Things are going well here in South Korea. This past week was another good one. Next week is final exams, so I put together a game to help review everything we've gone over. I did a similar version of the game with both my 1st and 3rd year students. It brought some nice competition in the classes and I had a lot of fun with the students. This next week, since it is exam week, I think I have only one class on Monday, and none the rest of the week. I still need to come to school, but I'll be spending my time lesson planning and somehow trying not to be bored. I don't even really know what lesson planning I need to be doing since the following three weeks we don't follow the book, but just do whatever we want in class. So, I think I'll bring in my guitar and do a song one week, and I've already got ideas for the next two weeks. But I guess it doesn't hurt to have random lesson plans lying around. This past week, I had some extra time so I started researching why so many English words have silent letters, which turned into researching loanwords, which lead to the history of English words in general, which lead to the history of England and me reading about the Vikings, Old English, Old Norse, and the Anglo-Saxons. It was really interesting. So, I put together a lesson plan about loanwords (words that a particular language "borrows" from another language; like Pizza(italian), knight(german), tortilla(you should know this one), and the history of English words. I think my original goal was to show my students the reason English spelling rarely keeps to any rules. And I ended up finding it really fascinating that the reason is that English has always been a language that is influenced and changed by the cultures and people around it, even those that are attacking it. Some other world languages are protected for their purity, that they won't be deluded by other languages. But English has always welcomed that change and is a representation of all the different types of people that speak it. Isn't that interesting? I thought so. And I hope my students think so, though I think it may be a little beyond most of them. We'll see...

On Friday, I went over to Anlee and Amanda's house for some of Anlee's salmon salad. It was very delicious. But the most exciting part of the night was that we played Nertz! For those of you who aren't aware of the awesomeness that is Nertz, it is a card game that is kind of a combination of solitare and speed. As Anlee put it, Nertz was her version of partying in college. And I can say the same thing. We would have Nertz parties at our house senior year and play for several hours. One guy at my school even started keeping a spreadsheet on his computer to keep track of like 10 categories of stats from the game. Every time a game was played, he inserted the data in the computer. He must have had like 70+ people in there.

