The End of the Beginning

  Tomorrow is the end of the beginning. We disperse to the four winds, and we must stand on our own in the places where we land. It will not be easy, but it will be worthwhile. I am nervous, but excited. We have dipped our feet in the shallows for a month now, and finally the time has come to dive in!

On the Doorstep of the Unknown

Sunday, February 27th

I'm so intimidated. It's unbelievable that I will teaching so soon. I am anxious to start but still very nervous. It is such a responsibility! Who am I to do this? How can I manage to lead all of those children so that they can learn and grow? How can I communicate with the school, get by with all transport on everything on my own? How can I work with my co-teacher?

I have to take the lead, take charge. I need to have the initiative. I need to listen carefully. I need to be an example. I need to walk with sensitivity. I need to be bold and courageous.

I wonder in prayer: How, O Lord? I am already so far away from what's familiar... I am in deep water, would You hold me safe and sound? Would You guide among the waves? Would You hold my hand so I can hold firm the hands of others? How can I be such an ambassador, Lord? There is so much to do. You led me here; please don't leave me on my own. Continue to guide me as You have from the beginning. Continue to uphold these shaky hands and give light to my unsure feet. A day at a time, a day at a time! I am here for Your purpose.

Monday, February 28th?

"Have you experienced culture shock?" asked my co-scholar. I had to take a moment to think.
"Well, I guess a little bit... But it hasn't really hit me full-force yet." I replied then, but I am still pondering the question. Is that really the answer? I think that so far, I am more stressed from the idea of teaching than from the culture in general. The idea of being totally on my own in a foreign country, having to find my own way about town and figuring out / navigating in a language I can't speak... Yeah, that scares me. Somehow I am struck by the similarities, though. Some things seem so familiar here. People are people, even though the culture significantly effects the way of thinking, even worlds away I hear it strike a harmonious chord with my own experience.

Orientation Ending

 Friday, February 24th

Ginny and I with Joseph, a fellow Alabamian TaLK scholar

The closing ceremony for the main part of our orientation was this morning. It was good, but also bittersweet because of all the goodbyes. One thing that stood out for me in the closing ceremony was something one of the speakers said. He mentioned that this February has been the coldest in about 65 years for South Korea. He and other staff over the TaLK program were very concerned about this. He said that they had been praying for warmer weather to come, and hey, it came starting last week. He credits that temperature change to prayer. Such a wonderful thing to hear from a government official! It wasn't even in a 'religious' context -- I think that is what made it particularly memorable to me.

This doesn't begin to capture how delightful the food was.

Another notable thing today was the lunch that the cafeteria staff served us. It was AMAZING! It was a lavish spread -- I didn't even try everything, and I had plenty with only a little bit of each thing. There was fried shrimp, mixed seafood (mussels, clams, etc), mashed potatoes, a variety of fruit, fries, gimbap, waffles for dessert... Wow. We were all amazed and delighted by the sight of all of it, and it was delicious. So much excited chatter over food!



Saturday, February 25th

So. Tired. I could only barely keep my eyes open this afternoon in our lecture. We didn't make a lot of progress on our lesson plan, but I did talk a lot with my Korean co-scholar. I was so surprised and delighted to find that I was paired with a Korean TaLK scholar! I had been told earlier that I would not have one at all, but apparently they did some last-minute shuffling and well, here we are.

Tonight there was a meet-'n'-greet for the 8th gen scholars to meet other TaLK scholars who already live in the province. I talked with a few people. It was awfully loud in the bar, though, so my throat is sore just from trying to converse with people. It was okay, but I wish I had whipped out my sketchbook earlier (as it was, I had no sooner taken it out than it was time to leave)... several of us left 'early' (11:20ish). Others... well, let's just say many came back late.

The meet-'n'-greet was so-so, but the cab ride back... Now that's a different story. I was with my sister, who speaks a little Korean, and two other TaLK scholars. We were chatting amongst ourselves and the driver was silent. Then Ginny said "Dokdo-neun hangook ddang!" (Dokdo belongs to Korea!) This phrase was stuck in our heads thanks to the video that our group made at the end of our Jochiwon orientation. (See that video here.) If you don't know about Dokdo... Here's the basics: two tiny islands, located in the East Sea, claimed by both South Korea and Japan. Adamantly claimed by Koreans. I mean, seriously, in Korea? Dokdo belongs to Korea, no questions asked. And it's called the East Sea, not the Sea of Japan. Just sayin'.

