Thursday at Auchan

Since my friend A. started her new job in the New District (where I live), we've had a little informal standing arrangement on Thursday evenings.  She and I meet around 6 o'clock, we usually have something to eat, and then I ride with her to worship team practice, which is at one of three different homes in Wuxi.  It's been like this for a few weeks now.

This Wednesday, she told me that she had some special shopping to do for her new apartment and her family the next evening, and wouldn't be able to meet me.  So, I e-mailed another friend who works in the New District, at whose house we were going to meet, and asked if he could help me, as he had before.  Not having heard from him by Thursday afternoon, I texted him with the same request.

Then, just as I was starting my workday at Hy-Lite (downtown) at 2 p.m., I got a text from A., telling me that she didn't need to go to the market that day, and inquiring how I would get to the fellowship that evening.  (Her English was a little rough, but I understood.)  When I got a break shortly before 3 p.m., I texted her back, asking her to meet me.  She replied immediately that she would pick me up at my place before 7 p.m.  I replied shortly in the affirmative, because I was about to start observing another class.  Then, when I was in a VIP class for training, I got a text at 3:09 p.m. (which I thought was from A.) offering to pick me up at about 6 p.m.  It didn't quite make sense to me, but I replied shortly in the affirmative because I was busy.

When my last training class ended at 5 p.m., I hurried out of there, pausing only to visit a street vendor to buy some tomatoes to include with my dinner, because I was low on vegetables in my apartment.  I got on my bike as quickly as I could, not even changing out of my work clothes, but just strapping the cuffs to keep them from getting soiled.  I arrived at my apartment at about 5:30 p.m., quite literally dripping with sweat, and set about immediately cleaning the lunch dishes (which I had left soaking in water), tidying up my apartment (good thing it's small), and preparing to start dinner.  I knew that if we drove straight to our destination, we wouldn't have to leave until 7 p.m., and I expected A. to come to my apartment around 6 p.m., as she usually does.

At 3 minutes before 6 I got a text from A., suggesting an immediate departure and a rendezvous at her usual parking location between her workplace and my apartment complex (on the same road).  Something was different this time, but I grabbed some fruit and some peanuts, and left.  I arrived at the hotel parking lot about the same time she did.

It turned out that she needed to visit Auchan on the way to our destination.  Auchan is a hypermart, kind of like Carrefour.

(This is on my route downtown, and not the one we visited this time, but they look quite similar.)  She still had some shopping to do for her family.  She kindly inquired about my dinner, and I told her truthfully that I hadn't had any yet.  She had eaten at her factory canteen, but suggested that I get something to eat at Auchan, which was quite agreeable to me.  The Auchan store that we went to this time was closer to our destination on the other side of Wuxi.

However, before we got there, I got a phone call at about 6:25 p.m. from the other friend I had requested a ride from.  It turned out that the text I got at 3:09 p.m., offering a 6 p.m. pickup, was actually from him, and not from A., and I had replied to him.  He was on his way from his office to my apartment to pick me up.  I told him about the confusion, that I was already on my way there with A.  So, we cleared up that issue.  Then I told A. about it, and we approached the Auchan near our destination.

This time, she needed to get some milk, which she purchased in two case-boxes containing small sealed bags.  (I've never seen milk sold that way before, but okay.  It apparently doesn't need refrigeration immediately.)  She also needed to get some fruit.  In the produce section, I saw something that I'd never seen before, even after two months in China:

U.F.O.'s (Unidentified Fruitlike Objects)

Anybody know what this is?  It looked like alien fruit to me.  A. only knew the Chinese name, which I forgot.  Later she looked it up on her electronic dictionary, and said it was called fire dragon fruit.  Sounds appropriate.  Anybody have any experience with this fruit?