Saturday was an eventful day. And I wanted to tell you about it by making a list of the 8 reasons I'd rather take a road trip with 25 Korean middle schoolers than 25 Korean middle school teachers, but I felt bad about listing all those unpretty details. So, I'll just give you a quick rundown. One of the teachers at my school got married yesterday down near the south part of South Korea; about a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Ansan. The school decided to take a bus down there for the teachers that wanted to go to the wedding. I didn't have anything else going and decided it would be a great Korean experience-seeing a Korean wedding, seeing another part of the country, and hanging out with the teachers outside of school. And it was mostly a great time. I was glad I went and I now have lots of knowledge and experience that I didn't have beforehand (some of which I would be alright not having). We first went to a traditional Korean village down in Jeonju, the city in which the wedding was being held. That was pretty cool. Then we went to the church where the wedding was being held. (As a side note, many Korean weddings are actually held in an apartment or office highrise, with a couple floors set aside for weddings. My apartment building is one of these. Also, Korean weddings are typically very short. I've been told weddings at these buildings are just in and out, with another wedding right afterwards). Well, this wedding was a western style wedding and was at a church. When we got there, the first thing we did was go into this room where the bride was positioned against one side, seated, with her wedding dress on. And anybody that wanted could go up to her and get a picture with her. So there were like 20 of us in this tiny room all waiting to get a picture with the bride. I found this situation rather odd, since it is not part of a typical American wedding. Typically, as a guest at a wedding in America, you don't see the bride till she walks down the aisle during the wedding. I can see some of the purpose of taking pictures with the bride before the wedding, but all that I could think of was, if I was a bride, the last place I'd want to be in the minutes leading up to the wedding was seated, unable to move, with people rotating in to get a picture with me. But that's probably just my American expectations and traditions coming through....Okay, so back to the story. After we get a quick shot with the bride (and of course as the foreigner, I'm immediately pushed up to get in a picture) we head out of the church back towards the bus. And I'm confused. I had heard Korean weddings were short, but was this it? Turns out we were heading to lunch. The guys were hungry. But it was 1:15 and the wedding was starting at 1:30. I asked about this seemingly important fact. "The guys are REAllY hungry." Oh, that makes sense...No! It doesn't at all. We're going to miss the wedding! Am I the only one who see this? But I don't make much of a fuss, because I am not in charge and I figure the principle and other leaders know better than I do. So we get some lunch. I figure the wedding probably starts later than we thought. After about 25 minutes, I am told it is time to go to the wedding. About half the teachers get up to leave. Turns out the principal, vice principal, and the others are not going to come, but stay and drink. Interesting turn of events. And at first the principal tells me to stay, but the others come to my rescue. So, we get back to the church, and sure enough, the wedding has started. Not sure how much we missed but I'm guessing about half. The wedding was not anything too different from what I've seen, except the part where the groom gets on his knees to bow before both sets of parents. After the wedding, we get a group shot with the couple, and then head off to find the others. The plan is to go get some makuli, some Korean rice alcohol that is popular in this part of the country. We take a taxi to this small restaurant where the others are already waiting, and drinking. I will try give you a picture of what it's like being the lone foreigner in a situation like this. The moment I walk in, the principal yells out my name, bringing everyone's attention to me. They all have this slightly mischievous look on their face because of what's about to happen. Before I can barely sit down, the head of teachers gives me his bowl of makuli to drink. I think he wanted me to drink it all, but I take a sip. I am then handed a combination of food I know my body doesn't want. It's a piece of fermented skate (fish), some kimchee, and something else. But all eyes are on me, so what else can I do. As the only beverage around, I take a few more sips of the makuli since the taste of the makuli is heaven compared to the taste of what I'm trying to digest. I then ask for some mool, or water, and am quickly turned down. Eventually, another teacher sympathizes with me and gets some water. Makuli and a plate of food is brought out for all of us who just got there. I am poured a bowl of makuli and I take tiny sips to appease the others. Most of the food does not look very appetizing to me, so I try to bide the time with eating carrots. A little ways in, and about halfway finished with my makuli, one of the not-so-sober teachers insists that I take another bowl by (ha, he thinks I'm actually gonna drink this). Thankfully, we leave soon after this.

I will mention just one more thing. I asked about why the principal and the others didn't go to the wedding, and this is the answer I got. When it was originally asked about taking a bus to come to the wedding, the answer was that it would be too expensive. BUT, if it was turned into a "teacher's outing," then it could work. So, throw in the lunch($), the makuli($), and the folk village, and all of sudden it's affordable. I'm confused...

Today, I'm going to the US military base in Seoul for a full on thanksgiving meal. Pretty pumped about that. Here are some pics of the trip. peace out.


Below is Mrs. Kwon, who has taken care of me so well. She is the head English teacher and is so helpful and compassionate. I am so thankful for her.

Kimchee!!

Well, it's Sunday evening. I just finished putting the finishing touches on my lessons for this next week's classes. As this is the last week before final exams, I'm doing a review game with both my 1st and 3rd year students. I have a powerpoint with a bunch of sentences that either have a wrong word or are missing a word, and have something to do with all the stuff we've learned this semester. And each table gets a turn to pick a number, then I give them that sentence, and they have one minute to write the full sentence on the board. If they get it right, they get 2 points. If they get it wrong, the next table gets a chance to do it for 1 point. Furthermore, there are Jackpot and Ka-boom slides. If they pick a Jackpot slide, they get however many points are written on there; if they pick a Ka-boom slide, they lose however many points are written on it. Team with the most points gets a great treat (which I just remembered I need to go get at the store tonight. Bummer!). Should be fun.

