5 Years of Adventure!

“Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.” ― Louis L'Amour

This August Jo and I celebrated a milestone in the Been Family: Five years of wedded bliss. Or, as we like to say it, ADVENTURE!

The story of how Jody and I met is a unique one. A story that we always love to share, because we feel it shows the power and imagination of our God. And, when we step back ourselves and really think about our story, we also shake our heads and marvel at God's goodness in bringing us together.

Jody and I actually "met" (or, at least, first connected) via MySpace. 

Yep. I don't usually share that part of the story... 

But I will go ahead and share the story in its' entirety here, because it's just that good. :) 

I opened a MySpace account in 2006 while I was in Korea so that I could stay in touch with my younger sisters, who were quickly growing up while I was out of the country. They instructed me via Skype how to set up the account, and I began to learn about the beautiful world of social networking.

I then began receiving MySpace emails from people I didn't know from all over the world - but specifically from the States - asking me how I got the job teaching ESL in Korea. This wasn't totally abnormal since I'd started my blog the year before, and people would happen upon it and email me to find out more how I got my cool job (because teaching at ERC was a pretty cool job!). :) Usually I would respond with a kind and informative but very impersonal email. 

[This was maybe in May 2006.] So, I got this MySpace email from this dude in Texas asking me how I got my job. I went to his MySpace page, saw some wacky "profile pictures," decided he was weird and so answered his questions politely but impersonally and hit 'Send.' And that was that. 

Fast forward a few months. 

August 2006 - I go home at the end of my 1 year contract. My sister has my niece Chloe... and I definitely didn't want to miss that!

September 2006 - I return to Korea. End up at my friends' Stefanie and Brittany's apartment, weeping and wailing about returning to Korea. Why did I return?! I don't like Korea!

October 6th (or 8th? I can't remember!), 2006 - I go to Stefanie and Brittany's place for the weekly Friday night foreigners' gathering for pizza and a movie. I meet this tall, skinny, funny guy who's a new teacher at the church/school in Suji. His name is Jody Been. We walk home together... And, lo and behold, his apartment is in the same complex as mine. In fact, he lives only four or five apartment buildings from mine. 

The next night - I get a knock on my door. The guy I met the night before, Jody Been, is at my apartment door. He says, "I know you. You're the gal I emailed on MySpace a few months ago...."

Whaaaaat?

And so it began. Jody and I began to spend time together. He started going to the Korean church I was going to. I was so thankful for a Western friend - one who spoke English, loved Jesus and (yes, I'll admit it) was decidedly Western in his mindset.

Mid-December 2006 - After hours and hours of hanging out, late night walks to the high point in Suji, midnight runs to Lotte Mart, weekend adventures at Joyful Church, and our regular Friday night gatherings with all our friends at Britt's and Stef's place, Jo and I decide to date. This picture of us is the very first one of us... from when we were still friends. :)

December 31, 2006 - I return from a ~10 day trip spending Christmas with friends near Dresden, Germany. Missed Jody like crazy while I was there. That night, we had our first talk of marriage. Jody brings me flowers. :) 

March 9, 2007 - Jody proposes at my apartment in Suji. I say 'yes' of course, though you should ask Jody to tell you the story of the proposal sometime. He would say that I didn't really give him a response. Ha ha! 

August 25, 2007 - We establish the covenant of marriage at West End Assembly of God in Richmond, VA before our family and friends. 

We started our marriage with adventure - backpacking in Eastern Europe for a month.... 

But that is a story I will save for my next post.

Needless to say, life with Jody has been such an adventure. I am so grateful and thankful for five sweet years of marriage to this man.

I love you, Jody Been!

goodbyes at ERC

last thursday night (28. august) i said goodbye to my wonderful students at ERC. in hindsight, i can hardly believe that it has been three years since i arrived in korea and began my classes with almost nothing... just a few children's books and my own creativity (combined with a few worksheets found online). what a stressful beginning it was! and now - three years later - i have many wonderful memories of all the different classes, all my hilarious children, quality english books, and finally an established step 3 program that can survive without me. it was time to say goodbye and start a new chapter.

last week i covered my advanced step 3 class for soyon, since she was busy planning the last-minute details of the wedding. thursday was my last night. after teaching the class, we had cake and said our goodbyes...

the following students have been an excellent class. we studied little house in the big woods, farmer boy, and we had just started the magician's nephew as i was leaving. we had so much fun, and i believe they've grown a lot in their understanding of english as well as their confidence in speaking, in synthesizing the material, and in writing solid summaries based on their syntheses. i am so proud of them!

