Christmas Story

This week I thought I would do the terribly un-politically correct thing and explain to my kids why Christmas is called CHRIST-mas and what the meaning of the tree is- and strangely enough I didn't really have a clue how I would explain it till I started; I give the Spirit credit.

It started out with a question: What is Christmas about?

I got the same answers in almost every class, they went something like this....

Santa

Snow

Presents

Tree

Snowman

Rudolf

After that I explain that Christ-mas is when some celebrate Jesus' birthday. Then I ask if they know who Jesus is, or Yesu as they know him, and ask where he was born. Most of them think a house and then I draw a crude drawing of a 'barn' where animals live and say Jesus was born there. Then I draw a 'fancy' little tree and ask what is on top, and they all pretty much know it's a star. Only in one class did I get a kid who was like "Santa," and he said it twice like it was most certainly the real answer even though I had said a star.

So why the star? Well, as it turns out there was a star over baby Jesus.

And what goes under the tree?- Gifts

But why?

Well, Jesus was a gift, so we exchange gifts to think about Jesus.

At this point, when I have drawn my arrows (see image below) most of the kids do an "ah!"

for their understanding. Then we proceed to color christmas tree cards or manger scenes.

What is particularly interesting is a number of my older students had already made up their minds that they do not like or believe in Jesus. It hurt my heart when one of my favorite students said "I hate Jesus," but hopefully every time they open a Christmas gift now the Lord reminds them it is because of Jesus, and maybe one day they will look up who he is and the whole story and not hate Jesus.

I have been reading a Bible study and it talks about the state of man without God; without the Holy spirit, and when I felt hostility from the kids I immediately thought about it.

But the man who isn't a Christian (or 'in the Spirit' in other versions) can't understand and can't accept these thoughts from God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him, because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means

(1 Corinthians 2:14 TLB)

On the other hand, I did find out quite easily who of my students are from Christian families because they knew about Yesu and the story. They all got quite excited and were really cute about it. I am pretty sure some of them even told more of the story when we were coloring, and some I think got slack for believing in Jesus as well; nothing overly mean, but some teasing.

Luckily there is good news; that is what those angels proclaimed thousands of years ago. Jesus was a gift and if we choose Him, His Spirit gives us understanding and salvation.

But this Christmas I hope I can remember this prayer Jesus had for us as he prepared to head to the cross....

"My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father- That just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are - I in them and you in me, all being perfeted into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me."

John 17:21-23 NLT

Near unbelievable! God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. That is why Jesus came those 2000 years ago and willingly took on the most disgusting thing to him, the thing that was the opposite of his character and one thing that could separate Him from his Father, sin. It died with him and he conquered it in his resurrection.

That is the Gift we remember this year and pray that the world accepts it that we may be one.

Stephen and I in Pictures

2006 time in Japan

2007 Peter's track meet

2008

Beat making.

An awful quarry experience where Stephen considered selling me for eternal quarry privileges...thankfully he didn't.

This is how I felt for 2 hours while being hit on by a 30 yr. old good-ol'-boy

2009 Last hang out with Susanna

Fall 2009

Susanna home for Christmas!

Formal Dinner with friends who all knew Stephen liked me and didn't tell me but rather just tried to always put us together.....tricksters.

2010 Valentines Brinner together :)

Watching David do his thing for Acoustic Cafe

Visiting Bomar :)

Dollywood visit

Engagement Day- the only picture of us haha

Bibimbop

Scootin'

First time meeting FUSED!

Out and about
Hiking
Buying wedding bands

Birthday party!

Dinner with John and Hyo Jung

Tall scary clown, but friendly

Halloween!

First make-out....well it would've been had we been able to find each others mouths.

Getting lost in the middle of Seoul in the woods :)

Famous.

A Flash to Christmases Past

2006

The Fam

2007

It'd be really nice to have that girls night with gingerbread houses eh Sus?

Ah the lovely dancing of an Alco-holiday party.

2008

Young life fun.

The beginning of Rock band.

