It's Turkey Time

It is officially Thanksgiving in Korea today but you wouldn't know it by the looks of things. Although that is to be expected, it is still very hard to adjust to when you have celebrated it every day of your life with family until this point.
They are making us a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and mashed potatoes which is really a big deal here. No football, no leftovers, but I am sure it will be a memorable evening with staff and friends. It seems so very odd to be at school on this holiday, to have a "normal" day.
I do think much more of family and friends today and how I am thankful. I am thankful for this opportunity in Korea, even though things are bit of a struggle right now. I think I finally am starting to understand the feeling of being in the place and time where you are and being ok with just that.
It isn't an easy thing I promise you. But this journey is one that never stops. It is an ongoing process good and bad.
With all of the people I have met now I see more than ever the differences and similarities in who we are. Maybe we all don't share the same customs or traditions. It must be quite hard to understand why this is such a special time for US citizens if you aren't from there. On the flip side, I can't believe some of my new friends have never had a piece of pumpkin pie in their entire lives. So many differences.
But then I have experiences like last night when talking to one of my friends. We have the same saying in two different languages. As she was explaining it I knew what she was saying. This was in reference to our current school situation.
It was something along the lines of "if you have one person to steer the boat, all will go well. If you have too many people steering the boat, you will land on the mountain." A different way of saying "Too many chiefs and not enough indians." The most fascinating thing I am finding in this entire process is that I stop and just listen to the person next to me. We are really not so different. There are boundaries sure, but the core of who we are is there. It takes patience to listen to not only the words that are said but in watching how they are said or by whom. So those of you who think by my recent adventures that I have become some sort of social butterfly, fear not, I have become much more of a listener as well. I just have learned many new ways of being that listener, that watcher.
Definitely something to be thankful for in my book.

It's a Wonderful Life

Cast and Crew of GSIS "It's a Wonderful Life"

Watching this talented group of young folk put on a great production of one of my all time favorite movies was really thought provoking. So here then friends are some of my thoughts.

When you walk down the street with no fear that your person or your things will be taken from you...It's a Wonderful Life

When you can comfort a student without fear of a lawsuit...It's a Wonderful Life

When you see people give up their seat to the elderly or share that little extra space...It's a Wonderful Life

When you heart is full of thanks for friends and family near and far...It's a Wonderful Life

When you can be in absolute awe of something so practical yet you have never seen or thought of...It's a Wonderful Life

When a student says thank you and means it...It's a Wonderful Life

When a new friend asks if you are okay and doesn't take your "I'm fine" at face value...It's a Wonderful Life

When you go to bed and don't have to worry if your heat or electricity will be shut off...It's a Wonderful Life

When you get a note or package from home on your toughest days...It's a Wonderful Life

When you can write all of these things above and still have too many blessings to speak of It's a Wonderful Life

Lanterns aglow...

 Since 2009 Seoul has been showing displays of amazing lanterns along the Cheonggye Cheon Stream.
Our troupe of teachers set out to get there around 5:00 or a bit after since it gets dark quite early these days. So off we went with a map and a prayer of finding a stream somewhere in the middle of Seoul. (funny how these things are starting to sound so normal to my daily routine)
Well luckily we made it into the heart of Seoul and soon came upon a line. We could not even see the beginning of it but according my compass and the map we were in the right area. So what else do you do in Korea? Just get in line really. Hope that it is where you want to go. We sent two brave scouts ahead to check out if we were in the correct spot. After a bit of time, we finally heard back from our messengers via text that we were indeed in the right line.

When I asked why they weren't back yet, it was because they got distracted by a Starbucks along the route. Hey, at least we had some good drinks for the wait. I thought we would be there forever but the line moved faster than any of us could have expected. It was more of a stroll than a wait. Once we finally got through the maze of humanity we were treated to spectacular displays of light and art. These lanterns were on the water on what looked to be metal frameworks. Some must have been 8 to 10 feet tall. The detailing was beautiful. This year was a theme of Korea through time and a little bit of how it has been changed by other countries. Some breathed fire. Some came on and played music. Others just were beautiful by their simplicity. All had placards but the stream of people often moved faster than one could sit and read.