here we are munching on cake with chopsticks, and i was reminding them to stay in touch and to check this blog! if you are my student, you'd better leave a comment!! :)


i will dearly miss all my wonderful students at ERC, and i am so thankful for the opportunity i was given to be just a small part of their lives. i pray that God's hand will touch their lives and bring them closer to Him.


these boys provided a lot of dynamic conversation in the class. they are (l-r) chris, kevin and james. i enjoyed their humor as well as their willingness to lead the class in discussion.

this is alex. he was such a quiet student, but i loved his subtle sense of humor! also, he would always include details in his summaries that the other students never thought to include. another thing i loved about him was his willingness to be a trend-setter. he wore crocs to class and endured ridicule for wearing 'shower shoes' out in public. i stood by him and applauded him for being strong. :)

alice was my only girl student in this advanced class. i was so glad for the female kinship! alice was also a quiet student, but she wrote excellent summaries. alice's dream is to be an english teacher. i hope and pray she becomes more confident in her english speaking and achieves her dream.

chris was the leader in the step 3 class. he was my strongest speaker and also the most competent in the class. his writing was also the most natural and flowing, which i never ceased to marvel at, since he had never traveled to an english-speaking country. he is also a strong Christian. throughout the year i was so excited to see a young man who was unafraid of his faith and whose decisions and lifestyle were effected by his beliefs. may God bless and prosper him!

Goodbye to all my wonderful students!

Jody made salmon pooties!

Mom, look! See all that healthy food?!?!

friday musings.

i am stealing a few minutes away from my students to write. they are happily watching an episode of full house. surprisingly, the tv show is a hit with my younger students, who care less about current fashion and just appreciate the physical comedy and michelle's cuteness. i have been showing them full house with the hopes that english will be more fun for them.... we'll see if it computes.

it has been such a long time since i have written about what goes on during the work-week. i guess it's high-time i shared what's happening at work these days.

• on tuesday i learned that today (friday) will be my last day with my current 3 o'clock class. after working hard with them for 5-6 months and seeing very little progress, mrs. kim and i have agreed that they would progress better under the guidance of a korean teacher. i will be getting a new group of students (save one - woody), and i'm really excited about them. i understand they are an eager bunch, really wanting to improve their english. we'll see how things go with them. PRAY for creative juices to flow inside of me. i need rejuvination in that arena.
• i continue to press ahead with my 4 o'clock class, which is advancing a good deal. right now we're learning about space and our solar system, so they are beginning to learn more subject-specific vocabulary. it's thrilling to see them grow in their knowledge of english!

• my step 3 class continues to work through laura ingalls wilder's farmer boy, and we tackle various current events in newspaper articles. it is challenging for the students, but they are growing in their knowledge of the world. also, they are learning good, solid english vocabulary and how to write a strong chapter summary - taking the most important elements from a chapter and putting them all together with fluid transitions. it's a fun job, and i enjoy it.
  
• (i would request pray for one boy in particular. his name is kevin, and he's 9 years old. a smart boy with great english... but very strong in his opinion that korea is the best and all else is horrible. he has made several racist comments in my class. please pray for kevin. pray that God would crack his heart and show him that all people are equal and deserving of love.)

this week has been a challenging one for me, when it comes to living in korea. i find that i go through seasons of strength (whether it's one week or two months), and then i crash and burn and hate everything here with a force that scares even me. it's wearisome, because it is so extreme - much like this country. i long for home more with every day, and i cannot wait to be back in a country that is full of faults, but is nonetheless home. please pray for jody and me as we continue to do our best to follow God and remain here to the end of our contracts.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

(a little late, but with just as much enthusiasm)

jody is ridiculous. but he's sending you st. paddy's day love. xoxoxox

and here are james and chris, in my step 3 class. chris was the honored student of the moment and so got to wear the special hat.

*** many thanks go out to lauren wenger for the st. patrick's day goodies. they were perfect and totally made the day fun for them.

Holiday Preparations...

Greetings to you all, dear family and friends, this holiday season! It is almost Christmas!!

At the moment I am sitting in my classroom as my children contentedly work at the tables. The room is filled with the whir of the heater and murmurs of children working in their small groups on a poetry assignment. We are learning poems for a poetry recitation next Thursday, which is a pleasant respite from the rigors of daily classwork.

