The Been Briefing

so i have been in korea for over a week, and things are starting to sort of settle down. the first 4 days i spent with lauren in suwon. i made her lunch with lots of green things and PB&J of course, and she gave me TONS of helpful advice on all that she has learned living in korea the past 3 months. several funny things have happened, so here you go...

hilarious moments:

1) mr. so and i have very different methods of communication, which makes for some rather ridiculous scenarios. on saturday lauren and i were trying to help him understand that i needed to go to home plus to get things for my apartment, and then that it would be very helpful to take me to suji so that i could settle in a bit. (this was when my nesting instinct was kicking into high gear.) mr. so wasn't quite getting the picture, though. he thought that the best way to make me feel comfortable was to take me to get coffee and to "wine and dine me" into liking korea and staying here. LOL. also, carlos - a harvard grad and native of new york city who is teaching at lauren's school in yeonng-tong (sp??) - wanted to go to seoul for the day. so basically mr. so was thinking we could go to seoul and then come back around 10 and go to home plus. lauren and i looked at each other with a look that said "uhh, that's not going to work very well" ... finally we convinced him to let carlos go to seoul on his own since he's a big boy and can handle himself on the metro, and that we could go on to home plus.
but this led to disaster. as soon as we walked into home plus, mr. so took the cart with the determination of a bulldozer and began heading off down the lane. i looked at lauren with horror. seeing my distress, lauren came immediately to my rescue (THANK YOU, LAUREN!) and called up to mr. so quickly, "uhh, mr. so, maybe we can leave ruthie to her shopping and we can go upstairs for some coffee for maybe 30 minutes." mr. so stopped and turned around, nodded his head in acquiescence and smiled his sweet smile - which i have come to see means okay. looking at lauren with a "thank God for you" face i grinned and headed off to do my shopping.

2) apparently ERC is relying heavily on lauren, carlos and me to develop their step 3 program - the curriculum for their advanced level students. on tuesday mr. so took me and lauren to Little John, an english book store in suwon and asked us to browse through the books to see what we thought would be most suitable for teaching the children. so far the kids (at late elementary-middle school ages) have been reading the Magic Tree House series. now, since i just got here and have never read the magic tree house series myself, i was completely inadequate in offering my recommendation for the students' capabilities. it was rather hilarious having mr. so look at me and say, "i look to you and lauren for your vital and support in making curriculum for students." i looked back at him with a straight face: "oh yes, mr. so. i will help when i can" ... i still tried to convey to him that i thought lauren would be a more effective advisor, as she has already been teaching on the magic tree house.

(.... it was on tuesday as well that i found out i would be teaching 2 beginning level classes during the first 2 blocks of class time, which meant that i had to find books that would also cater to the younger ages. Little John as a bookstore offers a fairly extensive selection of english books; however, their selection of kindergarten books 9(ABCs, rhyming, etc) was not as stellar as i would have hoped. their selection for first graders was higher. in the end i found my favorites: Goodnight Moon, the mercer mayer Little Critter books, The Cat in the Hat (a few of dr. suess' books), a Cat in the Hat dictionary (very good - with pictures and sample phrases), AND If You Give a Mouse a Cookie AND If You Give a Pig a Pancake..... i was very pleased as most of them are my favorites. mr. so was fully supportive and bought them all for a trial run. if they are successful with the children they will add them to the curriculum for the little ones at ERC.

3) after church on sunday, lauren left to go back to her apartment to take a nap and i went on to home plus for food to hold me my first week at suji. so here i was walking back to her apartment laden with frozen food, milk, etc... and i find the door locked. first i knock, then i knock LOUDLY.... no answer. then i call, "LAUREN, if you're in there, please open up!" still no answer... after about 10 minutes i start thinking, "how selfish of me. maybe something's wrong. maybe i forgot to give her the key. maybe something's wrong. 'oh Jesus, help lauren. take care of her.'" so i'm praying for lauren... i leave a note for her in the door and go to the park across the street thinking that maybe she's there. i come back after 15 minutes... my note is right where i left it. but maybe, just maybe, lauren is there. i knock on the door LOUDLY "LAUREN!" i hear scuffling feet, "just a second, ruth" ... lauren, obviously waking from a deep sleep opens the door and runs back to get under the covers. i bring in my food, praying my milk and thawed chicken are still safe to eat and try hard not to give lauren the evil eye. fuming quietly i sit down at the computer and start typing. lauren peeks out from under the covers, "hey ruth, there's a mute button at the top of the keyboard." glowering at her, but saying nothing, i press the mute button. she asks me, "how long were you gone? you seem to have been gone a long time." ... "hold me back, Jesus. hold me back." lol

4) in the car i assured mr. so that he did not need to worry about my time in korea. i told him that i have wanted to teach esl for many years now, so i am doing what i love. that the Lord has chosen for it to be in korea willl merely require a little time for adjusting. he responded with his delightful korean way of emphasizing the wrong syllables: "i think that ruth, you are emotional girl." i nearly started rolling - yes... i am emotional.

.... haha. well, my kids are here, so i need to go. second set of classes for today.
email me, please!! i am missing you all, my friends!