Time

So as of yesterday, I'm beginning a series of posts about various topics. I'm not sure why, but I just feel like sharing things that are on my mind in relation to various topics. So I will give myself fifteen minutes each day (most likely during my lunchtime), and that's it. Keep your fingers crossed that I even spell check, or check my sloppy English.

So today's topic will be time (part will be done after the next class, since my school's internet was acting up, but the job will be done in fifteen minute, maybe a few seconds less, but no more than fifteen minutes will be allowed.

I'm not exactly an expert on any of these topics, so if you want to reference a great novel by a great author, you can check for a book known as The Time Keeper, by Mitch Albom.
For example, I have a young child right now bothering me about having a sticker. Well, little dude has got to wait so I can type this instead of give him a sticker.

11 minutes to go. So back to the topic about time. I live in a country where the cultural phenomenon is all about "hurry, hurry, hurry!" It is really sad to see how people are rushed to do this or do that. They consume quite a bit of ramen noodles as a result of it. They call themselves "healthy" as well.

Most of the time when I ask someone how they are doing, it is either, "I'm tired", or "I'm busy". Sometimes I hear, "I don't have time for this, I don't have time for that. " Well, you do have time to play that silly game on your phone at work right? Or you have thirty minutes that you sit on a subway or bus, talking to your friends using your apps on your smartphone that is thicker than my wallet.

The thing about all of this, is that we use time as an excuse to not be able to do something. I know I have not always used my time very wisely, and it's hurt some people in my family, or it has affected my friendships or relationships as well. I think to myself that I must do something for someone, and that I only allot myself so much time to give to someone else.

8 minutes to go. Man, this stuff is hard to do. I've just returned from entertaining kids for about thirty minutes. Here we go again. I remember hearing a well known football player named Ray Lewis giving a speech to the Stanford Cardinal Basketball team.
RAY RAY CLICK HERE.

 I try to use this speech to remember that I should utilize my time ten times better than I do sometimes. Truth is we need to live in this world as if tomorrow is not a promise. We need to give everything we got. That means we need to give our time as much as possible to your friends, family, and even complete strangers. You never know what that time will mean to those people.

I have wondered sometimes how I can repay some of the people that have given so much of themselves to make a difference in my life. The easy answer is to just give them my time, because you never know when it will be the last time you see that person.  When I was back in the states in the summer time, I made some selfish choices and was unable to see my best friend Jeff, and his father during that eleven day time-frame.  Little did I know that the time that I spent with his father back in February of this year, would be the last time that I would have spent with that man. It tore me up emotionally as I sat in my classroom praying with my best friend, because the Good Lord was preparing to take his daddy home a few hours later.

I spent some time at the pool with a lady who was like a grandmother to me (for part of my life)when I was at home. My stepmother's mom Ma'Mere (as we called her) was called home a week or two after I came back to Korea following my summer time visit. After my dad gave me the news that she had passed, I thanked the Lord for that time that I did have with her a few months ago.

Remember there are so many people who don't need anything but your time. Time doesn't cost anything (unless you want to be one of those folk who analyzes everything in life).
Thanks and God Bless (over by one minute).

another great speech on time RAY RAY and Elon Football Team

Quitting

Why is it that some of us quit or give up on something so much easier than others? I'm writing about this due to an experience that I had this past weekend.

I was really excited this Saturday because I was going to visit a really well-known village here that I had never seen before. A friend of mine was driving me up there in her car, which made it even nicer, considering I didn't have to sit on a bus or train. At 1:45 pm., I was picked up in the downtown area of Daegu.  The drive was supposed to be about an hour and twenty minutes one way. Well, we arrived very close to our destination in a city known as Andong. Then all of a sudden the IPhone navigation app (Korean one at that), starting giving us the wrong directions.

Nara, my friend, turned the car around a few times, and tried to reset the navigation. Then after maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, she just got back on the road to Daegu.

So your app gives you wrong directions and you just give up? I did found the directions on Apple Maps, but it didn't really make a difference. There were so many ways that we could have found the place without the need of that app. I was willing to step out and ask for directions (real men do that sometimes). She just started throwing a pity party for a few minutes, and I was super nice about it. Then as we arrived back in Daegu, it just hit me - why did I let this person just give up so easily.  Three hours for nothing. I never want to say that I wasted time doing something, but that's what was going through my head. Especially since I know my time is almost over in this country (four-five more months).

Weird thing is I went to visit a friend at the gym where I works and I spotted some dumbbells that were 100 pounds each (crazy idea went off in my head). I looked at my buddy Kevin, and said "I think I can do this." Well, after a few minutes of getting my body adjusted and saying the Lord's Prayer a few times I lifted those dumbbells ten times, thank you very much.

