Bowling with My Debater Students

At the end of the term, we plan a fun event for the Debater class. Here is our bowling trip!  It was a great time.

 Teacher Mia and the girls who could go

 Serious, no smile, teenage guys....

 playing in the kiddie room, smiley gals

 Teacher Mia's daughter being a little ham, aww

Love this little one!

A Trip to the Countryside!

Most of my time in Korea has been spent in a city environment.  However, there are many parks near by and mountains are not too far away.  I don't see much countryside or farm land other than when riding to another big city.  The country of Korea is 70% mountains and much of the rest is city.
There is not much room for flat wooded land like my home area.  I haven't seen much flat land area covered with forests.  I am noticing that if there are not mountains nor buildings, the area is almost entirely used up as farmland.  This area is considered "country."  Numerous Koreans have confirmed my observation as true.  It makes sense that if your country is 70% mountain, you have to use the land you are given for the necessary purposes.  Therefore, this is what the countryside looks like.  It looked similar to the Michigan countryside in the winter, minus the mountains of course!

Here is a church I visited out in the country.  It had a small, friendly, welcoming congregation.

We had lunch Korean style, on the floor, at short tables, like coffee tables at home.  We had delicious food and then I noticed many of the Korean elderly ladies beginning to sit down to rest together.  I sat down for a bit with them.

Here is the view from the church porch.  It was a warm, winter day, with spring not too faraway.  

Here is a high school, middle school, and elementary school combined (I think it was all of those grade levels.  It was at least two of the three.)  Can you read the sign on the school?  It reads, "We make outstanding Korea."

During our trip we had to stop at a jimjilbang!  This place was beautiful and out in the country. There is a water park for use in the summer.  Here is an example of the bracelet you get when you walk in the door.  The key part on the end can be scanned for food, drinks, toiletries, and other items.

The key is then placed into the locker like shown.  You use this locker for your shoes while you are in the jimjilbang.  You have another locker with the same number and key to place your other items.

 The facility was very large.  This hallway connects the bathhouse are to the hot rooms, lounge area and snack bar.

 This is the lounge area with snack bar.  Here you can also receive massages.  I felt like I was at a vacation resort.  It was very fancy.

 This wood burning fireplace was located in the lounge area just next to the hot rooms.

 Here are some of the hot rooms.  The one on the right has infrared lighting to fight against diseases. The other room is warm for resting.

 The room below is very hot!  You should only sit in this room for the recommended amount, which is like 5-10 minutes.  You begin to sweat so much, removing toxins from the body.  The picture above is people resting after they spent time in this jimjilbang.

After the trip the jimjilbang, we went back to the house at which we were staying.  My friend who owns this house is a great cook.  She is very interested in healthy alternatives in diet.  She made these doughnuts out of wheat.  They were very good!

She grows organic vegetables as well.  She made seasoned potato wedges.  We had a rare kind of potato that is purplish in color.  They are filled with antioxidants for fighting cancer and are good for reducing blood pressure. They tasted very good, even though it really took me by surprise to see them purple!

All in all, the trip brought me a little closer to home.  Being in a country environment was more similar to home than the city in which I now live.  I had a great time visiting the countryside!

My Wonderful Adult Students

During my time here in Korea I haven't shared much about my adult teaching experiences in my blog. It has been such a privilege and a blessing to me working with the students.  

In class we pray, discuss a Bible verse, do English drills, study English pronunciation, and practice conversation.  I truly enjoy helping the students with questions they have!  From time to time they ask me challenging questions for which I have to search for an answer. They have opened my mind in that English is a very difficult language to learn and often doesn't make the most sense.  I love varying my teaching style to help the students gain meaningful experiences in the classroom.  It is so rewarding working with them, helping them achieve their goals.  I love being able to be used by God to make a difference in their lives.  

I truly enjoy teaching and I didn't know I could like teaching adults so much!!  It is a pleasant experience to hear so many perspectives from people ranging from about age 18-65.  The students make me laugh and we hold good conversations.  They are very respectful and thoughtful!  They care so much about me.  When we have party days, they often bring all the food and then leave the remaining food for me to enjoy.  They care about my feelings and are concerned about my health.  They ask me all the time if I am cold when I don't wear a long sleeve shirt in the classroom during the winter.  When I am feeling a little under the weather, they suggest that I wear a scarf to keep my neck warm.  

Furthermore, I greatly appreciate what the students have taught me thus far.  I have learned so much about school systems in Korea, learning styles, family life, social customs, and more.  They come from all different family structures and religious backgrounds, so I can deepen my understanding in these areas.  Additionally, I have learned so much about myself!  I have noticed weaknesses, as well as strengths. 