So. Ginny says this patriotic phrase with the accompanying fist pump, and to our surprise we hear (and see) an echo from the driver. He loved it! And so ensued a conversation in broken Korean between Ginny and our driver. Korean taxi drivers are crazy, okay? Traffic laws are more like suggestions here anyway, but this is especially true of the taxi drivers. Ginny used the Korean word for 'fast', just as an off-hand comment. Well, then the driver was performing. Zoom, zoom, zoom! We got back safely, though. Tired, but laughing.

Lecture building for our POE orientation

Learning

Cute roadside fence in Jochiwon

    After our mandatory medical checkup on Saturday morning, we had the rest of the weekend free. Most of my fellow TaLK scholars left Jochiwon. Many went to Seoul and spent the night there, while others visited Seoul or somewhere else for a day trip. On Saturday afternoon I headed out with about 17 other people to walk across town to the local HomePlus store (the Korean equivalent of WalMart), which was about a 35-minute walk away. It doesn't seem like the most exciting activity, sure, but it was a pleasant outing for us. We were led there by two 7th-generation TaLK scholars who live in Jochiwon. (I am part of the 8th generation of TaLK scholars. The 7th-gen is the group that began last summer.) For me, Sunday was simply a day to relax and unwind. I even had the chance to play a few games that evening, which was refreshing.

  On Monday we had a great set of lectures, ending in a particularly engaging and useful lecture on using powerpoint effectively. Sadly, our second lecture on Tuesday was a great demonstration of how not to use powerpoint. It was difficult to sit through all 2 hours of that lecture, but the two lectures afterwards more than made up for it! One of those lectures was on using songs and chants. A few people were really dubious about this class, but I think in the end we all enjoyed it. For the last part of the class, the teacher gave each group (of around 5-8 people each) one pre-made lesson plan, which we were supposed to review as a group. Then she split the groups over two sets of three tables, and at each table we took turns teaching each other our little lessons. Or I should say, trying to teach each other. Haha, it was a little crazy, and we certainly learned by experience the value of sufficient preparation! None of the teams at my table successfully completed their lessons, partly because of lack of preparation, but also because we were laughing so much.

  I am really enjoying orientation. Most of the lectures are useful, and I like the people here. It is a gentle sort of introduction to Korea, a way to gradually become accustomed to a very different culture. We are getting used to the food (hey, if we can take Korean cafeteria food, surely we can handle normal Korean food without a problem!), we are learning to navigate unfamiliar territory as group instead of going alone, and we are learning together how to operate within this culture. I am very thankful to have all of this preparation, instead of just being thrown straight into teaching.

  Today was another good lecture day. I could spell out a summary of each lecture, but I think that would get boring very quickly, so I will leave it at this: of today's varied lectures, some were certainly more useful and relevant than others.

  It is hard to believe that our time here is almost over. I feel like it is going by too fast. There are so many people yet to meet, and I want more time to get to know those that I have met already. Alas, this is no summer camp. The focus here is not on building relationships with fellow foreigners, but instead, on teaching children and learning about Korea. The friendships built through orientation are only a... side effect. A desirable and useful side effect, but definitely not our main mission.

  I see the end approaching, but it is only the end of the beginning. In just a few short weeks, I will be teaching in my own elementary classroom. Crazy!

First Week

Stone bridge in the folk village

     What a week! Orientation week one is over. People keep saying time is short, and we have little time left to do things together as a group. I feel like we're only barely getting started. I feel the time crunch, too, and I am looking forward to actually teaching. It would be difficult to adequately cover the past few days, so I will just give a few thing that stood out.

   On Monday there was an optional field trip to a folk village. This was an enjoyable outing in spite of the cold. I wandered around looking at the sights, sometimes alone and sometimes with a random group of fellow TaLK scholars. Two highlights: watching the traditional music/dance performance, and swinging on the standing swings (which are fun but very tiring!)