For the most part people were fairly accommodating and not too pushy by Korean standards but friends easily got swept up and down stream so to speak so sometimes you would visit with one and the next second they would be gone and one or two others would show up. By some miracle we all made it down what I would guess to be well over a mile of lanterns that could rival any float in the Rose Parade. The majority of us even made it to dinner afterward. These are the kinds of things you just have to experience when you travel. These festivals and customs shared with friends make a lifetime of memories. So my advice to you travelers out there is this. Don't try to change the place you are visiting to fit your idea of right and wrong. Embrace and accept the customs and cultures of where you are and enjoy things of beauty such as a night like this.

(many more pictures can be found on my face book page. way too many to put on the blog!)

Pepero Day!

So yet another unofficial holiday erupted at school on Friday. It is odd enough to not observe Veteran's Day for the first time in my life, much less have a very different holiday of sorts replace it in Korea.
It is known as Pepero Day. A strictly commercial event that has grown in success since 1983 if you believe what the box says. The date of observation is 11/11 because the candy looks like the number one. Of course this being the year of 11/11/11 it brought even more significance the holiday.
The best way to describe it is as a day where you give pepero to your sweetheart, a friend, or someone you appreciate or admire. That's all. (Good one candy companies) These boxes of pepero were flying off the shelves of any store you walked into. Some would by cases of the stuff. There are many sizes and varieties of pepero. For example I have what is called naked pepero which is a biscuit type stick filled with chocolate. I have almond chocolate covered pepero. I have Tonk and I have Flaky and a couple I left at school for the tough days I am sure will be ahead. The central point being almost all have chocolate in them. Who am I to argue with a holiday that involves chocolate? I mean seriously!
It was very kind of the kids to give me some. They munched on it endlessly and by the end of the day Friday I have never seen so many high schoolers hyped up on sugar! These kids are lightweights in the junkfood department and I don't envy the sugar crash they took at some point.
At least now I know why the veteran teachers I asked about pepero day mostly just smiled and nodded at me. You can't really explain it. You just have to witness and participate for yourself. Now that I know what it is, watch out friends next year! I will be a pepero giving machine! Don't get me started on the three different Valentine's Days...that's for February's blog.
So much for weight loss in Korea!

What is it like being a Christian in Korea?

Table Rock....Home Sweet Home

Answer to that question is different and hard to describe.
Being a Christian here is something you can talk openly about in some circles and stay quiet about in some other situations. Even when you are in a nondenominational Christian school. What I can say is that whatever those in Korea choose to believe, they believe with the whole of their heart and soul. I learn that more and more every day. Sunday church services here are what we would describe at home more as praise worship or early morning worship services. Most of the music is newer than the old hymns I know. Some are sung first in English and then in Korean. Sometimes there are all English services if you find the place and time.
The churches seem to be very active and at the same time transient. People come to most churches for fellowship and worship not for necessarily specific denominations although there are those around. Many of us our still looking for our "home" church as we settle here. Today though was a particularly memorable one for me with a peek at how many Koreans practice Christianity and it isn't even a Sunday.
As I have told many of you, our school has been severing ties with our sister school due primarily to financial issues and this has caused a great wave of changes in administration and school boards and board of trustees as well as PTA. Everyone is affected and your word and honor and pride are very big issues in this country. After 2 days of particularly tense meetings by all of the executive boards, a group of parents wanted to offer a time of prayer for teachers as well as themselves to come together and seek the right answers for the school moving forward. I felt that this was a good thing and I decided since I had the time today I would go because I do believe that coming together is the only way to solve some of these issues. I thought we would have a quick time of prayer and that would be it. I was so incorrect about that.
What I ended up with was a 90 minute glimpse into what it is to be a Korean Christian. The group consisted of 10 or 11 women and about 7 faculty members, 3 of which were administrators. Granted it is hard to take time out of your day to attend something because you don't want to be rude and leave.
First the leader of the prayer group gave us a song sheet, all in Korean but I am okay with that because it is the spirit of the music being shared that is important. She said that most of the meeting would be held in Korean and she apologized that she didn't have a translator at the time. No problem, just being in worship is all that matters right?
So we had several songs first which is very common. Then she would stand and ask for prayer on a certain issue and would translate it into English as best that she could and then all would bow their heads to pray. This is a type of praying I had never been in presence of. They pray with all they are. Incessant praying out loud, to keening to chanting, and many tears shed because of wanting for something so much. Bodies would rock back and forth and it would swell and then all of a sudden it would die back down. Another passage from the bible would be read. It would be related to the school situation in some way and the ritual would begin all over again. You cannot help but be moved when surrounded by that kind of atmosphere. It doesn't matter if you understand the language or not at that point. By then however, another teacher who could help translate had come in and did so. By that time I was the only waygookgin (foreigner) left in the room. How did that happen? It didn't matter. A King James Bible with Korean on one side and English on the other was shared and I read parts of the scripture with the others. Once the main "service" was over the ladies stayed to talk more about who knows what. All I know is I left after witnessing something I will never forget and am grateful I took part in.
Now it is my hope that it will help heal some wounds so that we can move forward with the ideals and mission of the school for the sake of the kids.  God had to have heard that service though. I don't know how he couldn't have.