Anyway, she didn't get any fire dragon fruit.  She was interested in another Chinese fruit which I've had once or twice, a smaller fruit called "li jiu" in Chinese.  (Don't know if it even has an English name.)  There is an old story about these fruit, concerning an Emperor's wife, which A. told me about.  Anyway, I had plenty of time to take this picture, because it was right next to the bin of li jiu:

And A. took some time selecting her li jiu fruits.  She was so absorbed that I don't think she noticed where the camera was pointed when I snapped this last picture:

This isn't a great picture, but it's the only one I have right now.  I will try to get a better one later.  Her English name is Amelie, and you can pray for her, too.

After getting fruit, she suggested that I get something to eat while she got milk.  I looked around, but I didn't really see anything appropriate, and I didn't know where to look, or how to ask, or how to find something that I could eat in the car without utensils or a big mess.  So, I found Amelie, who was just finishing getting her milk with the assistance of a store employee.  I explained my problem and asked for her help (I seem to be doing that a lot), and she said that she didn't know what I liked.  I said I'd try just about anything.  She suggested a sandwich or something.  I thought, "They have sandwiches here?  I haven't seen any," but I said okay.  It turned out that we found a few things of the steamed bun and dumpling variety, which together made a quite passable finger-food meal, and very inexpensive as well.

When we got to our destination, before we got started with our worship practice, Amelie made an announcement about which I had mixed feelings.  She said that her cousin had been nagging her about finding a boyfriend.  (They do that in China.  Big pressure on girls to get a boyfriend, and make progress toward marriage.)  Because of this, and because of some connections of said cousin, she has an interview a week from Saturday in Nanjing with a blind-date reality TV show.  When she said the name of the show, all the Chinese girls in the room screamed.  From the description, it seems more like a meat market than a blind date show.

So, here's why I have mixed emotions about this.  On one hand, it confirms that she doesn't have a boyfriend.  One source said she did, but I hadn't seen any evidence of one, and this proves that his information was false.  That's a good thing.  On the other hand, I don't really know what the expectations are for this show.  But whatever they are, I know I won't like them.  Is this jealousy?  O.K., then, I'm jealous.  Can you blame me?

I did talk to Amelie after the worship practice, before we left.  I told her that I wanted to spend some time with her, to get to know her better, and I asked when she had time.  Saturday she's going to a church in another town to teach English, but we could get together after church on Sunday.  That seemed O.K.

Then, when I got home, I had an idea that must have been late in coming because I was tired.  Why didn't I go with Amelie to teach English?  They'd probably appreciate the help of a native English speaker.  When I e-mailed Amelie about it, she was very appreciative.  She said she'd check with the pastor.  A few e-mails later, she hasn't been able to contact the pastor, and she doesn't feel right going ahead without permission.  (I won't second-guess this one.  Anything like unauthorized religious activity here is dangerous, and she knows the rules much better than I.)  Hopefully, I will be able to help her at a later time.  For now, we have a date on Sunday afternoon.

Prayer Requests
Obviously, I need prayer.  I prefer to start off this section with a praise request, so you can praise God for my continued good health and safety, and all the things I'm learning, and pray for more of the same.

Based on the above, I probably don't have to ask, but please pray for me and my relationship with Amelie.  Since I'm new in this country, and I don't have much experience with girls of any nationality, I was just going to take it slow, be friends first, get to know her with some friendly, low-pressure (and inexpensive) activities, and see where that led.

However, I don't like this news about the blind-date reality TV show, whatever it's called.  I don't know what she expects from a date, or, for that matter, from a boyfriend.  Dinner?  We've had that, in my apartment.  Conversation?  We've had that too, in English, which she is pretty good at.  A movie?  Haven't done that yet, but it can be arranged.  A car?  Well, I can't provide that, but I hope it's not necessary.  She has one, after all.  Why would I need one?

I'm afraid I'll have to openly declare my intentions this Sunday, when we get together.  I haven't met her parents yet, which I would prefer to do, but transportation and language barriers make that difficult.  I'm planning to tell her that I'm interested in developing a serious relationship with her, that I was planning on taking it slowly, but she forced my hand with this news of the reality TV show.  Can anybody tell me if that's a terrible idea?  She does have a good sense of humor.

