When you are a foreigner in Korea and you spend a little time with another foreigner you always ask "how are you?" But its not just a greeting when you're living in Korea. It is an honest question wanting an honest answer. And often we (foreigners) take the time to give an honest answer... sometimes vent a little bit.
Every foreigner has their stories of things that are bothering them in a foreign land... I can't stand the food, my boss is a jerk, I don't understand the traffic, I almost died! etc, etc.
I may have a story or two to tell of my own, but if you ask me this question I will say without abandon, I am fantastic! Perhaps I'm still "high" from last weeks unexpected contest win! (that was awesome!) But I think it mostly comes from the fact that I absolutely love where I am right now. There are of course angry moments while driving and confusing moments on the phone, also lonely moments in my little one room living space... but all in all- I'm great!
There are many reasons for this positive outlook.
1) I love my job! I sincerely love it! My students were (mostly) great. And I figure that the hardest part is behind me. I now have a better grasp of the curriculum and what is expected of me (I hope) and it should all be pretty downhill from here!
2) I really love living in a city. My city doesn't have a plethora of things to do... but let me tell you- my city of 600,000 has a leg up on the Village of Kewaskum.
3) In Korea I'm famous (See previous blogs)
4) In Korea people feed my ego (is that a good thing?)
But I think that #5 is the most important reason...
I believe that I am exactly where God wants me to be. There is such joy and peace in knowing that the path I am taking is not fully my own choosing but is in obedience to what I believe God has for me.
On that note... I studied Korean for 2 hours tonight and I'm hoping I'll be dreaming in Korean tonight. It is still slow going. My biggest problem is that I never practice speaking it. I'm pretty ok at reading it and listening, but when it comes to putting all of that into speaking terms... I'm lacking.
If you wouldn't mind I have two prayer requests:
1) That I would be more disciplined in learning Korean! Or that God would give me a supernatural gift of speaking in this foreign language :-p
2) I'm really wanting a new/ bigger apartment so that I can have guests/ entertain. I'm looking into a couple of possibilities and am hoping for some kind of favor in this area...
Thanks friends! I'll be home for a visit in just 4 weeks! I can hardly believe it!!! See you soon!!!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
WE WON!
I can hardly believe it but we won the "All Together: Top Talent" contest hosted by Arirang TV, for our province! It really is quite unbelievable to me. CareyAnn and I entered the contest in order to do something different and challenge ourselves to memorize a Korean song... and now we won for our area! AAAHHHHH!
Yesterday was really exciting. It was a lot better than the first round of the contest. There were 10 competitors in this round and they had actual hosts and interview questions. It was really fun AND funny!
By some strange twist of fate our practice of the song in the morning was AWFUL... but when it came time for the contest we somehow rocked it! We were cute, and got through the entire song without a mistake! BUT the thing that really pushed us into the top spot was not us at all... it was the audience participation. There was an amazing group of ajummas (older women) in the back who were LOVING the song and they were dancing and going crazy! After we finished the Emcee asked the ladies to come down and teach us to dance the "ajumma dance" it was really funny! So, a little song, a little dance, and now CareyAnn and I are $1,500 richer and just a little more famous! :-) Video of the event to come soon! Here is the video for one of our practices in my room. Enjoy!
Yesterday was really exciting. It was a lot better than the first round of the contest. There were 10 competitors in this round and they had actual hosts and interview questions. It was really fun AND funny!
By some strange twist of fate our practice of the song in the morning was AWFUL... but when it came time for the contest we somehow rocked it! We were cute, and got through the entire song without a mistake! BUT the thing that really pushed us into the top spot was not us at all... it was the audience participation. There was an amazing group of ajummas (older women) in the back who were LOVING the song and they were dancing and going crazy! After we finished the Emcee asked the ladies to come down and teach us to dance the "ajumma dance" it was really funny! So, a little song, a little dance, and now CareyAnn and I are $1,500 richer and just a little more famous! :-) Video of the event to come soon! Here is the video for one of our practices in my room. Enjoy!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
First Round
Well... we survived round one... at least the performance part. I'll let you know if we actually pass to round two (though I'm thinking we will). It was a slightly terrifying experience, yet fun... but mostly boring in the middle. There were 30 different people/ groups trying out. Some were good, some were not so good. CareyAnn and I got the audience going with our rocking guitar playing and cute smiling faces ;-) but we did happen to forget the third verse. We will be practicing a lot this week to make sure that doesn't happen next time!
