On the Road Again...: September 2011

I am starting to question whether being at this particular boarding campus would be of any benefit in my goal of learning how to operate a boarding school for inner-city children. Amazing experiences with incredible learning opportunities everyday because we are “building a school” that is still in the completion process… yes. Something that I will be able to directly take and translate and use in third-ward Houston?... highly unlikely.

So, it hit me… the culture shock. How is it that American children and Korean children can be such polar opposites? While the two following comparisons are my own gross generalizations – they are experiences that have shaped my view of our societies as a whole:

· In America, those with raw athletic talent and muscular physiques are praised and rewarded. In Korea, the girls don’t want to work out for fear of gaining muscles, and many of the boys would opt to protect their fair skin by sitting in the shade rather than playing a pick up game of any sort of sport outside.

· In America, students (and parents) find homework a rare necessity and spend little time focused on their studies. In Korea, after 2 hours of studying on the first night of school, I stayed with the students in my classroom an additional 20 minutes, until 9:45pm, when we headed back to the dorms only because they had to take showers and prepare for lights-out at 11:00 (And this is less than typical public schools where students go to academic-tutoring “Hagwans” after school for up to 5 hours!)

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We are still in an un-approved building (with below video taken the day our boarding students arrived), with no solidified schedules for our 8th graders, no form of communication between teachers other than face-to-face and email (this no-phone business is killing me!), and a news station that is making our campus out to be, well, not the most positive talk of Jeju-Do...

But, we just wrapped up the first day of school, and it is days like these that make me wonder how I could ever NOT want to be a teacher!

While I was able to play a straight face for all of my science classes – working through routine rules and procedures, I was on dorm duty this evening to relieve our 3^rd floor “dorm mom” who has done an incredible job molding the culture of our “family”. This is when the culture shock hit me again – these girls are incredibly talented and smart. They sincerely want to achieve success - be the best they can be. I have yet to witness a group of teenage girls sit and focus their full energies on creating quick masterpieces on the lined paper they were provided. On more than one occasion, I was asked incredibly thoughtful questions, such as “Teacher, what would be a better way to describe how so-and-so developed a speech that would create the foundation for how others view animalism?” and “Ms. Sokola, how do you continue your healthy workouts if your body tires after completing the process only one time?”

I think God has me right where he wants me…

For our evening activity, I asked our girls if they wanted to do an “American” workout… better known to you all as INSANITY! Below are a few of the pictures Emily was able to snap before they noticed the camera was out! (They were embarrassed by the sweat that was dripping down their precious faces.)

I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of a community that focuses on the “Total Human Development”. At an afterschool meeting, the students gathered in the Performing Arts Center to hear about all of the activities that teachers would offer afterschool. Yes, we had the typical sports like basketball, soccer, tennis, badminton, volleyball, and cheerleading (We are… The best… K.I.S. – my inner-cheerleader came out and I even pulled out a back-handspring on a crowded auditorium stage!)… but we also have cooking classes, a crochet group, model UN, Student council, Global citizenship, and my personal favorite – Music PLUS, where the presentation consisted of our head of school, Dr. Jeff Beedy, on the Guitar, his wife on an acoustic guitar, the 6^th grade English teacher playing a mean harmonica, a boarding assistant strumming the bass, and our school Business Director, David Lee, wailing on the drums. Seriously?! I will track down some footage and post it in the very near future.

Missing you all - Thinking of you often. Talk soon. Anyong Asseyo!

Saturday, August 27: A trip away from the city and into the beautiful country-side! My first REAL experience hiking happened during our first weekend together as a team, and let me tell you, if this had been a skiing trail, it would have been black diamonds for sure! After 1 hour of hiking and climbing what appeared to be straight up (with no leveled-out walk ways), I decided to keep myself from pushing too hard. I retired back down the mountain on my own and sat by a lovely little lake to do a daily devotional and eat my GimBab roll. I think that for my next hiking attempt, I will stick with something a little easier, to give myself something to work up towards!

Giant Lava Rocks and Beautiful Trees!

Tuesday, August 30: This past week, we had a staff member who made the decision to resign. While I know that this could not have been an easy decision, I am in total support of recognizing the importance of feeling like a contributing part to a community. In my last few jobs, I do not think that I was quite the right fit… and I would imagine it would be much more difficult to have that uneasy feeling half way across the world and thousands of miles from your support system of friends and family.

Wednesday and Thursday, August 31 - September 1: Noree Bong – Karaoke room! On Thursday, Emily and I went out for the evening in search of a few fun songs to sing. While we were trotting down the main boulevard, handbags under arms and heels to the curb, we discovered that many of these “Norre Bongs” were actually “Norre-tells”… in other words, hotel rooms (where you could sing if you wanted) that you would rent out by the hour! Hahaha – we were walking along our own little Jeju Red Light District! We wandered down a stairwell to a place called “Lipstick” and were greeted and ushered in by Hoon, who spoke very good English. Being the first to come by for the evening, it is Korean customs to allow whatever guest in to their choice of room.

Hoon was a grand duet partner :)

The following evening, a group of faculty made our way to a legitimate Norre Bong after an incredible Japanese meal and a few beers at a local pub. With a large Flat screen displaying awkward images behind the lyrics, and a few pitchers of beer, the evening was all around a hit!