As well, please pray for Amelie.  I don't know her very well yet.  She is personable and considerate, she has a good sense of humor, she speaks English pretty well, I think she also speaks the Wuxi dialect in addition to Standard Chinese, she's a good cook, and very helpful.  She is only two or three years old in the faith, very recently baptized.  Her mother, from what she's told me, attends a Christian church regularly; her father, "not so much."  I'm concerned that she doesn't understand how important it is to be equally yoked.  I don't think I would be the right person to bring that up.

Also, please pray for my work at Hy-Lite.  I've worked two hours so far, and I haven't gotten paid for them, which doesn't worry me yet, but no one has explained how, where, or when I will get paid, only that I will be paid 150 RMB per hour worked, which is a very good hourly wage.  I'll be meeting with my supervisor, Andis, on Sunday, because he's off on Monday, and I'll be in the neighborhood for church.  I'll just go in the morning, meet with him, and then get some lunch before church.  I should be able to ask him about payday at that time.

Well, that's a long entry, but I wanted to tell the whole story to go with my pictures.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying.  God bless.

So, What's it Like in Korea?

Well, today I inadvertently left most of my things at my desk in the teacher workroom, as I rushed to get to the school-apartment shuttle after Tae Kwon Do. (The school TKD instructors offer an evening class for staff. It's great, and many staff, including some of those I report to, attend.) Having left my school computer, my books, folders, and all writing implements at school, there's not much work I am able to do this evening, except update my blog. So, here I am. My goal is to give you some of my impressions of Korea. (Unfortunately, my camera is one of the things I left, so pictures will have to wait.)

So, what's it like in Korea? Well, it's different, that's for sure. Besides the language, the people, and the food, there are a lot of little things that are different: the plugs (of course), the light switches, the road markings and street signs (not just the language they're written in), and lots of other things. Most apartments don't have ovens. (Baking is apparently not a traditional Korean cooking method.) The cars are smaller, the vans are more crowded inside when full, and they drive and park closer together. (Many cars have special mirrors focused on the bumpers, to aid in parallel parking. Some also have pads on the doors so they don't bang the car next to them when they open.) However, there seems to me to be a theme to many of the differences; an underlying difference between Koreans and westerners that is reflected in the many differences that I have learned about. Two related words keep coming back: closeness and connection.

Koreans seem to be more closely connected, more tightly knit to each other, than westerners, particularly Americans. You can see it in the immigration laws. No foreigner can receive a permanent resident visa, or become a citizen, unless he or she is related to a Korean by blood or marriage. So, the Korean-American teachers at the school can get F-class (family) visas, as long as they can trace their ancestry to Korean nationals, no matter how far back. I, however, would have to marry a Korean or Korean-American woman to establish permanent residency here.

Another thing that gave me this idea of connection is the way they support young trees. In America, we usually drive one or two stakes deep into the ground, and use ties to support them. Here, I saw a grove of ornamental trees, and they were connected by staves lashed to the tree-trunks, each supporting the others in mutual interdependence. A solitary tree was supported by three staves lashed in a tripod arrangement to the tree trunk. Again, connected.

Similarly, they require less personal space, and less privacy; in other words, they're closer to each other. When they line up for anything, they stand closer together than Americans would. In the teacher's workroom, students will wander in just to say hi, or use it as a passageway to the gym. (I never even saw the teachers' workroom at my high school.) The students' desks seem to be closer together. They will share cups at the water fountain, even though they make sure to only drink from the filtered water.

Yesterday I gave one student detention for tripping another student on the way back to his seat. First offense, no warning, straight to detention, do not pas Go, do not collect 200,000 won. He said it was just a joke, and even the injured student said it wasn't a big deal. Solidarity, again. I made a point that to do that in my classroom, is an offense against me. Just like stealing is an offense against God as well as the party who was robbed. Don't know how much of that got through, but the student got a yellow slip all the same.

