Teaching was awesome today.

My preschoolers!
Top left going clockwise: Ruby, Brian, Alex, Eva, Sophia, Binny, and Yoo-Jin
Photos by Ginny

(Stories from Wednesday)

Today, teaching was amazing.  Here's why!

Binny is one of my 6-year-old preschoolers who's learning English for the first time in my class.  This morning, we went over "J" words, and we learned the word "jet."  During one of our get-up-and-move games, Binny grabbed my attention, smiled so big, and said, "Tomorrow, tomorrow... Jet!"  She spread her arms out and leapt as if taking off in flight.  "Jet!  ...Hong Kong!"  I remembered Ginny Teacher telling me that Binny wouldn't be in class Thursday and Friday, and I quickly made the connections.

"You're going to Hong Kong tomorrow and Friday?  That's awesome!"

As if hearing Binny's first one-on-one conversational English sentence EVER wasn't cool enough...

I sat beside her at lunch today.  She turned to me as she often does, and she held my hand as she often does.  She pulled my hand toward her again and again repeating "Hong Kong" and looking at me very sweetly.  "You want me to go to Hong Kong with you?"  I made simple hand gestures, and she nodded with her deep black eyes smiling.

I melted.

The second awesome thing was getting my first original picture from a student today.  Elizabeth (8) did an excellent job recreating my outfit with crayons and paper.  It's taped to the inside of my cabinet now.

Also, I've totally got the hang of all of my classes now, and I can keep 5 out of 7 of them on track really well.  There are a couple classes I'm extremely proud of.  Binny's preschool class are my babies.  Ginny and I share them.  We're their first English teachers, they're adorable little young'ins, and the adore us.  (Well, I think they do.)  Bryan and Alex, the only boys among 5 girls, try to outdo each other with "Lindsay Teacher!  I love you one hundred three, three, three, three, three!" and "Lindsay Teacher!  I love you 92 plus, plus, plus, plus 3!"  I would do anything for these kids.

Back to Elizabeth's class: They are on the Treasures curriculum, and they are in the Martin Luther King room, so I call them my MLK Treasures class.  These kids are brilliant.  They are bright, inquisitive, receptive, and so cute (as most Korean kids are, I've found).  Their curiosity is what endears them to me the most.  One day, Thomas walked in and asked, "Teacher, who is Martin Luther King?  He is king in America?"  So began an intriguing 10 minute lesson in Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights, racism, and MLKJ's assassination.  They kept asking questions, and I'm pretty sure we could have kept researching for an hour.  One of them even thought to ask where MLKJ is buried.

Sadly, this was my last day with my Step High class.  I has just totally owned the syllabus creating, and I was just totally owning the classroom presence teachers need to really keep things going in class, but their class time is getting moved, and I can't follow them.  I feel this need to make sure their next teacher knows everything about how to teach this class.  I've had to restrain myself from writing detailed notes about all the students.  Is this anything close to what it's like being a mother?

My last story is about the handsome new boy in my New High Kids class.  He is easily the best English speaker in the class, and I was surprised when he was placed with my students, but I fell in love with him the first day, so I don't want him to leave (even if he were to excel elsewhere.  Ha!).  This kid is calm, cool, and collected, with a nice spice of edge and just a pinch of I-don't-care.  In the most relaxed voice, he asked me on Monday, "Teacher.  What means 'son of a bitch?'"

"Hm.  Well, Donghyun, 'son of a bitch' is a bad word.  You should not say it.  It means..."  and then we had a little conversation about definitions, where he'd heard the phrase (his friends), and "don't worry, Teacher.  My friends don't call me that."

Today, we had a speaking test, we went over a long story that they need to memorize, and we had an additional writing test to start.  Donghyun asked me, "Teacher.  We have to write this, too?"

"Yes, Donghyun, you have to write this, too."

"What the hell?" he spoke with that understanding coolness.

"Woah!  Donghyun!  Not okay!"

Three things to be happy about

I love when I get to write these kinds of posts.

I booked my plane tickets that will take me to an American Christmas today!  Looking at load of information on all the different booking sites and then also looking at the prices had me really discourage last night.  The elation and excitement I feel now that the transactions have been complete and now that I'm going home for Christmas were totally worth it.

I got another pair of tickets today.  These ones were free, which is awesome, but, to some, that may be the only cool thing about them.  They're for a classically trained baritone concert!  This Saturday!  It'll be like going to the Tivoli for music department assignments again!  I'm going to dress up!  Heels in Seoul, heck yes!  I'm really excited.

