Goodbyes

After two wonderful, wonderful years in Korea I am going to be leaving next week. This past Sunday at church after the sermon, my pastor got up and announced my coming departure. Now when I say announced, though, I mean that he announced it in Korean, and I heard understand enough to know that he was talking about me, but not exactly what he was saying.

He spoke for a few minutes, I stood and bowed, and then tried to sit back down. The friendly choir man behind me, though, motioned for me to keep standing. The way our sanctuary is positioned, the choir sits in pews facing the congregation throughout the entire service. So, as I stood back up, the whole congregation sang a blessing song to me with their hands upraised. After the blessing song, they prayed for me for a few more minutes.

As I stood there in the midst of my church family, I was struck with how overwhelmingly good God has been to me. Despite the fact that I can't have a great conversation with the people at my church, they have shown me so much love. That hospitality and graciousness is representative of how I have been treated in Korea in all areas, and it's also a big part of the reason I decided to move on this year. I've been on the receiving end for a while, and look forward to bringing some of that love and hospitality to the people with whom I will work in the coming year.

The goodbyes this summer are hard, but that's the way it really ought to be if you've been living well, I suppose. So I am immensely grateful for this experience, the relationships, and now, the goodbyes.

Out with Olive

This weekend Andy and I took a trip with our friend Olive. We went up to Cheong Song, a town in the country where her aunt and uncle live. We ventured around Juwang mountain, went fishing, ate some awesome food, and had some good sits. Since I'm used to life in Busan, it was was fun to enjoy country living.

We found some waterfalls and big rocks when we were hiking, so naturally I had to see if I could climb up.
Olive and Andy
For lunch we ordered Korean rice wine, which was very nice.
The town is famous for its "magic water"--essentially water with really high levels of iron. It tasted nothing like any water I've had before. We scooped it up from the ground--notice how the rock beneath it is orange.
Saturday morning it was raining, but we went fishing anyway. Andy, Olive, and I all caught fish, but Olive's picture is the cutest because she was the most excited. I look seriously distraught and guilt-ridden in mine. I couldn't enjoy my catch until after Andy unhooked it and I saw that it was okay. Apparently recreational fishing isn't for me--but I'll still enjoy eating Korea's delicious seafood.

My Last Day of Class

My Lovely Conversation Class :)

Christian Ed Homework

I gave my Christian Education majors the same assignment of description, and though their English is significantly better than that of my other students, they still made me laugh.

"I'm 23 years old and I look completely perfect. I'm slim, and I have a six pack. I'm very kind and holy Christian. But sometimes I'm more kind. ㅋㅋ"

"Hello! Let me introduce my boyfriend. He is 24 years old. And he is little fat. Like white cute pig! I'm so pride my boyfriend! By Linda~"

"I'm kind and soft mind. I'm so cool."

"My boyfriend has an openmind like an ocean."

"I'm average height and slim. So my nickname is chop-sticks. I'm not funny. So I don't have a sense of humor."

"I have a pretty good face, thanks to God!"

"I have a big head than the average person. I am tall, but have short legs. So sad."

The end

It's Monday afternoon here, which means that I've commenced my final week of teaching at Kosin. I've got three more days of classes and then a week of final exams. It's hard to believe that almost two years have passed since I started this awesome adventure.

It's strange to think, but when I first decided to take this position, I didn't give that much thought to the teaching aspect of the choice. Over these past four semesters, though, I have come to love my students and teaching them. Recently Andy and I were sharing some of our funny student homework quotes, and we looked up a quote he had written down last year. Here's the quote:

"I am putting on a flesh. The inside of my thigh so stouten."

We were surprised to see that the student who wrote it is now pretty good at English, and we could never imagine her saying that now. It was encouraging to see that our sometimes fumbling attempts to teach our students English really have helped them improve.

And because of that hope for improvement, here are some of the highlights from the current Global English homework I'm grading where students had to describe themselves or a friend:

[about his roommate] "He is fat and has a many body hair."

"I am black horn-rimmed glasses too large for my small, sunken face. but I look good with a perm. and I have a complex about being short and a little plump."

"My head is a curl. And there is a goatee."

Delight

At Sunday evening fellowship yesterday we looked at Proverbs 8 where wisdom is personified; it reads as follows,

^"when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,

rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind."

I love this image of joy and delight at the goodness of life itself. As I look at my now-limited time left in Korea, I can't help but be filled with joy at the gift of life here. From my wonderful students and the dear friends I've made here to the gorgeous hikes and beautiful views, God seems to be filling me to the brim with joy for each day. Here are some of the highlights of this past weekend:

On Friday evening I had most of my literature class over for dinner. It was the most people I've ever hosted at once before. We had a good time. We played a winking game for quite a while which is why, if you look, Jackson and I are winking in the photo.
On Saturday I met my friend Nayoung who isn't studying at Kosin this semester. We had Japanese food, walked around the park enjoying the gorgeous weather, and tried these strawberry lollypops.
And this morning I woke up at 5:30 am to a stunning view outside my window. I can't think of a better way to start a new week.

before and after

As an added bonus, this is the greatest instance of bad English in Nampodong. This restaurant clearly doesn't run its signs past native English speakers. ^^