Halloween Weekend

Wow, it seems like not too long ago I was itching for stuff to do on the weekends. This weekend just seems packed! Tonight we have pumpkin carving with the English teachers in town. Tomorrow I've just been invited to a Korean wedding of one of the teachers in my school. After that I have a Korean choir concert at my church followed by a Halloween party with the English teachers again.

Yesterday was the first day I've declined an invitation for a free school dinner. There have been many dinners I've eaten with my school and I appreciate going to them. However, yesterday it was one of those moments I couldn't handle anything else. I went back to my apartment and crashed --- zonked out for a couple hours.


This week at school has been a nonstop Halloween party for my classes. Today I just got done showing the kindergartners "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on Youtube and decorating pumpkins on paper. They loved it when I passed out the candy. In order to receive the candy, they had to say "Trick or Treat." Some of them just said "treat" which was legitimate enough I guess. I am out of Halloween candy though, which is a bummer.

Done with teaching today, so right now I am watching a couple games on NBA League Pass. It's free 'til Tuesday, so why not?

Today's Lesson: Shark Song

Here are some random pictures from 2nd graders in Taeseo Elementary. They were saying they were having a bad day. "Very hungry," "very so-so," and "angry" they responded when I asked them how they were doing. It seems like they enjoy English class though. We can have the worst lesson prepared or unprepared and at the bitter end of it, they still think I'm awesome. It's pretty funny.

We sang the shark song from camp today. With all of the motions they really got into it and even used some new phases like momma shark, daddy shark, swimming fast, got-my-leg, heart attack and CPR. For illustration purposes, I drew a cross on the board before the "Party with Jesus" verse. They loved it!



























After lunch, I had one student flag me outside to play some soccer. They were all rehearsing some soccer drills without a coach, so of course I got involved and pretend I was one. Our mission was to score a goal. Every shot I would say "GOAL!" or "NO GOAL!" I think they got the idea.

Found a Church!

This last Sunday I finally found a church to go to here in town. I'm not sure exactly what the name of it is, but it is a huge church with Jesus holding two lambs painted above it. After checking online service times in town and having no luck, I decided to just take off on my new bike (which is awesome, by the way) and see which ones were going on Sunday morning. I couldn't find anything, but on my way home to get some breakfast I swung by one more and heard some music coming from it. I went inside to check it out.














Since the service was completely in Korean, I understood about six words from the sermon, but they sang familiar songs and the people were very friendly. A lady in front of let me use her English-Korean Bible and showed me the passage the minister was speaking from. It was I Timothy 4:1-5. I read the passage over a couple times since it's about the only thing I could understand going on around me. But, praise God! I found a church and I know when they have service! (This was extremely difficult for me to find, since no service times are posted online or outside of churches in town, well at least in English.)

After the message a lady and her husband invited me downstairs where they were having a free lunch. We had typical Korean food---rice, soup, kimchi, and some spicy side items. The man was a eye doctor in town and knew how to speak English very well. After lunch he brought me upstairs to meet the minister and then had 'coffee' (coffee mix and hot water). The minister said he wants to speak with me again next week after the service. We then went to the 1:30 worship (music) service. They had a praise band with youth playing the drums and singing accompanied by a piano and organ. Next week, the family said they want to introduce me to the English interpreter.

Also, this family told me that the guy who I replaced as an English teacher here in Taebaek used to attend this church. He also lived in the same apartment as me. Crazy weird stuff.

(Sorry, it's kind of long and has no sound. Yay for cell phone video!) The singer was from the United States and sang some verses of the songs in English, and then in Korean.



I left the service a little early to do some shopping. These pictures were taken at a meat market downtown near my apartment. I've seen some of this before, but mostly in horror films.

Home, sweet home... almost...

With my living situation here in Korea, I am grateful for what I have (top floor in picture on left). My apartment's location is ideal, being directly in the middle of the city and within walking distance to each of my schools. But with all its benefits, I am starting to get rather frustrated with it, almost to the point that I would rather not be in it at times. For the past couple weeks I've been working at getting rid of a nasty odor that has been coming from the bathroom drain. The drain seems to flow directly to the city sewer, so I get all that come with it. This includes a putrid smell that comes up, that is all so familiar around the streets of Korea.

I have direct Korean sewer access. This country may be years ahead of its time in technology, such as computers and internet; but when it comes to basics of living, such as sewage and plumbing, its system falls short. As a matter of fact, the Korean government has just given out an abundance of bottled water to its communities. Our school here has cases and cases of water surrounding its walls, where students and staff members are encouraged to take any amount needed home with them. I still have several bottles of water that probably won't be used up for a long time. Regardless, the government here knows that their septic system has failed in more ways than one, and their water remains undrinkable.


Many English teachers that have had problems with their apartment have needed to move. I was hesitant about addressing this problem at first because of the possibility of having to move to resolve it. My location in proximity to my school is almost perfect, and I enjoy not having to bus or taxi in every day; so for this reason, I am willing to "bite the bullet." Today I bought another bottle of bleach to pour down the drain to temporarily kill the smell. It may work for small septic systems but not for an entire city's. My head teacher said she has the same problem in her home and labeled it as a "construction problem."


On a positive note, my internet is extremely fast. In this I will rejoice and dwell upon. Giving glory for all His gifts and challenges along the way.


I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time that we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it. We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. And he did help us, and he saved us from a terrible death; yes, and we expect him to do it again and again. (2 Cor 1:8-10 Living Bible)