There are many other things I see, some I can't even describe. I have over 100 students, mostly 7th & 8th graders with a few 9th, among five classes, and I'm sure at least a few of my female students have crushes on me. Some will come up and quiz me to see if I remember their names. One girl, doing this, put her hand on my arm. Another came up to me, told me about another girl, saying, "She loves you." I'm sure there are some others I haven't noticed yet.

I'm not really surprised that some of my girls have developed crushes on me. Considering my age, position, and appearance, the care I have for my students, and the high respect most Koreans have for teachers, it's only natural.

Personally, I feel that it's best if I consider all the students like my own children, or at least my nieces & nephews. I feel I can love them better if I take that attitude. Then, right actions will naturally flow. I thought of that when I walked two girls home from dinner last night. They are the teenage daughters of a colleague, and though the walk wasn't far, I wouldn't want my own daughters walking home at night unaccompanied, so I went with them. I just said it was for safety. They seemed to accept that.

Socially, Korea is a great place to be a teacher. Korea is still strongly influenced by Confucian thought, and a good teacher is higher than any other profession in the Confucian hierarchy. (I don't know how well that is reflected in the salaries.) One of the ways people show respect here is bowing, and the lower person should bow more deeply. I had occasion to interact with the school nurse, being treated for a pre-Korea skin injury. She spoke very little English, but such was sufficient to treat the injury, which she did with motherly care. While I was there, I helped her fix the electronic thermometers that they use to make sure the teachers aren't developing a fever.

Apparently, the school nurse is now a founding member of the Korean chapter of my fan club, because she told all her friends about me (I could see that, even if I didn't understand the words), and she bows quite deeply when she meets me, as a token of deep respect. She's probably the equivalent of a nurse practitioner, and to see that she holds me in higher esteem than herself, is quite a welcome change from the U.S.

As far as the physical appearance, the school sits in the middle of farmland, with mountains in the distance. So does the apartment complex. (I would have a better view of them if I wasn't on the first floor.) I do see plenty of farms on my commute to and from school. Here's my impressions of Korean agriculture:

They seem to use as much of the farmland for farming, as possible. For instance, I see rice paddies (first time I've seen rice paddies in August/September, and with no mosquitoes), and on the edges of them, I see other things growing. Like temporary greenhouses for watermelon. Or as much corn as they can fit into the edges. Or other crops I've never seen before. There are plants under rows of black, slanted shelters. I'm told they are ginseng plants, which is a root crop, and must grow for seven years before it should be harvested. I've never seen plant shelters in that configuration before, but then, I've never heard of ginseng farmers, so there you go.

None of the farms seem to be divided into rectangular sections. They're all following more natural contours. I'm told that this is family land, and they will only sell the land at great price because of that, and because that's where their ancestors are buried. (You can see stone monuments everywhere, which I'm told are all grave markers.) It doesn't look wrong, just different.

I'm told that, despite being very efficient with their farming practices, Korea does not grow enough food to feed its entire population, and must import a lot of rice from the U.S. Since the government uses a comprehensive system of tariffs to maintain a positive trade balance (they export plenty of manufactured goods, like electronics and cars), anything imported is expensive. That is borne out by the price I paid for brown rice, which was enough to dissuade me from buying that kind again. And I thought rice would be cheap in Korea! (I did find something, apparently a white rice & barley mix, that is inexpensive, cooks in 15 minutes, and makes a good breakfast porridge with milk & sugar.) I've yet to find a good, inexpensive source of whole grains.

There are, however, plenty of red-pepper plants. This region is apparently known as the red pepper capital of Korea, and it shows in the school cafeteria cuisine. (Apparently, they don't use tomato paste; if it's red, it's pepper paste. Much of the food has a red tinge, including the kimchi.) At the apartment complex, you can usually walk around and find at least one place where someone has put peppers out to dry. It could be on a car dashboard, or on a reed mat under a clear plastic rain shelter, or some other arrangement. (Note: These are not bell peppers. They are hot red peppers. You can also buy them green, and those are plenty hot as well.) It's a good thing I like spicy food.