Overall, Jody and I are doing well. Yesterday was Presidential Election Day here in Korea, so I did not have to go to work. It was wonderful to have a little bit of a break, and I was able to do a little Christmas decoration in the apartment to surprise Jo when he came home from work. :)

This year is our first Christmas together as a couple, so it seems different to me than the previous two Christmases I have spent apart from the family. People have said on several occasions that the great pleasure for us now is in making our own customs/traditions together. However, it is proving slightly challenging to do that here, simply because Christmas is only barely acknowledged (and only from a commercial standpoint). Still, I am hopeful. We are planning to go over to our friends Chris and Dana Sikkens' home on Christmas Day. Dana is an expert cook, and she has promised to show me how to cook up the suckling pig to perfection! I am delighted. We may be joined by friends Dan and Carrie Buller, also wonderful friends from our church.

Which reminds me... last Sunday night Jody and I joined 3 other couples for an amazing night of MEAT. Yes! We went to a great Brazilian restaurant near Samsung Plaza (Seohyun Station), where Dan translated (he's Brazilian) and we got all-you-can-eat meat and buffet side-dishes. It was glorious. Jody and the men were in ecstasy. Afterwards, we all went over to Dan and Carrie's place to watch The Christmas Story. It was my first time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the dynamic of all of us together. God has been good!

yes, jody is the one holding the sword. lol

dan, chris, and jody. look at their faces....

carrie and dan.. and pineapple!

Sidenote: The new Korean president is Lee Myung-bak of the conservative Grand National Party, and he won by a landslide (48.7% of the votes). This is after 10 years of more liberal leadership, so it looks as though change is in the air. The president-elect is a former CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and sadly he appears to be entering the presidency already in scandal. I'm not sure yet what it is about, but it seems a tragic beginning for Korea's new government.

my first week...

tonight marks the completion of my first week teaching back at English Reading Club, and i thought it was time for an update... the week seems to have gone by quickly, but my body feels every single day. i have to say, honestly, i am SO ready for this weekend.

there is a mix of good and bad in being back at ERC. i am thankful that i don't have to learn the ropes at a completely new job. i know this school well. i know my boss and the secretary and a few of the teachers. i know the procedures, the role i play, and most of the material that should be covered in what level. so, in many ways i feel like i never left this place! there is much comfort and peace that comes with it.

on the other hand, i left so suddenly back in march, that i never finished the books we were studying and never got to say goodbye to my old students, a handful of whom i'd had for the whole two years. now i have mostly new students, and i have to start all over again. but not completely over (i.e. re-use old materials)... because i do have SOME old students. ARGH!

as for jody, he continues on the job hunt. although there is an abundance of english teaching jobs here, it is wise to be selective; many English academies can prove to be lemons here in korea. also, we are hoping for a job with similar hours to mine - in the afternoon - here in suji.... and not a 45 minute busride away. strangely enough, those jobs are fewer and the HR of these schools seems very poor and non-communicative (as HR seems to be everywhere). so we continue to pray and trust God for His provision. please join us in praying for the Lord to lead jo to the right position. overall, we are peaceful and trusting. God is on the throne!

we are both very excited about tomorrow, as we are inviting good friends over for a potluck dinner. since we live a little further from the main hub of downtown suji, it's a little harder for people to get to us. but we want to offer our apartment as a place for people to come... with space larger than a 10x10 room.

we'll let you know how it goes! in the meantime, keep up your prayers and communication. we love to hear from you!

the.beens@gmail.com

I have happened upon an email I sent to friends and family a year and a half ago. It is so enlightening. So much change has happened in my life since then, and yet, since Jody and I are returning to Korea, the heart of this email remains the same. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Dear, dear friends and family,

The days are marching on, and I can hardly believe it. My time in Korea is half-way completed, and this week I experienced a measure of both joy and sadness. But it's not time to get sappy yet....

I am writing you now, as yellow dust from China has settled on Seoul... the sky had a sickly yellow hue to it all day long. Woohoooo! But I don't want to alarm you! I am 100%, great, and all is well. I stayed home today, and it was marvelous. My sister Sarah interviewed me for a class over Skype; the topic: my experience teaching ESL here in Korea. We had a delightful time, and I think it was a good chance for her to know what it has been like for me as a Westerner, a foreigner, teaching English as a foreign language to children ranging in ages from 5 to 15 in a rapidly advancing country - really experiencing growing pains. They are a hard-working people, and yet the ties of Confucianist thinking are still strong.

I was able to explain to her the poor conditions of the Korean educational system, and that reform is greatly needed. The public school teachers yell at their students and are allowed to hit them. Janitors are not employed. Instead, the students themselves clean. My children tell me they go to school primarily for their friends; they don't actually learn much there. Their real learning occurs in their afternoon hogwans - usually for math, English, and Korean. Hence, most Korean children stay in school from morning to night, with breaks from homework usually spent playing computer games. And not to forget school on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month. Yikes! I'm glad I grew up in the States!