I have been throwing my new syllabi on the ground!  Last month's syllabi-making was so stressful, arduous, and confusing.  This time, I've started much earlier, I totally know what I'm doing now, and I've been surprisingly diligent!  I made myself an ideal schedule, and I've kept to that ideal!  What what?!  You know what else is cool?  That ideal schedule has given me tomorrow and the next day off to have dinner with a friend and then to go swing dancing.  Add into that mix my church's 5th annual picnic on the Han River, and it's looking like a pretty ballin' weekend.

Bring it on!

And thank you, Jesus!

Han River Park
via Visit Korea

Korean vlog #4 - Kids Say the Darnedest Things

See other vlog entries: One, Two, Three, Five

Thank God that His grace knows no bounds.

The fourth poster for People of the Second Chance's Never Beyond poster series makes me borderline nauseated.

I hadn't considered ever coming across someone I didn't think God loves.  I have seen the depths of His mercy flowing rampantly in my own life, and it's incredible what He forgives and washed away.  I, like Paul, have thought of myself as the chief of sinners, no one was beyond me.  But I was slammed against the wall when I came across this picture.  When I saw that the next image to consider was of the KKK, my soul became warped with emotions of disgust, hatred, incredulity, and anger.  I did not want to write about showing grace to these people.  My guts are roiling as I type even now.  I don't want to do it.

I have spent more than ten years of my life in the American South, just below Atlanta, and I've seen a few things.  My very conservative Christian high school administration didn't allow me to go to my senior prom with my black friend.  I have stood up for the Mexican immigrants in front of my boss and a customer when they were accusing the immigrants of nonsense just because they were Mexican.  I nearly lost my mind when a different customer told me she was offended because our PIN pad had Spanish as a language option.  Just last summer I was roaming far back in the woods by my house, and I found an old club house with "KKK" spray painted on the rotting walls.  To put it lightly, ours is not always a culture of equality.  It pisses me off.

Prejudice, hate crimes, cruelty... God hate these things!  I do, too, and I cry for justice!  Thinking less of someone and treating them inhumanely just because they are of a different race is heartless, ignorant, and just plain wicked.  I can't stand it! 

Screaming for action, I look to God in whom there is true equality.  But, when I look closer at this equality, I notice that we are all equally deserving of damnation.  "Ohhh," I say, looking down to the floor.  "Oh, that's right."

No sin is greater than another.  Not only is there no white supremacy in God, but there is no supremacy whatsoever.  All of us are brought down to the same level of helplessness in our sin no matter how good and gracious we think we are.  (Romans 3:23)

---------------------------------------------

Pastor Alex Early of Four Corners Church in Newnan, GA recently delivered a sermon series on Jonah.  He outlined the messages in the text in a way I'd never realized.  The satirical book shows God's beautiful grace to the heathen Ninevites, yes, but only after it is starkly contrasted against Jonah's complete lack of mercy for them.  He hated the Ninevites.  He hated that God called him to preach repentance to them.  He would rather die than see these people given a second chance, in fact, he tried to get himself killed by being tossed overboard during a terrible storm.  Much to Jonah's dismay, the Lord preserved Jonah's life and used it to draw Nineveh to redemption through His mercy and grace.

Pastor Alex has said in nearly each of the sermons in his series, "Who would you not forgive?  Who can you not stand so much that you don't want to see them in heaven when you get there?"  Until now, I hadn't found anyone to put on the list.  But then there's the KKK.  These people I can't stomach stand for everything I don't.  But, I stood for the same things before my heart was made clean.  I am cut from the same cloth.  And, thankfully, the same second chance is offered to all of us filthy sinners.

Thank God that the universe is governed by His rules, not mine.  Thank God that He is not in my image.  Thank God that His mercy knows no bounds!  Thank God that the Holy Spirit indwells me and loves and forgives when I cannot.  Thank God that no one is ever beyond a second chance.   

---------------------------------------------

 I confess my imperfection and the blackness in my heart, and I claim the rejuvenation that comes through Christ.  May I learn the lesson of the forgiven servant that Jesus told in Matthew 18:23-35.

The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.  The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!' The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.

 (The Message)

---------------------------------------------

In closing, I highly recommend that sermon series on Jonah.  Allow yourself to be challenged.  Download the thing and listen to it on your way to work.

Also, for more information on the movement to overthrow judgment and to liberate love, check out People of the Second Chance and the discussion about the Never Beyond poster series!