As far as food goes, I have a pretty good deal. In addition to housing and medical insurance (the school will pay for any doctor visits until I get the necessary paperwork complete), the school provides two meals per day while I'm at the school. Lunch is in the American Café, which serves western-style food and plays K-Love radio streamed from the Internet. Dinner is in the school cafeteria, which serves Korean food, of course, always including rice, kimchi, and soup. I think I'm starting to acquire a taste for kimchi, and I can almost always tell if I'll want a small portion of the dish or a large one.

Well, it's after 10:00, I took my laundry out of the machine a while ago, so I think I'd better get to bed. One more thing I want to mention, before my prayer requests, is about the plugs. Everything runs on about 220 V here, but my computer and phone charger can take that voltage, so I only needed an adapter. I bought one from REI, the store brand, that said it would work in most of Asia. Well, it does work in Korea, sort of. It fits in the plugs, and it usually connects OK. The round prongs, however, are a bit narrower than the plugs here, so the connection is flaky, and moving it slightly can make it loose. This has apparently caused some spark-scarring. Fortunately, the school has provided me with a computer with the right plug, and that's what I use most of the time. So, if you need an adapter to work in Korea, don't buy the REI generic. Check them out more closely. I'll be willing to look at e-mailed pictures, with a coin for scale, to see if they're the right size.

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for the visa situation. The current goal is to get a D-6 (religious worker/missionary) visa. The school used to sponsor those directly, but apparently there was some abuse of that visa class in Korea. In the subsequent crackdown, most of those that the school sponsored were denied renewal, and only a few, like a pastor and his wife, were accepted. However, the school is part of the General Baptist Assembly in Korea, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in the U.S., and they could sponsor my D-6 visa as a missionary to Korea. I think that would not be stretching the truth. Despite being paid fairly, I am in a ministry, working for a nonprofit that depends partly on donations, ministering to the kids, sharing my faith as well as my knowledge of mathematics. Please pray that I would be able to get a D-6 visa soon, hopefully before I have to renew my tourist entry permit.

I'm rather behind on my grading, and only staying a day or two ahead with lesson planning. (Lesson planning for math is not a big deal. With this teacher's edition, the lessons pretty much write themselves, and I have taught lessons with no preparation, but it's best to have a plan.) I have figured out how to streamline the correction process somewhat. Please pray that I would be able to catch up, post grades and return papers in a timely manner, and get some breathing room.

I gave my students a pep talk yesterday and today, and a couple of new handouts: a set of homework guidelines, and a survival guide entitled: "Help! My Math Teacher Doesn't Speak Korean!" I emphasized the importance of dedication, hard work, belief in yourself, and not giving up. I don't know how much of that got through. Please pray that the students would understand how dedicated I am to their success, and that they would respond with similar dedication to their own success.

Two nights ago, my mom forwarded me a link to another blog she reads. A Canadian knitter was writing about seeing her 20-year-old daughter off at the airport, to go to Australia for 4 months. She described (in rather earthy language) the difficulty of a mother dealing with that situation. It reminded me of how much my mother loves me, and how hard it must be for her to know how far away I am. I got a care package from her today, and the contents reminded me again of how much she loves me. Please pray for both of us, that God would give us peace, and help us deal with this separation in a healthy way. I know I can do it, because I'm an Enlightened Warrior, but a warrior's job is often difficult unless he's also a Wizard, which I'm not yet, at least not consistently. Please pray that it would be easier for both of us to accept this situation.

Well, I think I covered everything important that I wanted to cover. There's lots more I have to say, of course, but it's way past my bedtime. In closing, thank you for reading, and thank you for praying for me. I appreciate both, but the prayers especially. From somewhere in Korea, good night, and God bless you all!