Mr. Darcy. He is missed.

So is Papa.

He is so cute, the one in gray....how did I not know I would marry him two years later?

Oh yeah.....that's why I didn't know.

Miss this.

2009

Sweet brother.

Sweet Friends.

And I still didn't know....but I hoped.

The J-oy of Fighting

I often sit at home thinking how boring facebook is and wonder how I spend so much time on it.

This has resulted in me reading more, but it seems my choice of books is very limited. One of my students gave me a 'Gossip Girl' book and I am embarrassed to say I have read some of it, although I admit when I stopped reading I wonder if I really should continue, I mean I don't like a single one of the characters, they are all trash and the way it is written is like a mix of a high school boy and a fashion-blogger. As I am writing this I feel I'm convincing myself to stop reading, but it's such easy entertainment.....I guess I could practice some korean. Maja. Or cut hundreds more circles for an event that happens to take place in less than four weeks!!!!!

If you have not taught Korean children you may not know this, but Korean kids fight all the time. The girls and boys are always getting out of their seats to hit each other. If they knew enough english I would tease them for flirting, but alas I only see them once a week and therefore they do not understand what flirting is.

At my school are two computers for the kids use. Usually they are used to do their online homework which requires them to record dialogues for me to listen to and critique. (yippee) However, there are a few students who use the computers to play games. One student in particular is very bad and always plays games when other kids need to work. Well this one student, let's call him J, was not on a computer but made another student quit his work before he was done by pirating the mouse and aborting all the work he had done. Needless to say the other student, E, was very upset. He got mad and stormed out to tell a teacher who came in to find J about to get on a game. We told him he had to do work if he was on the computer and so he did.

Soon after E got on a computer, after a lil girl was busted for gaming (a taking-care-of-your-puppy-game, and it was quite the squirming battle to get her off of it). J said something to E and E grabbed J's hair with his left hand and swung his right hand down on J's head. I grabbed E's right hand to stop the hitting just in time to see him use his left hand holding J's hair as stability for when he kneed J in the head. I finally got him to stop and J for the first time ever I saw kinda cry and E really cried as I took him out of the room. Still J is such a pain it was almost relieving to see someone discipline him for his bad behavior in a way he actually responds to (he certainly doesn't care about verbal reprimands).

All this to say, there is proof that those taekwondo lessons are paying off, at least for some of the kids.

I'm Popular and I have the Pepero to Prove it.

I know it was last week, but well I got lots of some Pepero. Boxes and sticks and one large 8 pack of boxes. My personal favorite was a box from a student who attached a note "This is Pepero. I love you." Yesssssss.

Of course all of them were from girls except one from one of my youngest boys. He is in the phonics class and I must say if I was 7 years old I would go for this lil guy. He walked in shyly and handed me the Pepero and kinda ran out after a quick 'Here Teacher'.

Apparently he had asked his classroom teacher to give it to me and she refused and told him to hand it to me himself. It was adorable.

Aside from the Pepero, I feel like a lot of my older classes are understanding me more. We can almost have real conversations and I feel like I am actually getting to know them, especially a class of middle school girls.

Off to Seoul again in the early early morning (4 a.m.), lots of errands and fun to be had.

Too bad the American embassy is closed on the weekend or Stephen and I would actually be able to get paper-married. Stupid embassy. What foreigner, anywhere but Seoul, can make an appointment not on a holiday from 8:15 to 5?! I mean we have a 5 hour bus ride both ways....I guess this is one more thing I will have to trust God to take care of.

Pepero Day Eve

(this is not my picture, it's from google)

So I have been bribing my students.

They give me Pepero sticks and I will give them points and stamps.

That is me getting Pocky sticks (for those of you not familiar with the Korean brand) and giving stamps which cost me nothing.

I am pretty sure I am loving this holiday. It happens on 11/11 and is kinda like the Korean Valentines day only everyone gives Pocky sticks to each other (get it? 11/11)

I got my first one from my students Diena, or Aphrodite as she wants to be called now, and it was not quite what I expected. Rather than a pretzel, it was more a breadstick dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. Still I love chocolate so I am not complaining.

