faith as small as a mustard seed....

tonight i prayed for cindy's back. cindy is a teacher at my school, and the sweetest, kindest young woman. she is not a Christian (yet!!!) ... but neither is she antagonistic towards the Lord. apparently her back has been hurting her for a while and she left to go home and rest and then came back. please pray for her complete healing!


my kids have been more difficult this week. so much whining. it's hard not to let it get to me. i was telling my grandparents on skype that my love for the children is constant (and i want them to know that, regardless of their behavior, i still love them), but i don't tolerate bad behavior. grammie said that it sounds like a mother. haha. well, in so many ways i am a mother to these children, even the 13 and 14 year olds. what a balancing act it is to be merciful and yet to be firm so they don't walk over me! i definitely have the confucianist respect-your-elders in my favor, but kids are the same all over the world - a mixture of sweetness and blatant selfishness.


we've had pushing, yelling, tattle-taling, begging for no quiz (and a movie instead)... but we also have had good storytimes and lessons on putting others first (little ones), and great movie discussions - ie. captain jack sparrow in pirates of the caribbean and wilson in castaway (my older ones). always i find that these kids are DYING for genuine love and encouragement, and i have to dish it out, even while challenging them to rise to a higher level of academic achievement. i told my intermediate kids yesterday, "no more training wheels, kids! it's time for harder work. and you can do it!" pray that they will. and that i will have wisdom to arouse the internal motivation - that they will want to do well for their own sake and not because i or their mother is standing over their shoulders with a checklist.


tonight esther and i are going to the ori CGV (ori is the closest town with a big movie theater) to see the new pride and prejudice. it's finally made its way to korea, and i'm stoked.

oh the joys of English Reading Club

how many times 20 children (literally!) have piled out of that elevator and crashed through the glass doors into the school?! unlike businesses and stores in america, which often are 1-2 stories and have their own buildings, here in korea several businesses share the same building and even the same floor. i believe ERC is flanked on the right and left by other hogwans (private academies).

i administered a practice PELT test to my intermediate and advanced children last week. all of them passed! the test shows that they are weakest in vocabulary, however, so we are working to remedy that now.

my step 3 children and i are starting to read treasure island now. justin - one of my top students whose a real hoot - is begging for a chance to see pirates of the caribbean. i think we will have to soon. haha. tomorrow they are being quizzed on exciting words like 'rum,' 'sailor,' 'beggar,' 'seafaring,' and 'hanging.' what 13 year old boy wouldn't be stoked?! ha ha.

 
and here is an excerpt from justin's journal. i couldn't resist. he is bemoaning korea's loss to japan in their third game of the World Classic Baseball game, and blaming america. lol. don't we make such an easy scapegoat? on a serious note, though, koreans show RARE emotion when certain national sports comes on. it's refreshing to see some passion come out!

oh. we've had snow flurries the past few days. and azaleas are starting to bloom. WHAT?!?

i was encouraged last night by something mrs. kim told me. she no longer stresses out when one of my students' mothers calls; the reason: i almost always will have made a point to mention her child's progress the night before. and i don't go through each child's progress every day - only when that child is really strongly on my heart - so this is quite miraculous! mrs. kim and i stopped a moment to marvel at the Lord's amazing goodness in caring for His children- how He has led us on a straight path here at ERC and blessed the months i've been teaching. as my mom has said, all we can offer our Lord Jesus is the five loaves and two fish. with it He feeds the multitudes. Jesus, be pleased with our offering, i pray. it comes from our humble hands with love and thanks. all glory belongs to You.

Shopping in Korea

me, mrs. jung, esther at dongdaemun

Last week through Saturday was busy. One day (I already forget which!) a Korean-Canadian young lady by the name of Danby came to ERC to observe my little kids' class. She was to start teaching at another ERC branch the following day and was feeling slightly ill-prepared for her task. Apparently she's here in Korea visiting her grandmother for 5 months and just wanted to pick up some money. In any case, during the course of the class, I pulled out Wendy's 5th tooth. We (Wendy and I) have been working on it every now and then for over 3 weeks.

Danby: Does this happen often?!

Me: Ha ha. Nope. This was a first for me.

Danby: Are you always so calm?

Me: Try 24 four year-olds! Also, I'm one of eight kids.