First Week in Korea

Well, it's been a week minus a few hours since I first touched down in Korea, and I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto. :-)

Where do I begin? The flight was excellent in every respect. Singapore Airlines has world-class service and amenities, there was hardly any turbulence, I had a window seat next to a vacant middle seat, and the retired Hindu woman in the aisle seat was very friendly. I had no problems with immigration, customs, or health screening. Baggage claim was uneventful & accomplished at warrior speed, and my promised ride, though not the person I expected, was waiting for me, right where I expected, and recognized me immediately.

My first disappointment came when I tried to change my traveler's checks for Korean won. The currency counter at the airport charges a commission for traveler's checks, and I didn't want to pay that. I forgot I had some dollars that would be hard to spend in Korea. So, I arrived at the apartment without any spendable money. I also arrived later than I wanted to, because my driver got a little lost, since he was unfamiliar with the route and his directions were not very clear. Also, I won't get a decent paycheck for over a month, and I don't have an up-front settlement allowance. But, things are much better than they could be.

For one thing, the previous occupants left shampoo and other toiletries, so I don't need to buy those yet. For another, the school provides two meals per day while I'm working, so I only need food for breakfast plus the weekends. My roommate shares what he has, and Josh C, the guy who drives the school shuttle and picked me up from the airport, took me to the store and paid for some food for me. Cereal is expensive here, so breakfast is mostly fruit, like bananas, apples, and nectarines. (I could really use some granola, though.)

For another thing, in asking around for some help getting a ride to a bank, I learned that one of the school secretaries was looking for dollars for some reason. I made contact, she got some cash from the ATM, and I changed all the dollars I had for won. The rate was fair, and now I have some money to buy groceries. Since I don't have to pay for transportation, and my roommate won't ask me to kick in my share of the utilities until I get paid, and the school provides up to 10 meals per week, I should be OK.

One of the downsides of being where I am, is that there's not much within easy walking distance. For another, hardly any of the Koreans here speak any English. On the upside, the air is clean, the crime rate (aside from public drunkenness) is virtually zero, and the people are pretty friendly.

I've been very busy. On Sunday night, Josh C told me that I would be expected to start teaching Monday morning. I felt unprepared, not to mention jet-lagged, but as a warrior I can do whatever it takes to do whatever I have to do. Teaching math when I'm jet-lagged and disoriented is nothing compared to the challenges I conquered at Warrior Camp.

Then, on Monday morning, I met Chris Lee, who seems to be Dr. Cho's right-hand man. (Dr. Cho is the principal of the school.) He told me that, because of my recent arrival and the government's strong recommendations about containing the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, I wouldn't be teaching for a week, although since I was healthy I was free to come to the school, work at my desk, eat meals, etc. So, I got my books and computer, and I wasn't in any hurry, because I had a week to prepare lessons for two different classes.

Then, on Monday evening after 10pm, the doorbell rang. It was Chris Lee, and he had come to tell me that Dr. Cho wanted me to start the next morning, September 1. (That was the date I had originally promised that I could start.) Again, it would be hard, and it might not be pretty, but as a warrior I can do whatever it takes, so I agreed. The kids had been in study hall instead of math class for over a week, and Dr. Cho didn't want to lose any more time. I can't blame him, although the timing of his decision was not the best.

So, I started my teaching career on Tuesday, 1 September 2009. (Yes, this is a red-letter day for me.) First we had to get the textbooks, and then I had to teach without having prepared anything. I've often thought that I could do that, and it turns out that I can. However, I don't recommend it as a habit. By Wednesday I had a plan, and on Thursday and Friday I was able to cover two lessons per block, which is necessary to get through the required material on time. (No, I haven't planned it out with a calendar yet. I'm just doing as much as I can.)

Between teaching, settling in to the school, planning my lessons, settling in to the apartment, and trying to study Korean, I haven't had time for much else. So many things here are different, there are challenges everywhere when trying to do the simplest tasks, which makes them take much longer than they should.