She asked me if this experience has changed my opinion of the States. What a wonderful question. I answered with a comment that my friend Ernie said once that I have remembered on numerous occasions. There's just no country like America. Here in Korea there is such homogeny, and while I don't think it's bad... it is nonetheless vastly different from America, where everybody's ancestors are from all over the globe. It is amazing to me that our country has not been torn apart by countless civil wars and rebellions... So, in short, I have come to appreciate the greater diversity in America. And while living across the world gives greater objectivity to our nation's shortcomings... with all our faults, I am nonetheless still so very proud to be American.

At ERC, the structure of my classes is changing. I will now be teaching only one class (2nd BLOCK) for little children and two classes (3rd & 4th BLOCKS) for the more advanced students. I have tried to retain the little ones in whom I've seen the most progress and with whom I've developed the best rapport. There are currently 7 of those children. Monday I start the new intermediate/advanced class during 3rd block, so I am looking forward to seeing their level of abilities and adjusting my teaching accordingly. My Step 3 class has been both a joy and a challenge. The joy is in the higher level of work, and the challenge has been mainly in getting them to talk - but they are starting to loosen up. I sincerely believe that once they lose their fear of making mistakes, their speaking will improve astronomically.

On a personal note, I am doing well. I continue to work out at the Y, get at least 8 hours of sleep, etc, etc. I finished a biography of George Mueller, who (along with Amy Carmichael) is my new hero. Not just because he was German, of course. Or the fact that he knew 7 languages.. or housed thousands of British orphans in the 1800s without asking for a cent... but because he believed God, and God answered him. Amazing what believing God and the promises of His Word can accomplish! And through a man who was not passionate in personality, but a cool, calm businessman! Amazing. Along the same lines... I am at the halfway mark and so beginning to pray and seek the Lord about where He would have me go post-Korea.

Stay in touch!

Jesus keep you.
Love,

Ruth

aren't jody's new chacos pretty cool?

hmmmm.... trials, trust, and time passing...

so i don't know when i'm coming home exactly. jody and will be having dinner with my boss wednesday night. she said she would give me my ticket information then. i'm assuming we'll also discuss other details - like visa information and storage of things for when jody and i return in the fall.

in the meantime, i'm encouraged, because i can make a little money writing up curriculum for each book from home. it's rather monotonous, tedious, takes a LONG time and doesn't require a lot of thought (for me as a native), but it's invaluable for ERC in having some teaching materials for these books. so i take comfort that in a small way i can still help out the school and make some money before i leave. mrs. kim also mentioned going to the english bookstore in suwon to pick out other books. there has been some talk of the little house of the prairie series. how wonderful would that be? i love them. and quite a glimpse into american history.

i wanted to post a picture of little ari spruill, the new son of my good friend jacque and her husband asher! i cannot believe i'm at the age where i can get married and friends can have children. i mean, they're allowed to have children?!?!? that's just ridiculousness. YAY!

and then, here's a picture way overdue from cinco de mayo. a bunch of us went into itaewon for some mexican food. it was great fun... from the LEFT (alex, chris, me, jody, hillary, ellen, stefanie, christan, katie). chris and alex met and married in taiwon and are now teaching at jody's school. hillary is the new teacher at jody's school. ellen is stefanie's friend. christan goes to cypress creek church (the church connected with jody's school). and katie is the kindergarten teacher at jody's school. so pretty much everyone was connected with AEI - the school that jody teaches at.

oh, the food was great. i got chicken fajitas. yum!

and then, another wonderful thing happened. my dear friend from governor's school and college, stephanie cole, made the trip out to korea again to visit her then-boyfriend jarrod. it was so great. jody and i went into seoul and hung out with them at jarrod's place last saturday. we played settlers of catan, which jody totally dominated. i'm not sure how i feel about his high level of game competition. it was pretty tense towards the end. i have decided to ban board games in our household. LOL! it might be bad for our marriage. HAHAHAHA!

we were also privileged to be the first to know of their engagement! YAY! congratulations to jarrod and stephanie!!! i am so excited, so very thrilled to be part of this season in their lives, and i must say having stephanie along at the same point in our relationships has been an immense encouragement. it's hard not to feel a little alone facing pre-marital challenges without the immediate support of friends and family. stephanie and i met for chicken fingers and coffee in seoul last week, and i cannot tell you how much it meant to be able to talk with a friend from home. someone who knows me and has known me a long time. someone who knows God and who has waited for His timing and His purposes, too. i am truly thankful for God's provision in big and small ways while i'm hanging out in korea... not doing much.. haha.

here we are...