Saturday night we had a potluck at the pastor's house while he was away visiting Canada. This was great fun! Then I stayed until 4 am chatting with two other friends while everyone else went home at 11pm. I guess I've been craving some good conversation. It continued the next day after we went to church, we went back to the pastor's house for more hang out. Fun!
This brings me to another valid point... I've been daydreaming lately about getting a bigger apartment. I am satisfied with my little one room and it does the job. It is comfortable, however... it is impossible to entertain! I've been dreaming of a loft apartment that my friend's Jena and Alan had last time we were here. It's only about one mile away from where I currently live... which would be slightly annoying in the winter... I would probably have to get a taxi to school or just leave really early... (or get a car?) but the idea of having a space to entertain is SOoooooo appealing! I was thinking about it so much that I actually had to pray about it and just say... well God- I know that you could make it happen... if its your will, you know what I want! Though I am going to try to do a little bit of finagling in mentioning the idea to my school that I would be willing to pay a little rent for a nicer place... we'll see how things pan out.
I'm sincerely hoping to blog a little more these days. Especially with summer school coming up and I'll finish teaching at noon! (I hope). So... here goes!
TTYL
Heidi
Saturday night we had a potluck at the pastor's house while he was away visiting Canada. This was great fun! Then I stayed until 4 am chatting with two other friends while everyone else went home at 11pm. I guess I've been craving some good conversation. It continued the next day after we went to church, we went back to the pastor's house for more hang out. Fun!
This brings me to another valid point... I've been daydreaming lately about getting a bigger apartment. I am satisfied with my little one room and it does the job. It is comfortable, however... it is impossible to entertain! I've been dreaming of a loft apartment that my friend's Jena and Alan had last time we were here. It's only about one mile away from where I currently live... which would be slightly annoying in the winter... I would probably have to get a taxi to school or just leave really early... (or get a car?) but the idea of having a space to entertain is SOoooooo appealing! I was thinking about it so much that I actually had to pray about it and just say... well God- I know that you could make it happen... if its your will, you know what I want! Though I am going to try to do a little bit of finagling in mentioning the idea to my school that I would be willing to pay a little rent for a nicer place... we'll see how things pan out.
I'm sincerely hoping to blog a little more these days. Especially with summer school coming up and I'll finish teaching at noon! (I hope). So... here goes!
TTYL
Heidi
Friday, June 10, 2011
I'm (still) famous in Korea :-)
Its true... Korea allows me my dreams and greatest ambitions! :-) Tomorrow I will be in a singing contest. Or... maybe I will be auditioning for a singing contest... we haven't quite figured it out yet. BUT My friend CareyAnn and I have signed up for a song contest where foreigners (like myself) sing a Korean song. I've been spending the last two weeks memorizing and practicing a Korean song. This is VERY fantastic because that was one of my goals! The contest has pushed me to practice at least a little bit of Korean.
It is possible that tomorrow evening the TV station (Arirang) will be sending a camera crew to tape my friend and I at a potluck that we are having... background footage I guess. I say "it is possible" because I can never be quite sure how and what gets lost in translation. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that you MUST MUST must be flexible when living in Korea.
Things are going really well for me. I am loving my life here and I cannot believe that the semester is already over!!! Exams are next week. I'm really proud of my students and how far they have come from day one. *^^* I'll be teaching a summer school course in "American Culture" which I think will be VERY fun... I'm quite excited for this change. Also I'll only have 16 names to memorize instead of 140... There are so many more things to tell, but I need to get to bed. It is 12:30 on Friday evening and I have Korean lessons in the morning.
Anyang!
It is possible that tomorrow evening the TV station (Arirang) will be sending a camera crew to tape my friend and I at a potluck that we are having... background footage I guess. I say "it is possible" because I can never be quite sure how and what gets lost in translation. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that you MUST MUST must be flexible when living in Korea.
Things are going really well for me. I am loving my life here and I cannot believe that the semester is already over!!! Exams are next week. I'm really proud of my students and how far they have come from day one. *^^* I'll be teaching a summer school course in "American Culture" which I think will be VERY fun... I'm quite excited for this change. Also I'll only have 16 names to memorize instead of 140... There are so many more things to tell, but I need to get to bed. It is 12:30 on Friday evening and I have Korean lessons in the morning.
Anyang!
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