For one thing, the unified laundry machine is labeled in Korean. (Thank God there are English instructions available!) Trying to do a load, I was convinced it hadn't dried them properly, so I tried to run a dry cycle. Again, not convinced. Then my roommate comes home and tells me it uses steam to dry, so they won't be dry like home, I have to shake them out. I hung everything on hangars wherever I could find a place to put a hook on my side of the apartment.

Then, on Friday, I had my biggest challenge in Korea to date (outside of the classroom):

It started because there was no shuttle available on Friday afternoon, since Josh C. and his wife Meagan were coaching the volleyball teams at their away games. So, I caught a ride home with Dick & Sherry, before dinnertime, which meant I needed to prepare my own dinner for the first time since arriving here. Not having enough of my own food in the apartment for dinner, let alone the weekend, not feeling comfortable using that much of my roommate's food uninvited, and finally having some won of my own to spend, I decided to do some shopping.

There is a small convenience store here at the apartment complex, that sells some necessities and sundry items. Between that and the farmers' markets that take over the streets every 5 days, I could buy all the food I needed. However, Friday was not a market-day. There is also a shuttle bus that I learned about, chartered by the management of the apartment complex, which provides transportation between the complex and the downtown area at no charge.

Feeling adventurous, and not finding what I wanted in the convenience store, I decided to take the shuttle. The driver spoke more English than most Koreans here, which isn't saying much. I was able to communicate that I wanted to go shopping in town, and that I needed food, not a restaurant, but food to cook. (At least, I think he got that message.) Where he let me off, I didn't see what I wanted immediately, so I decided to walk up and down the street.

I went into one or two stores, I crossed the street twice, and then I finally found a little side-street with a few open-air produce stands. I had been looking for brown rice, but I didn't even know how to say "rice" in Korean, or spell it in hangul. What I ended up buying was a handful of bananas, a few brown potatoes, a few yellow onions, and 10 brown eggs. The eggs were in flats of 25 (on the metric system, of course), and I used hand motions to show that I wanted fewer. The woman at the produce stand put 10 eggs in a bag, without additional padding. (Needless to say, I was very careful with that bag on the way home!) I offered the woman two 10,000 won bills, she took one and gave me two 1,000 won bills and a 500 won coin. Seven and a half thousand won for a handful of bananas, a handful of onions, a handful of potatoes, and a metric dozen eggs. Not as cheap as Imwale's, perhaps, but not bad, considering I started with over 150,000 won to last until payday. And, I should be able to cash my traveler's checks before then.

(This shopping trip taught me a valuable lesson: Be flexible in my purchasing plans until I know where to find what I want. Instead of putting "brown rice, lentils, eggs, tofu, milk," I need to write: "carbs (complex), protein, lipid/oil, calcium" as the nutrients that I need to shop for, and get what I can find to meet those needs.)

I walked back down the street until I was near the place where the bus driver had dropped me off, and looked in vain for the bus stop he had mentioned. (If I saw a bus-stop sign, I didn't recognize it.) As Providence would have it, before long I saw the bus itself, with the logo of the apartment complex, and I waved and ran (carefully holding my bag!) to meet it. The bus stopped, the door opened, I boarded, saying, "Go-map seumnida," to the driver (which he acknowledged with "ne"), and carefully took my seat.

At the apartment, I put away my purchases. I found one of the eggs was broken, and 9 whole. It was better than I had feared, but not as good as I'd hoped. Next time I go shopping, I'll bring something like newspaper for padding. (There was a Korean newspaper by the door on Saturday. I can't read it, but that doesn't make it usless!) I sautéed a sliced onion and ate it with spaghetti sauce, which was good. I also made two eggs in a hole with some bread from the fridge, and cooking oil from the pantry. That was dinner on Friday.