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalm 23

old students...

today brought slightly sad and also good news. one of my favorite students, phil kim, is taking a break from ERC. he has been one of my advanced students from day one, and i have grown to love him very much. for some reason his mother feels he needs a break and is so switching him to another academy... at least for this month. hopefully he will return. it is so hard to lose students who i have invested so much in. i am praying for God to give me a bigger heart to include new students.. and for Him to bring just the right ones to fill the seats of those who - for one reason or another - have to leave ERC.

also today one of my favorite little students who i also had from the beginning, john, left back in august to go to an international school in suwon. today he came and visited our class. it was wonderful and exciting. his mother stopped in and we were able to catch up for a bit. what a blessing and joy it is to connect with people who i am starting to have a little history with. it has been, after all, over a year now that i have known some of these people and have been able to develop a little history with them. God has indeed been good to me. apparently john will return to my class for at least vacation time during the summer. yay!

little note: john had lost a tooth since i saw him in august. it is our custom that those who lose a tooth can pick a little goodie or two out of a bin i have. so, of course john had not forgotten THAT! he was most anxious to pick something out of it. and the girls also wanted something, so i had to say, "well, you have to lose a tooth first!"

john replied... "i can pull your tooth off!"

LOL. i love my children!

my precious children...
here's the shot with heidi that i promised. she's so dear. and she got a new hair-do this week, of which she was extremely proud. she was sure to include it in the get-well cards we all wrote and decorated for peter this week. he had to stay home with a terrible cold.
and then there's the most recent vocab development, which all the children seem to be picking up so much more quickly than such useful words like "there" and "didn't". it has dramatically changed the air in the classroom - literally.
i don't know where, but the most fascinating word in a child's vocabulary has begun appearing out of thin air. (why this constant reference to air, you ask?) it is ::drumroll please::

peter: wendy! wendy! no farting!
miss ruth: peter!! where did you learn that word?!
peter: (uncontrollable giggles)

the little ones are eating what we translate as 'fish bread'. they are dough-covered red beans in the shape of a fish...the koreans love 'em! a grandmother outside our building cooks and sells them for 250won (25cents).

the weather is getting colder, so i'm having to pull out my sweaters and start making tea both at work and at night after walking home.

last weekend emily took me to a flower market in yangjae and then to cosco. we bought cheese and hamburger meat and buns so jody and i could make hamburgers. that exciting event happened monday night after work. it was rather ridiculous how excited we both were. mrs. kim even gave me the school's microwave (since we don't use it there anymore!), and jody was able to thaw the meat. haha. it was almost like being home. jody, who is from tx, is really missing his beef, and this korean dietary emphasis on vegetables and fish is causing him to waste away. where's the steak, mashed potatoes and gravy?!

i am continuing to read e.m. bounds book on prayer. his thorough understanding of the power, importance, and results of prayer encourage me daily as i seek the Father's heart. i sense i am growing a lot in my attitude towards the Lord. the biggest area is surrender. now that i am more in that place, i am wondering why i have struggled so much with the Lord and His purposes for me. if anything, i am more willing to drop everything and run at His call. it's a good place to be and i'm not anxious to leave it... it's a place of peace and grace for which i am so grateful.

be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. and the peace of God,
which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
-philippians 4,6-7

my new little ones
sophia took my kindergarten kids, and i have started out with a new group of little ones. they are - overall - very well prepared to be in my class. their grasp of phonics is excellent, and i find them a good deal less taxing than my other group of munchkins. the only problem children seem to be anthony (not pictured... he was hiding from the camera under the table), who sometimes gets stubborn and refuses to do anything at random times, and jason, whose attention span is about 3 seconds... before he starts staring off into space or pointing the finger at anthony and saying what sounds like 'don't speaking korean!!!" in the highest pitched voice i've heard in a long time. oh dear... but no... i am enjoying the class. God give me wisdom and grace to teach them well. and i must not forget david, who is meticulous and always worried, as he carefully writes each letter. "wait a minute, please, teacher! wait a minute!" (heaving a deep sigh) to his credit, he gets most everything right. and jake is very good. may i just say how nice it is to have a decidedly good student? one who tries his best and does well and is conscientious. ahh...

bryant, jake, hannah

david, bryant, jake

hannah, jake??, brett, jason

the ubiquitous peace sign

caleb update: he has been moved to a lower level (level 3 in gina's class)... and while his speaking and listening comprehension is good, he still doesn't know basic grammar concepts or how to write well. i am not despairing, though. i love that boy and desire for him to succeed. pray he will try hard to focus so he doesn't have to move down to the most basic level and start from the very beginning all over again.