Standing swings

Traditional farmers' music and dance

At Gyeongbuk Palace

  Tuesday was our first official day of orientation. We traveled as a group to Seoul. The welcoming ceremony, held at the main campus of Korea University, was lovely. Along with several speeches, there were performances by a children's choir, a young taekwondo demonstration team, and a percussion group similar to that which we saw at the folk village. Next we were dropped off at Gyeongbuk Palace and we divided up into our assigned teams to start our photo scavenger hunt. It was a frigid day. We all wanted to explore the city, and we had one or two side 'missions' that we wanted to do as a group, but we didn't really accomplish any. We quickly became so cold that we just wanted to hurry up and finish. We still had fun though, I think. It felt so glorious to finally get back into the bus when we were finished.

Our dorm

   Wednesday: Lectures, lectures, lectures. Most of the lectures are interesting to me, so it has been good. A notable highlight from Wednesday was the taekwondo class. This class was of course very tiring (I am STILL sore!), but also fun. I think the main thing that made it so enjoyable was simply that we were all in the same boat. Most of the people in my group had little experience when it comes to martial arts, much less taekwondo. There were many mistakes, but also much good-hearted laughter.

   On Thursday, nearly everyone I talked to commented on how sore they were. I have something else in mind to say about Thursday, but that will come in another post.

   Friday: Today was tiring again, but pleasant. The lectures were good, and we had another fun class (Traditional Korean paper craft). One highlight: lunch was wonderful! You see, some dignitary (POE director or something?) was visiting that day, so the cafeteria staff put forth an impressive spread. There was loads of fruit (we only occasional have fruit, at most once a day), delicious fried shrimp, kimbap, chips with salsa... Let's just say there was a LOT of very delighted people today at lunchtime.

   Anyway, that's the short version. Hopefully this weekend I will get a chance to write out more thoughts from this week.

Arrival

Lots of fog on the drive to Atlanta

     In the car on the way to the airport, I spent most of my time staring out the window. This is my last look at America for a long time, I wondered to myself. I haven't been out-of-country since I was a toddler, so that in of itself is a new experience to me. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had packed plenty of things to do in the plane, and my suitcases were about as full as they could be (while keeping safely within the weight limit). I thought about all the things that didn't fit, and I wondered how much I might regret my packing choices. I have yet to need anything I left behind. It is only a few days into my 6 months, but so far, so good, ay?

   My last night in America was spent in a hotel room not far from the airport. We (my dad, my sister, and I) woke up early the next morning to get to the airport several hours early. I was nervous about checking our baggage and about going through security, but everything went smoothly. With one final hug, my sister and I said goodbye to Dad just before heading into the security checkpoint, but I guess we were too preoccupied to be overly emotional about parting.

Our plane. It looked so big!

   Things were going well enough when we boarded the plane... Except when I was trying to put my carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment, I lost my grip on the bag -- one of the handles broke and the bag tumbled down, nearly hitting another passenger on the head! I hastily retrieved the bag and stuffed it into the compartment, then moved on to my seat. The flight was uneventful after that -- uneventful, but very long.

   About halfway through the flight, I leaned over and closed my eyes, a prayer of gratitude and wonder flowing through my mind. Yes, there the tears finally came. Just a drop or two, too quiet in the sleepy plane to be noticed by anyone. I wondered at how strange it was for me to be on a plane to South Korea. Me! Little shy homebody that I am, traveling across the world to a place I've never been before, to teach in a country where I do not speak the language and most don't speak my language? It sounds absurd, and I laugh about it sometimes. But here I am. And I am so grateful to the One who set me on this journey, who has guided me every step along the way, and who has never once abandoned me or left me without provision. Even to the point where He didn't send me alone, but rather in the company of my sister. What a comfort! He is faithful!

   I have repeated this to myself countless times throughout this journey: He has guided me thus far, He will guide me unto the end.
He has been faithful even when I was faithless, He has opened one door after another. He has given me calm assurance of His nearness, He has granted me joy in seeing Him work, He has filled me with hope for what is to come.

   I know this won't be easy. It is so easy to be nervous, to be anxious. How will I be able to communicate when I know so little Korean? Will I be able to teach the students effectively? Will I be able to make friends here? Sure, it is easy to worry. But each step along the way, it is also a little easier to not worry, as I have ample reminders of God's sovereignty. He has every base covered, I have no need to worry at all. Yes, it will be difficult! Yes, I may become utterly exhausted, make many mistakes, and have plenty of embarrassing moments. But that's okay - it is all worthwhile in the pursuit of God's will.