When I met her I was immediately struck by her appearance. She was what most would consider 'beautiful' and stylish. but when I made a comment at dinner to the other teachers, they all disagreed. I was surprised, thinking that surely there must be some threshold where beauty is universal. The other teachers, however, said that Danby would not be considered 'beautiful' in Korea; she is not 'cute' and there's just not that something in the atmosphere around her. Perhaps she would be considered too bold, too aggressive, to up-front. I don't know. When I thought about it later, I realized there really is a difference in Western and Korean ideas of beauty. If you look at all the advertisements around Korea "cuteness" and soft girls in breathy, pastel colors definitely dominate over the confident, bold and striking. And I realize the Korean advertisements would never cut it in the States.

Changing topics... the picture above is at dongdaemun, an all-night shopping mall in Seoul. The party starts around 10 or 11 and continues until morning. I've never seen so much traffic between 12 and 3AM in all my life!

And here's Hannah and I. Hannah is 28 years old (Korean age) and is often the one Mrs. Kim leaves in charge at school when absent. I like Hannah a lot. I'll never forget when I first met her. I found out she'd studied in California for 3 years, so I asked her if she'd liked it and if she missed anything about it. Her response: The Cheesecake Factory. lol. What a hoot!

And here I'm getting my coffee so I can stay awake for the long night of shopping. Jennie, the Australian/Korean teacher at ERC, has the camera. :) 

The six of us split into two groups; I went with Jenny and Hannah... and neither group found anything. LOL. By 3:30 we called it quits. Even though it wasn't so successful in shopping, it was a fun time with the teachers. :)

And then yesterday Laura and I went to COEX mall at Samsung station. We passed by a sign that said 'WORLD TRADE CENTER SEOUL" and we figured it was a pretty important place, so we decided it was worth a picture. It was a really fun time.

We browsed, shopped, had lunch at a fun sit-down pizza restaurant, got ice cream at Baskin Robbins, and then browsed and wandered some more. It was a really fun day, and Laura's random, hilarious stories and comments had me rolling on the subway.

There was some show happening in the outdoor part of the COEX mall when we arrived. We didn't stay to find out what it was. Laura guessed it was hardly worth the crowd it drew. And the Pringles? I have no idea. Some Western things in Korea just DON'T make sense. LOL. After COEX, I stopped by Dave and Winnie's for a few hours. I have missed them... and then today was church and Emily time. As usual, that includes much laughter, talking, coffee, and shopping. I praise God for such a friend.

So that's all. I'm off to grade papers and settle in for the night. ^^

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
~ psalm 138,8

today john came up to me, tugging on my shirt as he always does when he wants to whisper something in my ear.
i leaned down and i heard, "miss ruth, i know how to spell 'clean-shaven' ... you know, when there's no moustache."
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

some of the ladies... in the kitchen before classes start. (L-R esther, gina, cindy, mrs. chung)


cindy, myself, and esther.... this was the 'i didn't bathe, didn't wash my hair, didn't want to dress up' day for me.... lol.


here's mrs. jung our secretary. she doesn't speak much english, but she's so sweet. and in the past few months she's gone from just saying "dinner" to actually saying a few sentences.

and i have other pictures but my computer is being weird. it won't let me upload them.... so i'm going to go work on my treasure island study questions and write a letter.
laura called and shared the random, hilarious events of this past week... how she got ahold of her elusive recruiter and this korean guy this week only because she called them from a payphone in the subway. LOL. (they didn't have caller ID for a payphone. LOOOOOOOOOL) we shared a few good laughs over that one. and i think we might do something fun this weekend!

interesting.... does it sound like me, everyone?

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Das Opfer, das die Liebe bringt

Das Opfer, das die Liebe bringt,

Es ist das teuerste von allen;

Doch wer sein Eigenstes bezwingt,

Dem ist das schönste Los gefallen.

-goethe

the world is over!

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-03-17T171131Z_01_T33001_RTRUKOC_0_US-JAPAN-CHERRIES.xml&archived=False

NEWS ALERT: Japan defeated Korea in the World (literally) Series 6-0. There has been much grief and outrage. You remember, Korean and Japanese relations are tenuous, at best.

a gift from one of the student's mothers. it was japanese sushi, and the bowl design is absolutely beautiful. according to esther, it probably cost around $50-60. wow. i had fun eating the carrot "birds" and the parts without the raw fish. lol. sometimes i don't understand how koreans will plunk down so much money for some things!

 
here is an intersection at yangjae station in seoul. notice the huge TV screen directly in the center of the picture. as i mentioned in an earlier post, they are in random places throughout the city. also, there are so many more people in this country that the number of pedestrians in the city and at the crosswalks is crazy. i've become just as comfortable as a korean crossing the streets even when there is no crosswalk. :)

and here is a typical city street. nothing exciting, i guess. love the yellow dumptser. ^^ i guess my favorite part is actually how small the streets are. everything is SO jam-packed together. the people. their apartments. everything!

here are susan and anna, who i met at church. both of them are from canada, teaching english.... as most young foreigners here are. (it's a safe bet, in any case.) a very small percentage are actually married to a korean; though i hear that number is growing. we have a few racially-mixed couples at the church... they're pretty cool.