this past weekend

laura and i went into seoul - first to a little coffee shop called seoul selection, where used books are sold, and foreigners can see korean movies with english subtitles, etc. it was a nice little place. afterwards we wandered around itaewon (the foreigners area in seoul) looking for a bookstore called 'What the Book?" ... we asked people where it was, and always we got the double-take. laura realized she had to take special care how she annunciated her words, so people didn't think they were being cursed at. it was really quite hilarious.

and after that we went to hapgejeong to the foreigners cemetery, which was really fascinating. i loved seeing the gravestones of missionaries from america, canada, germany, denmark... people who gave their lives to korea for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

and while i do not (at least not long-term) feel the calling of God to korea, i am eagerly awaiting the Lord's clear direction for where He is calling me in particular to serve Him. what joy there will be in going to that country and learning their language and giving my life for them... that they might know and experience the love and power of Jesus Christ.

English Reading Club 

The larger English Reading Club (there are five ERC campuses throughout the Kyunggi province of Korea) is producing its' first newspaper. As our campus has successfully completed its first year of the Step 3 program, Mr. So (the Yeong-tong branch manager) asked Mrs. Kim to have me and a few of my students write on their experiences. You have read mine throughout the year, but here are Sehwan and Phil's...

Phil Kim
Step 3
7/14/06

Learning in ERC

I have been learning in ERC. Last year my mom said, “You should change English academies. Sehwan has been studying in ERC. You want to go to ERC?” So I changed English academies. First I had an English test. The test was not that hard. My first teacher was Carlos, who was fun. I liked ERC very much. I studied with Carlos very short time. Next teacher was Miss Ruth. I have been learning a lot of things with Miss Ruth. She is a good and fun teacher so English is not that boring anymore. We have studied thirteen books and we’re now studying ‘The Three Musketeers.’ I liked studying ‘Narnia’. That book was long and hard, but the story was fun. I had a lot of work when we studied ‘Narnia’. The essay was the hardest work, but it was not so bad. I hate only tests. When I had it first time, my score was crazy! Like C, D, B! But we studied ‘Narnia’ and my score was so good. I got an A+! I thought, when I had studied fun, score was good. So I got A+ in ‘Narnia’. We saw the English movies, too. We learn about the movie and learn English. Not only that, we had to summarize that movie! We studied so fun like these. We went to the CGV and saw ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Dead Man’s Chest’, too. I had fun too much. In English, I’m very weak in grammar. In other English academies, there we studied about only books! But in ERC, we have been studying grammar a lot of time. I like ERC and my teacher. When I studied earlier, I thought, ‘I’m so good at English.’



Sehwan Jang
Step 3
7/14/06

The Process of Learning in ERC

I have been learning in ERC ‘Step 3’ for almost a year. The first time when I came to ERC I was very nervous and I didn’t know it would be my best English academy during my elementary time. Soon I was having a conversation with ‘Yeong-tong’s’ principal. Few months later I was learning under Carlos with my best friend Phil. He was a very fun teacher. When he was gone I met Miss Ruth. She is dramatically fun and amazing. That time Step 3 class’ students were only Phil and me. Our first books were ‘Jigsaw Jones’ and ‘A to Z Mysteries’ series. After mystery books, we started to read classic books. For example, we read ‘Black Beauty’ for the first classic book, then ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Treasure Island’ for the next. These times a few students were included. These classic books were little hard for me the first time, but it became easier and easier. And we did study questions for help the understanding. And of course we watched a movie. We watched ‘The Great Dictator’, ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ and ‘Narnia’. Our class loves movies, so we watch at least one movie per book. After reading ‘Treasure Island’ we read ‘Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. It was very, very long book. When I first saw the book I almost crumbled. It was too thick compared to the last few books which we studied, but I watched the movie first so it was not very hard to understand the story. Now days we have finished the Narnia book and we started ‘The Three Musketeers’ book. Ah! And last Saturday I watched ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean 2: The Dead Man’s Chest’ – with Miss Ruth, Mike, and Phil. It was so good and it made me so curious about ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 3’! And… oh bugger! It’s time to go.

Captain Jack is back!

'oh, bugger!'

Yesterday I took three of my step 3 children to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It definitely left us all in eager anticipation for the 3rd installment! Overall, I would say that the storyline and plot development was very different from the first... and yet it made an impression on me as an excellent, well-made movie. I highly recommend it!