I really hope I get a lot of Pepero love tomorrow; it would definitely improve my feelings for Korea.

Oh and as an update on my last blog, today was pretty enjoyable, my bad classes weren't bad and my good class was still pretty good. I have more energy and the Lord is changing my attitude of disdain for my students.....ok maybe I didn't quite reach disdain, but I have enjoyed classes today which is a change from Monday and Tuesday. Yay!

P.S. Koreans say that Praying Mantises bite. Has anyone ever experience that?

The Plight of Homesickness

Homesickness has struck.

It started sometime last week. I thought I was just having a bad week, but it was everything. EVERY small thing was making me POed.

It just doesn't make since that almost everyone experiences this same kind of feeling, like clockwork, at three months in the country. I mean are we really all so programmed that our minds and bodies have a shut-off programmed in? I mean how bizarre is that?!

All weekend unless I was alone I was a little tense.

It ceased a little when my brother John visited and we had a really good time. Maybe it is because he is family and although we are rarely together, he is still so familiar.

We got amazing Italian food thanks to our friend Dominique telling us about it. It had the classy black and white theme going on, complete with TCM stars lining the walls. John and I had a long discussion about who one actress was (Grace Kelly) and in retort he pulled up a current picture of her saying,"Clearly that is not the same person." Well John how about this picture?

It was good to get to know John's new girlfriend some too. She is quite excellent at administering medicine to kittens, I can tell you that much.

Yes, John gave me a kitten for my birthday (a little late but that's ok), which is super exciting....however after she peed on two of my comforters that I laid down to sleep on and my sweatshirt the next day, I have to admit, I was not enthused. It also doesn't help that she is in need of medicine twice a day to treat a skin issue. I am kinda questioning whether I am ready for a cat yet.......still she is cute half the time and she has not had incident since that first day. Pretty much we are still getting used to each other.

So yeah, I got very little rest this weekend, somehow we manage to always be packed with weekend activities. I mean I cleaned my place, then went hiking, to coffee, then dinner with the bro, a movie and off to see our favorite Filipino band Fused, and then to church the next morning, out for lunch and to a huge Korean dinner with Stephen's Korean skater friends.

I must admit I was not in the best mood. I was exhausted and not feeling friendly. I kept praying for an attitude change and at the same time lacked energy, enthusiasm or a desire to really do anything.

(Fused the Sweetest Band in Changwon)

So all day Stephen was looking at me with this face of "tell me what's wrong so I can fix it" and kept asking "Are you ok?" Which I always hate because, yes my person is fine, my body is healthy, I have work, a fiance and loving family and friends, so of course I am 'ok'. However there were things bothering me. Minute things like getting on the wrong bus and having to walk 15 minutes home (however you must take notice that I at least knew where I was), or not knowing enough Korean, or certain students being really rude, or the cat peeing on everything and losing part of my gift for my sister's Christmas present, sleeping too late, or buying the wrong ramen and having no energy to be happy with students who hate English, and most aggravating.......hairs changing colors.

There is nothing like a white/black hair in a place it didn't used to be to make a girl upset (thank you Susanna for understanding). There is just something about feeling like you are not able to control anything that is so awful sometimes, particularly involving your body. We work so hard to come to grips with our body, to appreciate our bodies as the creation of God that they are and then he changes things up and asks, "Can you love what I gave you now and be thankful?"

Even worse was Sunday at church one of our members, I think her name is Sun Min, spoke about how she was excited to share at a conference for handicapped people. See she is in a wheel chair and has limited control of her body and still she seeps with the Lord's grace and joy. She talked of her difficulties and struggles and her success in speaking with others. She lives on her own with another handicapped friend and is fighting for more rights in Korea. She is also and accomplished artist and paints some really wonderful paintings of flowers with her mouth. Her style is lively, a little impressionistic and well composited not to mention her color schemes are so happy.