UPDATE: had a good, but exhausting weekend. friday night after work mrs. kim treated all the teachers to a galbi dinner (korean BBQ) and norebang (a singing room)... it was fun... esther and i sang my heart will go on again, on the other teachers' request, ^^ but i was tired. saturday i met up with emily and shopped for some workout clothes at the 2001 Outlet near jiguchon church. (shopping in korea is an experience all in itself. you have to push out those elbows and be extremely RUDE ... or you'll get knocked over. lol. also, i am learning not to let the hovering of the salespeople annoy me; after almost 7 months the Lord is finally working patience and understanding in me in that area. ) after shopping i went to karen and ken farley's apt near the jeongja subway stop for a movie, pizza & dunkin donuts. a healthy dinner, i know! but a good time.

P.S. my prep class took the practice PELT test today. we'll see how they did. and my step 3 kids do not understand the humor in monty python, but i guess that's not suprising. while watching it, i was reminded of my friend trish from high school ("GREEEEEEN!") who was constantly impersonating characters and quoting the lines... they do, however, greatly appreciate the Newground videos for the Numa numa dance and Monday Sucks ... sehwan and justin have already begun dancing along to our numa friend. LOOOOOOL.

hope to hear from you all soon. love you!

i love smith wigglesworth's writings. such bluntness. such honesty. such truth. and from a man who started out as just a little plumber in England a century ago... but whose life God used in mighty ways. he was unafraid and so didn't mince words. perhaps that's why i like him!

and so i wanted to share with you the message i read for today.

The Scriptures do not tell two stories. They tell the truth. I want you to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What is truth? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14,6). "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7,38). This he [spoke] of the Spirit that should be given [to] them after he was glorified.

I do not find anything in the Bible but holiness, and nothing in the world but worldliness. Therefore, if I live in the world, I shall become worldly; but, on the other hand, if I live in the Bible, I shall become holy. This is the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The power of God can remodel you. He can make you hate sin and love righteousness. He can take away bitterness and hatred and covetousness and malice, and can so consecrate you by his power, through his blood, that you are made pure - every bit holy. Pure in mind, heart, and actions - pure right through...

Jesus is the best there is for you, and you can have him today if you do not know him as your Savior and Lord. God gave his Son for your sins, and for the sins of the whole world.

wow. let that settle for a bit. reread it. think about it. and may God do His thing in you. :)

loving and missing you all. ^.^

If you enjoy movies as much as I do , you might find this article an interesting read. It is entitled A Lady's Lament Where have all the Hollywood hunks gone?, by Kimberly A. Strassel:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008039

A lot on my mind today. But otherwise, good. Thankful for the nearness of the Lord. He is truly my Constant.

Missing you guys from home. Hope everyone is well.

the moon was beautiful last night...

sometimes the night sky is hidden because there is so much pollution from seoul, but there have been a few, rare occasions when the air is crisp and cold. i watch for the moon to wax and wane.

....random love....

tomorrow, my children tell me, is "White Day." apparently here in korea, on valentine's day the girls are supposed to give gifts to the boys, and the reverse occurs on white day. if that's true, then tomorrow is really the big day. lol. somehow, a month after valentine's day i am finding this out. now some of my children's journal entries are making more sense! ahaha. the above was a gift from john, whose mom would be crowned PTA mom of the year back in the states. 

if you cannot read the card, it says, "You are my Star. I love you so much. I'll always with you, anytime. you looK sO beauTiful" AHAHA. i love konglish (korean english). on the inside, john writes, "Happy white day! I love teacher. -John-"

and in my step 3 class, jackie (who is always talking about looking and seeing "handsome boy") said she got two pieces of candy from cute boys in her new middle school. i told her i was happy for her. LOOLOLOL. 
 

i only found out last week that john and amy 2 are cousins. i taught amy 2 for a little bit before she moved back to gina's class. she is such a sweetie.

oh.. UPDATE: as i am only teaching one younger kids' class now, i have lost amy 1, danny, and andy from my first class - the extremely intelligent ones. the loss of that class has actually been quite a relief to mrs. kim and myself, and today i was marveling on the fact that i have pretty much retained the 6 children i started out with from the beginning (plus heidi, who radiates the life and love of Jesus even at the age of 7). 