This past week was my best week of teaching by far! It was awesome and I just had a blast everyday. I really enjoyed the students and I was confident and able to just be a goof at times and have fun with them. We all laughed a lot. I am learning how to engage the students more and getting more confident in teaching. I also started writing in Korean on the board this past week, which really got their attention. I got an ovation every time I did it. That was my favorite part each class. I'd have them give me a translation of a word that we were working on, and then I'd write it in Roman letters, and then attempt to write it in Hangul(Korean), which is possible because Hangul is phonetic. But the main reason last week went so well was that I got kicked out of my classroom and had to go around to the student homerooms, as most of the other teachers have to do. The thing is, in my English classroom, there are 6 tables with 6 chairs around each table; a set-up that lets the students sit next to their friends and encourages lots of chatting. In the homerooms, they are sitting in individual desks and have assigned seats. I had their attention 10 times more. It was so great. I hardly got frustrated at all. I was tired at the end of the week from putting so much energy out to make each class fun, but it was worth it. So, on Friday I told Mrs. Kwon that this week had been so great and that teaching in the homerooms was the major reason, and asked her if I could continue to teach in the homerooms. And she said it was up to me. Sweet!!! Mrs. Kwon is amazing. She is so understanding and takes care of me so well. So grateful. I need to get her a great Christmas present. So, whenever I'm doing a game or activity, I'm going to use my English room since it works best for team stuff, but otherwise, I'm going to keep going around to the student's rooms.

Watched two bad movies this weekend. District 9 and 2012. Not worth your time.

Today at church, I played a song for special music. Me and my Nigerian friend Badejo played my arrangement of Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee. I played guitar and sang, Badejo sung some sweet harmony, and a girl played piano with us. It was a lot of fun. And people really liked it. And I guess that the church is gonna have a concert thing around Christmas time and they asked if I'd be willing to play some songs. "Umm...Yes!" So, I'm excited about that.

This next week is Thanksgiving, and I am going to a big Thanksgiving feast at the US military base in Seoul with my friends Amanda and Anlee on Sunday. It's kinda pricey but I'm thinking it's going to be well worth it. And Saturday, one of the teachers from school is getting married about 4 hours away, and the school is renting bus to take all of us over there. I'm pretty interested to see a Korean wedding. I'll bring my camera.

Speaking of camera's, it's Kimchee making season here, and all the grocery stores are flooded with cabbage to be destroyed, I mean prepared, into Kimchee (picture above). How it works is that families buy like 100 heads of cabbage and prepare Kimchee to last for the entire year. They actually have a special "Kimchee Refrigerator" to store this stuff. According to Wikipedia, this appliance is the "most wanted household item in Korea!!" What the $%#? Seriously?!!? So, you don't see a need for an oven, but you make sure to clear a space for a refrigerator to keep fermented cabbage "fresh." Why not just leave it under the couch or something. Then, you could "enjoy" the smell of it all year long. Okay, I am being too harsh. Sorry. I actually do eat the stuff a couple of times a week. But on the other hand, I did see a bunch of cabbage leaves spread neatly across a big electical box outside this one restaurant. They were out there for like a week. A week that included rain. Note to self-don't eat Kimchee at that restaurant. And Anlee said that she saw some Kimchee being "prepared" by a guy walking on top of the leaves with shoes on. That explains some of the scent of Kimchee. Hmm...Nothing against Korea. I just don't understand the obsession behind this stuff. I'm going to list the Korean food that I do like just to counteract my previous words. Bulgogi, Dongas, Mandu, Kimbap, the seafood pancake thing, meet buffet, duck buffet, shrimp fried rice. That's all I can think of. There are some good eats here.

Okay, time for bed. An yeong he gae sae yo (goodbye in Korean).

P.S. It's cold here. I wear 5 layers to walk to school.

