Here, I was the only blonde head in attendance. But the older ladies at church decided to adopt me, so while I sat it in the back of the room, they issued enough questions to determine that I'm American and I teach English at _______ Middle School. They said something about "teacher," then rushed away and returned with a 30-something man who they pushed toward me, apparently ordering him to make English happen.
The man was a Korean American from New York, and I had a great conversation with he and his wife after church. They recommended some other churches that are not too far away, and we exchanged contact information. If all else fails, I can just come back to this church--even if I can't talk to anyone, I can tell that they love God in this place.
I could read the Korean songs off the projector, and a couple of the songs were originally English, so this morning I sang "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" in Korean. After just a few bars of that song, I started crying. I thought, "Oh boy, here we go again with the crying in church." This happened two weeks ago when I went to the English service in Daejeon; a lovely song plays that makes me think of the Lord, and suddenly I fall to pieces. And I did not want to fall to pieces just then, this morning. I'm among 350 strangers, I'm already nervous about how things are going to go, and I'm the most conspicuous person in the building.
Why do I have to cry, now? Can't I appreciate Jesus without this kind of display? If I can't talk to my neighbors or comprehend the sermon, shouldn't I at least be able to keep my tear ducts under control? I suppose not. I'm not sad or worried anymore, either. These were just tears of thankfulness for how much God has blessed me. Fortunately, I had tissues in my purse, so I eventually got back to looking normal. I think I simply have to accept that crying during church is something I do now. There's no fighting it. I'm just going to have to tuck away a box of Kleenex and invest in waterproof mascara.
Some pictures from the week:
My Hand, 9-11-13, Wednesday.
By now, the only faces I remember are Tall-Yoonjae, Afterschool-Jinseop, Soccer-Daesung, and Necktie-Shinhyuk. Without writing them down, I would remember no one.
Me and Peter-Pan-Taehoon's English-to-Korean Word Game.
We tried tic-tac-toe first, then graduated to something more language-based. First he wrote English words while I tried to match them in Korean, then I wrote Korean words and he tried to match them in English. End result is, he's better than me.
My Hand, 9-12-13, Thursday.
Seohyung is 2nd-grade A-Class, good with computers. Laryngytis-Sunghoon (spelled elsewhere as Seonghoon) is a tiny 1st-grade B-class who always wears a tie and who is friends with Governor-Yunho. I pulled him off a staircase on Friday. Don't recall the other children.
My Hand, 9-13-13, Friday.
Walk-to-School-Minki was the first kid I met that morning, and Simyong is C-class, but he and I had already had a conversation about some other boy kicking him in the leg, so when I saw his familiar face in the hall, I got Simyong to write his name for me. Slightly-Rounded-Heesu is Walk-to-School-Minki's buddy and he asked me in English if a have a boyfriend.
I remember that Sangyeop was smart and had really tanned skin, but I can't recall his face. Shotputter-Jinseong is unforgettable--that boy is gigantic, and was surprisingly sweet to me. Shotputter-Jinseong is a 2nd-grader in the same B-class as Sanghwa. I don't remember the last two boys at all.
Baked Goods I Helped the Moms Make for Chuseok, 9-13-13, Friday.
They're called maejakgwa (매작과), and the "gwa" part of the word means "cookie".
And More Baked Goods for Chuseok.
These ones are songpyeon (송편). They have an egg-like filling, and I ate about four of them, myself. My lunch co-ordinator also fed me one by hand while patting my cheek with her other hand and telling me I was cute. Because she is my school-mom!
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7:00 PM Should have stayed in and lesson-planned, but I went to an awful movie with friends. We had lots of laughs about it as we left, and I saw a bucketload of my boys in town, as per usual. While me and the girls were getting snacks in a glass-fronted convenience store before the movie, 10 of the boys--none of whom I recognized precisely--flocked around the front doors and pushed the bravest one in. Behind my back, I heard, "Teacher!" I turned around to see a beaming second-grader. "Teacher, hi, hi!" -"Hello, sweetheart." -"I am very hungry!" -"Me, too." -"Bye! Bye!" -"See you tomorrow."
Then in front of the theater itself, I saw a middle-schooler on a bicycle rolling leisurely toward us. I made eye contact as he wheeled up and we both smiled at the same time--it was Peter-Pan-Taehoon, one of my Top 5 favorite students. It made my day to see him outside of the school, just having fun. But I wish I had seen his parents--the boys are always roaming free of parental units when I meet them.
Saw a couple of third-graders outside a PC Room. They were chatting up some girls their own age, but broke away to say, "Hello, hello! ______ Jung-hakgyo!" calling out the name of our middle school and pointing to themselves. I greeted them and said I'd see them tomorrow, then they went back to gossiping with the girls, presumably saying something like, "Yes, she's our foreigner. She even knows how to say "yah!"."
