the drop of defense is not simply sickness that lasts, but our death. Sadly we all (Romans 3:23 so I can speak from personal experience) have fallen into sin and the only cure-THE ONLY REMEDY-is the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I know it may seem odd to interject this little blurb in the middle of a blog about Korea, but this blog is about the similarities and differences between American/Western thoughts and actions and how they differ from those of a Korean/Eastern way of life.
Guess what, they all share the same sickness and are in need of the same cure.
Unfortunately, two of my students were caught up in sin that has affected their academic semester. Helping each other work on homework turned into copying answers which then in turn became lying to cover it up. The Bible speaks of such progressions and makes a very poignant statement in James 1:15:
In the poem "Slow Fade" their is a part that goes:
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made,
a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made,
a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
The point is that we never just fall into sin. Sin is a series of choices that take us farther from God than we ever wanted to go...or maybe not. Some people would want to run from God in order to avoid the pain of His judgment (kinda silly if you know about His omniscience).
At this point I am sure that you are wondering if Daniel or Charity or both ran to Korea to escape God's wrath and the answer would be no. This story has little to do with Daniel and Charity.
I was just thinking over the events of the week and thinking about both the fall into and consequences of sin. Amazingly, sin surrounds our spiritual life like a cancer and seeks any entrance upon our already wicked heart. The cost for the drop of defense is not simply sickness that lasts, but our death. Sadly we all (Romans 3:23 so I can speak from personal experience) have fallen into sin and the only cure-THE ONLY REMEDY-is the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I know it may seem odd to interject this little blurb in the middle of a blog about Korea, but this blog is about the similarities and differences between American/Western thoughts and actions and how they differ from those of a Korean/Eastern way of life.
Guess what, they all share the same sickness and are in need of the same cure.
Unfortunately, two of my students were caught up in sin that has affected their academic semester. Helping each other work on homework turned into copying answers which then in turn became lying to cover it up. The Bible speaks of such progressions and makes a very poignant statement in James 1:15:
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
I do not write these things as one who has no sin-bringing judgment to all those around me. No, I speak as one who cherished sin, loving its embrace and sleeping in the security of my own way. But, as I have seen and as I am sure that every Christian can attest, sin takes us further than we would ever want to go and costs us more than we ever were willing to pay. That warm embrace of sin turns to a coldness throughout our inner man.
More later,
Daniel and Charity.
More later,
Daniel and Charity.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Samseong THUNDER!!!!
So, we needed something to do over the Lunar New Year break. I really did nothing all that interesting all break long...until Tuesday. Tuesday, most of the teachers, Charity and I went to a Korean Basketball League game. I really wish I knew the name and location of the other team. The team we cheered for was the local Samseong (pronounced "Som-Song") Thunder.
(if you want to see all the pictures you can go here, I will however show you a few of the highlights...)
Personally, I found the fact that we were at the Seoul Olympic Complex at Songpa-gu, Seoul, to be somewhat monumental. According to a very limited research (me on the internet) there have been 8 Olympics in the USA- 4 summer and 4 winter. They were at St. Louis (1904), Los. Angeles (1932 & 1984), and Atlanta (1996) for the summer and Lake Placid (1932 & 1980), Squaw Valley (1960) and Saly Lake City (2002) for the winter. All those, and I have never been to the historical locations after the games had come and gone.
I know that was a sidetrack, but hopefully a...somewhat educational one. The point really is that I enojyed the historical aspect of the location. Now on with the game...
Here is a quick peak at a couple of the outside shots:
While certain aspects of the experience were very similar to basketball games in the states I thought this guy was humorous...
You might not be able to tell on the video but he was wearing a full suit and tie and he has on white gloves. I have to say his level of animated actions were awesome!
The "cheerleaders" on the other hand were really nothing much more than entertainment at time outs, half-time and mini-events. Although they did do this which was entertaining but probably not for the reason they thought it was going to be...
The game was pretty good but the experience was way better. Both Korean and English come out of the loudspeakers and tunes that I knew being sung in a different language probably using different words. Overwhelming at a few times but totally wonderful most of the rest of the time. I really wish I knew the language...
