I am so happy to say this . . . . I work with Koreans that are almost always smiling -- and not arguing about something. It's so nice to see this. My boss will even take my coworker Amelia, and I out for our birthdays in a week or so. That's pretty rare in this country as well. It's definitely nice to see people are happy with their jobs -- my boss treats everyone really well, and it shows.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Happy 4/20
No, I don't celebrate it, but it's interesting that I found a song released by Willie Nelson, that he did with Snoop Dogg today. If you don't know the meaning of 4/20 then just look it up on Wikipedia or one of those websites that shows you all the important information about this day. I do believe tomorrow is Earth Day, or perhaps it's on Sunday -- regardless let's be mindful of the great Earth that we have to use at our convenience. Sometimes we take too much advantage of this great Earth we have as well.
My job is so random, but interesting. I had two little girls that were both wanting to sit next to me when we do our storybook class. Turns out one had the seat "reserved", and the other one took the seat anyway. So, I told the loser (one way to put it) that she could just take my big chair and sit next to her brother. Apparently that didn't work, and she stood crying for maybe five or ten minutes -- I even tried to pick her up and "daddy" her -- not sure how that works when they're 10 or 11 years old, but whatever. That didn't work either though. So, then I went to my Korean assistant and asked her to come intervene. Turns out the girl who took the chair went to the bathroom and started bawling her eyes out as well. She came back was just choked up full of guilt I guess. So twenty minutes of that class was wasted for them due to their tears -- all because of a little chair.
The rest of the day was a genuine blessing, because it went over really well. The week itself, went by with ease for the most part. Anyway, I'll get off of here for now, and take clothes out of the washer and get to sleep very soon.
Goodnight
My job is so random, but interesting. I had two little girls that were both wanting to sit next to me when we do our storybook class. Turns out one had the seat "reserved", and the other one took the seat anyway. So, I told the loser (one way to put it) that she could just take my big chair and sit next to her brother. Apparently that didn't work, and she stood crying for maybe five or ten minutes -- I even tried to pick her up and "daddy" her -- not sure how that works when they're 10 or 11 years old, but whatever. That didn't work either though. So, then I went to my Korean assistant and asked her to come intervene. Turns out the girl who took the chair went to the bathroom and started bawling her eyes out as well. She came back was just choked up full of guilt I guess. So twenty minutes of that class was wasted for them due to their tears -- all because of a little chair.
The rest of the day was a genuine blessing, because it went over really well. The week itself, went by with ease for the most part. Anyway, I'll get off of here for now, and take clothes out of the washer and get to sleep very soon.
Goodnight
Sunday, April 15, 2012
some weekend photos
Another Productive weekend, but I'm worn out
I think I need a weekend where I seriously stay in my neighborhood.
I love being productive and always doing things, but I guess it's hard when I actually have to work a job that tires me out as well. I feel like I put so much energy into the last two hours of my work day, but perhaps I do put a lot of energy into the other part of the day too. It's definitely not easy to get my workouts in at night, but they get done anyway.
The kids are fun, these days. With the exception of a pair of twins having a sword fight with their tongues, I haven't had anything real strange happen lately. One girl tries to the pull up my coworker Amelia's skirt during class once a week -- of course we share the same class, so I have to look away asap. Just like usual with jobs here, I'm outnumbered by women.
I really see myself out of here in about seven months. . . . . I'm making an impact on a church here, but I really need to be impacting a church in Tennessee or Kentucky instead.
Anyway, this weekend I took part in an event entitled Global Awareness 10km in Their Shoes -- this was to show awareness for countries that have suffered through natural disasters in the past year or so. It was a fun event, where my church friend Chote and I meet quite a few people from Korea, and other pasts of the world. The walk wasn't exactly 10km, but the weather was beautiful. If only we didn't stop and take 10,000 pictures, things would have been a little more exciting. We did do some video footage to send to the countries we were showing support for. Those countries would be Pakistan, Chile, Haiti, Turkey, Japan, and Thailand.
Chote and I were part of Team Pakistan, in honor of Khan, who attends our church and is a native of Pakistan.
I love being productive and always doing things, but I guess it's hard when I actually have to work a job that tires me out as well. I feel like I put so much energy into the last two hours of my work day, but perhaps I do put a lot of energy into the other part of the day too. It's definitely not easy to get my workouts in at night, but they get done anyway.
The kids are fun, these days. With the exception of a pair of twins having a sword fight with their tongues, I haven't had anything real strange happen lately. One girl tries to the pull up my coworker Amelia's skirt during class once a week -- of course we share the same class, so I have to look away asap. Just like usual with jobs here, I'm outnumbered by women.
I really see myself out of here in about seven months. . . . . I'm making an impact on a church here, but I really need to be impacting a church in Tennessee or Kentucky instead.