The other English teachers at my school. (above)

So, I got kicked out of my classroom for one week. My school is being audited/inspected and the inspection officers get to take over my room to use as their office. So, now I get to go around to the students home rooms to teach. This is how the majority of the other teachers do it anyways. The students stay in their classroom, and the teachers go around to the different classes. I really like having my own classroom. But I'm finding that their are some benefits to teaching in the homerooms. You see, in my classroom, there are six tables with six chairs around each table. This set up lends itself to lots of talking going on when I'm trying to teach (equaling a very frustrated Derek). But in the home rooms, they're all in individual desks facing the front of the class, and they naturally pay attention a lot better. So, my first day teaching in the homerooms was a little rough, just cause it was different for me and I had to adjust. But Friday was great! The students were so much more attentive than in my classroom, my lesson plans allowed for a lot of fun and laughter, and we all had a blast. So fun! So, I'll be teaching in the home rooms until Friday this next week.

I have 3rd year student named Ji Won who has started coming into my classroom at lunch to chat. Her English isn't great, but it's been really fun trying to have a conversation. She'll teach me some Korean and I'll correct her English. One day she brought in a 2x2 rubik's cube. I told her to try to finish it by the time school was finished. So, she brought it back after school and it was done. I was impressed. I asked if I could try it, so she let me take it home and I said I'd bring it back the next day finished. It was a late night, to say the least. I stayed up till 2 looking at stuff online trying to figure out how to do the freakin' thing! All the videos online were by these genius guys who always begin with the same sentence, "They're really nothing to this; it's really easy." And within 5 seconds they've lost me. So, I brought it to school the next day unfinished. But during a break period, I found a website that was simpler and was able to figure it out. So, I was inspired and went and bought a 3x3 for myself. I haven't had any time to put into it, but some students come in and solve it sometimes for me. They all seem to have them figured out.

I went to Costco yesterday. Kettle Chips, Tillamook Colby Jack Cheese, bratwurst (for breakfast scramble), bread, and pumpkin pie. Yummmmmyyyyyy! They had pumpkin cheesecake there but it was around $20 so I decided against it. But I may give in sometime.

I think an interesting question to ask oneself is, "If you did/do not worship God, what would/do you worship. I think everybody worships something. Money, comfort, family, friends, fame, respect, sex, alcohol, etc. I think for me, if I did not worship God, I would probably worship Kettle Chips. They're just that good! Next topic...

An African guy that I know from church is coming over today after church to work on some music together. It's so cool that he's actually from Africa, and not African American. I think he's from Nigeria. Speaks English. He's like 32 and married and is here studying at a university. Should be fun.

Well, I got to shower and get to church. Peace out, Derek

Okay, okay, I know it's been freakin' long since I put anything on here and most of you have probably given up on me. I'm sorry. But here's the latest.

Three weeks ago I flew back to the States for my friend Ryan's wedding in Colorado. It was weird coming to America not as my home, but being more like a visitor/tourist. But it was super good to be around my good friends Ryan and Tripp. We three lived together senior year of college. There are two of my closest friends and I am so grateful for them. I flew out of Seoul Wednesday night after school and arrived in Denver one hour later due to the 16 hour time difference. Wednesday night I stayed at Ryan's new house along with a couple of the other groomsmen. Thursday, all 7 or us groomsmen drove up to Breckenridge where Ryan's now wife's family has a freakin' sweet "cabin." We went by the grocery store and bought steak, potatoes, seafood, chips, and more and made a meal fit for a king. It was great. After that, there was a hot tub and Super Smash brothers on 64. I didn't really sleep at all that night. Possibly my favorite part of the time in Breck was getting up around 7 before everyone else (by that time I had given up on the idea of sleeping) and going outside as the sun was just coming up. I took a lot of pictures of the sun shining on the mountain and had a good time reading my Bible (Psalm 88 was refreshing for me at that time). I'll post a pic or two of this. Friday, we drove the 2 hours back to Boulder, where the wedding was, and that evening had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Tripp, my roommate for 3 and 1/2 years of college flew in from Chicago and him and I stuck together as we were the only two friends from Belmont there. After the rehearsal dinner there was a desert/wine get together at Ryan's house put on by a bunch of mothers. Tripp and I missed out on most of this, because we ended up getting into a great conversation in the car out on the street. It was a much needed and anticipated talk. Tripp is doing awesome! He's just on fire for God and the word. What's most exciting about it is where he's come from. It's been really encouraging for me to see the change that has happened in Him and how God has captured his heart. He's memorizing chapters of the Bible and is now considering becoming a pastor, things that I would have never imagined a year ago. Tripp and I have gone through some similar things with our thoughts on God and as far as being cynical and questioning God, so for me it was great to see. That conversation, coupled with an email from Shea and some other factors have really brought about some great changes in my outlook and faith. Mostly, grace has become evident in my life. God has been more real and the Bible is becoming more alive. I'm memorizing Romans 8 which reminds me of grace each day. I'll write more of what's going on later. But the past couple of weeks have been great.