I bring that up, because I spend four days a week working out, and pushing my body to extremes that I never thought were possible as a youth. But I use these workouts as a way to motivate me to become better in other aspects of my life, such as work, church, friends, family, etc. If I don't give up when I feel the need to vomit, as my heart is pumping from working out, then I shouldn't give up on myself, or I shouldn't give up on those I love, or have a great amount of respect for. Likewise, I wouldn't expect them to give up around me as well.

I thought about this in my first class this Monday morning, because I know that I've been that quitter before - whether it was a sport in college or high school, a girlfriend, a friend, a job, or sometimes I want to give up on that long haired red-head friend of mine back home.

Lord knows that I'm a much better person due to the fact that people believe in me. As a wonderful Pastor tells me all that time, there's a ton of unlocked potential that I've yet to make use of.  I'm always amazed that people in my life haven't given up on me due to some of the idiotic, or disrespectful things that I have done.  Then again Love can conquer a lot.

I really didn't intend to type this, but it's better to get out of me than to hold it in. God Bless anyone that reads this.. There are many times when we feel the need to quit or just give up. We may be in the grieving process, or we may just be tired, down, frustrated, depressed, sad, lonely, etc. Somewhere deep down there is something telling you to just keep going - for some of us it is given to us by a divine spirit from above.
As I always say say KEEP GOING. Perseverance is so important for all of us. 

Costco

I finally made it to Costco in Korea!!! I think the one in this city is bigger than the one in Memphis for sure. They do things in levels here so I might be wrong. After buying my plane ticket yesterday, I spent 85 bucks at Costco. My boss is a member, so I helped her push an extra cart full of supplies and toys for work.
I managed to spend my money on Colby jack cheese, oatmeal, Kashii cereal, chicken breast, Tilapia filets, and a 60 pack of eggs. It was very good investing for the next week or two, and I was impressed with all of the food that I could find there. Much of the same stuff like you would find back home.

Friday Friday Friday

It's been one heck of a week here. I'm on the iPad right now, so I will keep this short for now. I did however buy my plane ticket home last night; thanks to my mom for finding the new credit card. It's really, really crazy how the prices of plane tickets fluctuate even in the span of 24 hours or less. The ticket I bought 13 hours ago has now gone up 600 bucks. On the Korean websites, I filled out the reservation information and got a " sorry but it is now sold out" message. That was not cool. Thanks to Kayak and Delta.com for getting me home quickly.


I'll fill you in on middle school teachers beating students, biting kids, and other random stuff later.

It's Friday!!!

But my stomach still has the darn bug going. . . . Wednesday was a rough day at work, as I wanted to vomit all day. I didn't thankfully, but I pretty much didn't eat for the next 24 hours. I had the equivalent of a Sprite for dinner, and then Gatorade for breakfast yesterday. Last night I finally ate dinner, courtesy of Quiznos, but it turns out that my stomach is still acting pretty rough right now. I may just try and take some time away from Korean food to see if my stomach get back to regularity again soon.

In about seven weeks I'll also be coming home for Christmas as well. That's something pretty exciting. I'll get a day off the week before, due to the Presidential election here. Koreans vote a new person in every five years (no exceptions). So the President actually does work a full five years. There's a good chance that a former President's daughter could end up winning the election this year as well. There are three candidates and all of them have a pretty decent shot at winning the election.

I'll try and copy some of the pictures that aren't showing on here later as well. 

can't believe this was posted on our school website

it's me and a few kids doing that Gangnam Style thing. 

I'm hoping you can see the pics

that I've been posting on here that were from school activities. Some of them aren't posting I believe, so just let me know if they aren't there when you click. Things are going pretty well here. My one morning class is getting pretty rough, since one of my best kids has been sick for about ten days now. She's a super kid, that behaves really well, so she helps keep the others in line most of the time. Otherwise, the kids listen to me for about ten minutes and the next twenty minutes of class is spent trying to get the little folks in line. Some of these classes just be can't taught well when it comes to being alone with the kids. Some of the classes just need a Korean teacher in the classroom which really keeps the kids in line. Even if the Korean teacher has no clue what I am doing the kids will be scared because certain ones are pretty strict, so they don't want to misbehave.

Saturday, I led a group (sort of) hiking in an area here in Korea that is compared to the Swiss Alps. It's very pretty when you get to the top of the mountain, but I'm not sure how it really compares to the Alps though. Not as majestic but still nice. The only problem with the hike was that many of the trails are not very well marked. I should have tried this hike before on my own, beforehand. Everyone was still pretty positive, and four of us did eventually make it to one of the peaks, which was super cool. I'll post pictures later.

I had a duet yesterday at church which went really well. At least the part of the hymn that was in Korean went well. The English part was good too, but I practiced the Korean about ten times more, so it really came out very, very well. The Koreans were very complimentary of my deep bass voice with those beautiful Korean words.