Anyway, this weekend I took part in an event entitled Global Awareness 10km in Their Shoes -- this was to show awareness for countries that have suffered through natural disasters in the past year or so. It was a fun event, where my church friend Chote and I meet quite a few people from Korea, and other pasts of the world. The walk wasn't exactly 10km, but the weather was beautiful. If only we didn't stop and take 10,000 pictures, things would have been a little more exciting. We did do some video footage to send to the countries we were showing support for. Those countries would be Pakistan, Chile, Haiti, Turkey, Japan, and Thailand.
Chote and I were part of Team Pakistan, in honor of Khan, who attends our church and is a native of Pakistan.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Resurrection Day/Easter
Today is known to the world as Easter, or as many of us Christians say -- Resurrection Day. . . . I helped put together the first Sunday Sunrise Gathering for the foreigners at my church today which is a cool experience. I even gave a little 8-10 minute message on the meaning of the day, which Pastor Ken gave some commendable reviews on.
I've been feeling rough all weekend, and I woke up coughing like crazy around 3:45 am, and couldn't get back to sleep before that 5 am alarm sounded off. I was able to get a small nap in before I attended an 11:00 am wedding. Not sure how many people choose to get married on the day of a marathon in their city, and of course being Easter day, but the owner of my health club did. It was kind of weird to see all of the people in their dressy clothes instead of those funny gym clothes that they were. I went with little Sis, and Sue, who lives in the neighborhood. One of the old men gave me a big "thumps up" for having two women with me.
When that was finished I went back to the Korean family's house and got in a nice nap. I took a taxi back to the university -- there were tons of people enjoying the first REAL day of Spring (temperature wise at least). There were so many families with their kids, and of course many of the college students were there as well. Our church service at 2 pm, went really well, and some of the occasional visitors came by, bringing along a few friends too. As I left the campus, I went the long way and got a few pictures in.
I'll post about the crazy week at work later -- well, not really crazy, but a little bit.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Slacking off again
I've been called out now for slacking off by a friend who likes to read this blogging stuff of mine. I have no clue why someone would want to read this stuff -- there's so much more excitement on the internet than this, but I'm humbled either way. I've been spending too much time at the gym, hanging out with the old men, or flirting with some young lady, who attracts me mostly because she doesn't stay distracted like most her age. By that I mean, she's not making calls on a treadmill, or playing with her smart phone while exercising. She's cute, and she does her job, and that's that. Actually there's a few more quality men and women these days at the gym like that. One thing I've always appreciated about coming back to America, is going to the gym, and watching people just do their thing. No distractions from phones, for the most part. I, personally distract myself sometimes with my IPod on Facebook, or Kakao talk, but I do a decent job of minimizing it.
Anyway, things are going well here. Staying busy has its consequences, but I stay rested up, and melatonin becomes my friend once or twice a week. I even had the honor of leading the praising with HyoSeon, our musical leader and talented pianist, and Chote, one of our wonderful voices, who hails from Myanmar. Fritz played guitar, and then two of the Koreans played accompanied us on drums and piano respectively. One of the songs was a classic hymn - Old Rugged Cross -- that my favorite singer Brad Paisley knocked out of the ballpark a long time ago. Chote and I did a duet of Great is Thy Faithfulness, which received a wonderful response from the congregation. I was proud of the job we did on that, and we practiced her to make it a wonderful experience too.
Besides church, I met up with an old student last Sunday afternoon, whose mom gave me a feast of raw fish, and other Korean delicacies. Saturday nights are the usual English club gathering, but this time I avoided the discussion period and just went for food and beer (well, the others partook in the beer part). The weather here isn't so great -- almost freezing tonight for some random reason. We've gotten temps in the 60s though lately. I wish those temps would stay, but Spring has only just begun.
I leave two pictures for you!!
Anyway, things are going well here. Staying busy has its consequences, but I stay rested up, and melatonin becomes my friend once or twice a week. I even had the honor of leading the praising with HyoSeon, our musical leader and talented pianist, and Chote, one of our wonderful voices, who hails from Myanmar. Fritz played guitar, and then two of the Koreans played accompanied us on drums and piano respectively. One of the songs was a classic hymn - Old Rugged Cross -- that my favorite singer Brad Paisley knocked out of the ballpark a long time ago. Chote and I did a duet of Great is Thy Faithfulness, which received a wonderful response from the congregation. I was proud of the job we did on that, and we practiced her to make it a wonderful experience too.
Besides church, I met up with an old student last Sunday afternoon, whose mom gave me a feast of raw fish, and other Korean delicacies. Saturday nights are the usual English club gathering, but this time I avoided the discussion period and just went for food and beer (well, the others partook in the beer part). The weather here isn't so great -- almost freezing tonight for some random reason. We've gotten temps in the 60s though lately. I wish those temps would stay, but Spring has only just begun.
I leave two pictures for you!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)