PRAYER REQUESTS for the little ones: caleb has been more defiant and inattentive lately. i don't know why. please pray for him. i fear the pride and arrogance he shows is closing his ears and his heart. he's shutting me out. also, wendy and heidi have joined the 2nd class, and now the whole class is WILD and CRAZY. i haven't figured out what has triggered this, but it has almost become impossible for the class to progress; each student clamors for my undivided attention and i'm barely able to keep them in their seats! ridiculousness!! pray for PEACE and a flow in the class, so i can begin teaching them effectively.
 

last week i received a surprising and amazingly encouraging package from a friend back home. i laughed out loud, marveling at 1) how amazing the friends are God has given me, and 2) how well they know me. trinkschokolade, brezen-sterne (hot chocolate, chocolate-covered spice cakes), mascara, and best of all... a letter and pictures.

and here are my new running shoes. i'm so STOKED about them. thank you, mutti. i am using them a lot. and now i am realizing that as my workout clothes wear out, it is soon time to bite the bullet and invest in some new good workout clothes. i'm steeling myself now to make the purchases that will need to made sooner or later. pray for some good deals!

and this, my friends, is a korean character. i don't know his name or anything about him, but he's a gift from my friend lauren. and my microphone, too. cute little thing, isn't it? and i've decided to bequeath my speakers to esther when i leave, now that she's got her own little apartment. besides, she's the musician, and she helped me buy them in the first place. :)

just last night emily lent me a book The Geography of Thought. it is by Richard Nisbett, an american psychologist, who proposes using research and experimental findings that asians and westerners have fundamentally different thought patterns, and he explains why that is the case. i'm still in chapter 1, so i am curious to learn and possibly test his theories in my classroom. my children may not be korean adults with decisive thought patterns, but they are nonetheless immersed in a homogenously asian culture.

on another note, today was the first day for my intermediate level class. i had 7 students, jason from before and alex from my step 3 class included. they were great. hesitant yet eager, unsure yet desirous to please, shy yet excited. i look forward to developing a class that will bridge the gap between the Oxford Story Readers curriculum taught by korean teachers and the advanced level of the step 3 program, where advanced speaking, reading, and analysis occurs. i need wisdom in developing a whole new curriculum for them, based on the materials available at ERC. largely, the success of the transition from the korean classes to step 3 is dependent on my fleshing out this class' curriculum... SOO.. please pray it is a success; that my students would charge fearlessly ahead.. and that the Lord would anoint my teaching.

"Indeed, you are my light, O LORD, the Lord lightens my darkness. By you I can crush a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God - his way is perfect; the promise of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all who take refuge in him." ~ 2 samuel 22, 29-31

Stay in touch, my friends!

p.s. the temperature decided to drop 20 degrees in a few days. this morning it was snowing on my way to the Y.

Peter:"Do you know how to spell 'a-fart-ment', Caleb?"

Caleb: "No! Do you know how to spell 'drowning'?"

so this week it has been slightly challenging to get into work mode. i confessed to the ladies tonight over bi-bim-bop (a delicious mixture of rice and vegetables) that i have been in "let's have fun" mode recently. needless to say, the other teachers were slightly less enthusiastic... gina is always tired, cindy barely utters a peep, hannah laughs but doesn't join in, jennie and mrs. jung are on a diet, mrs. kim and our secretary are always running around answering phone calls etc... and so it seems my only constant partner in adventure and crime is esther. we've stayed at ERC to watch movies the past three nights and haven't gotten home until b/w 12 and 1AM. tonight our splurge was cookies 'n cream ice cream...

"who ate all that?!"

"i don't know! not me!"

things are changing with my classes as of this week and next. my little kids have been condensed into one class- during my 2nd block. i will start teaching a new intermediate (aka "prep") class during my 3rd block, and my 4th block will remain step 3 for the top students in ERC. those who have been struggling in my step 3 class will move to 3rd block. during my free hours i am thinking about and planning for this new class. so i will now have as follows:

1st BLOCK: FREE for planning, journal-grading

2nd BLOCK: little ones (wendy, peter, caleb, danny, cara, john, heidi, and tony)

3rd BLOCK: PREP class (jackie, alex, jason* ... a few others)

4th BLOCK: Step 3 (annie, justin, sehwan, phil, gabriella)