Then last night I went out for galbi (pork barbecue, where you all sit on the floor, etc.) with two sweet couples who I've met through church: Grace and Ian, and Roverly and Rush. Grace and Roverly are both Filipina young ladies who taught English back in the Philippines, and both their husbands (Koreans), were English students at their school! I couldn't help but marvel at the wonderful diversity around the table - with Filipinas, Koreans, and an American. All of us live here in Suji, and I hope we can develop deeper friendships.

Thoughts on my devotional...
I am still reading through E.M. Bounds classic collection of Prayer, and LOVING it. An excerpt from a recent devotion:

The good or evil of trouble is always determined by the spirit in which it is received. Trouble proves a blessing or a curse depending on how it is received and treated by us. It either softens or hardens us. It either draws us to prayer and to God, or it drives us from God and and from the [prayer] closet.

Trouble hardened Pharaoh till finally it had no effect on him, only to make him more desperate and to drive him further from God. The same sun that softens wax- hardens clay. The same sun that melts the ice - dries the moisture from the earth.

"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known My Name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him."

Psalm 91,14-15

letter-writing for the little ones

i have been working with my little ones on how to write a letter. this is a big jump from constantly using 3rd person (he, she, it, they) to writing in 2nd (you), but they're starting to get the hang of it. if anything, these kids need lots of repetition, lots of practice. one thing the koreans understand and that's REPETITION...

lately, with the addition of another student, brian, they're level of loudness and naughtiness has escalated. brian is a good boy, but i'm wondering if it's just because there are 8 children cramped in that tiny classroom... there's bound to be some friction. i don't know. yesterday i told them - with the sternest face - if i didn't see improvement they'd be writing the 5 Classroom Rules fifty times. they sobered up pretty quickly. lol.

by the way... that girl sitting in the lawn chair, sipping a drink... yeah, that's me. lol.

how's this for a tear-jerker?!

and caleb. oh, caleb.

this week i made a decision that i haven't had to make here before. the majority of ERC's students are korean children - children who have never lived abroad. there are, however, a growing number of exceptions: children whose parents lived in another part of the world for a few years (usually because his/her dad works for samsung) and they come to korea with much better english. well, this week one of my intermediate students alex's mother recommended to two of her friends (friends from america) to enroll their daughters, as they JUST arrived from america and are afraid their children will lose their english immersed in korea. needless to say, i was shocked when christina and julia - two sweet korean girls - come into my classroom speaking flawless english and answering my questions immediately. let me just say i've forgotten what it's like for children to speak in rapid, complete sentences. most of mine take a few seconds to answer in a monosyllable.

in any case, after one class with julia especially, i told mrs. kim that i don't think it will be good for the class - and especially the korean students i already have - to make this a dominantly korean american class. i would basically be teaching english at a much more rapid pace to meet the level of kids from back home, and not to the koreans who really need the contact with a foreigner.

it's really hard sometimes to say "no" (at least until we can form 2 advanced classes) because i know that over time those girls' english is bound to deteriorate. alex and jun (2 of my intermediate students) left america ~2 or 3 years ago, and their english has lost a lot of ground, but i don't want to discourage the students i already have from talking- angela and mickey especially. i've worked too hard with them!

as for losing ground... even i have begun making mistakes in pronunciation (usually it's the /r/ and /l/ mistake), using the wrong preposition, or genuinely forgetting a word. holy mackeral!

this past wednesday was election day here in korea, which meant lots of blaring trucks, smiling and waving politicians and tons of color-coordinated assistants standing on the street corners doing coordinated hand motions. how quaint of korea, which has a history of military coups and political leaders tucking tail and running. it's amazing to me what this country has accomplished just by the sheer "extreme-ness" of their natures.

in any case, we had the day off from ERC, and so laura and i met up to make a day of traveling around and taking pictures of things distinctly korean. we got a few items checked off our list, but a few still remain. once we get the pictures developed, i'm thinking of doing a little scrapbook to try and capture for everyone back home the essence of korean culture. wish me luck!

gotta love these kids...

gabriella is also one of my step 3 students. having never lived overseas, she has done a really good job to make it in my class. her spirit is so sweet, and yet her diaries reflect a depth of thought and maturity that just hasn't quite happened in the boys. lol. right now she's the sole girl in the class. poor girl! lol

and here's justin, whose last day was actually tuesday. i believe he said he was moving to the states. T.T (snif snif) justin lived for 4 years in singapore, so his english was the most natural and advanced of all the students. he also brought a great sense of humor to the class, and there were many days he'd have us all rolling. when i saw the words "really cool" in phil's journal this past monday, i knew it was justin's influence. lol.