Okay, what else is going on? Hmmm....I ate dog. Yup. Went out with all the teachers from my school, and I had heard that dog would be an option. I had said I wouldn't try it and wasn't planning on it. We get there and all the tables are prepared with chicken soup and some pork stuff (bosan?), except the principal's table, which had dog (supposedly it's really expensive and gives you stamina). So, being the foreigner and all, the vice principal and principal wanted to offer me some of this delicacy, and in the moment with everybody watching, coupled with the fact that it looked similar to any other meat, I gave in and tried a small piece. It was super tough and took at least 5 minutes to chew and swallow. And it didn't have much flavor either. I don't think I'll try it again, but the ceiling on my "Weirdest Things I've Eaten" list just got bumped way up.

A couple of weeks ago, I had probably my most exciting night in Korea so far. One of the Korean teachers at my school is a member at this music club in Seoul and she asked me if I'd like to go with her. So, I went up to Seoul with a few other friends of mine and we met her there. It was so much better than I had expected. It was a dimly lit room with comfy couches and tables spread across it, a bar, and up front a pretty nice drum set, a piano, and a plethora of guitars. And the only other people there were some of Eun Son's (my co-teacher) friends. There are no employees, just the members who can just go up and get the drinks or food that they want. And we could just go up and play anytime we wanted. Super relaxed environment. It was awesome. I played a couple of my songs on piano and then got to play drums with Eun Son and my friend Chris. It was a blast. I told Eun Son that I'd love to come back as often as possible. So, this past Thursday, the club had a big party, and apparently the owner called Eun Son and told her to invite us back. A personal invitation from the owner! So me, Chris, Anlee, Amanda, and another co-teacher of mine, Eun Jeong, went up there. I got to play a few sets of my songs and also jam with some other people. It was a pretty fun night. There were a lot of people there, and some of them were really good musicians. It's really nice to have a place to play my music and also to play drums once and a while. I hope I can keep going there on a regular basis.

Probably the most encouraging thing that's happening here is the Bible study that a few friends and I started. My friends Anlee and Amanda (both American) suggested the idea, and so them and I and my friend Chris (from Vancouver) have been meeting every Tuesday for the past week at the girls' apartment. A couple of other people have since joined us. We are going through the book of Luke. But the most encouraging part has just been the fellowship and level of comfort and honesty we have developed with each other. I am really enjoying and benefiting from this time and these people in my life.

Well, I gotta get going to church. Heading up to a church in Seoul with Anlee and Amanda that I go to once and a while. Not my normal one here in Ansan. I'm excited for my lesson plans this next week. Should be pretty fun. Talking about adjectives of comparison-better, stronger, faster, best, longest, etc. I'll post a few pics here and maybe a video.

P.S. new music update-David Crowder Band's new CD rocks. These guys are so creative. And I'm still listening to Owl City like 4 times a day.