She is so thankful for her life and I am complaining about having to clean up some pee and some hairs changing color?!?! I sicken myself sometimes.

I think of Job and Sun Min and I realize how unthankful I am. I mean I have a boyfriend who brings me whoppers when I'm having bad days and flowers and toys for my new kitten. I am fortunate and loved, by God and by a wonderful man.

Still the Lord understands my frustrations and listens to my pleas for comfort. He cares for me and slowly brings me back from my self centered pity party. This morning was rough with the kitten waking my up at 5:30 and not shutting up, but when the Lord woke me at 8:30......it was a new day.

More Answers!

Yesterday was a little frustrating.

I feel like that is how many of these stories start.

Anyway, it started off fine, I had my first class demolished so I didn't have to come in till later, Then I taught my first class and went into my next classroom only to find out that class was divided into other classes and I no longer had a class at that time. So I took my break and went to my next class to find out my entire schedule is now changed and no one felt like letting me in on it. So I finally figure out what class I am in and find out my 'favorite' student is in there. Yippee.

However I said a lil' prayer for some form of relief and sure enough, in this new class, with kids that are better students and more at his actual intelligence level, student A actually participated and I think we may be able to have class now.......I hope I am not speaking too soon.

So pretty much once I re-wrote my schedule (which looked like some sort of mysterious map after all the arrows were drawn on it showing where classes moved and boxes ex-ed out or written over) it all seemed to work out and sure enough I am back down to 26 classes.

So pretty much lately I have been in stressing situations and although I consciously am aware of how bad it is, my internal self is rather calm. I am actually trusting the Lord to get me through it, although sometimes I still want miracles like making kids disappear or be good or be quiet.

I don't want to be a bad teacher, I don't want to hit kids or yell or get upset. I want to be joy and teach while letting them have fun. This is what I have been thinking about lately:

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit" Galations 5:25

And what are the fruits of the spirit?

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

It's like a sock in the face, because that is what I struggle with all day.

Loving kids.

Having a joyous attitude while working.

Relying on the Lord's peace.

Having patience.

Being kind.

Doing more good than expected.

Being dependable for my coworkers and boss.

Being sensitive to obnoxious children and not giving bloody noses all over the place for disrespect and bad behavior(don't worry this urge only comes about once or twice a day).

But at the same time, it is exciting. I am actually finding the Lord providing Love for the unlovable, Joy in trials, Peace in turmoil, Patience with it all, Kindness for the unkind, and a desire to do more good, and even occasionally more sensitivity to annoying kids. And all of that helps for the Self control I have to practice :)

Indie Frankenstein and a Great Success

Indie Frank-n-pumpk

Turns out the Lord often answers prayers. Sometimes not exactly as I had hoped, but he still answers.

For instance my groaning about a certain student may have said to the Spirit "Please make him quit or go into a vegetative state." However he did not.

Instead, this week is pre-halloween which means I get to do crafts with almost all my classes woot! No seriously, I love crafts. So today I searched the internet for cut-out crafts, as many of my students really hate drawing, and I found a mummy, skeleton, frankenstein, Dracula (or vampire) and a fish/man and pumpkin head. So seeing as I had two of my most difficult classes today, the majority of the students being boys, I thought the little monsters might actually enjoy making monsters.

I was right.

They loved it. And even when I just made an origami pumpkin (see previous post for picture) with my MOST abhorred class.......it was amazing....they were good! The child I wanted to strangle just last Friday, even almost behaved, and he participated in class! It just made me miss teaching art, where kids who are clearly having trouble in life have a real outlet. I even felt like the Lord was giving me a love for this kid, I mean he even made me laugh once.

I guess my next lesson from the Lord could be on 'how to make English class relaxing and enjoyable' without turning it into art class. hehehe.

And I asked for joy in class and to start to be more joyful, (some might even say a light -Matt. 5:16). And yes, craft week is really good. REALLY GOOD.

Not to mention walking to work this morning was the first blustery crisp fall day and it was sunny and spectacular!

God is listening to my hearts desires that I didn't even know I had!