Happy Chuseok!

This weekend be will four days long thanks to Chuseok landing on  Monday.  Chuseok is a Korean equivalent of the American Thanksgiving.  People travel to their home towns, make songpyeon (a rice cake sweet), they bow to their ancestors, and sometimes they wear the traditional hanbok.  That's what we're all wearing in the picture below.  Also in the picture below is my preschool class!  Along with Ginny, my Korean partner teacher who was taking the picture, we are Elegance Class!

To celebrate Chuseok, all of the teachers wore hanbok for the morning preschool classes on Friday.  I showed one of the pictures to my older afternoon class, and they said my hanbok wasn't very pretty.  I tell you this not so I can let off steam about the little punks, but so that you can know that all hanboks aren't lime green and bright red and polyester.  I've already seen some that are quite gorgeous and not just because they can come in more pleasing colors.  The nicer and more expensive ones (like the one on the girl second from the right) can be made from fine silk, can have fine embroidery, and can have little shimmery butterfly appliques or rhinestones attached.  Some of the male teachers' hanboks had very ornate charm buttons that hung from their vests.

In addition to our fancy outfits, we played with a jegi which is like a fancy shuttle-cock-meets-hacky-sack.  We also had Korean wrestling competitions in the gym, we made Happy Chuseok cards for the kids' parents, we played musical chairs, and, when we ran out of things to do, I taught them the ever and always appropriate Macarena.  Ha!  I really did!

Happy Chuseok!

Korean vlog #3 - A lame excuse for the first video actually FROM Korea

This one is ridiculous, but it is better than not posting.  And, yes, I'd originally said that I would do videos twice a month, but I did film this and my next one in August, so I'm going to count myself as on track.  I do hope to do better, so keep an eye out for that.  In the meantime...

See other vlog entries: One, Two, Four, Five

It's hard to see in the video, so here's a still image of my nose ring.  I really like it.  : )

My experience at a Korean club

I went to a club in Hongdae, Seoul last weekend called DD.  Foreigners get in free!  But you can't leave till midnight.  I'd never heard of that.  In fact, frankly, I have no idea what clubs are supposed to be like.  I'd never been to one before, neither had any of my close friends.  I didn't know what to expect, but I'll tell you this.

I loved it!

But I need to tell you why I loved it, of course.  Because people go there to dance!  Ugh, I wish you could see my face, 'cause it's so expressive right now.  There was no sleaziness, no dirty dancing.  This was awesome dancing.  And everyone was doing it!  Plenty of people were doing it in synchronization!  It looked so stinking cool!

Now, when I tell you that they were all doing this variation of the Running Man, don't think just of Dancin' Kim and her moves.  I have since learned that this style is called the Shuffle, and, no, bro, this is what you need to think of.  (And imagine this in a small-ish dark room with loud music and people having fun with their active confidence.)

Is that not super cool?  I was in childlike awe!  People dancing?!  Gliding on the floor?!  It looks so cool!  It looks so fun!  Please, can I learn that?!

After watching and trying to go through the moves in my head (and failing), I decided that I would be very upset with myself if I didn't learn this step.  So, I went to the back of the club where I saw a young guy working on his moves.  I leaned got his attention and leaned in so he could hear me over the noise.  I yelled, "Can you teach me?" as I pointed to his feet and then to my feet.  I'm pretty sure he spoke some English, but it made no sense to talk at all because it was so loud there. Without words, my teacher patiently went through the steps.  He corrected my form and showed me the proper technique.  He told me to go slowly and to not get ahead of myself.  He praised me when I did a good job then encouraged me to learn an additional step.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.  I came back to him later for a brush up lesson before leaving with my crew.

I really do want to learn this, and my experience at the club has inspired me even further to find the swing dancing culture in Seoul; I know there has to be one.

Coming Soon

As I mentioned before, it's been a busy two weeks.  I haven't been able to take the time to write, but here's a preview of what's coming soon.  (You're allowed to get excited.)  (That's sarcasm.  I'm not completely ego-centric.)

Last week's expedition to a Korean night club

Everyone was doing these awesome, super intense, well thought out running man/Cotton Eye Joe/ step dance variation moves.

This was me:

A look into one of my classrooms (the devil children)

This is the class that caused me to say "You can't shoot the teacher" more times than I ever thought was possible.

An account of this coming week's chill out adventure with my Buddhist friend Ashli

We're planning a two-hour meditation at an old temple and biking around the mountainous city of Seoul.