Saturday I mostly worked on lesson plans. Didn't finish with all the plans for next week, but I am prepared for the next two days. Now that I'm familiar with the lesson planning software/templates, I should be able to get caught up by Monday evening. For lunch, I baked a potato in the microwave, and sautéed a chopped onion and pepper (from the fridge). Next time I'll seed the pepper first! Wow, was that spicy!

Saturday I also went shopping again, this time at the convenience store. I got some spaghetti and a small bag of what I thought was brown rice. Since there's plenty of spaghetti sauce in the apartment, I cooked some of that first (after translating the instructions with my computer), which was good for dinner.

Sunday, I spent a fair bit of time translating the writing on the "rice" package. (When you need to translate Korean cooking instructions, Google translate is worth its weight in gold. So is a computer that can type in the source language.) It turns out the "rice" is some kind of rice-barley mix. It cooks in 15 minutes, so it must be white rice. I'm not sure how much of a complete grain the barley is, but the package says (in Korean) that it's an excellent (quantified) source of dietary fiber. It has kind of a nutty flavor, and I bet it would be good with milk for breakfast.

I'd like to post some photos, but the job of teaching and settling in to Korea hasn't left me much time for photography. I'll try to take some shots of the farms and grave markers on the road between my apartment and the school. That's about the only time I have when there's nothing else I need to be doing. If any of them are good enough to post, that should give you a flavor of what my commute is like.

Prayer Requests:

First, praise God, and give glory to Him, for enabling me to learn a few words of Korean and some of the Hangul writing system before I left! Thanks to that, I know how to greet people and take their leave, thank them and acknowledge thanks, introduce myself and say where I come from, and ask people their names and where they come from. Also, I can slowly sound out the writing. While I can't really use the language to get things done, this limited vocabulary is still very helpful. It makes a great first impression, when I bow to someone I've just met, and say, "Mannaso, pangap-seumnida (Pleased to meet you)." It's also good for impressing my students. I'm pretty sure I'm the only new foreign teacher at the school this term who introduced himself in Korean, or asked a student his name in Korean when there was a problem communicating in English. This brings me to my next prayer request:

Please pray that my students would be able to understand me. Some of them don't speak or understand English very well, which is very understandable, considering how slow my progress is in learning Korean. I'm trying to make sure that everything important is also written down on the board, because students of a new language usually master reading more readily than oral comprehension. Please pray also that I would develop a habit of speaking slowly and clearly, to help my students understand me.

Please pray that the visa/currency conversion situation would get worked out. (Because the provincial ministry of education refuses to grant accreditation to my school, it is very difficult to get a school-sponsored work visa. Most of the non-Korean teachers used religious worker visas until the government caught on and refused most of the renewals, which created the vacancies that I am helping to fill. That's why the school is planning to move to a different province within the next two years. Green cards are even harder; I would have to marry a Korean woman to get one!) What concerns me is that I will eventually need to convert won to dollars, to pay some bills incurred in the U.S. Official currency exchangers will stamp my passport every time they do so. If I leave the country on a tourist visa, and the immigration officials see that I've been converting a lot of won to dollars, they'll wonder if I've been working illegally to earn that many won. While immigration officials recognize that the government doesn't grant enough E-2 visas to meet demand, and they don't go around to schools checking teachers' visas, they can hardly ignore evidence that's right in front of them. Please pray that God would work everything out in His time.

Finally, please pray for my relationships with my co-workers, especially my roommate. There's no cause for concern yet, and they're mostly a pretty cheerful, easygoing bunch, but I'm still working on finding my place socially. Language barriers are part of the problem, as is the limited time that we have to get to know each other. Also, I've only been here a week, and most of them have been here longer. I'm taking Tae Kwon Do, starting next week, which should help. (Other foreign teachers are also signed up, including the Korean-American twins, Rachael and Sarah. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better, so I can tell them apart!) The instructor's English skills are quite limited, which will make things interesting, so I'll need to pay close attention.

Thanks for reading. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. And, until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the palm of his hand.