* yes, jason is moving back into my class! lol. my initial reaction was 'NO! NO!' but i've been grading his journal, and he has improved a lot. so we'll see.

george müller and amy carmichael are my heroes.

thinking deep thoughts, eating ice cream and digets (my new favorite korean snack), and working out at the YMCA... woohoo. :) write, my friends!

from my students' journals:

"When I hated them I only thinked about the fiters in the war ... i wish that earth peace and Japan and Korea be friends"

"Argh my sister is so cruel She kicks me hits me with her elbow. Today I just poked her to make her laugh, but she elbowed me seventeen times. I was so mad that I kicked her, but she elbowed me ten times. I have a bruise now. Argh!"

these are the reasons why i teach.

jackie's an artist

my munchkins.

my little man, caleb.

• saw Le Hussard sur le toit (1995) this weekend. despite the mediocre ratings it got, i still loved it. olivier martinez certainly didn't make it any worse. :) as i told my mom, it has made me want to learn french. my first new word: avec "with" ... (from the credits watching the movie) amazing how it sticks with me. LOL. emily trimmed my hair, too, so i saved $15. saaaaweet.

• starting to pray and move in the direction of post-korea plans. please pray for me and that God would open the right doors.

• there is an older woman who i see every time i go work out, and we've begun smiling and acknowledging each other. i don't know her name or anything about her, but i think i like her very much. and of course, the trainer always smiles a huge smile and bows to every new person who comes in.

ok.. off to teach my children. my older ones had to write a journal entry on prejudice and discrimination, etc this weekend.... on friday we had a discussion on japanese - korean relations, so it made for a very good springboard for a written assignment. and today they've got a vocab quiz. let's hope we see some solid B and above grades. :)

okay. bye-bye!

4:00 PM
A package arrived from my mom right before I left for school, eliciting much joy and excitement! Finally! my new running shoes. They fit perfectly.
And mascara... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
And of course, there's nothing better than a note from your mom. May I just say that I have the best and coolest mom in the ENTIRE world?!


10:00AM
Up and At 'Em
I'm awake, eating my banana-nut muffin and drinking some hibiscus tea. I'm almost ready to face the day! If only my Step 3 students would TALK today.

Yesterday was Korean Independence Day, so there was no school. Wooohoo! Esther and I celebrated Tuesday night with another movie night. This time we watched Seabiscuit. All movies I watch on my labtop - Region 1 on DVDs - are compliments of guys back home. Thank you, everyone. The DVDs you sent... I show them to my kids and to my Korean friends. But I digress. I think Seabiscuit was educational and easy for her to understand. Somehow it had escaped me before the extent to which its' plot moved forward without dialogue.

After Esther left, I had the whole day to myself. Now - for some - the idea of having nothing planned for a whole day and being all alone is a daunting idea. I have found, to my amazement, that while there are fleeting moments of antsiness or loneliness, I do tolerably well. Also, I have had a cold (perhaps worsened by the oh-so-fun ice skating escapade this weekend), so I'm trying to recover. Mrs. Kim and I visited the doctor a few days ago - I for my worsened bronchial state and she for her stomach. With pills for my cold and medicine for my cough, I feel that responsibility to be a good steward of my body and keep myself low-key until I'm fully healthy again.

In any case, I gave my apartment a much-needed cleaning. (There is always the little thought in the back of my mind that I need to keep my possessions to a minimum; everything has to be carted back to the States in 6 months.) So even I had my own little Spring Cleaning session! I also caught up on laundry, listened to some music and answered some emails. I read in my Bible and Don Quixote.

Oh, on another note, I have not been studying Korean at all. It is a rather interesting linguistic dilemma I've had. I learn a Korean word, and two weeks later, one week, one day, even ten minutes later I've already forgotten it. The British line rings in my mind: "I haven't the foggiest." I think Korean requires a different part of the brain, because no matter how hard I try I can't seem to remember the words. Yet, I learn a German, a Latin, a Greek, a Spanish, Italian or Slovak word (all Indo-European languages -though different families: Germanic, Italic, Hellenic, or Slavic) and with a little vocal repetition and making a mental note, it's stuck deep inside of me. And if it's not in my immediate memory bank, I can just dig back in my "deeper memory resources" and I have an "oh, of course! duh" moment. So without feeling too great a loss, I have returned to my on-the-side studies of German and Slovak. I do not want to lose the work of previous years because of absence. Now THAT would be a real tragedy.

With that... I am off to conquer this day. Pay exciting bills and go teach my children some English.