After the game we went to On the Border (yes it is American, but it was still really good) and because of the size of the group we got a nice big room in the back. And while I can make a lot of comments about the various whimsical and slightly silly but I think this does speak volumes about how observant we Americans are. See if you can figure out what I am talking about...
If your guess was "why didn't you guys hang your stuff up, they provded hangers" then you can see what we missed in our excitement for burritos, enchiladas and refried beans...
Well that is about all I have for now.
Bye for now...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
One Lazy Lunar New Year
I wish I could say that I have been productively using my time over the Lunar New Year holiday (referred to hereafter as LNY) but no I have been spending nearly every waking hour goofing off. While I have not been the most productive of people over the holiday, I have enjoyed the brief respite.
On Saturday we went to Coex which is at the Samseong subway stop. For those of you that want to follow along at home:
Here is the Subway map.
And here is some info about the mall.
Here is a little taste of the crowded subway:
We traveled down the green line from Bongcheon about 7 stops to Coex. It is HUGE!!! I think we walked through most of it throughout the next several hours. First we went to a little store that was trying very hard to be "All-American." They had jelly-belly beans and Campbell's soup. It was a little funny to see what the Korean's thought were main staples of the American life...
The girls checking out the "American" Store:
Then went to the food court (it was about 2:30 or so and we needed a snack) and located a bastion of Westerner mall-rat sustenance-Auntie Anne's. As you can see it was enjoyed all around:
Waiting in line...
Reaping the rewards...
Enjoyed by all!
After Auntie Anne's we walked around and saw all the shops. Strangely, many of them were something straight out of middle America.
Towards the end of our time there we went to Uno Chicago and had deep-dish pizza and hot-wings. Again, not terribly Korean but tasty nonetheless.
Sunday after church we went to the grocery store (we had just been paid and our cupboards were bare). Mylinda got Bulgogi meat and some noodles which she prepared later for dinner and it was sooooo good! On a side note, it was pretty cool to punch up my PIN on the ATM and see that we had a couple million in our account. (for those of you that know the exchange rate, that was funny, otherwise please realize that I am referring to WON and not $)
Monday I slept in till almost 10am. My beautiful wife on the other hand woke up before me and proceeded to clean almost every square inch of the apartment. Her cleaning ethic is something to be commended. Now if I could only find my stuff...
Today we are going to a basketball game. I am really not sure of the details yet, but I am pretty sure that I am going to cheer obnoxiously loud and make a spectacle of myself in memory of Beta games at BJU.
Talk at you later...
On Saturday we went to Coex which is at the Samseong subway stop. For those of you that want to follow along at home:
Here is the Subway map.
And here is some info about the mall.
Here is a little taste of the crowded subway:
We traveled down the green line from Bongcheon about 7 stops to Coex. It is HUGE!!! I think we walked through most of it throughout the next several hours. First we went to a little store that was trying very hard to be "All-American." They had jelly-belly beans and Campbell's soup. It was a little funny to see what the Korean's thought were main staples of the American life...
The girls checking out the "American" Store:
Then went to the food court (it was about 2:30 or so and we needed a snack) and located a bastion of Westerner mall-rat sustenance-Auntie Anne's. As you can see it was enjoyed all around:
Waiting in line...
Reaping the rewards...
Enjoyed by all!
After Auntie Anne's we walked around and saw all the shops. Strangely, many of them were something straight out of middle America.
Towards the end of our time there we went to Uno Chicago and had deep-dish pizza and hot-wings. Again, not terribly Korean but tasty nonetheless.
Sunday after church we went to the grocery store (we had just been paid and our cupboards were bare). Mylinda got Bulgogi meat and some noodles which she prepared later for dinner and it was sooooo good! On a side note, it was pretty cool to punch up my PIN on the ATM and see that we had a couple million in our account. (for those of you that know the exchange rate, that was funny, otherwise please realize that I am referring to WON and not $)
Monday I slept in till almost 10am. My beautiful wife on the other hand woke up before me and proceeded to clean almost every square inch of the apartment. Her cleaning ethic is something to be commended. Now if I could only find my stuff...
Today we are going to a basketball game. I am really not sure of the details yet, but I am pretty sure that I am going to cheer obnoxiously loud and make a spectacle of myself in memory of Beta games at BJU.
Talk at you later...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