This one is for the dogs....

Cone Head

Okay folks,
I know I have been absent from my blog for a bit and there are several reasons why. Tonight though is a story that I feel is quite unique to my time in Korea. This is a saga that has gone on for well over a week and I feel compelled to tell the story nearly in its entirety now that success has been achieved.
There were whispers of these things called dog cafes amongst many of our friends and several blogs. So four of us adventurers trekked out on Halloween weekend in search of this mysterious place called Bau House. So off we go. Bus to Seoul on a Friday night. (check) Look for an Italian restaurant right in front of us that is worthy of an entire other blog post. (check) Get on the Gagnam subway line...go 17 stops. (That is a lot of stops folks) Out to some university area I have never been to in the dark. Cool...looking for a dog cafe on the second floor of some random building...cool. 3 hours later not finding the cafe and having made an huge loop of a strange area... not quite as cool. Taking the bus home after midnight...not quite as cool. Not seeing any dogs in this mysterious dog cafe. SUPER not cool. Defeated
Chapter 2: Today
Step one go to church followed by the now routine Dos Tacos fix in Gagnam (check). Meet up with friends in the area where millions of people pass by (check). Two of us dare to trek out the 17 subway stops in search of this cafe again (check) and with new directions and daylight we have SUCCESS!

Sarah got all the calm ones

"Bubba"

Now to the explanation of what this is. First NO this is not a place where you eat dog. Come on people would I ever? I mean really! You cannot even buy human food in here. You go up three flights of stares into an open area set off by a pet gate. (first clue you are in the right place) When you walk through the gate you are greeted by some nice folks and lots of dogs of every shape and size. More varieties than in all of Korea. This is what you do. To be allowed to sit there for any amount of time you purchase a beverage. They have teas, coffees, milkshakes, everything. Then you are free to pet and socialize with all of the dogs around. You can even bring your own dog for a small fee per half hour. You can choose to buy a variety of healthy dog treats for your new friends from a display wall and just sit amongst canine companionship. I believe some are rescue dogs, some are dogs that are left by owners who are away, but all are clean and brushed and at various times different dogs come out to play so they don't get overwhelmed or overfed by everyone. I would say the only tough part was I didn't know any of there names so Sarah and I just made up names. Hence Cone Head in the picture above and Bubba who came and sat right next to me as soon as I got there. The place is really really clean as caretakers are constantly and I mean constantly walking around with mops and cleaning items of all sorts. I also watched very carefully how they handled any dogs that looked like they were going to have "words" with one another. They used very safe and humane ways of handling them and often one or the other would just be sent out of the play room for awhile so I, as a dog owner was very impressed. Now trust me when I tell you that I did NOT actively invite Cone Head to come sit on our table or others that jumped up in our booth. They do like the cookies and they like the attention and sometimes we had several gathered around us. It was just so good to have the unconditional love even for a little while. If you are not a dog fan, then sure it isn't a place for you to go. For me, I would totally go back and probably will. It is a popular place and for those of us who need a puppy "fix" it was so awesome. So I do want to say a big thanks to Sarah for getting me lost and found in this canine adventure. It was so so so worth it! Enjoy the photos here and on facebook.

Food Hogs Surveying Tables

Let sleeping dogs lay...wherever

Blessings to all of you my friends.