Friday, September 2: Buses loaded up by 9:00am and pulling up to our campus by 10:15am. After an hour of trying to maneuver 3 giant charter buses over and unpaved, pothole ridden ground, we were given the go-ahead to travel to JungMoon, a resort city located on the South side of the island, for lunch and an E-Mart pitstop. Problem?! My flight was scheduled to head to Daegu at 3:35 and we would not be returning to our campus until 4:00pm. Solution? Simply changed flights to catch an 8:00pm plane…

While I missed watching my friend Ngoni Makusha, representing Zimbabwe, place bronze in the long jump at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships L

Congrats Ngoni! (He is on the right)

...I did have the pleasure of meeting a delightful doctor traveling back to his hometown of Daegu after speaking at a conference. We talked about the history of his City, his progressive thoughts about changes that needed to occur for Daegu to gain recognition within South Korea, and his surgical procedure that he has modified and is now sharing with doctors around the world! Upon arrival, the Korean hospitality kicked in, as he offered to take a taxi to show me some parts of the city, treated me to coffee, and helped carry my luggage as I located a cheap hotel (Love hotel, that is!) called Hotel Zoo004. Dr. Sang Geol Kim was truly a wonderful ambassador for his country and city, and I am so grateful for his kind words and suggestions of places to eat! By the time I had made my way up to the room and signed on facebook to see if my friend Erison wanted to meet up that evening, I was exhausted. Decided to call it a night and start up at the sound of my alarm 7 hours later.

This is a picture of the shower area - I chose to shower outside the tub!

Saturday – Sunday, September 3-4: I woke up the next morning with plans to visit Costco. Apparently, I am the only one in the world who did not realize that you have to be a member in order to shop at Costco – so, after picking up various goods that were unavailable on the island for myself and others, I was escorted over to the information desk where the employees were extremely helpful. With 3 huge boxes being shipped over to Jeju-do, I caught a taxi out to the “Athlete Villages”. I was able to make a phone call up to “Dominica’s” room to let Erison know I had arrived, but when the phone was answered, I was told that he had made his way back to Florida that morning…?!?!?!?

While I was waiting at the welcome area, trying to figure out what to do since Erison had supposedly left, I made a new friend from New Zealand named Ay Chong. He grabbed me a pass and offered to help me look for my other FSU friend who was competing (Yogi yo) in Daegu, Ngoni Makusha. Ay Chong took me throughout most of the villages and I was able to get a glimpse of the medical facilities, the internet room, training facilities, dining area – the whole nine yards! The Korean volunteers even called me a “fashionista” and asked to take pictures with me!

When I was about to give up on finding Ngoni, I saw Erison out of the corner of my eye! When he told me that he did not have any roommates staying with him, we quickly figured out that the volunteers had dialed the Dominican Republic! And to think, I once thought those two countries were one in the same! I grabbed a quick lunch with Erison, Ay Chong, and Ngoni who was already down in the cafeteria. We made plans for me to go shopping (where I came across my new favorite store - SARA!) and grab my belongings to bring back to the Villages… But on the way back to the Love Motel, my taxi driver was confused about the location and I was dropped off about a kilometer away from my final destination. When I tried to ask for directions from a man on a scooter, he motioned for me to hop on board! I placed my purse and iPad in between his feet, situated myself behind him and in front of his basket full of raw, smelly fish, and made a quick journey, weaving in and out of the crowded sidewalks toward Zoo004.

My favorite store forever!

When I returned to the Villages, I met a few other former FSU runners who were representing Belgium, and well as an Gabriel, Ngoni’s friend from Zimbabwe. In need of snacks and drinks, we all walked down to the 7-11. Ahhhh, but it was not until my return that I discovered I could not get back on the village campus without a pass dated for the next day, September 4 (It was about 1am when we took a quick trip out) and so was escorted up to the room to retrieve my bags and leave the athletes area. I was able to talk some people into going downtown, figuring I would carry my bag with me and find a hotel after enjoying a little of the Korean Night Life. Sure enough, we got a group to mosey around Old Downtown! We ended up at a pub called Frogs, where I stored my entire suitcase at the front of the club. I think Korea might be the ONLY place in the world where you could leave a bag with your iPad, computer, and personal belongings and NOT have to worry about keeping an eye on it. When it was time head out, I grabbed it, as well as a taxi, and made my way back onto campus through a rear entrance.

Sunday, September 4: The next afternoon, I enjoyed intelligent conversation with my new friend from the Congo named Gary. As a special treat before flying back to Jeju, we went to a recommended local restaurant and had a dish that is known well in Daegu. It was a beef cooked in a large metal pot that came with lettuce for wrapping and binding it with other ingredients such as dried anchovies, small garlic cloves, pickled onions, chili peppers, tofu, radish kimchi, and rice. A yogurt drink washed it all down right before bidding my new friend farewell and hailing a taxi to get to the airport.

Tuesday, September 6: Countdown is here – we will have students arriving in just over a week. While the campus is coming along quickly, it is still hard to believe that it will be finished by next Thursday. Please pray for the preparations of our students, many of who will be boarding away from their family for the first time. Also, for the faculty and staff to be productive and positive these last few days before the beginning of another school year.

Below are a few pictures of my dorm room, the campus, my classroom, and a few other randoms… Oh, and by the way, yesterday I had a delicious lunch. I especially liked this noodle side dish that had a dark purple-red sauce. It was not until later that I found out it was FISH INTESTINES!