this is mike, who joined my class about 2 months ago. his english is also good, as he lived in dubai for 4 years a while back. (i can always tell those who have learned english abroad. their speech lacks the heavy korean accent that seems to never go away, no matter how hard they study it here). mike's a quiet guy, but his work ethic is consistent. he completed the foursome of ~11 year old boys: phil, sehwan, justin and him. i know puberty hasn't quite set in because girls still have cooties and the ork-like creatures in Narnia are far "cuter" than any girl's face. lol. i keep warning them that one day that'll change. he he he.

a break from studies on monday...

my step 3 children...

usually my children shy away from the camera, but i begged them for the sake of you guys to let me take pictures... it didn't take long for them to get into the spirit of things. lol

this is phil, one of the two original step 3 program students i had. when i came to ERC back in september, our campus had 70 students total, and phil was one of my first. he used to use body a lot of body language. now he quotes The Princess Bride like the best of 'em. from him i have adopted the "dosh!" exclamation and the sharp intake of breath that koreans often use when they don't know what to say or how to describe something. (ask me to do it for you when i get home. it's usually accompanied by shaking the head. lol). i love this boy and am SO proud of him.


this is sehwan, the other of my first two students. (he and phil are inseparable.) let me see... i can hardly put into words the effect this boy has had on me. on my birthday back in september sehwan took w40,000 (the equiv. of $40) of his own money to treat me to lunch at any place. we must have made an odd couple in TGI Friday's that day. he and his family picked me up and took me to jiguchon church at migeum station the first month, introducing me to a local church family. academically he has consistently risen to meet my highest expectations in class, and i often wonder if i can actually prepare a test or quiz that he won't ace. he's an amazing kid. most importantly, since the first few days i have marveled at how much he radiates the life and presence of Jesus Christ. i can honestly say that he is one of the few boys i know upon whom the anointing of God rests.... but don't worry... 90 minutes 5 days a week for 9 months is enough time to see the failings, too. LOL.

i have pictures of the others, but for some reason my comp is acting up. will post the rest later.

birthday wildness
sometime last week - i already forget which day - was john's birthday. his mom, who should be awarded PTA mom of the year - brought in some snacks for the kids, and they just went wild. needless to say, all work fell by the wayside for half an hour. lol.

i continue to work hard with caleb. his older brother stephen can no longer come to ERC, because the other teachers found him uncontrollable, so i take comfort that i have been able to at least *control* caleb. i try to channel his high energy level through fun activities, but what i really want to reach is his heart. pray that in the core of who he is, caleb will respond to Jesus in me. for, just as i read yesterday in Corinthians, it is Christ's love that compels me (2 cor. 5,14) and i long to see that stubbornness and defiance go... dosh!



i have seen the most marvelous change in danny, who is "flying" in the above picture. lol. when he began in my class i couldn't get a peep out of him. now he's as talkative as anything. his writing is slow, meticulous and perfectly formed, and he's really done an excellent job.
wendy remains the alpha female in the class - sometimes loud and easily angered - but i can usually diffuse those anger clouds above the eyebrows with a joke or laugh or a command for a changed heart. lol. thankfully, i started from Day #1 not allowing whining, arguing or complaining... and they have learned.

here is dear, dear heidi. even at so young an age, she is a strong christian - so sweet, bold, and unashamed. so, about 4 months ago i began noticing that my gel pens (for writing letters) were all dying, and i needed to bite the bullet and buy more. that week i received 2: one from esther and one from heidi. a few weeks later, i was noticing i needed to get a smaller, more compact wallet for my purse. a few weeks later, heidi gave me a wallet - absolutely perfect for what i needed. and then, somehow i lost some lip gloss (it was only LIP GLOSS!) and i remember being a little bummed. but not long after losing it, heidi gave me a little present: it was lip gloss. the most amazing thing is that i did not tell anyone about what i wanted beforehand.
the Lord is awesome! He knows how to remind me that He loves me and knows the seemingly insignificant desires deep in my heart. i love it! it screams to the world and those who are hungry: "LOOK- God is a God who knows and sees. Just test Him in this..."

as emily said, "my path will be a tasty, snicker-filled way." looolol.

this past saturday i hung out with emily. she showed me pictures of romania, and we had a western lunch (tuna on rolls) with a coffee. it was great!

on sunday i went with a bunch of the teachers to insaedong for the lantern lotus festival. there were tons of foreigners, which was really jarring. i have gotten used to being the only white face, or at least just one of few. we had a great time... pictures to come soon.

OH YES.. IT'S FINALLY WARMER HERE!! yay!

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.