The past term I taught level 6.  This is the highest level at the institute.  I really enjoyed teaching this level.  Their English skills are relatively advanced so I gave them different opportunities to use their language skills, preparing them to speak in a more global society.  


They participated in an online live webcam mock interview session with people from America.  They were able to practice their speaking skills, listening skills, and comprehension skills in a semi-formal environment.  They gained experience talking with a foreigner about important questions for the workplace as well as in life in general. 

This is the graduation ceremony! These are two of my students who completed the SDA English Language Program.

As their teacher I had to give a graduation speech to encourage the students and congratulate them on their accomplishments!

The students have given me new experiences and I'm thrilled to continue to grow!  God says, "being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 

After 14 Years...Skiing Again...In KOREA!!!

Sometime between coming to Korea and winter beginning I developed a great interest in skiing.  It had been about 14 years since I last skied!  The idea kept coming to mind during winter and just a couple weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to go!  I went with a large group of friends to the Muju Deogyusan Resort (click on "GALLERY" for more pictures). It took about an hour and a half to get there.  We were going to stay overnight that the resort.  I heard we had a hotel room to stay in for the night.  When we arrived we walked to our room.    

This is what the hotel room looked like.

There was a traditional Korean style bathroom.  My bathroom at home does not look like this.  Many, however, look like this.  It is a very simple concept and I have showered in a room like this.  

The next thing I saw was this room.  There were 2 rooms like this.  This was my "bed"room for the night.  Not what I was expecting from a hotel room sleeping area, lol!!  Traditionally, Koreans sleep on the floor.  I was definitely expecting a bed.  Furthermore, I was suddenly very concerned that I didn't bring any blankets or pillows and such.  

Soon we realized there were blankets and pillows in the closet.  This made me feel better.  The cushions, blankets, and pillows were very comfortable!

Here are some shots of the view from the hotel room window.  We had a beautiful view!

After getting settled in we had dinner in the hotel room. We brought food to prepare spaghetti, salad, and other delicious side dishes.  The sun was setting and it was time for night skiing.  Next, we spent time getting skis, poles, boots, snow suits, and lift tickets.

The process was difficult because of the language barrier.  There were Koreans on the trip; however, I have learned that even though they can speak moderate to advanced English, there is still a verbal communication barrier.  For the foreigners who went, it was difficult to help the Koreans understand our requests when getting our equipment.

For example, we learned about a deal through one of my Korean friends.  If you rent the snow suit till 10pm it costs 18,000won, and if you rent the snow suit till midnight the suit only costs 15,000won.  My thought was I can save 3,000won if I rent it till midnight; just return the suit early.  My foreign friends agreed with me; but my Korean friends were not understanding.  They kept saying, "But we are not staying till midnight."  With some further explanation, we eventually got them to purchase theirs and our snow suits till midnight.

Now, it was time to ski!

Skiing came back to me fairly easily.  I took my time, while feeling slightly nervous. I remembered the advice my parents gave me and strategies came into my head from 14 years ago.  Back in the day I went to ski school.  I learned that to go, you put your skis like french fries (straight vertical) and to stop you make a pizza (tips of the skis together, or close together).  Gradually, I was comfortable and doing well weaving back and forth down the hills.  I had an awesome time!

Eventually I was picking up some speed and controlling my skis much better.  I could go semi-straight down the hill and weaving left and right.  It was a thrilling experience.  I finished the time with no injuries.  It was beautiful to be out in God's creation on a warmer winter night.  I didn't really feel cold, other than on the chairlift going up.  It was the perfect night for skiing!!   

The next morning we visited the jimjilbang and sauna.

You receive your locker key, shorts and shirt, and two towels.  You enter the locker room which leads to the sauna and also out to the jimjilbang area.  

In the common area they have massage chairs.  The chairs give excellent massages I must say and it costs less than a dollar for 10 minutes!!  I definitely take advantage of these chairs in almost every jimjilbang to which I go.

These are the jimjilbangs, or hot rooms.  They vary in temperature and the material of which they are made.  

This is an example of what the inside looks like.  You simply sit and relax.  It feels like you are on an island with heat, just no sunlight.  You begin to sweat, which as I have said in other blog entries, greatly improves one's health.

I suddenly don't feel so short.  

View out the door.  There was a deck with benches.

There are lots of drinks and snacks to enjoy! They a delicious sweet drink made with rice, dried sprouted barley, and sugar.  They serve different flavored teas and other drinks as well.  They have baked eggs.  These look similar to hard boiled eggs, yet they are brown colored.  They taste delicious!  

After going to the jimjilbang, we visited the mountain area once again.  Here is what the mountain looks like.

Some action photos!

Check out the moving sidewalk!!  Stand with your skis on, and ride up the hill.  They use these on the smaller hills.

Overall, this was an excellent trip, a thrilling time, another Korean adventure!